From patriarchy's violence to antisexism and sexual revolution
This list is about films that have been praised for creating new perspectives and new representations of women in film. It is a launching point from which one can see through womens eyes the violence they deal with in a patriarchical society and also explore new female voices.
There has been a common misconception that all feminist films are about butch women who actively hate men and fight for equal rights/abortion laws/equal pay/etc. This one-dimensional stereotype doesn’t do justice to the complex elements that are at work in feminist films.
For instance, filmmakers making films with antipatriarchical content are not only concerned with the content, but they can also challenge the notions of heteronormative coupling, narrative closure, editing, fetishization, objectification, modes of (dis)pleasure, temporality, and spatiality.
In experimenting with the form and content of a film, a filmmaker can incorporate feminine perspectives into the diegetic film world while also challenging patriarchal film grammar. It is not solely about creating gendered difference, but it is about building a cinematic language that can give pleasure (and displeasure) to a variety of spectators.
There has been a common misconception that all feminist films are about butch women who actively hate men and fight for equal rights/abortion laws/equal pay/etc. This one-dimensional stereotype doesn’t do justice to the complex elements that are at work in feminist films.
For instance, filmmakers making films with antipatriarchical content are not only concerned with the content, but they can also challenge the notions of heteronormative coupling, narrative closure, editing, fetishization, objectification, modes of (dis)pleasure, temporality, and spatiality.
In experimenting with the form and content of a film, a filmmaker can incorporate feminine perspectives into the diegetic film world while also challenging patriarchal film grammar. It is not solely about creating gendered difference, but it is about building a cinematic language that can give pleasure (and displeasure) to a variety of spectators.
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- DirectorCéline SciammaStarsNoémie MerlantAdèle HaenelLuàna BajramiOn an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
- DirectorVincent ParonnaudMarjane SatrapiStarsChiara MastroianniCatherine DeneuveGena RowlandsA precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.
- DirectorDamiano DamianiStarsAlessio OranoOrnella MutiTano CimarosaA young poor girl receives a marriage proposal from a mafia novice. She's going to refuse, but he's going to insist - at all cost.Το 1966 η Ιταλία συγκλονίστηκε από τη θαρραλέα προσπάθεια μιας γυναίκας να αμφισβητήσει τη μεταχείριση των θυμάτων βιασμού από τη χώρα της. Η Φράνκα Βιόλα έγινε η πρώτη Ιταλίδα που αρνήθηκε τον «αποκαταστατικό γάμο» -«matrimonio riparatore» στα ιταλικά- αφού είχε προηγηθεί η απαγωγή και ο βιασμός της. Αρνήθηκε κατηγορηματικά να παντρευτεί τον βιαστή της.
Η Βιόλα μεγάλωσε στο Αλκάμο της Σικελίας σε μια αγροτική οικογένεια. Το 1963, σε ηλικία 15 ετών, αρραβωνιάστηκε με τον Φιλίπο Μελόντια, τον 23χρονο ανιψιό μέλους της τοπικής μαφίας, αλλά μετά τη σύλληψη του Μελόντια για κλοπή, ο πατέρας της Βιόλα επέμενε να διακοπεί ο αρραβώνας, κάτι που έγινε. Στη συνέχεια ο Μελόντια έφυγε για τη Γερμανία.
Το 1965 η Βιόλα αρραβωνιάστηκε με έναν άλλον άντρα. Ο Μελόντια τότε είχε επιστρέψει στο Αλκάμο και προσπαθούσε ανεπιτυχώς να ξαναμπεί στη ζωή της Βιόλα και απειλούσε τόσο τον πατέρα της όσο και τον μνηστήρα της.
Τις πρώτες πρωινές ώρες της 26ης Δεκεμβρίου του 1965, ο Μελόντια και μια ομάδα 12 ένοπλων μπράβων του εισέβαλαν στο σπίτι της Βιόλα και την απήγαγαν χτυπώντας τη μητέρα της και παίρνοντας όμηρο και τον 8χρονο αδερφό της, τον Μαριάνο, ο οποίος αρνιόταν να αφήσει την αδερφή του.
Ο Μαριάνο αφέθηκε ελεύθερος λίγες ώρες αργότερα, αλλά η Φράνκα κρατήθηκε για 8 ημέρες στο σπίτι της αδερφής του Μελόντια (μια αγροικία στα περίχωρα της πόλης), όπου και βιάστηκε επανειλημμένα.
Ο Μελόντια της είπε τότε ότι θα αναγκαζόταν να τον παντρευτεί για να μη θεωρείται «άτιμη» γυναίκα, αλλά η Βιόλα απάντησε ότι δεν είχε καμία πρόθεση να τον παντρευτεί και, επιπλέον, ότι θα του έκανε μήνυση για απαγωγή και βιασμό.
Η δίκη είχε μεγάλη απήχηση καθώς η συμπεριφορά της Βιόλα συγκρουόταν με τις παραδοσιακές κοινωνικές συμπεριφορές στη Νότια Ιταλία, σύμφωνα με τις οποίες μια γυναίκα θα έχανε την τιμή της αν δεν παντρευόταν τον άντρα με τον οποίο έχασε την παρθενιά της.
Σύμφωνα με τον παραδοσιακό κοινωνικό κώδικα, αυτή η επιλογή της θα την έκανε «donna svergognata»: «γυναίκα χωρίς τιμή» -κυριολεκτικά: «αδιάντροπη γυναίκα»-, καθώς είχε χάσει την παρθενιά της χωρίς να παντρευτεί. Είναι αξιοσημείωτο ότι αυτές οι έννοιες δεν αφορούσαν αποκλειστικά στη Σικελία ή στις αγροτικές περιοχές.
Στον ιταλικό Ποινικό Κώδικα της εποχής αναφερόταν εμμέσως η εξίσωση του βιασμού με το αδίκημα της προσβολής της «δημόσιας ηθικής» και όχι με το αδίκημα κατά κάποιου προσώπου και επισημοποιούνταν ο θεσμός του «αποκαταστατικού γάμου», με τον οποίον όταν ένας βιαστής παντρευόταν το θύμα του, θα εξαφανιζόταν αυτόματα και το έγκλημά του.
Η δίκη έκανε αίσθηση στο Αλκάμο και όχι μόνο. Πλήθη συνέρρεαν σε συζητήσεις σχετικά με τη δίκη. Ο Mελόντια τελικά κρίθηκε ένοχος και καταδικάστηκε σε 11 χρόνια φυλάκιση (αργότερα με έφεση σε δέκα), με επτά από τους συνεργούς του να τιμωρούνται με τετραετή φυλάκιση. Το άρθρο του νόμου σύμφωνα με το οποίο ένας βιαστής μπορούσε να σβήσει το έγκλημά του αν παντρευόταν ο ίδιος το θύμα του δεν καταργήθηκε παρά μόλις το 1981.
Η σεξουαλική βία ορίστηκε ως έγκλημα εναντίον του ατόμου (αντί κατά της «δημόσιας ηθικής») μόλις το 1996. Ο Μελόντια αποφυλακίστηκε το 1976 και εξορίστηκε από τη Σικελία. Δολοφονήθηκε στη Μόντενα δύο χρόνια αργότερα.
Η Φράνκα Βιόλα παντρεύτηκε τον Τζουζέπε Ρουίζι τον Δεκέμβριο του 1968, όταν ήταν σχεδόν 21 ετών. Συμπαθούσαν ο ένας τον άλλον από μικροί. Ο Ρουίζι επέμενε ότι θα είχε παντρευόταν το κορίτσι που πάντα αγαπούσε παρά τις απειλές και τις φήμες, αλλά έπρεπε να κατέχει άδεια όπλου μετά την απόκτηση της άδειας γάμου, για να προστατεύει τον εαυτό του και τη μελλοντική σύζυγό του.
Τόσο ο Ιταλός Πρόεδρος Giuseppe Saragat όσο και ο Πάπας Παύλος VI εξέφρασαν δημόσια την εκτίμησή τους για το θάρρος της Φράνκα Βιόλα και την αλληλεγγύη τους προς το ζευγάρι. Η Βιόλα και ο Ρουίζι έκαναν τρία παιδιά (δύο γιους και μια κόρη). Η Φράνκα Βιόλα εξακολουθεί να ζει στο Αλκάμο με τον σύζυγό της.
Στην ιστορία αυτή βασίστηκε η ιταλική ταινία " La moglie la più bella" , του 1970, με την Ορνέλα Μούτι. - DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowBirgitta ValbergGunnel LindblomIn 14th-century Sweden, an innocent yet pampered teenage girl and her family's pregnant and jealous servant set out from their farm to deliver candles to church, but only one returns from events that transpire in the woods along the way.Two sisters, Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullmann) reunite with their sister, Agnes (Harriet Andersson), who is dying of cancer. Bergman focuses his energy less on constructing a traditional narrative trajectory, and more on exploring themes of mortality, sexuality, and class through a feminine lens.
There is no denying the genius of Bergman, who not only knew how to craft brilliant characters, but also knew how to visualize their psychological states. Some of the most enduring images from Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers) come from the maternal Anna (Kari Sylwan), who lays Agnes on her bare breast, and from Karin, who masturbates with a broken piece of glass.
http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/20-essential-feminist-films/ - DirectorKim Ki-dukStarsLee EolKwak Ji-minHan Yeo-reumJae-Young is an amateur prostitute who sleeps with men while her best friend Yeo-Jin "manages" her, fixing dates, taking care of the money and making sure the coast is clear. When Jae-Young falls in love with one of those man she suppresses her feelings towards him in respect of her friend who's jealous.
- DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsOksana AkinshinaArtyom BogucharskiyPavel PonomaryovSixteen-year-old Lilja and her only friend, the young boy Volodja, live in Russia, fantasizing about a better life. One day, Lilja falls in love with Andrej, who is going to Sweden, and invites Lilja to come along and start a new life.*Spoiler*
Η ταινία είναι βασισμένη στην ιστορία της Danguolė Rasalaitė μίας Λιθουανής κοπέλας που βρέθηκε εγκλωβισμένη στα δίκτυα κυκλώματος παιδικής πορνείας και απασχόλησε με την υπόθεσή της την Σουηδική κοινωνία.
Η 16χρονη Λίλια, εγκαταλελειμμένη από τη μητέρα της, μένει σε ένα άθλιο διαμέρισμα σε ρωσική κωμόπολη, γίνεται φίλη με έναν 11χρονο που ο μέθυσος πατέρας του έχει διώξει από το σπίτι. Η μητέρα δεν έχει καρδιά, αλλά είναι μια κοινωνία που συνθλίβεται από τη φτώχεια και την απόγνωση. Η Λίλια φεύγει για τη Σουηδία, ελπίζοντας σε ένα καλύτερο μέλλον, για να πέσει σε ένα αδίστακτο κύκλωμα πορνείας ανηλίκων. Ένα σκληρό πορτρέτο της ζωής στη Ρωσία της μετα-σοβιετικής εποχής, ιδωμένη μέσα από την οπτική των εφήβων. 5 μεγάλα βραβεία στα σουηδικά όσκαρ και ερμηνεία-αποκάλυψη από τη νεοφερμένη Οξάνα Ακινσίνα.
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The events in Lilya 4-Ever were taken directly from the life of Danguolė Rasalaitė, the girl whose experience with sex trafficking inspired the film. There was not a lot to be found about Danguolė and it turned out that Moodysson mostly made up the plot of Lilya 4-Ever.
https://necsus-ejms.org/problems-gendered-pov-shot-lilya-4-ever/
The issue of human trafficking is frequently represented in visual images on television and in cinema. These narratives often focus on the selling of young women into the sex industry. One of the most prominent productions on the subject is the Swedish film Lilya 4-Ever (2002). Written and directed by Lukas Moodysson, the film tells the story of a tough adolescent, Lilya. Abandoned by her mother and left to fend for herself, Lilya turns to prostitution in order to survive. She is later trafficked to Sweden. She eventually commits suicide. Set in an unnamed post-Soviet city, the film reflects the reality of the increase in trafficked women from this region since the collapse of the USSR. The article analyzes Moodysson's film as an important model for depicting trafficking. Specific focus is given to the way the director defines Lilya and her milieu and engages seriously with issues of globalization, poverty, post-Soviet realities, and the very real issue of human trafficking. Most notably, Moodysson's film offers a depiction of trafficking that eschews any sexual objectification of the film's protagonist and combines progressive filmmaking with a melodramatic narrative to create a film that inspires extra-diegetic activism. Lilya 4-Ever is an emotionally impactful narrative, a modern-day melodrama for the twenty-first century. - DirectorRobert EggersStarsAnya Taylor-JoyRalph InesonKate DickieA family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.The Witch: A New England Folktale (sometimes stylized as The VVitch) is a great witchcraft film because it takes the traditional narrative of the genre and turns it around, showing the restrictive Christian faith that creates a life full of societal pressures and guilt for a young girl, and how delivering herself to evil might seem like a good escape to that.
Anya Taylor-Joy achieves a spectacular performance in the lead role, but really everything in The Witch seems calculated and executed to perfection. The cinematography uses shadows like very few recent films, the music is tense and unforgettable, and the whole cast gives everything to their roles… It’s one of the best films released this year, and it absolutely deserves a watch.
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Already, many label the coming-of-age journey of The Witch‘s female protagonist Thomasin as a feminist tale of empowerment. And indeed, Eggers’ story does appear to validate what your feminist history teacher has been saying all these years: fear of female power fueled the Salem witch trials. What killed all those women (and some men) was a patriarchal society that not only thought of women as the weaker gender but also saw their sexuality as literal dark magic. The Witch covers it all, setting Thomasin and her budding bosoms up for slaughter as the natural scapegoat for evil.
But something about the feminist interpretation of the film’s events feels amiss to me. So, when Eggers held a Q&A after a showing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music this past Saturday, I decided to ask him about it. Somehow, his answer only made the claims of empowerment even more intriguing.
Before we got to mine in the final moment of the Q&A, however, a man to my left asked the question on everyone’s mind. Would the director and talented, fresh-faced actress Anya Taylor-Joy consider Thomasin’s final resting place in Satan’s blood-soaked embrace a “happy” ending? Taylor-Joy answered: yes, because it was the first choice she really got to make. Yes, because it meant empowerment. Yes, because society left her no other option: if she went back to the plantation, she’d face the same accusations; and she couldn’t very well run a farm on her own with nothing but her dead family’s corpses for fertilizer.
Already, red flags were firing. How can Thomasin’s story be one of female empowerment when, as the final scenes imply, she chooses Satan because she literally has no other choice? If the story had painted her ultimate destiny as a clear decision between the life she lived with her family and dancing naked in the woods around a flame, that would be one thing. But Thomasin is no Carrie (of the Stephen King novel), who, despite ending up worse off in many ways, at least chose to be up there of her own volition.
I found the answer to this discontinuity once Eggers answered my question about what it had been like to write a movie about the fear of female power as a man. I asked the question for no other reason than I was genuinely curious about the challenges and insights that experience might have come with. Men, of course, can and have and will continue to write fascinating stories about female empowerment in horror. But, unarguably, a difference between Brian de Palma’s film adaptation of Carrie (1976) and Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie (2013) exists, for example—and it’s to do with much more than Hollywood’s declining artistic integrity.
To his credit, however, Eggers answered a difficult question with potentially catastrophic backlash with a careful (if somewhat fumbling) kind of honesty. Like many who get asked a sticky question they don’t have a semblance of a script to during press events, he clammed up, at first mumbling some vague PR response about consulting many different types of people with many different perspectives (in, I hate to say it, a somewhat eerie echo of Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women.”) Then he gave the honest answer: an equally awkward declaration of his loving and important relationship to his mom. Finally, Eggers gave the interesting and truest answer: “I didn’t set out to make a feminist empowerment narrative. But I learned that writing a witch story is kind of one and the same.”
The Witch, is a tale of empowerment, that can better be understood as a straightforward case study of the puritan woman’s dilemma. Because if nothing else, The Witch reminds us that, to a group of women who truly believed that eternal hell and divinity were real, inevitable destinations, sometimes your best chance at salvation was to turn to pure evil. While all other arms—including those of the ones you loved—are pushing you into the flames, Satan’s open up and welcome you.
But, really, you didn’t even need to be accused of witchcraft in order to live an inherently lesser and more sinful life in the eyes of the Lord you were supposed to worship blindly. Because, in the Puritan version of Christianity, woman has no true place among God: her faith is inherently less powerful than a man’s. Even though Genesis I (the older version of the ultimate origin story) describes man and woman as being made at the same time and both in the image of God, Genesis II (the Puritan preferred chapter) twists it a little differently. In that version, man is created in the image of God, while Eve, created from Adam’s rib and thus made in his image, is basically a notch above animals in the Eden totem pole. Thus women, Puritan’s believed, were more susceptible to the devil because their souls and bodies were inherently weaker. Simply put, men have a direct line to God. Meanwhile, women’s calls get patched through to a man first, then finally to God if the man vouches for her—but also if she’s unlucky, she could accidentally get transferred to the Satan hotline. - DirectorAna Lily AmirpourStarsSheila VandArash MarandiMarshall ManeshIn the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.
- DirectorAnna BillerStarsSamantha RobinsonJeffrey Vincent PariseLaura WaddellA modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.What would you do for a love as perfect as a fairytale? For Elaine, the ethereal and disturbed star of Anna Biller’s The Love Witch (2016) played by Samantha Robinson, the answer to that question would be: by any occultic means necessary.
She, like many little girls all around the world, grew up being fed the fantasy of the strong and capable Prince who would smite all the Princess’s demons and love her fiercely. In today’s society, this story is largely recognized as one produced by a patriarchal system which, through the use of the male gaze, limits women to damsels in distress worthy of pity and in dire need of a hyper-masculine male savior whose heroism would be rewarded with the damsel’s body and beauty. Anna Biller turns this concept on its head to affirm that in the same way men have fantasies of obtaining a beautiful, female prize, so do women themselves possess sensual fantasies and perceptions of love and romance.
Female fantasies do not exist outside of the influence of the male gaze in The Love Witch, rather it focuses on how women’s ideas of self and relationships, though there own, become twisted and mutated by the normalized stereotypical gender roles and desires of cis-gendered heterosexual men. This all sets the groundwork for the warped and misguided actions Elaine is more than willing to take – whether it be to drug a man so that he embraces her or concoct a witch bottle so that a deceased lover may always have a piece of her – if they bring her one step closer to finding the man of her psychedelic dreams.
When the audience is first introduced to Elaine, she has resumed her fervid search for love after the suspicious death of her ex-husband who she explains to others has merely “left” her. And she has now, in her own words, been reborn as a witch, equipped with a deeper and truer understanding of men thanks to the teachings of the Wiccan coven that took her in during her time of sorrow and redefined how she was meant to reflect her womanhood to the world.
This is where director and screenwriter Biller, who holds a total of ten credits on The Love Witch, offers a perception of men not bound by the flattery and forgiveness of the male gaze. The inherent nature of men is not the strong, resilient and dependable identity that has been historically favored by mainstream content, but rather a childlike existence so fragile that any refusal of their desires or assertion of power by a woman would shatter their reality thus disabling their ability to love.
How then does a woman on the hunt for a perfectly masculine male specimen to call her own manage to give and to get love?
https://jynarro.com/2020/10/30/feminist-film-analysis-the-love-witch/#:~:text=Female%20fantasies%20do%20not%20exist,of%20cis%2Dgendered%20heterosexual%20men. - DirectorJafar PanahiStarsMaryiam Palvin AlmaniNargess MamizadehMojgan FaramarziVarious women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
- DirectorJean-Pierre DardenneLuc DardenneStarsArta DobroshiJérémie RenierFabrizio RongioneLorna, a young Albanian woman living in Belgium, has her sights set on opening a snack bar with her lover Sokol. In order to do so, she has become involved in a scam conducted by Fabio, a gangster.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsNicole KidmanPaul BettanyLauren BacallA woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town she finds out that their support has a price.
- DirectorJean-Pierre DardenneLuc DardenneStarsMarion CotillardFabrizio RongioneCatherine SaléeLiège, Belgium. Sandra is a factory worker who discovers that her workmates have opted for a EUR1,000 bonus in exchange for her dismissal. She has only a weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses in order to keep her job.
- DirectorDominik MollStarsBastien BouillonBouli LannersThéo CholbiIt is said that every investigator has a crime that haunts them, a case that hurts him more than the others, without him necessarily knowing why. For Yohan that case is the murder of Clara.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsBrigitte MiraEl Hedi ben SalemBarbara ValentinA lonely widow meets a much younger Moroccan worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.
- DirectorCristian MungiuStarsAnamaria MarincaLaura VasiliuVlad IvanovA woman assists her friend in arranging an illegal abortion in 1980s Romania.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsAnna KarinaSady RebbotAndré S. LabartheTwelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsKim Min-heeHa Jung-wooCho Jin-woongA woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsAnton WalbrookMarius GoringMoira ShearerA young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.‘The Red Shoes’ Remains A Haunting Masterpiece about the Pains of Female Ambition
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes is a hypnotic dead drop into the psyche of an ambitious ballerina who is ultimately confronted with a stark choice: either devote herself 100% to dance or keep her beloved husband content. While The Red Shoes uses heightened visuals and a fairy tale ballet to ratchet up the psychological tension, it still speaks to one of the issues that has dogged women for the past century. Can women have “it all?” Is it possible to attain greatness in an art or industry while also fulfilling the needs in your personal life?
The film’s tragic message feels particularly urgent once again in 2020, a time when many women are feeling pressure like never before to choose between their career and home life. While a facile reading of The Red Shoes might lead viewers to believe that women can’t have it all, the truth may be even more disturbing. The story of The Red Shoes suggests that a work/life balance can be achieved…as long as the jealousy of the men is sated. It’s not that women are incapable of having it all, but that the men in their life might not let them.
The Red Shoes stars dancer and actress Moira Shearer as Vicky Page, a London society girl with big dreams of being a ballet star. The ambitious girl has to work hard, though, to impress Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) of her worth. After he catches her dancing perfectly to a sped up musical accompaniment of Swan Lake at a local theatre, he decides to give her a spot in his illustrious company. At the same time, Lermontov has taken the young composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) under his wing after learning that his latest ballet was plagiarized by the upstart. In Europe, Lermontov asks Craster to rewrite a ballet based on the fairy tale of “The Red Shoes” for Vicky to star in.
The original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, “The Red Shoes,” is a rebuke of vanity. In the tale, an adopted peasant girl gets her foster mother to purchase her decadently beautiful red shoes to replace her ratty old ones. Wearing the shoes not only bars her from entering church, where only black shoes were allowed, but invites a curse. Once she starts dancing in the shoes, she is doomed to never stop. It separates her from everyone she knows and marks her as a cautionary tale.
In the film, the story is transformed into a metaphor for Vicky’s ambition as a ballerina. Indeed, it seems to represents all ambition. Throughout the film, Lermentov makes it clear that he wants full control over his ballerinas. When the last prima donna leaves to get married, he makes a snide comment about her life choice in full earshot of Vicky. However, early in the film, Vicky is so single-focused on her career, she has no problems embracing the rigors of The Ballet of the Red Shoes or any of the pieces Lermentov tosses her way.
All that changes when it’s revealed that while Lermentov’s company has been touring Europe, Vicky has fallen in love with the composer Julian. After this, Lermentov flies into a rage and Vicky is forced with a decision: the ballet or Julian. She actually retires, to wed the rising star composer. But all the while, Julian’s best work, The Ballet of the Red Shoes, goes unperformed by Vicky or anyone else. Finally, Lermentov lures Vicky back to Europe to dance the role, but Julian is incensed with rage over what he sees is a betrayal. There’s a huge fight and Vicky chooses her art this time.
https://decider.com/2020/08/12/the-red-shoes-hbo-max-can-women-have-it-all/ - DirectorPawel PawlikowskiStarsAgata KuleszaAgata TrzebuchowskaDawid OgrodnikA novice nun about to take her vows uncovers a family secret dating back to the German occupation.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsMania AkbariAmina MaherKamran AdlA visual social examination in the form of ten conversations between a driving woman and her various pick-ups and hitchhikers.
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsCecilia RothMarisa ParedesCandela PeñaA comedy-drama about a bereaved mother, and overwrought actress, her jealous lover, and a pregnant nun.Manuela (Cecilia Roth) lives in Madrid where she dedicates her life and career to providing for her son, Esteban (Eloy Azorín). When he is pronounced brain dead after a car accident, Manuela makes the difficult decision to donate his organs to patients in need of transplants. Realizing there is nothing left for her in Madrid, she returns to Barcelona in order to find her estranged husband and tell him about the son he never knew.
The second entry of Almodóvar’s unofficial “Brain Dead Trilogy,” Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother) ends with a fitting dedication that succinctly describes its purpose: “To all actresses who have played actresses, to all women who act, to men who act and become women, to all the people who want to be mothers… to my mother.”
The film is about the roles women are given in life and the roles that they craft for themselves. It is about a variety of women, from lesbian actresses and pregnant nuns to grieving mothers and transgender prostitutes, who rely on one another for guidance and direction. - DirectorChantal AkermanStarsDelphine SeyrigJan DecorteHenri StorckA lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. However, something happens that changes her safe routine.Akerman examines the routine of Jeanne Dielman (Delphine Seyrig), a mother who cooks, cleans, and prostitutes herself in order to make a living for her and her son. Over the course of three days, Jeanne’s robotic routine slowly deteriorates, leading to all out chaos with one of her johns.
It is a film that relies on cinematic limitations: it limits your perspective by its lack of editing and lack of camera movement. The film uses its three and a half hour runtime to carefully construct and habituate the viewers to Jeanne’s routine, only to break it down on the second and third day (you wouldn’t believe how many audible gasps I heard when Jeanne forgot to put a lid on a jar, or when she forgot to button a button).
Akerman constructs a tragedy out of the mundane and creates a portrait of a woman who can neither be fetishized nor objectified. It is a bittersweet love letter to Akerman’s own mother, whose postwar anxiety is reflected in Akerman’s filmography. - DirectorAgnès VardaStarsSandrine BonnaireMacha MérilStéphane FreissA young woman's body is found frozen in a ditch. Through flashbacks and interviews, we see the events that led to her inevitable death.One of Varda’s most successful films, Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond) is a docudrama that attempts to construct the life of an elusive drifter named Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire), who freezes to death in an empty field.
The film interviews of a slew of characters, who met and interacted (to some capacity) with Mona. Varda constructs a portrait of a woman who is walking toward her death, stripped bare of all her commodities and facing the unknown with no armor to protect her. - DirectorJean-Pierre DardenneLuc DardenneStarsÉmilie DequenneFabrizio RongioneAnne YernauxYoung and impulsive Rosetta lives with her alcoholic mother and, moved by despair, she will do anything to maintain a job.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsMaria FalconettiEugene SilvainAndré BerleyIn 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsCatherine DeneuveNino CastelnuovoAnne VernonA young woman separated from her lover by war faces a life-altering decision.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsThérèse LiotardValérie MairesseRobert DadièsThe lives of Pomme, an aspiring singer, and Suzanne, a struggling mother, as they search for their own identity in 1970s France.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsShôtarô HanayagiKôkichi TakadaRyôtarô KawanamiThe adopted son of a legendary actor, and an aspiring star himself, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection - only for her to give up everything for her beloved's glory.
- DirectorMoufida TlatliStarsHind SabriGhalya LacroixNejia OuerghiAs she grows up, Alia (the daughter of housemaid Khedija) learns the secrets of the peaceful palace where she and her mother live.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsIvana KarbanováJitka CerhováMarie CeskováAfter realizing that all world is spoiled, Marie and Marie are committed to be spoiled themselves. They rip off older men, feast in lavish meals and do all kinds of mischief. But what is all this leading to?Two women named Marie (Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová) decide that they are done acting like good girls and instead want to be as corrupt as society.
Employing a multitude of formalist experimentations, including changing film stock and destroying any coherent narrative trajectory, Chytilová constructs a dangerous feminist masterpiece that proved too subversive for the Czech government (the film would be banned for its wasteful depiction of food).
It is a film about defying social and narrative expectations, allowing a female director to play with film form and film content. The final sequence goes as far as having the two Maries destroy a banquet, only to be punished, forced to clean their mess, and killed by a falling chandelier. Transgressive and bubbly, Sedmikrásky (Daisies) is an entertaining film that constructs brilliant moments of pleasure (and displeasure), aided by its colorful characters. - DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsHanna SchygullaKlaus LöwitschIvan DesnyMaria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s.
- DirectorLizzie BordenStarsHoneyAdele BerteiJean SatterfieldSet ten years after the most peaceful revolution in United States history, it presents a dystopia in which the issues of many groups - minorities, liberals, gay rights organizations, feminists - are dealt with by the government.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsShelley DuvallSissy SpacekJanice RuleTwo roommates/physical therapists, one a vain woman and the other an awkward teenager, share an increasingly bizarre relationship.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsHolly HunterHarvey KeitelSam NeillIn the mid-19th century a mute woman is sent to New Zealand along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a farmer, but is soon lusted after by a farm worker.Sold into a marriage with a New Zealand frontiersman, Ada (Holly Hunter, in her Oscar-winning role) is accompanied by two companions: her young daughter, Flora (Anna Paquin, who also won an Oscar for her role), and a piano. Ada’s marriage is marked by her infidelity and she explores her sexuality with another man named George Baines (Harvey Keitel), who has integrated himself into the Maori culture.
Jane Campion’s The Piano is a masterpiece in all senses of the word. It is a visual and tactile film that explores the sensuality of one woman’s sexuality. Elements, such as Ada’s mute voice, the juxtaposition of period piece costumes against the forest/beach, and the sensual images of Ada’s relationship to her piano, help to create a feminist masterpiece about female desire and sexual awakening. - DirectorAgnès VardaStarsCorinne MarchandAntoine BourseillerDominique DavrayCleo, a singer and hypochondriac, becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer while awaiting test results from her doctor.A pop singer, Cléo (Corinne Marchand), wanders through the streets of Paris while awaiting her medical results. Fearing that she has stomach cancer, Cléo endures the wait by passing time with close friends and new acquaintances.
Like the previous entry on this list, Cléo de 5 à 7 (Cléo from 5 to 7) is Varda’s portrait of a woman stripped bare in front of an unknown future, facing death without her fake hair and ruffled feathers.
Years later, Madonna approached Varda in order to remake the film, but Varda felt that Madonna’s remake would lose the feminist appeal and meaning of the film (Varda stated that Madonna could play the capricious Cléo, but that she wasn’t ready to tackle Cléo’s serious side). It is an examination of a woman who evolves and matures in order to confront her own mortality. - DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsBibi AnderssonLiv UllmannMargaretha KrookA nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.Alma (Bibi Andersson) is placed in charge of Elisabet (Liv Ullmann), an actress who had a nervous breakdown during the production of Electra. Rendered mute, Elisabet observes Alma, who manages to spill her secrets and disclose her fears to this silent witness. It is a film about identity and it is a film about form, constantly calling attention to the artificial nature of the medium.
Bergman has crafted many psychological and emotional portraits of women, but the duality of the two leads of Persona adds a complex feminine mystique into the mix (who can forget the image of Elisabet pulling Alma’s hair away from her face). He creates a complex film founded upon the psychological states of two emotionally unstable women, calling into questions the nature of existence, the artificiality of identity, and the fear of a silence. - DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDanny GloverWhoopi GoldbergOprah WinfreyA tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry.A survivor of sexual and physical abuse, Celie (Whoopi Goldberg, in her film debut) writes letters to God and to her sister Nettie (Akosua Busia), chronicling everything that she has to endure. Through all of her hardships and demons, Celie finds her voice and finds the strength to stand up to her oppressive husband.
Based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Steven Spielberg’s adaptation (a watered down version of the original, primarily in its handling of the lesbian elements) maintains an important aspect of the novel: strong women.
Each actress tackles her role with a great ferocity, especially Whoopi Goldberg whose performance as Celie is the emotional anchor of the film.
Each female character transgresses her allotment in life, especially during a time when both women and people of color were considered second-class citizens. Through it all, you identify with these women, relish in their pleasure, and tear up when Celie is finally reunited with her sister, Nettie. - DirectorJafar PanahiStarsSima Mobarak-ShahiShayesteh IraniAyda SadeqiThe struggle of women in a country that excludes them from entering stadiums.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsJean-Claude DrouotMarie-France BoyerMarcelle Faure-BertinFrançois, a young carpenter, lives a happy, uncomplicated life with his wife Thérèse and their two small children. One day he meets Emilie, a clerk in the local post office.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsEllen BurstynKris KristoffersonMia BendixsenA recently widowed woman is on the road with her precocious young son, determined to make a new life for herself as a singer.Alice Hyatt (Ellen Burstyn, in her Oscar-winning role) leaves her New Mexican town after her husband is killed in a car accident (I’m starting to notice the role car accidents play in particular feminist films). Pursuing a childhood dream of becoming a singer, Alice and her son, Tommy (Alfred Lutter), head toward California, only to find a surprising detour at Mel’s Diner in Tucson, Arizona.
It is surprising that Scorsese, who established a career built on ultra violence and machismo, was able to craft such a wonderful film about a central female character. Alice meets a variety of women, including the fiercely independent Flo (Diane Ladd) whose “Kiss my grits” has become a part of pop culture.
Through it all, Alice never gives up on her dreams, even when her current situation proves too hectic. She still finds something to keep her going, and knows that she has more opportunities than she had in New Mexico. - DirectorJohn WatersStarsDivineDavid LocharyMary Vivian PearceA spoiled schoolgirl runs away from home, gets pregnant while hitch-hiking, and ends up as a fashion model for a pair of beauticians who like to photograph women committing crimes.
- DirectorJohn CassavetesStarsGena RowlandsBuck HenryJulie CarmenWhen a young boy's family is killed by the mob, their tough neighbor Gloria becomes his reluctant guardian. In possession of a book that the gangsters want, the pair go on the run in New York.Cassavetes had a knack for creating powerful representations of women, but none were as staunchly independent as Gloria. Rowlands’ performance as the titular Gloria challenges the conventions of the gangster genre, creating a former mob mistress who is neither passive nor objectified.
Gloria is willing to do whatever it takes to protect Phil (John Adames), the mouthy Puerto Rican boy who is concealing incriminating accounts books that belong to the mob. Along the way, Gloria even manages to tap into her suppressed maternal instincts. - DirectorPaul MazurskyStarsJill ClayburghAlan BatesMichael MurphyA wealthy woman from Manhattan's Upper East Side struggles to deal with her new identity and her sexuality after her husband of 16 years leaves her for a younger woman.Jill Clayburgh is exceptional in her Oscar-nominated role as Erica, a complacent wife and mother who discovers that Martin (Michael Murphy), her husband of 17 years, wants a divorce. The dissolution of Erica’s marriage leads to her newfound independence and an exploration of her untapped sexuality.
Mazursky’s careful direction and nuanced writing explore how far a woman will go to evaluate who she was, who she is, and who she wants to be. Erica evolves from repression to liberation, aided in large part by her group of female friends, her therapist, and her teenage daughter.
The film challenges the notion of narrative closure and “happily ever after” by showing Erica rejecting an invitation to live with her artist boyfriend, Saul (Alan Bates). As the two depart and Saul gives Erica a present (an enormous painting), Erica roams the busy streets of New York, facing an unknown future while carrying her enormous present. - DirectorRidley ScottStarsSusan SarandonGeena DavisHarvey KeitelTwo best friends set out on an adventure, but it soon turns around to a terrifying escape from being hunted by the police, as these two women escape for the crimes they committed.
- DirectorChantal AkermanStarsChantal AkermanNiels ArestrupClaire Wauthion'Je' is a girl voluntarily lock up in a room. 'Tu' is the script. 'Il' is a lorry driver. 'Elle' is the girlfriend.Before Jeanne Dielman, there was Je, tu, il, elle, a portrait of a woman (Chantal Akerman), or rather an aimless narrative that paints the woman in various settings (a locked room, a café, a truck, and her girlfriend’s house) and situations (eating only powdered sugar, fellating a truck driver, and having sex with her girlfriend).
The film’s slow pace and lack of editing feel like a rehearsal for her later masterpiece, and the use of long takes helps to create an image of an unobjectified woman participating in unfetishized sex scenes.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsMargit CarstensenHanna SchygullaKatrin SchaakeA troubled fashion designer strikes up a romance with a much younger woman.Die bitteren Tranen der Petra von Kant (The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant) follows Petra (Margit Carstensen), a prominent fashion designer who juggles a series of sado-masochistic relationships with her model (Hanna Schygulla), her assistant (Irm Hermann), and her mother (Gisela Fackeldey).
Aided by Fassbinder’s keen eye for theatrical mise-en-scene, The Bitter Tears is an exemplary look at Fassbinder’s ability to create a complex variety of women (from meek and timid to sultry and villainous). Their relationships are defined by a sense of agency, with each woman deciding how she wants to be treated and how she wants to treat others.
The crème de la crème comes at the end when a remorseful Petra apologizes to her assistant, Marlene, only to have Marlene shun her in disgust (revealing that Marlene preferred being the submissive party in their work related relationship).
- DirectorSally PotterStarsTilda SwintonBilly ZaneQuentin CrispAfter Queen Elizabeth I commands him not to grow old, a young nobleman struggles with love and his place in the world.A chauvinist nobleman named Orlando (Tilda Swinton) inherits a large estate from Queen Elizabeth, who makes Orlando promise to never age. The plot takes a strange turn when, after nearly dying in a fight, Orlando discovers that he has fully transformed into a woman. From the 16th Century to the 1990s, Orlando endures the hardships of being a woman, including becoming a single mother and trying to publish a novel.
Based on Virginia Woolf’s novel of the same name, Potter’s provocative film examines the hardships that come along with being a woman. Though the film did not cater to everyone’s tastes, it created an interesting dialogue about dealing with the societal/patriarchal prejudices that come with gender. - DirectorGermaine DulacStarsGermaine DermozMadeleine GuittyJean d'YdAn unhappily married woman devises a scheme to get rid of her husband.Germaine Dulac’s short follows the titular Madame Beudet who is trapped in a loveless marriage to a practical joker. During the day, Madame Beudet dreams of a better life for herself, and even imagines her husband’s ultimate death.
Many scholars consider La souriante Madame Beudet (The Smiling Madame Beudet) to be one of the first feminist films, primarily because of its exploration of female desire. It is an experiment of cinematic form and content, examining Madame Beudet’s daydreams through a series of superimpositions and slow motion sequences. It allows the viewer to explore a female perspective, one that is both emotional and transgressive. - DirectorJulie DashStarsCora Lee DayAlva RogersBarbara OA languid, impressionistic story of three generations of Gullah women living on the South Carolina Sea Islands in 1902.Julie Dash endured a long struggle to make Daughters of the Dust, a nuanced portrait of three generations of Gullah women who reunite before moving north. Set in 1902, the unconventional narrative focuses on exploring the variety of women who each add their own voices to the ever-evolving story.
More than a film about race or gender, it is a film that challenges the notion of what stories can be told, how they can be told, and who is telling them. Dash’s long struggle is a shining example of how hard it is, but how fruitful it can be, to highlight these brilliant feminine perspectives. - DirectorBarbra StreisandStarsBarbra StreisandAmy IrvingMandy PatinkinA Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to enter religious training.Yentl (Streisand) is an independent Polish woman whose father, unbeknownst to their neighbors and friends, teaches his daughter about the Talmud. When her father dies, Yentl moves to a different town, disguises herself as a man named Anshel, and continues her studies at a religious school.
To the uninformed, Yentl is just that film in which Babs sings to her dead father. To those who have seen the film, it is a brilliant depiction of a woman challenging patriarchal notions relating to a woman’s place in society and religion. Beyond its campy appeal, Yentl uses musical conventions, such as song interludes, to depict Yentl’s emotional state/sexual exploration.
Yentl’s ultimate reveal of her gender is another slap in the face of patriarchal society, providing her with an ultimatum: live as a repressed housewife with the man of her dreams, or hold onto her independence. Yentl chooses her independence, moving to America in order to enjoy more opportunities than her repressed Polish town can offer. - DirectorJohn SaylesStarsMary McDonnellAlfre WoodardAngela BassettAfter an accident leaves her a paraplegic, a former soap opera star struggles to recover both emotionally and mentally, until she meets her newest nurse, who has struggles of her own.Daytime soap actress, May-Alice Culhane (Mary McDonnell), is paralyzed by a freak car accident. Unable to come to terms with her condition and unwilling to change her stubborn ways, May-Alice endures a series of nurses and caregivers who all quit, save for the final caregiver, Chantelle (Alfre Woodard).
Though May-Alice and Chantelle deal with their own personal demons, the two aid each other in finding inner strength and overcoming physical limitations.
Anchored by the performances of its two lead actresses, Sayles’ Passion Fish is an examination of the dynamic relationship between two women who rely on one another in order to endure physical and emotional hardships.
The film also features a fantastic scene in which a group of daytime actresses discuss their careers, including Nancy Mette’s great monologue on her first film line, “I didn’t ask for the anal probe.” - DirectorRob MarshallStarsZiyi ZhangKen WatanabeMichelle YeohThe heartwarming tale of Nitta Sayuri, a young Japanese woman who transcended from her fishing-village roots and became one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsImelda StauntonJim BroadbentHeather CraneyAbortionist Vera Drake finds her beliefs and practices clash with the mores of 1950s Britain--a conflict that leads to tragedy for her family.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûSetsuko HaraYumeji TsukiokaSeveral people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
- DirectorNoah BaumbachStarsGreta GerwigMickey SumnerAdam DriverA New York woman apprentices for a dance company and throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as the possibility of realizing them dwindles.
- DirectorJohn CassavetesStarsGena RowlandsPeter FalkFred DraperAlthough wife and mother Mabel is loved by her husband Nick, her mental illness places a strain on the marriage.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMichiyo KogureAyako WakaoSeizaburô KawazuA seasoned geisha and her apprentice maiko are forced to give in to their clients' sexual advances to survive.
- DirectorShirin NeshatShoja AzariStarsShabnam TolouiPegah FerydoniArita ShahrzadAgainst the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsMieko TakamineHideko TakamineKeiko KishiA student at a woman's university takes a controversial action against the school's old-fashioned doctrines.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsTimothy SpallBrenda BlethynPhyllis LoganFollowing the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist establishes contact with her biological mother -- a lonely white factory worker living in poverty in East London.
- DirectorMoufida TlatliStarsHiam AbbassDorra ZarroukHichem Rostom
- DirectorLarisa ShepitkoStarsMayya BulgakovaSergey NikonenkoZhanna BolotovaA fascinating and human portrayal of a once-famous fighter pilot and loyal Stalinist named Nadezhda Petrovna. Now a 41-year-old provincial schoolmistress, she has so internalized the military ideas of service and obedience that she cannot adjust to life in peacetime.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaTomoemon OtaniYoshiko KugaHatsuko Umabuchi is a widow who runs a prosperous geisha house in present-day Kyoto. Her daughter Yukiko returns from Tokyo following a failed suicide attempt, after her lover found out about her mother's profession. Hatsuko is having a discreet love affair with the young Dr. Matoba, who looks after the geisha. The doctor is attracted to Yukiko, who initially despises him and everything connected with the geisha house. However, Yukiko gradually changes her views.
- DirectorLiz GarbusStarsNina SimoneLisa Simone KellyRoger NupieA documentary about the life and legend Nina Simone, an American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist labeled the "High Priestess of Soul."
- DirectorCyrus NowrastehStarsShohreh AghdashlooJim CaviezelMozhan NavabiA story told by Zahra to a French journalist of her niece Soraya Manutchehri, a 35-year-old married woman, who received capital punishment and stoned to death because of false accusations in the remote village of Kuhpayeh, Iran, in 1986.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsTaizô FukamiAkira HarueKiyoshi KatôA young couple of lovers want to travel to Tokio to work and form a family there, but the parents of him want his son to regent their hotel. Finally, he does what his parents want him to, and her finds herself abandoned in the big city.
- DirectorMarzieh MakhmalbafStarsFatemeh Cherag AkharHassan NebhanShahr Banou SisizadehA film comprised of three interconnected vignettes that depict women at three stages of life in Iran. The first part centers on a young girl on her ninth birthday who is told that she can no longer play with the boys she had been playing with only the day before because she is now a woman. Told from the perspective of a 9-year-old girl who does not feel like or know what the word "woman" refers to, we see how devastatingly this affects both the girl and the boy with whom she had been friends. The second part is about a young woman who decides to enter a bicycle race against her husband's wishes. As first, the husband and then increasing numbers of men from her village ride beside her on horseback to convince her to return home. The race begins to symbolize a freedom that she desperately wants from the limitations that have been placed on her. Finally, the third part shows us an old woman who has come into some money and is now free to do what she wants. The way she chooses to use this freedom, however, makes one wonder just how free she is.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJoan CrawfordSterling HaydenMercedes McCambridgeAfter helping a wounded gang member, a strong-willed female saloon owner is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery by a lynch mob.
- DirectorRonit ElkabetzShlomi ElkabetzStarsRonit ElkabetzSimon AbkarianGabi AmraniAfter a lukewarm marriage of over twenty years, a woman appeals to her husband's compassion to obtain the desirable divorce document in front of a court, which proves to be more challenging than she would expect.
- DirectorJohn CassavetesStarsJohn MarleyGena RowlandsLynn CarlinA middle-aged man leaves his wife for another woman. Shortly after, his ex-wife also begins a relationship with a younger partner. The film follows their struggles to find love amongst each other.
- DirectorMarleen GorrisStarsEdda BarendsNelly FrijdaHenriëtte TolWhen three women with no previous acquaintance kill a male shopkeeper in the middle of the day, the female psychiatrist assigned to the case sets out to understand why.
- DirectorSebastián LelioStarsDaniela VegaFrancisco ReyesLuis GneccoMarina, a transgender woman who works as a waitress and moonlights as a nightclub singer, is bowled over by the death of her older boyfriend.
- DirectorSean BakerStarsKitana Kiki RodriguezMya TaylorKarren KaragulianA hooker tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart.
- DirectorDesiree AkhavanStarsChloë Grace MoretzSteven HauckQuinn ShephardIn 1993, a teenage girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy center by her conservative guardians.
- DirectorMarie LosierStarsGenesis P-OrridgeLady Jaye Breyer P'OrridgeBig Boy Breyer P'OrridgeA documentary on artist Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and his wife and collaborator, Lady Jaye, centered around the transformations the pair underwent for their Pandrogyne project.
- DirectorMarie LosierStarsCassandroAfter 26 years of spinning dives and flying uppercuts in the ring, Cassandro, the star of the gender-bending cross-dressing Mexican wrestlers known as the Exoticos, is far from retiring. But with dozens of broken bones and metal pins in his body, he must now reinvent himself.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsSean PennJosh BrolinEmile HirschThe story of American gay activist Harvey Milk, who fought for gay rights and was elected as California's first openly gay official.
- DirectorRobin CampilloStarsNahuel Pérez BiscayartArnaud ValoisAdèle HaenelMembers of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.
- DirectorVesela KazakovaMina MilevaStarsMaria BakalovaVesela KazakovaIossif SurchadzhievA family full of women in a society where "gender" is not a familiar word.
- DirectorJoshua MarstonStarsCatalina Sandino MorenoGuilied LopezOrlando TobónA pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately-needed money for her family.
- DirectorIda LupinoStarsMala PowersTod AndrewsRobert ClarkeA young woman who has just become engaged has her life completely shattered when she is raped while on her way home from work.
- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsMonica BellucciVincent CasselAlbert DupontelEvents over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.
- DirectorRadu JudeStarsKatia PascariuClaudia IeremiaNicodim UngureanuEmi, a school teacher, finds her career and reputation under threat after a personal sex tape is leaked on the Internet. Forced to meet the parents demanding her dismissal, Emi refuses to surrender to their pressure.
- DirectorUli EdelStarsNatja BrunckhorstEberhard AurigaPeggy BussieckA teen girl in 1970s Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.
- DirectorBlerta BasholliStarsYllka GashiÇun LajçiAurita AgushiFahrije's husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo. She sets up her own small business to provide for her kids, but as she fights against a patriarchal society that does not support her, she faces a crucial decision.
- DirectorAudrey DiwanStarsAnamaria VartolomeiKacey Mottet KleinLuàna BajramiAn adaptation of Annie Ernaux's novel of the same name, looking back on her experience with abortion when it was still illegal in France in the 1960s.
- DirectorKira KovalenkoStarsMilana AguzarovaAlik KaraevSoslan KhugaevAda is stuck. Living in a dead-end town in North Ossetia, she is caught in the tight grip of the men in her life. But when her older brother returns home and her father suddenly falls ill, Ada finally sees a possible path to freedom.
- DirectorEiichi YamamotoStarsAiko NagayamaChinatsu NakayamaMasaya TakahashiAfter being raped by an evil feudal lord and subsequently getting banished from her village, a peasant girl makes a pact with the Devil to gain magical powers and take her revenge.
- DirectorGreta GerwigStarsMargot RobbieRyan GoslingIssa RaeBarbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
- DirectorGreta GerwigStarsSaoirse RonanEmma WatsonFlorence PughJo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women, each determined to live life on her own terms.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMarcello MastroianniAnna PrucnalBernice StegersA businessman finds himself trapped at a hotel and threatened by women en masse.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsJack NicholsonCherSusan SarandonThree single women in a picturesque village have their wishes granted, at a cost, when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.