Essential Works by Women Filmmakers // 1912-2016
‘Isn’t it wonderful that you’ve had such a great career, when you had no right to have a career at all?’ — Telegram from Katherine Hepburn read out during the Director’s Guild of America tribute to Dorothy Arzner, 1975
Currently trying to prioritise watching more films directed by women and consequently will be adding to this as I watch more. 1 film per director.
Falling Leaves (dir. Alice Guy-Blaché, 1912)
Suspense (dir. Lois Weber, 1913)
The Smiling Madam Beudet (dir. Germaine Dulac, 1922)
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (dir. Lotte Reiniger, 1926)
Fieldwork Footage (dir. Zora Neale Hurston, 1928)
Merrily We Go to Hell (dir. Dorothy Arzner, 1932)
Meshes of the Afternoon (dir. Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, 1943)
Introspection (dir. Sara Kathryn Arledge, 1946)
Begone Dull Care (dir. Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren, 1949)
Love Letter (dir. Kinuyo Tanaka, 1953)
A Portrait of Ga (dir. Margaret Tait, 1955)
Cléo from 5 to 7 (dir. Agnès Varda, 1962)
The House is Black (dir. Forough Farrokhzad, 1963)
Bad Girls Go to Hell (dir. Doris Wishman, 1965)
Daisies (dir. Věra Chytilová, 1966)
Lights (dir. Marie Menken, 1966)
Fuses (dir. Carolee Schneemann, 1967)
Reason Over Passion (dir. Joyce Wieland, 1969)
The Student Nurses (dir. Stephanie Rothman, 1970)
Wanda (dir. Barbara Loden, 1970)
Kaldalon (dir. Dore O, 1971)
The Other Side of the Underneath (dir. Jane Arden, 1972)
Sambizanga (dir. Sarah Maldoror, 1972)
Love and Anarchy (dir. Lina Wertmüller, 1973)
Messiah of Evil (dir. Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, 1973)
Dyketactics (dir. Barbara Hammer, 1974)
Film About a Woman Who… (dir. Yvonne Rainer, 1974)
Hester Street (dir. Joan Micklin Silver, 1975)
India Song (dir. Marguerite Duras, 1975)
Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (dir. Chantal Akerman, 1975)
The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (dir. Margarethe von Trotta and Volker Schlöndorff, 1975)
Semiotics of the Kitchen (dir. Martha Rosler, 1975)
Mikey and Nicky (dir. Elaine May, 1976)
The Ascent (dir. Larisa Shepitko, 1977)
Riddles of the Sphinx (dir. Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen, 1977)
The Street (dir. Caroline Leaf, 1977)
Guerillere Talks (dir. Vivienne Dick, 1978)
My Brilliant Career (dir. Gillian Armstrong, 1979)
Five Year Diary (dir. Anne Charlotte Robertson, 1981)
Freak Orlando (dir. Ulrike Ottinger, 1981)
Baby Doll (dir. Tessa Hughes-Freeland, 1982)
The Slumber Party Massacre (dir. Amy Holden Jones, 1982)
Wolf-Devil Woman (dir. Pearl Chang, 1982)
Born in Flames (dir. Lizzie Borden, 1983)
Syntagma (dir. Valie Export, 1983)
Cornella: The Story of a Burning Bush (dir. Kembra Pfahler, 1985)
Desperately Seeking Susan (dir. Susan Seidelman, 1985)
Damned if you Don’t (dir. Su Friedrich, 1987)
The Slumber Party Massacre II (dir. Deborah Brock, 1987)
The First Love (dir. Mari Terashima, 1989)
Surname Viet Given Name Nam (dir. T. Minh-ha Trinh, 1989)
Daughters of the Dust (dir. Julie Dash, 1991)
Possibly in Michigan (dir. Cecelia Condit, 1991)
Orlando (dir. Sally Potter, 1992)
beDevil (dir. Tracey Moffatt, 1993)
Clueless (dir. Amy Heckerling, 1995)
Party Girl (dir. Daisy von Scherler Mayer, 1995)
Bound (dir. Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, 1996)
The Watermelon Woman (dir. Cheryl Dunye, 1996)
The Apple (dir. Samira Makhmalbaf, 1998)
Turbulent (dir. Shirin Neshat, 1998)
But I’m a Cheerleader (dir. Jamie Babbit, 1999)
Ratcatcher (dir. Lynne Ramsay, 1999)
The Day I Became a Woman (dir. Marzieh Meshkini, 2000)
Bridget Jones’s Diary (dir. Sharon Maguire, 2001)
Josie and the Pussycats (dir. Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, 2001)
La Ciénaga (dir. Lucrecia Martel, 2001)
In My Skin (dir. Marina de Van, 2002)
Innocence (dir. Lucile Hadžihalilović, 2004)
Oxhide (dir. Liu Jiayin, 2005)
35 Shots of Rum (dir. Claire Denis, 2008)
Bright Star (dir. Jane Campion, 2009)
Everyone Else (dir. Maren Ade, 2009)
Hanezu (dir. Naomi Kawase, 2011)
Pariah (dir. Dee Rees, 2011)
Tomboy (dir. Céline Sciamma, 2011)
Stories We Tell (dir. Sarah Polley, 2012)
Wadjda (dir. Haifaa al-Mansour, 2012)
Belle (dir. Amma Asante, 2013)
Appropriate Behaviour (dir. Desiree Akhavan, 2014)
The Babadook (dir. Jennifer Kent, 2014)
The Invitation (dir. Karyn Kusama, 2016)
13th (dir. Ava DuVernay, 2016)
Certain Women (dir. Kelly Reichardt, 2016)
