52 Films by Women [2021]
List of films directed by women I watched and rewatched this year. Neither short films, nor co-directions (with male directors) were considered, which were the following (original titles):
Luz nas Trevas: A Volta do Bandido da Luz Vermelha (2010) [Helena Ignez]
Voltei! (2021) [Glenda Nicácio]
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché (2021) [Celeste Bell]
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005) [Jessica Joy Wise]
Bottled Songs 1-4 (2020) [Chloé Galibert-Laîné]
Liminal (2020) [Manuela de Laborde]
Saxifrages, quatre nuits blanches (2021) [Elisabeth Perceval]
Entre Nós, Um Segredo (2020) [Beatriz Seigner]
Luz nas Trevas: A Volta do Bandido da Luz Vermelha (2010) [Helena Ignez]
Voltei! (2021) [Glenda Nicácio]
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché (2021) [Celeste Bell]
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005) [Jessica Joy Wise]
Bottled Songs 1-4 (2020) [Chloé Galibert-Laîné]
Liminal (2020) [Manuela de Laborde]
Saxifrages, quatre nuits blanches (2021) [Elisabeth Perceval]
Entre Nós, Um Segredo (2020) [Beatriz Seigner]
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- DirectorAlice RiffStarsPaula BeatrizGiu NonatoLinn da QuebradaIn Brazil, transphobia continues to run violently rampant. Paula, Beatriz, Giu and Fernando live in the poor suburbs of Sao Paulo, fighting against a country's injustices, and their own survival, by simply following their daily routine.
- DirectorAnn HuiStarsJosephine SiaoKar-Ying LawAllen TingThe Suns are a typical Hong Kong family: May, forty something, works for a trading company; her husband, Bing, works as a low-grade civil servant, and Allen, their teenage son, is still at school. Trouble strikes one day when Bing's mother dies of a stroke, leaving her husband old Mr. Sun. Alzheimer's Disease is diagnosed. From that day on, the family's daily life is thrown into a poignant. Old Mr. Sun develops a tendency to wander off and get lost, he wakes up yelling in the middle of the night plus he is rude and disobliging ... all this, along with May's already full schedule as wife, mother and employee, drives her close to the edge of her endurance. The very last thing they all wanted has to happen: old Mr. Sun has to go into a Nursing Home. But it does not turn out quite like they expected...
- DirectorEdith CarlmarStarsLiv UllmannAtle MertonRolf SøderThe story of a young Gerd, played by Liv Ullmann in her first leading role, who falls in love with a young boy. She is considered a 'loose' woman, and the boy's family does not accept their relationship. The young couple run away to a cabin in the woods where they meet a rogue man who tests their relationship.
- DirectorHelena IgnezStarsHelô BeckThaïs DahasRamon de AngeliUgly, Me? is a film manifesto made from a workshop for actors called Characters in Search of a Movie, in 'La pa', 'Rio De Janeiro', extended to Paris and 'Kerala' (India). Multifaceted like a kaleidoscope, the characters appear in multi-screens scenes and sequences. The images were captured with different kinds of cameras and Ugly, Me? uses this sign of the variety imposed by independent production as language experimentation. Transposing the boundaries of style, Ugly, Me? navigates in a sea of metaphors, philosophical and musical politics, from Prince Harry to Heraclitus, going through a series of authors like Rimbaud, Brecht, Nietzsche, Bispo do Rosario and Eduardo Viveiros DE Castro, capturing a contradictory and original country.
- DirectorSofía QuirósStarsSmashleen GutiérrezHumberto SamuelsHortensia SmithSelva (13) lives in a coastal town in the Caribbean. After the sudden disappearance of her only motherly figure, she is left to take care of her grandfather who doesn't want to live. Between shadows and wild games, she must decide if she will help her grandfather die, even though that means going through her last moments of childhood alone.
- DirectorDjin SganzerlaStarsGustavo FalcãoJandir FerrariStênio GarciaAfter relocating to Tokyo, a Brazilian writer begins a new novel, provoked by her experiences in Japan and by one of the last scenes she witnessed in Rio de Janeiro: a female swimmer tearing up the horizon with powerful strokes in the wide, open sea. Those two women apparently share no connection, until their lives start to interfere in one another, strangely linked through the sea. Hannah, the writer, plunges into a journey of self-discovery in Japan, while Ana, the swimmer in Rio de Janeiro, oddly has her body transformed into some kind of inner Ocean.
- DirectorAna JohannStarsClarissa KisteIrandhir SantosLaís CristinaRenata lives isolated in the countryside with her teenage daughter and her husband, conceiving fear as a common feeling. The arrival of a stranger awakens in her the desire for all that was asleep.
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsAntonio PetruzziStefano Satta FloresSergio FerraninoThe story follows the uneventful lives of three young men who live in a small, poverty-stricken village in southern Italy.
- DirectorAngela SchanelecStarsAnna BolkKatharina LinderMichael MaertensA young photographer has fallen in love with his girlfriend's sister. Nobody knows quite what to do. A stylish variation on the problems of triolism made with striking stability of style and a great feeling for mise-en-scène.
- DirectorSophie LetourneurStarsMarina FoïsJonathan CohenJacqueline KakouA world traveling pianist and her husband have decided not to have a baby, but then he sees a surprise childbirth on a flight and tampers with her pill.
- DirectorRose GlassStarsMorfydd ClarkCaoilfhionn DunneJennifer EhleA pious nurse becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.
- DirectorDea KulumbegashviliStarsIa SukhitashviliRati OneliKakha KintsurashviliWhen a Jehovah's Witness community is attacked, leader's wife Yana questions her desires as her familiar world crumbles.
- DirectorKaori OdaThe past and present of the people living in and around them intersect, and distant memories echo throughout immersive scenes of light and darkness.
- DirectorSalka TizianaStarsMelanie StraubJon BaderOle BaderSummer in Sierra Morena. The hill slopes are faded by the sun. Sand roads cross the land. Fences mark the borders of property. A dry water reservoir lays in the valley. Larissa (Melanie Straub) travels with her nine-year old twins Jon (Jon Bader) and Ole (Ole Bader) to the family finca to meet their father. Her mother-in-law Pilar (Pilar del Pino) prepares for the guests's arrival while her younger daughter Amalia (Amalia Amián del Pino) looks after the land. When the father of the twins does not arrive as planned, the estranged family members encounter each other in this foreign, yet familiar place.
- DirectorMalou ReymannStarsKaya Toft LoholtMikkel Boe FølsgaardRigmor RantheEmma has a perfectly normal family until one day it turns out her dad, Thomas, is transgender. As Thomas becomes Agnete, both father and daughter struggle to hold on to what they had while accepting that everything has changed.
- DirectorCathy YanStarsVivian WuHaoyu YangMeng LiA bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly-modernizing Shanghai.
- DirectorJuliana RojasStarsEduardo GomesLuciana PaesHugo VillavicenzioThe routine of an inept apprentice gravedigger changes when a new employee arrives at the cemetery. Together they must locate abandoned graves, but strange events make them think about the implications of tampering with the dead.
- DirectorChloé ZhaoStarsFrances McDormandDavid StrathairnLinda MayA woman in her sixties, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
- DirectorAmelia MosesStarsLee MarshallLauren BeattyAris TyrosDuring a winter getaway at an isolated cabin, a self-destructive young woman becomes convinced that her best friend is stealing her blood.
- DirectorNaeri DoStarsJeong-in HwangTaeyoung KimYoon Kyung-hoAfter facing a serious assault, a girl who dreams of becoming a transhuman plans a revenge.
- DirectorMárta MészárosStarsKati KovácsTeri HorváthÁdám SzirtesOn receiving a letter from her mother, a quiet working-class girl leaves the state orphanage in Budapest where she grew up and takes a trip to the rural countryside to visit her.
- DirectorNatalie JohnsStarsMax RichterGrace DavidsonEmily BrausaThis is a film for these frenetic times; a meditative respite from the rush and chaos of the modern world. A study of the universal experience of sleep, that unites us all.
- DirectorMárta MészárosStarsMari TörőcsikKati KovácsLajos BalázsovitsAfter her husband dies, a woman questions her love for her husband and whether or not to accept money from the insurance policy. Tensions mount when her estranged son returns to the familial home with his girlfriend.
- DirectorJessica Sarah RinlandStarsJessica Sarah RinlandWith an elephant's tusk as the protagonist, Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another meditates on the endless tactility of conservation.
- DirectorMárta MészárosStarsJaroslava SchallerováKati SirMárk ZalaSavanyú and his friends work at a plant. After the monotonous shifts they engage in the pleasures of the afternoon and the night: Sex, parties and concerts. Savanyú dates Juli, who works in workers' hostels with the other girls. They are already engaged, but have almost no time to spend together. At a concert held in the Park of Youth, Juli gets to know Géza. They flirt and eventually travel through the country with a pop-group. Savanyú goes after them and catches up with Géza and the pop-group. A minor fight cools the atmosphere. Juli must decide, and her choice is Savanyú. Nothing can stop the wedding now.
- DirectorChloé ZhaoStarsJohn ReddyJashaun St. JohnIrene BedardWith an older brother in jail and living with their single mother on Pine Ridge Reservation, Johnny and his sister Jashuan's lives develop new challenges when their absentee cowboy father suddenly dies. The loss prompts Johnny to strike out for Los Angeles, but would mean leaving behind his beloved sister.
- 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.
- DirectorIsabelle IngoldVivianne PerelmuterA young man in a room somewhere in England. On a computer screen, images from all over the world. We cross borders in one click while the story of another trip reaches us in snatches, through text messages, chats, phone conversations, questioning at an immigration office. It is the journey of Shahin, a young Iranian who flees his country alone.
- DirectorMárta MészárosStarsLili MonoriJan NowickiGyula SzersénA village-girl (Juli Kovács) arrives in the city to work in a factory. The work manager (János Bodnár) sets his eye on her, but at first the girl refuses his advance.
- DirectorClara LawStarsTony Ka Fai LeungMaggie CheungChit-Man ChanAward-winning drama deals with the many in Mailand China who dream of emigration to the U.S. Set primarily in New York City, the film follows Zhou who follows his wife's journey to America - and the tough surprises in store for him in the "Promised Land."
- DirectorMárta MészárosStarsÉva SzabóMarina VladyLili MonoriA young woman, married to a volatile alcoholic, has a competing claim on her affections from an older woman who tries to protect her and her daughter.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsIsaach De BankoléAlex DescasSolveig DommartinDah and Jocelyn come from Benin, Africa, to coach their rooster, "S'en fout la mort", for an illicit cock-fight in the basement of a restaurant.
- 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.
- DirectorMárta MészárosStarsZsuzsa CzinkócziÁgnes CsereAnna PolonyA continuation of "Diary for My Children," the film picks up in 1950, when Juli, the diarist, is 18 and determined to become a movie director.
- DirectorEmer ReynoldsStarsPhil LynottSarah LynottCathleen LynottThe story of how a young black boy from working class 1950's Dublin, became Ireland's Greatest Rock Star. As lead singer of Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott was a songwriter, a poet, a dreamer, a wildman.
- DirectorAlison EllwoodStarsThe Go-Go'sCharlotte CaffeyElissa BelloThe Go-Go's are the most successful female rock band of all time. This documentary chronicles the meteoric rise of a band born of the LA punk scene that not only captured but created a zeitgeist.
- DirectorBobbi Jo HartStarsFannyJune MillingtonJean MillingtonFANNY: The Right to Rock reveals the untold story of a Filipina American garage band that morphed into the ferocious rock group Fanny, who almost became the female Beatles. Features Bonnie Raitt, Joe Elliott.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsIsaach De BankoléGiulia BoschiFrançois CluzetA French woman returns to her childhood home in Cameroon - formerly a colonial outpost - where she's flooded by memories, particularly of Protée, her servant.
- DirectorJanis RafailidouStarsPenelope TsilikaDimitris LalosMichele ValleyIn a big city somewhere in the south of Europe, a couple takes care of dead animals and abandoned roadkill as an act to give meaning to their life. Kala azar is a meditation on the paradox of life-circles among beings of different species.
- DirectorEmma SeligmanStarsRachel SennottDanny DeferrariFred MelamedAt a Jewish funeral service with her parents, a college student runs into her sugar daddy and ex girlfriend.
- DirectorAnocha SuwichakornpongStarsSirat IntarachoteWaywiree IttianunkulApinya SakuljaroensukFour young travelers embark on a trip to Kanchanaburi to see the museum, but pass the time in other ways when they find out it's closed for refurbishment.
- DirectorDelphine SeyrigStarsDelphine SeyrigJill ClayburghMarie DuboisFamous actresses talk about their role in the movie industry, and the demand to "be beautiful and shut up".
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsDaniel LondonWill OldhamTanya SmithTwo old pals reunite for a camping trip in Oregon's Cascade Mountains.
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsMichelle WilliamsLucyDavid KoppellOver the summer, a series of unfortunate happenings triggers a financial crisis for a young woman and she soon finds her life falling apart.
- DirectorCatherine HardwickeStarsHeath LedgerEmile HirschVictor RasukThe film follows the surf and skateboarding trends that originated in Venice, California during the 1970s.
- DirectorChantal AkermanStarsCoralie SeyrigDelphine SeyrigKeeping the original theatrical mise-en-scene, the film features Delphine Seyrig and her niece Coralie Seyrig reciting Sylvia Plath's letters to her mother directly to the audience as though we were the recipients of these private missives
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsMichelle WilliamsBruce GreenwoodPaul DanoSettlers traveling through the Oregon desert in 1845 find themselves stranded in harsh conditions.
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsAlia ShawkatJohn MagaroDylan SmithA skilled cook has traveled west and joined a group of fur trappers in Oregon, though he only finds true connection with a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. Soon the two collaborate on a successful business.
- DirectorLotte ReinigerCarl KochA handsome prince rides a flying horse to faraway lands and embarks on magical adventures, which include befriending a witch, meeting Aladdin, battling demons and falling in love with a princess.
- DirectorSusan SeidelmanStarsRosanna ArquetteMadonnaAidan QuinnA bored New Jersey suburban housewife's fascination with a free-spirited woman she has read about in the personal columns leads to her being mistaken for the woman herself.
- DirectorLizzie BordenStarsLouise SmithEllen McElduffAmanda GoodwinA day in the life of several prostitutes in an upscale Manhattan whore house. The film is a stark portrayal of the women prostitutes, the male customers and the motivations of both. Watch as the madam manipulates her "girls". Watch as she answers the phone by saying "Hello John, what's new and different?" Watch as the "johns" try to manipulate the "girls". Part nudie exploitation, part sociological thesis.
- DirectorMarleen GorrisStarsLineke RijxmanHenriëtte TolEdda BarendsReleased in Holland as Gebroken Spiegels, Broken Mirrors is set for the most part in an Amsterdam brothel. Lineke Ripman and Henriette Tol play two whores who begin to rebel against their lot in life. Their story is counterpointed by a subplot involving housewife Edda Barends, who is kidnapped by one of the brothel's customers; as Barends starves to death, her captor takes photographs of her last days on earth. Somehow her demise is meant to be as much a "liberation" as Ripman and Tol's refusal to continue plying their trade. Throughout Broken Mirrors, the male characters are depicted as murderers, both literal and spiritual.
- DirectorRenata PinheiroStarsLuciano Pedro Jr.Matheus NachtergaeleClara PinheiroA young man's surreal ability to speak with cars sparks a revolution that could save his community. However, he soon finds himself in a fight for survival when this inadvertently accelerates underlying problems.
- DirectorDoris WishmanStarsBlaze StarrRalph YoungGene BerkStripper Blaze Starr, playing herself, drives her agent--who is also her fiancé--to distraction by ignoring scheduled "press functions" and spending her weekends at a nudist camp.
- DirectorNia DaCostaStarsYahya Abdul-Mateen IITeyonah ParrisNathan Stewart-JarrettA sequel to the horror film Candyman (1992) that returns to the now-gentrified Chicago neighborhood where the legend began.
- DirectorTizuka YamasakiStarsÂngelo AntônioLaura CardosoRod CarvalhoA story inspired in life, dreams and thoughts of a Brazilian Pajé, a healer of Amazon forest.
- DirectorTereza TrautmanStarsDarlene GlóriaGracindo JúniorArduíno ColassantiMarried woman only feels well when she's in love. In search of a ravishing love, she has many love affairs, with her husband's consent.
- DirectorRachel TalalayStarsRobert EnglundLisa ZaneShon GreenblattDream-haunting Freddy Krueger returns once again to prowl the nightmares of Springwood's last surviving teenager, and of a woman whose personal connection to Krueger may mean his doom.
- DirectorDongmei LiStarsShuqiong ChengXiaoping WangWendan GeA twelve-year-old recounts a week in the life during the 1990s in a rural Chinese village.
- DirectorJennifer ReederStarsKate ArringtonTim HopperJames Vincent MeredithA mystical teen noir that follows a young girl's disappearance in the rural Midwest and its effect on teens and parents.
- DirectorCrystal MoselleStarsMukunda AnguloNarayana AnguloSusanne AnguloConfined in an apartment from a New York housing project, the six Angulo brothers learned everything they know about the world through watching films and spend their time reenacting their favorite movies with intricate homemade costumes.
- DirectorYoon Dan-biStarsChoi Jung-unHeung-ju YangHyeon-yeong ParkTwo kids are moving to their grandfather's house, but everything is going to change when the aunt moves there too.
- DirectorJulia DucournauStarsVincent LindonAgathe RousselleGarance MarillierFollowing a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for ten years.
- DirectorCho-hee KimStarsKang Mal-GeumYoun Yuh-jungKim Young-minChan-sil, a film producer, finds herself unemployed with the sudden death of her long-time collaborated director. Out of prospects and out of luck, she moves into a bargain room in a shoddy neighborhood. But something doesn't seem quite right with her new elderly landlady.
- DirectorMia Hansen-LøveStarsVicky KriepsTim RothMia WasikowskaA couple retreat to the island that inspired Ingmar Bergman to write screenplays for their upcoming films when the lines between reality and fiction start to blur.