It’s no secret that the film industry is male-dominated. You needn’t look further than the statistics—only three women have ever won the Academy Award for Best Director, and two of those women won this decade. Only seven have ever been nominated. The numbers are so low that it almost seems like women behind the camera are a rare occurrence.
But the reality is that women do make films—excellent ones, at that. When thinking of female directors, Sofia Coppola and Greta Gerwig—two of the most prolific in recent years—usually spring to mind. And while their contributions to female-directed cinema and cinema as a whole are noteworthy, there are thousands of other remarkable female-directed films that go largely unnoticed.
If you want to expand your repertoire of movies directed by women during Women’s History Month, here are ten of my favorite female-directed films, spanning various themes and genres.
- Raw – Julia Ducournau
-
When it comes to female-directed horror, few auteurs are better than Julia Ducournau. Raw is Ducournau’s debut feature-length film and my favorite of her (admittedly small) filmography. Raw tells the story of Justine, a freshman-year veterinary student and lifelong vegetarian, who is forced to consume a raw rabbit during a hazing ritual. Justine struggles with her newfound love for raw meat – and where she can source it. Raw and Ducournau’s sophomore film, Titane (another worthy watch), are staples of contemporary horror, combining Cronenberg-esque body horror with an almost coming-of-age perspective.
- The Kindergarten Teacher – Sara Colangelo
-
The Kindergarten Teacher isn’t a horror film like Raw, but I left it feeling no less uncomfortable. Sara Colangelo’s sophomore feature stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as Lisa Spinelli, a teacher in Staten Island who becomes obsessed with one of her five-year-old students, Jimmy, who she believes to be a poetry prodigy. Spinelli, dissatisfied with her life and what she views as her unfulfilled creativity, takes her fascination with Jimmy far beyond the boundaries of a student-teacher relationship until it leads to crime.
- God’s Creatures – Anna Rose Holmer & Saela Davis
-
How do you cope with knowing someone you love did something terrible? This is the question at the heart of 2022’s God Creatures, starring Emily Watson as Aileen, whose golden child, Brian (played by Paul Mescal), returns to their small Irish town after many years abroad and is immediately accused of a horrific crime by one of Aileen’s young coworkers. What follows is an examination of the lengths people will go to defend the ones they love as Aileen struggles with whether to believe Brian is truly capable of this crime.
- You Were Never Really Here – Lynne Ramsay
-
Joaquin Phoenix plays Joe, a PTSD-ridden mercenary who specializes in rescuing trafficked young girls in New York City. A senator hires him to find and save his daughter, whom traffickers have kidnapped. Although the plot is interesting, where You Were Never Really Here excels is in its subtleties. We spend most of the runtime feeling like we’re inside Joe’s head, understanding everything he does and the nuances of his character – his gentleness with the senator’s daughter juxtaposed with the violence he handles his enemies with. It’s a wonderfully crafted film and my favorite of Ramsay’s filmography.
- The Tale – Jennifer Fox
-
Jennifer Fox has been an acclaimed documentary filmmaker for years, and The Tale marks her first narrative feature – though the documentarian elements are still strongly present. In The Tale, Jennifer (the lead, played by Laura Dern) is a documentarian and professor who returns to her childhood after her mother finds an essay she wrote at the age of thirteen detailing her relationship with her older coach. Although Jennifer remembers the relationship as beautiful and loving, she struggles to reconcile the horror that it was when digging into her memories.
- Aftersun – Charlotte Wells
-
Aftersun is a hard one to describe. For the first half hour, I wasn’t sure what I was watching – seemingly meaningless footage of 11-year-old Sophie and her father, Calum, on vacation in Turkey for a week. Then, at a certain point, I just got it. Once you realize where the film is going, it’s an emotional and almost painful watch. Wells uses the haziness of childhood memories to her advantage as adult Sophie reminisces about the week spent with her father – a lingering shot of a Polaroid developing, which cuts to camcorder footage. It’s a beautiful and moving viewing experience, and I guarantee you’ll never hear Under Pressure the same way again.
- Shiva Baby – Emma Seligman
-
Seligman’s sophomore film, Bottoms, has been a hit in female-directed comedy. However, her debut film, Shiva Baby, is just as good, if not better, than her violent high school comedy. Danielle, a college student (played by Bottoms’ star Rachel Sennott), attends a shiva service with her parents and struggles with seeing her successful ex-girlfriend, her sugar daddy and his wife and her judgemental neighbors. Shiva Baby is as uncomfortable to watch as a film can be but is also hilarious and strangely poignant. I’m beyond excited for what Seligman does next, with two notable female-led comedies under her belt.
- Mikey and Nicky – Elaine May
-
Rewinding a few years to 1976, Elaine May’s film Mikey and Nicky unfolds over one intense night, focusing on its titular characters—Nicky, a low-level mobster, who becomes paranoid about a hitman on his trail and turns to Mikey, his childhood best friend, for help. Mikey and Nicky was a production disaster, with May and Paramount Pictures struggling for control of the film; that and its box office failure resulted in May not directing another film for over a decade. Fortunately, the film seems to have had a resurgence in recent years, garnering appreciation as an exemplary piece of early work by a female director.
- The Farewell – Lulu Wang
-
Chinese-American Billi (portrayed by Awkwafina) struggles with her dual identities when she learns that her beloved grandmother, Nai Nai, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer – and her family has made the decision not to tell her. A hastily put-together wedding brings the entire family back to China as a way to say their final goodbyes to Nai Nai while Billi struggles to keep the secret. I’m always impressed by directors who can seamlessly balance devastation and humor, and Wang does it so well that The Farewell can have me laughing and crying in only five minutes.
- A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night – Ana Lily Amirpour
-
The desolate streets of Bad City, Iran, are overrun with drugs, prostitutes and men who exploit women for their gain. The only thing more dangerous than the latter is a quiet woman who roams the streets at night – a nameless vampire known only as The Girl who seeks revenge against the men there. One night, The Girl encounters a young man named Arash, whom she slowly begins to trust and love. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is a fantastic film about women regaining their power over men while combining horror, romance, and even elements of comedy.
For as long as there have been movies, there have been women making them. We’re fortunate to live in a time today where female directors are gaining recognition. Still, for every Oscar-nominated film directed by a woman, dozens of others won’t achieve the same level of acclaim. It’s impossible to capture the breadth of excellent films directed by women in a list of just 10—indeed, even 100 would fall short. However, for cinephiles eager to explore cinema led by women, these selections offer a compelling starting point.