Female Directors

1. Chantal Akerman

Chantal Akerman was born on June 6, 1950 in Brussels, Belgium. She was a director and writer, known for The Meetings of Anna (1978), I, You, He, She (1974) and A Couch in New York (1996). She was married to Sonia Wieder-Atherton. She died on October 5, 2015 in Paris, France.

2. Lucrecia Martel

Director | La mujer sin cabeza

Born in 1966 in Salta in the North of Argentina,Lucrecia Martel settled down in Buenos Aires where she attended the ENERC (National Film School). She started by directing a few shorts among which Historias Breves I: Rey muerto (1995), which garnered several awards in the international film festival...

3. Lucía Puenzo

Writer | XXY

Lucía Puenzo was born on November 28, 1976 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a writer and director, known for XXY (2007), The German Doctor (2013) and The Fish Child (2009).

4. Ana Lily Amirpour

Director | A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

Ana Lily Amirpour was born in Margate, Kent, England, UK. She is a director and writer, known for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), The Bad Batch (2016) and Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2021).

5. Claire Denis

Director | High Life

The films of Claire Denis frequently explore the fragile connections between people and the ways in which the most seemingly inconsequential relationship can have life-changing effects. At the heart of Denis' cinema is a fascination with the delights and difficulties of belonging and otherness, the...

6. Maya Deren

Director | Meshes of the Afternoon

Maya Deren came to the USA in 1922 as Eleanora Derenkowsky. Together with her father Solomon Derenkowsky, a psychiatrist, and her mother Maria Fidler, an artist, she fled the pogroms organized by the Bolsheviks against the Jews. She studied journalism and political science at the Syracuse ...

7. Lucile Hadzihalilovic

Writer | Innocence

Lucile Emina Hadzihalilovic was born on May 7, 1961 in Lyon, Rhône, France, to Bosnian parents and grew up in Morocco. She studied Art History and Film Directing at the IDHEC. She has been working in film industry since 1980's, as director, editor, writer and actress in both short and feature films...

8. Marguerite Duras

Writer | Le camion

Ms. Duras was born in southern Vietnam and lost her father at age 4. The family savings of 20 years bought the family a small plot in Cambodia, but everything was lost in a single season's flooding. The disaster killed her mother as a result. After high school in Saigon, Ms. Duras left Indochina to...

9. Alice Rohrwacher

Director | Lazzaro felice

Alice Rohrwacher was born on December 29, 1981 in Fiesole, Tuscany, Italy. She is a director and writer, known for Happy as Lazzaro (2018), La Chimera (2023) and The Wonders (2014).

10. Lisa Langseth

Writer | Till det som är vackert

Lisa Langseth is known for Pure (2010), Euphoria (2017) and Hotel (2013).

11. Mia Hansen-Løve

Director | L'avenir

Cinema came into Mia Hansen-Løve's life when she was seventeen, as Olivier Assayas made her start as an actress in Late August, Early September (1998). Two years later, he gave her the part of "Aline" in his Les Destinées (2000). Their artistic collaboration was coupled by a union in real ...

12. Teresa Villaverde

Director | Colo

Teresa Villaverde was born on May 18, 1966 in Lisbon, Portugal. She is a director and writer, known for Colo (2017), Two Brothers, My Sister (1994) and Transe (2006).

13. Barbara Loden

Actress | Wanda

A one-time pin-up beauty and magazine story model, Barbara Loden studied acting in New York in the early 50s and was on the Broadway boards within the decade. She was discovered for films by legendary producer/director Elia Kazan who was impressed with what she did in a small role as Montgomery ...

14. Sofia Coppola

Actress | The Godfather Part III

Sofia Coppola was born on May 14, 1971 in New York City, New York, USA as Sofia Carmina Coppola. She is a director, known for Somewhere (2010), Lost in Translation (2003), and Marie Antoinette (2006). She has been married to Thomas Mars since August 27, 2011. They have two daughters, Romy and ...

15. Anna Biller

Director | Viva

Anna Biller is a writer and director who creates unique, female-focused, highly visual films. She has a BA from UCLA in art and an MFA from CalArts in art and film. Her first feature Viva played in film festivals all over the world and gained minor cult status, and her second feature The Love Witch...

16. Ildikó Enyedi

Director | Teströl és lélekröl

Ildikó Enyedi was born on November 15, 1955 in Budapest, Hungary. She is a director and writer, known for On Body and Soul (2017), Simon, the Magician (1999) and My Twentieth Century (1989).

17. Liv Ullmann

Actress | Viskningar och rop

Liv Ullmann's father was a Norwegian engineer who used to work abroad, so as a child she lived in Tokyo, Canada, New York and Oslo. In the mid-1950s she made her stage debut and in 1957 made her film debut. She really became successful, however, when she began to work for Swedish director Ingmar ...

18. Lake Bell

Actress | In a World...

Lake Siegel Bell is an American actress, screenwriter and director. She has starred in various television series, including Boston Legal (2004-2006), Surface (2005-2006), How to Make It in America (2010-2011), Childrens Hospital (2008-2016), and Bless This Mess (2019-2020) and in films including ...

19. Amy Seimetz

Actress | Upstream Color

Amy Seimetz first came to prominence producing and directing shorts and independent films. Most notably associate producing Barry Jenkins' Medicine For Melancholy which was nominated for Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards, after playing at South By Southwest and the Toronto International Film ...

20. Kelly Reichardt

Director | Wendy and Lucy

Kelly Reichardt was born and raised in Miami-Dade Country, Florida, to a family of police officers. She had an interest in photography from a very young age. She started by using her father's camera, which he used for photographing crime scenes. She went to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in ...

21. Agnès Varda

Director | Cléo de 5 à 7

Agnès Varda was born on May 30, 1928 in Ixelles, Belgium. She was a director and writer, known for Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Vagabond (1985) and Faces Places (2017). She was married to Jacques Demy. She died on March 29, 2019 in Paris, France.

22. Susanne Bier

Director | Hævnen

Though Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award winning writer and director Susanne Bier's work often plays out against a wide-reaching global backdrop, its focus is intimate, carefully exploring the explosive emotions and complexities of familial bonds. This unique combination is part of ...

23. Rosemary Myers

Director | Girl Asleep

Rosemary Myers is known for Girl Asleep (2015), Beep and Mort (2022) and Rumpelstiltskin: Live (2017).

24. Debra Granik

Director | Leave No Trace

Debra Granik (born February 6, 1963) is an American New York City-based independent film and documentary film director and screenwriter. She is most known for 2004's Down to the Bone, which starred Vera Farmiga, 2010's Winter's Bone, which starred Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout performance and ...

25. Mélanie Laurent

Actress | Inglourious Basterds

Mélanie Laurent was born in Paris, France. She is the daughter of Annick, a ballet teacher, and Pierre, a voice actor, who is most recognized for the French version of The Simpsons (1989). She has a younger brother, Mathieu, and has both Sephardi Jewish (from Tunisia) and Ashkenazi Jewish (from ...

26. Kathryn Bigelow

Director | Zero Dark Thirty

A very talented painter, Kathryn spent two years at the San Francisco Art Institute. At 20, she won a scholarship to the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. She was given a studio in a former Offtrack Betting building, literally in an old bank vault, where she made art and waited to be ...

27. Kelly Fremon Craig

Writer | Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Kelly Fremon Craig is a writer and director from Whittier, California. She made her directorial debut with The Edge of Seventeen. James L. Brooks' Gracie Films acquired the project in 2012, and developed the screenplay with Fremon Craig. She graduated from UC Irvine with an English degree. Fremon ...

28. Larisa Shepitko

Director | Voskhozhdenie

Larisa Shepitko was born on January 6, 1938 in Bakhmut, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]. She was a director and writer, known for The Ascent (1977), Heat (1963) and You and Me (1971). She was married to Elem Klimov. She died on July 2, 1979 in near Redkino, Kalinin Oblast...

29. Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Director | Mustang

In 2011 Ergüven was invited to attend the Cannes Film Festivals Atelier to help develop her project, The Kings. While there she met fellow director Alice Winocour who was there to develop her first feature film Augustine. After Ergüven was unable to find financing for her film Winocour suggested ...

30. Sally Potter

Director | The Tango Lesson

Sally Potter made her first 8mm film aged fourteen. She has since written and directed seven feature films, as well as many short films (including THRILLER and PLAY) and a television series, and has directed opera (Carmen for the ENO in 2007) and other live work. Her background is in choreography, ...

31. Maren Ade

Producer | Toni Erdmann

Maren Ade was born in Karlsruhe on 12 December 1976 to a couple of teachers.She studied cinema at Munich's Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film. As of 2001 she co-founded, together with Janine Jackowski, a fellow graduate from HFF, the "Komplizen" film company. It is through Komplizen that Maren would...

32. Greta Gerwig

Writer | Barbie

Greta Gerwig is an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, and director. She has collaborated with Noah Baumbach on several films, including Greenberg (2010), Frances Ha (2012), for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination, and Mistress America (2015). Gerwig made her solo directorial debut ...

33. Patty Jenkins

Director | Wonder Woman

Patty Jenkins is a writer/director best known for directing Wonder Woman, the Warner Bros./DC Comics blockbuster of 2017, and her debut feature Monster. Patty also works in television where she is best known for the pilot and finale episode of AMC's hit show The Killing.

Patty began her career as a ...

34. Marjane Satrapi

Director | Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi was born on November 22, 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She is a director and actress, known for Persepolis (2007), The Voices (2014) and Chicken with Plums (2011). She is married to Mattias Ripa. She was previously married to Reza.

35. Ursula Meier

Director | La ligne

Ursula Meier was born on June 24, 1971 in Besançon, Doubs, France. She is a director and writer, known for The Line (2022), Home (2008) and Sister (2012).

36. Jennifer Kent

Director | The Nightingale

Jennifer Kent was born on March 5, 1969 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She is an actress and director, known for The Nightingale (2018), The Babadook (2014) and Monster (2005).

37. Ceyda Torun

Director | Kedi

Ceyda Torun is known for Kedi (2016), Consuming Love (2008) and River Queen (2005). She is married to Charlie Wuppermann.

38. Lynne Ramsay

Director | You Were Never Really Here

Lynne Ramsay was born on December 5, 1969 in Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK. She is a director and writer, known for You Were Never Really Here (2017), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) and Ratcatcher (1999). She was previously married to Rory Stewart Kinnear.

39. Valerie Faris

Director | Little Miss Sunshine

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris have built an impressive body of work by perpetually seeking innovative projects in a variety of mediums.

After introducing bands such as REM and The Red Hot Chili Peppers on their ground breaking MTV show The Cutting Edge, Jonathan and Valerie continued to work in ...

40. Andrea Arnold

Director | American Honey

Andrea Arnold was born on April 5, 1961 in Dartford, Kent, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for American Honey (2016), Fish Tank (2009) and Red Road (2006).

41. Jeong-hyang Lee

Director | Jibeuro

Jeong-hyang Lee was born on June 24, 1964 in South Korea. She is a director and writer, known for The Way Home (2002), Art Museum by the Zoo (1998) and A Reason to Live (2011).

42. Reed Morano

Cinematographer | I Think We're Alone Now

Reed Morano was born on April 15, 1977 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. She is known for directing and executive producing the pilot as well as episodes 2 & 3 of 'The Handmaid's Tale' (2017) and directing the feature film, 'Meadowland' (2015), which she also served as her own DP on. She also did double ...

43. Nora Twomey

Producer | WolfWalkers

Partner & Creative Director with Cartoon Saloon. ACADEMY AWARD® & GOLDEN GLOBE Nominated Director.

Nora's passion for visual storytelling began at an early age and has led her to explore the medium of animation with her collaborators in Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny, Ireland. From the studio's early ...

44. Mami Sunada

Writer | Yume to kyôki no ôkoku

Mami Sunada is known for The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2013), Ending Note: Death of a Japanese Salaryman (2011) and Omotenashi (2018).

45. Niki Caro

Director | Whale Rider

Niki Caro is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter, born in 1967. Caro was born in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. She was educated first at the Kadimah College in Auckland, and then the Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland. The School is a private girls' school, and ranks ...

46. Vera Chytilová

Director | O necem jiném

Vera Chytilová was born on February 2, 1929, in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). She studied philosophy and architecture in Brno for two years, then worked as a technical draftsman, a designer, a fashion model, a photo re-toucher, then worked as a clapper girl for Barrandov Film ...

47. Lone Scherfig

Director | An Education

Writer/director Lone Scherfig graduated from The National Film School of Denmark in 1984. Her first feature film, THE BIRTHDAY TRIP (1990), was selected for Panorama in Berlin, the New Directors section at MOMA in New York and won the Grand Jury Prix in Rouen. Her next film, ON OUR OWN (1998), ...

48. Virna Molina

Producer | Sinfonía para Ana

Virna Molina was born in 1975 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a producer and director, known for Symphony for Ana (2017), Raymundo (2003) and Corazón de fabrica (2008).

49. Sophia Takal

Actress | Green

Sophia Takal is known for Green (2011), Always Shine (2016) and V/H/S (2012).

50. Liliana Cavani

Director | L'ospite

Liliana Cavani was born on January 12, 1933 in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. She is a director and writer, known for L'ospite (1971), Dove siete? Io sono qui (1993) and The Night Porter (1974).

51. Carla Simón

Director | Alcarràs

Carla Simón was born on December 22, 1986 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She is a director and writer, known for Alcarràs (2022), Summer 1993 (2017) and Letter to My Mother for My Son (2022).

52. Julie Taymor

Director | Frida

Julie Taymor is an Academy Award-nominated director, known for such films as Frida (2002) and Across the Universe (2007).

She was born on December 15, 1952, in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Her father, Melvin Lester Taymor, was a gynecologist. Her mother, Elizabeth Bernstein, was a ...

53. Jocelyn Moorhouse

Director | The Dressmaker

Jocelyn Moorhouse was born on September 4, 1960 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a director and writer, known for The Dressmaker (2015), Proof (1991) and Muriel's Wedding (1994). She is married to P.J. Hogan.

54. Paula Ortiz

Director | La novia

Paula Ortiz is known for The Bride (2015), De tu ventana a la mía (2011) and Teresa (2023).

55. Kate Mulleavy

Costume_department | Black Swan

Kate Mulleavy is known for her role on The Fashion Fund, during which she competed with her brand, Rodarte. Founded by the legendary Anna Wintour, The Fashion Fund is a documentary-style TV show featuring behind-the-scenes action from the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the Vogue ...

56. Laura Mulleavy

Costume_department | Black Swan

Laura Mulleavy is known for her role on The Fashion Fund, during which she competed with her brand, Rodarte. Founded by the legendary Anna Wintour, The Fashion Fund is a documentary-style TV show featuring behind-the-scenes action from the Council of Fashion Designers of America and the Vogue ...

57. Paula van der Oest

Director | Zus & zo

Paula van der Oest is an Academy Award nominated director and screenwriter. Her film ZUS & ZO (2001) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2015 her film ACCUSED (2014) made it to the Academy Award's shortlist and her latest film TONIO (2016) is again chosen as the ...

58. Anne Fontaine

Writer | Les innocentes

Anne Fontaine was born on July 15, 1959 in Luxembourg. She is an actress and writer, known for The Innocents (2016), Coco Before Chanel (2009) and Reinventing Marvin (2017). She is married to Philippe Carcassonne. They have one child.

59. Julia Ducournau

Director | Titane

Julia Ducournau is a French film director and screenwriter. She attended film school at La Fémis in Paris, where she studied screenwriting. In 2011, her short film JUNIOR won the Petit Rail d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature, the horror movie Raw (2016), won the coveted ...

60. Amy Heckerling

Writer | Clueless

Amy Heckerling studied Film and TV at New York University and got a Masters Degree in Film from The American Film Institute. Despite this education she couldn't get a break in Hollywood. However, in 1982, she made Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and people started to take notice. In 1985, ...

61. Rebecca Zlotowski

Writer | Grand Central

Rebecca Zlotowski was born on April 21, 1980 in Paris, France. She is a writer and director, known for Grand Central (2013), Other People's Children (2022) and Planetarium (2016).

62. Jane Campion

Writer | Bright Star

Jane Campion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and now lives in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Having graduated with a BA in Anthropology from Victoria University of Wellington in 1975, and a BA, with a painting major, at Sydney College of the Arts in 1979, she began filmmaking in the early...

63. Catherine Breillat

Writer | À ma soeur!

Catherine Breillat is a Paris based filmmaker and writer who became famous for her distinctively personal films on sexuality, gender trouble and sibling rivalry. Accused of being a "porno auteuriste", Breillat allowed for an unbiased view of sexuality and extended the language of mainstream movies....

64. Nicole Garcia

Writer | Mal de pierres

Nicole Garcia was born on April 22, 1946 in Oran, France [now Algeria]. She is an actress and writer, known for From the Land of the Moon (2016), My American Uncle (1980) and Alias Betty (2001).

65. Cate Shortland

Director | Lore

Catherine Shortland is an Australian filmmaker from Temora, New South Wales who is known for directing the Marvel film "Black Widow." She also directed the feature-length films "Somersault", "Lore", and "Berlin Syndrome." She directed the short films "Pentuphouse", "Flowergirl", and "Joy." She is ...

66. Céline Sciamma

Writer | Portrait de la jeune fille en feu

Céline Sciamma was born on November 12, 1978 in Pontoise, Val-d'Oise, France. She is a writer and director, known for Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), Petite Maman (2021) and Tomboy (2011).

67. Isabel Coixet

Director | My Life Without Me

Isabel Coixet was born on April 9, 1960 in Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She is a director and writer, known for My Life Without Me (2003), The Secret Life of Words (2005) and The Bookshop (2017).

68. Claudia Sainte-Luce

Director | El reino de Dios

Claudia Sainte-Luce was born on December 28, 1982 in Tlalixcoyan, Veracruz, Mexico. She is a director and writer, known for El reino de Dios (2022), The Amazing Catfish (2013) and The Empty Box (2016).

69. Miranda July

Writer | Me and You and Everyone We Know

Filmmaker Magazine rated her #1 in their "25 New Faces of Indie Film" in 2004!

She is a performance artist and published short story writer. Since becoming a filmmaker, her debut feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) has won several film awards.

Daughter of Lindy Hough and Richard ...

70. Alante Kavaite

Director | Sangailes vasara

Alante Kavaite was born in 1973 in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, USSR. She is a director and writer, known for The Summer of Sangaile (2015), Écoute le temps (2006) and Submergée.

71. Claire Carré

Director | Embers

Claire Carré is known for Embers (2015).

72. Marielle Heller

Director | The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Marielle Heller is a writer, director and actor. She was selected as a 2012 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow and 2012 Sundance Directing Fellow, and was honored with the Lynn Auerbach Screenwriting Fellowship, and The Maryland Film Festival Fellowship. Her writing credits include pilots for ABC and ...

73. Lisa Cholodenko

Director | The Kids Are All Right

Lisa Cholodenko earned an MFA at Columbia University Film School where she made an award-winning short film Dinner Party (1997) Her feature High Art (1998) won the National Society of Film Critics award for Ally Sheedy's performance and The Waldo Salt Screenwriting award at Sundance. Both "High Art...

74. Chanya Button

Director | Burn Burn Burn

Chanya Button was born in London in 1986. After studying drama and literature at Oxford University she became an assistant director in a few of the most prestigious theaters of the English capital (The Globe, the Bush, the Tricycle). She then turned to film and was immediately noticed by her first ...

75. Joanna Hogg

Director | The Souvenir

Joanna Hogg was born on March 20, 1960 in London, England, UK. She is a director and writer, known for The Souvenir (2019), The Souvenir: Part II (2021) and Unrelated (2007).

76. Chloé Robichaud

Director | Sarah préfère la course

Chloé Robichaud was born on January 31, 1988 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. She is a director and writer, known for Sarah Prefers to Run (2013), Pays (2016) and Féminin/Féminin (2014).

77. Helene Hegemann

Director | Axolotl Overkill

Helene Hegemann was born on February 19, 1992 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She is a director and actress, known for Axolotl Overkill (2017), Torpedo (2008) and Strafe - nach Ferdinand von Schirach (2022).

78. Kirsten Johnson

Producer | Dick Johnson Is Dead

Kirsten Johnson's "Dick Johnson is Dead" won the Jury Prize for Innovation in Nonfiction Storytelling at Sundance 2020. Kirsten went on to win a Primetime Emmy for Best Directing of the film, Critic's Choice Award for Best Documentary and the Cinema Eye Award for Best Directing. Listed on dozens of...

79. Haifaa Al-Mansour

Director | Wadjda

Haifaa Al Mansour is the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia and is regarded as one of the most significant cinematic figures in the Kingdom. She finished her bachelor's degree in Literature at the American University in Cairo and completed a Master's degree in Directing and Film Studies from ...

80. Mika Ninagawa

Director | XxxHolic

Mika Ninagawa was born on October 18, 1972 in Chofu, Japan. She is a director and writer, known for XxxHolic (2022), Followers (2020) and No Longer Human (2019).

81. Nely Reguera

Director | María (y los demás)

Nely Reguera was born on December 25, 1978 in Barcelona, Spain. She is a director and assistant director, known for María (y los demás) (2016), Pablo (2009) and La voluntaria (2022).

82. Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette

Director | Inch'Allah

Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette is a Montreal cinematographer, director, and author. She is known for Le ring (2007),Les Petits Géants (2008), Inch'allah (2012), Sept heures trois fois par année (2012), Prends-moi (2014), Le Plancher des vaches -Choisir la terre (2014), Ma fille n'est pas à vendre (2016) ...