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Erkki

Women Directors

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(or is it better to say female? I dunno, 'female' seems too clinical)

 

I've recently come to realize that many of favourite films from recent years have women as directors. I thought I'd list some of them just to spread the knowledge that there are more than a few women directing great movies. I also am considering starting to watch films directed by women in a more systemic way. My last systemic watching approach of 1 movie from each country pretty much failed when I got to about 40 countries (some no longer existing) and then it became too much effort. Anyway, here are some directors - I'm not big on biographies so I just know the movies, though.

 

Ana Lily Amirpour

First caught my attention with A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), which was pretty much my favourite movie for a while and I've seen it 4 or 5 times by now. It's somewhat of a Jim Jarmusch style vampire noir love story in the Persian language. I somehow initially got the impression that it's an Iranian movie, but I think it's just that the director has some Iranian ancestors, the movie is made in the US. The Bad Batch (2016) is a bit weirder beast, talking of cannibals and other outcasts living in a vast prison-like desert area just outside of the territory of the US.

 

Andrea Arnold

I think I saw Red Road (2006) first, but my favourite is Fish Tank (2009) about a teenage girl from a poor family, her sister, mother and father figure. American Honey (2016) might be most approachable of her movies, and there's also Wuthering Heights (2011). She seems to have some pretty strong feminist themes going through these movies.

 

Kelly Reichardt

Wendy and Lucy (2008) is one of my all time favourite movies, and for me Kelly Reichardt is something like the female Jim Jarmusch. I really loved her recent Certain Women (2016), and I also liked Meek's Cutoff (2010), and with some reservations even Old Joy (2006) and River of Grass (1994). There's one movie of hers that I can't stand, though - Night Moves.

 

Greta Gerwig

Ok, I haven't seen it yet, but I fully expect to like Lady Bird (2017)

 

Céline Sciamma

Girlhood (2015) is a must see and I also enjoyed Water Lilies (2007) and Tomboy (2011)

 

Jazmin Lopez

I think she has made only one feature length film and it is Lions (2012), original title Leones. I don't know where else you could find it except on FestivalScope.com, though. But AFAIK it's free there, but you can only see it once until it is "sold out". Anyway, the movie Lions is very interesting, consisting mostly of long shots of young people moving through a forest and talking. Really good steadicam work here, and the use of long shots made me think of Tarkovsky occasionally. I really hope that Lopez will make more movies.

 

Haifaa Al-Mansour

All I can say is that Wadjda (2012) is quite good, a Saudi Arabian feminist movie.

 

Jane Campion

There's of course Jane Campion with The Piano (1993), but I haven't seen any of her recent stuff, except the Top of the Lake (TV series, 2013).

 

Kirsten Johnson

I've only seen Cameraperson (2016), a documentary composed of other movies she has shot, and it's quite good.

 

Dee Rees

Pariah (2011) is a really good movie about a lesbian girl struggling with her identity and sexuality. She has shot a couple of movies since then also, haven't seen any others yet.

 

Lynne Ramsay

I have sadly only seen We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011), should watch the newer ones.

 

Maren Ade

Last but not least, Toni Erdmann (2016) is an amazing movie that everyone must see. For me it is one of the best movies of the century so far and seems to be critically underrated. Also not bad: Everyone Else (2009)

 

I didn't mention some pretty famous ones, and feel welcome to add your favourite women directors...

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Also I just found that

Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Was the woman who directed Mustang (2015), a really good movie about some Turkish girls basically held prisoner at home by their relatives until they are married off.

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Claire Denis is probably the best female director around (certainly one of the most interesting directors of the 21st century), though her films are too dense and beguiling for me to just throw on if I'm not in a very specific mood. But Beau Travail...oh man, what a movie! White Material is another one that totally destroyed me. 

 

Ava DuVernay is probably the most powerful female director in Hollywood right now. I loved Selma. Wasn't too hot on her previous feature, but am mildly optimistic about her A Wrinkle in Time film she's doing for Disney.

 

Or tied with Patty Jenkins, but I have no personal interest in Wonder Woman.

 

I think In The Cut is Jane Campion's best movie, but everyone just thinks of it as that awkward Meg Ryan erotic thriller and dismisses it. But also I'm just not a fan of hers in general, I suppose.

 

Lillian Schwartz is a very important computer animator who made two of my all-time favorite experimental shorts, Pixillation and UFO's. They are both available to watch on her website (scroll all the way down), though an epilepsy warning is in order as they feature a ton of flashing lights.

 

On the experimental route, my favorite film I saw in 2016 was an experimental documentary by Deborah Stratman called "The Illinois Parables" that did a number on me. It was really powerful if a bit oblique, and made me want to see the rest of their work, which is unfortunately very hard to get a hold of.

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Great idea for a thread! Hadn't heard of some of the directors/movies already mentioned--thanks for the edification. Strongly agree that Kelly Reichardt's work is amazing--"Certain Women" is one of the best movies of the decade so far for me, up there with "A Separation," "Ida," "Carol," "Moonlight," "Mud," "Monsieur Lazhar," etc.

 

Here's a few great women directors whose work I've really enjoyed:

 

Agnes Varda is one of the best directors of all-time. "Cleo from 5 to 7" is her most-known work, and indeed it is the best movie of the entire French New Wave era. "Vagabond" is incredible as well, and she's made a bunch of great documentaries throughout her career, too.

 

Her most recent movie, which is currently playing in theaters, is a documentary called "Faces Places" that she co-directed with a young photographer named JR. It's one of the best movies released so far this year, and shows that Varda is as ebullient as ever at age 89. It's a wonderful movie, and she's a wonderful person.

 

Lotte Reiniger is the greatest and most important animator in the history of the medium. "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" is the first surviving feature-length animated movie ever made (two preceded it that are unfortunately lost), and it is a remarkable and wonderful movie using a beautiful silhouette animation technique which Reiniger invented.

 

Equally as important, she invented the first multiplane camera. A multiplane camera in animation basically achieves the same effect as parallax scrolling does in video games, so not only is her work monumentally important for animation but it also had an impact on other mediums such as video games.

 

Sadly many people erroneously cite/think that the Walt Disney Company made the first feature-length animated movie ever made and invented the multiplane camera. Lotte Reiniger did both a full 10 years before Disney got around to it, and did so better. She is the progenitor of all feature-length animation. A remarkable person with a remarkable life and incredible life's work, anyone that likes animation should see "The Adventures of Prince Achmed."

 

Gabriela Cowperthwaite's "Blackfish" is an edifying account of the awful and malicious practices carried out by higher-ups at SeaWorld to make their enterprise possible. It forces one to rethink the viability of any and all organizations that put animals in captivity for the enjoyment of humans to gawk at. I expect Cowperthwaite will make many more good documentaries for a long time to come.

 

Penny Marshall's "A League of Their Own" is the greatest sports movie ever made. Like all sports movies it can be a bit corny at times, but the acting (and casting) is so wonderful across the board that it elevates even those moments. Based on a fascinating moment in real sports history when there was a women's equivalent to MLB, every time I watch it I can't help but wonder why there isn't one today. (There is a WNBA, after all.) I rewatched this movie endlessly as a kid and it never failed to put me in a bittersweet but euphoric mood. Revisiting it as an adult confirms that it's a genuine classic.

 

Marshall also directed "Big," a very funny and entertaining movie that explores the paradox of a kid trapped in an adult's body. Considering most of us grapple with how to retain the best elements of being a kid (creativity, enthusiasm, etc.) while learning to embrace the emotional maturity, wisdom, and appropriate behavior of being an adult, its themes will be evergreen.

 

Not to say they're analogous/similar directors, but like John Hughes I think Penny Marshall's work, especially the two movies named, will be overlooked by many "serious" cinephiles as being insignificant. With both directors I think not only is there more depth than seems on the surface, but both captured timeless moments in cinematic history.

 

Again, great idea for a thread! There's still many more great women directors' work to cover/discuss, but I also hope this thread becomes a living document for any and all future great movies directed by women. Every time I see a great new movie directed by a woman, I'll do my best to remember to post about it here.

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Are Kathryn Bigelow and Sofia Coppola just TOO OBVIOUS to even mention?

 

Probably, since I'm the first to mention them and I haven't seen a single one of the films mentioned in the OP. Except for the first half of Bad Batch, which I didn't like. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night sounds good tho, I'll be on the lookout for it.

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I think if we've got Penny Marshall, those two are fine!

 

 

Amy Heckerling. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Clueless and I Could Never Be Your Woman are great, and Heckerling also wrote the last two. (If you're into Bruce Willis Babies, she also did Look Who's Talking, but I watched that recently and ooof it does not stand up to my nostalgia.)

 

The Wachowskis. I'm not as big a fan of their film output as a lot of people, but I loved Sense8 and Cloud Atlas. I will definitely watch anything they put out.

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Doris Wishman is one of the most important sexploitation directors, and she also did a few horror films too. Her stuff is very very weird. A Night to Dismember is a baffling sorta-slasher movie worth watching. And Nude on the Moon is a nudie cutie where astronauts land on the moon and discover a bunch of nude women wearing doodle-boppers on their heads.

 

Roberta Findlay is also important in the exploitation world, both from films she made with husband Michael Findlay and otherwise. 

 

Naomi Kawase is a Japanese filmmaker who makes gentle dramas. Her last feature, Sweet Bean, had some buzz in America last year, though it was a little too subdued for my tastes.

 

Věra Chytilová was an avant-garde Czech director who, among other things, directed the seminal feminist film Daisies.

 

I'm not a huge fan of her work, but Sarah Polley is certainly a notable contemporary female filmmaker, who directed Take This Waltz and Stories We Tell.

 

Catherine Hardwicke is out there still doing work. Everyone makes fun of Twilight (and why not, it's a bad movie) but it wasn't terribly directed, just terribly written. 

 

Lexi Alexander mostly directs TV these days, but her film Punisher: War Zone falls into that narrow list of "super hero movies that don't feel like the exact same thing as every other super hero movie". The Punisher puts his fist through someone's face in it. It's pretty great.

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The OP said to feel welcome to add your favorite women directors to the thread, @Henke, so any and all are welcome! I've got conflicted thoughts on Coppola's work but mostly like it. Haven't seen any directed by Bigelow yet, though.

 

You're probably aware of this @Erkki but if not, and for anyone else reading the thread: Dee Rees's next movie, "Mudbound," comes out on Nov. 17th. Pretty strong early reception for it. The trailer makes it look harrowing but well worth seeing.

 

Another one to keep an eye out for is Maysaloun Hamoud's "In Between," which starts playing on Nov. 10th. It's gotten good reviews, and the trailer makes it look humorous/very good. My local Landmark and other limited release theaters don't have it listed in their upcoming section yet, but hopefully it'll play at Landmark theaters across the U.S./other limited release theaters. (Highly likely it will.)

 

Certainly seems like this is going to be a great fall/winter for movies!

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You might like to check out Waru, I'm not sure when it's out for general viewing but it's made by eight Maori female directors who follow the various perspectives of a family, extended family and national media when a child is killed at the hands of a caregiver.

 

 

Here's a bit about the production of the film The women of Waru: ‘We get shit done’

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I just counted how many of the PÖFF 2017 movies I already bought tickets for are directed by women and was pleasantly surprised that it's even as high as 8/26. (It's also 8/32 though if I count some next ones I might buy). I didn't deliberately pick films by women, except in a couple of cases, and not sure of the overall ratio at the festival. So anyway, during the next 3 weeks, I might add some more to this list.

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Hélène Cattet directs together with her husband, and they have made artsy giallo movies like Amer and The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears. I liked Amer more than Strange Color, but my appreciation of Strange Color is growing as time passes, even without seeing it again. I just saw their new movie Let the Bodies Tan and it's absolutely brilliant. It's still an artsy movie, but also an extremely well edited and stylish thriller. I wrote a few more words in the main recommendations thread.

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Cattet & Forzani are dope. I love that they're married because their movies are so unbelievably fetishistic it feels like they're letting people into their sex life or something and it makes their films, which are very off-puttingly "artsy" and cold, feel more personal and human in a weird way.

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On 10/27/2017 at 8:03 PM, Patrick R said:

Lexi Alexander mostly directs TV these days, but her film Punisher: War Zone falls into that narrow list of "super hero movies that don't feel like the exact same thing as every other super hero movie". The Punisher puts his fist through someone's face in it. It's pretty great.

 

There's a great How Did This Get Made episode about Punisher War Zone, featuring Lexi Alexander and Patton Oswalt, that offers a lot of juicy behind-the-scenes info. Apparently Freddie Prinze Jr. auditioned for Jigsaw and absolutely killed it, but the studio didn't want him.

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Tereza Nvotová from Slovakia might be one to watch. I just saw her debut feature Filthy (2017), which seems to be touring festivals right now. It seemed to deal quite well with a serious topic, showing how severe a reaction a 17 year old girl could have to being raped.

 

Also Welsh-Zambian Rungano Nyoni has made quite a debut with I Am Not a Witch (2017), which deals with a young girl in Zambia who is thought to be a witch (for mindboggling reasons) and sent to a government-run witch community.

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I forgot to mention Catherine Breillat. I've only seen Fat Girl, which was pretty good, if depressing. Her Brief Crossing is on my watchlist and I just noticed that Sex is Comedy is on Filmstruck.

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I would mention two Estonian women who have directed some pretty good films lately - Moonika Siimets and Sandra Jõgeva. But it's probably very hard to find their movies outside of Estonia.

 

Paz Fábrega is a Costa Rican director who has made some pretty good low-key movies about relationships: Viaje (2015) and The Cold Water of the Sea (2010).

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Patty Jenkins is perhaps the biggest name in recent years...I can't think of another female director to helm a blockbuster movie that had such success than Patty.

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I haven't watched any of them, but some pretty critically acclaimed talents came out of Dogme 95: Lone Scherfig best known for Italian for Beginners and An Education and Susanne Bier who took home an academy award for In A Better World. Bier also worked on the television miniseries Night Manager (based on the Le Carre book) featuring Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie (which I have seen).

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I watched two films directed by women on Mubi yesterday.

 

Lynn Shelton seems to be somewhat associated with mumblecore, which is a genre I’m starting to appreciate more and more. I have seen Your Sister’s Sister before, which I liked a lot and yesterday saw her debut We Go Way Back, which is a rather unique (AFAIK) story about a 23 year old confronted by their 13 year old self. Liked this one quite a bit too.

 

Angela Shanelec is currently under focus on Mubi and I will definitely check out more than Marseille, which is about a young woman who doesn’t seem to know what to do with her life. I liked the first half of the movie a lot, but while I see why the second half exists, I didn’t enjoy it that much. [edit] I have now also seen Orly, Afternoon and The Dreamed Path. The latter is perhaps the most interesting, but they are all pretty low key movies and nothing super memorable. I do like the overall mood, but all of the movies seem to have some technical or dramatic peculiarities which I'm not fond of (digital zooming shot seems to be utilized - does not look good).

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I think it's in cinemas somewhere, not sure. Revenge by Coralie Fargeat is pretty decent ultra-violent thriller, although it has some cliches/tropes, it flips some of them around a bit.

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