Female Directors (in progress)
by Kim_Kobusch_Simonsen | created - 25 Mar 2023 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicThis is my list of female directors whome I like. I have ranked them according to how much I have seen from them.
1. 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 ...
2. 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 ...
3. 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).
4. 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.
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. 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), ...
7. 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...
8. 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...
9. 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).
10. 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 ...
11. Chloé Zhao
Director | Nomadland
Chloé Zhao or Zhao Ting (born March 31, 1982) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter, and producer. Her debut feature film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015), premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Her second feature film, The Rider (2017), was critically acclaimed and received several accolades ...
12. 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.
13. Chantal Akerman
Director | Les rendez-vous d'Anna
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.
14. 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).
15. Maja Borg
Director | Future My Love
Maja Borg is known for Future My Love (2012), Man (2016) and Passion (2021).
16. 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...
17. 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 ...
18. Jasmila Zbanic
Writer | Quo vadis, Aida?
Jasmila Zbanic was born on December 19, 1974 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia. She is a writer and director, known for Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020), Grbavica (2006) and Na putu (2010). She is married to Damir Ibrahimovic. They have one child.
19. 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).
20. May el-Toukhy
Director | The Crown
May el-Toukhy was born on August 17, 1977 in Charlottenlund, Denmark. She is a director and writer, known for The Crown (2016), Queen of Hearts (2019) and Long Story Short (2015).
21. Tea Lindeburg
Director | Du som er i himlen
Tea Lindeburg is known for As in Heaven (2021), Kødkataloget (2013) and Equinox (2020). She has been married to Kristian Leth since August 9, 2003. They have one child.
22. Nana Ekvtimishvili
Writer | Grzeli nateli dgeebi
Nana Ekvtimishvili was born on July 9, 1978 in Tbilisi, Georgia, USSR. She is a writer and director, known for In Bloom (2013), My Happy Family (2017) and Waiting for Mum (2011).
23. Mati Diop
Director | Atlantique
Mati Diop was born on June 22, 1982 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for Atlantics (2019), A Thousand Suns (2013) and Dahomey (2024).
24. Vivian Qu
Director | Jia nian hua
Vivian Qu was born in Beijing, China. She is a director, writer and producer, known for Trap Street (2013), Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014) and Angels Wear White (2017). She is the first woman director to ever win Best Director at both the Golden Horse Awards and the China Film Director's Guild Awards.
25. Naoko Yamada
Director | Koe no katachi
Naoko Yamada is a Japanese animator, television and film director. Working at Kyoto Animation, she directed the K-On! and Tamako Market anime series and the anime film A Silent Voice.
Yamada was born in Gunma Prefecture. As a child she enjoyed drawing images from the Patlabor and Dragonball anime ...
26. Leni Riefenstahl
Producer | Das blaue Licht - Eine Berglegende aus den Dolomiten
Leni Riefenstahl's show-biz experience began with an experiment: she wanted to know what it felt like to dance on the stage. Success as a dancer gave way to film acting when she attracted the attention of film director Arnold Fanck, subsequently starring in some of his mountaineering pictures. With...
27. Sophia Takal
Actress | Green
Sophia Takal is known for Green (2011), Always Shine (2016) and V/H/S (2012).
28. Anna Emma Haudal
Writer | Doggystyle
Anna Emma Haudal was born on January 5, 1988 in Odsherred, Denmark. She is a writer and producer, known for Doggystyle (2018), The Venus Effect (2021) and Sofa (2016).
29. 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.
30. Houda Benyamina
Director | Divines
Houda Benyamina was born on November 30, 1980 in Viry-Châtillon, Essonne, France. She is a director and writer, known for Divines (2016), Sur la route du paradis (2011) and Ma poubelle géante (2009).
31. Elite Zexer
Director | Sufat Chol
Elite Zexer is known for Sand Storm (2016), Tasnim (2010) and Take Note (2008).
32. Anna Rose Holmer
Director | The Fits
Anna Rose Holmer was listed as one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in 2015. Her narrative directorial debut, The Fits (2015 Venice International Film Festival, 2016 Sundance Film Festival), is a selection of the Venice Biennale College-Cinema 2014/2015 and the Sundance ...
33. Malgorzata Szumowska
Director | W imie...
One of the most prominent Polish directors of today, Malgorzata Szumowska was born in Kraków in 1973. She's been directing, writing and producing feature and documentary films and has received numerous awards at international and Polish film festivals. After two noticed shorts, her first feature ...
34. 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 ...
35. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Producer | The Rescue
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi was born on December 30, 1978 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and director, known for The Rescue (2021), Free Solo (2018) and Meru (2015). She has been married to Jimmy Chin since May 26, 2013. They have two children.
36. 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).
37. Julie Rudbæk
Actress | 29
Julie Rudbæk was born on August 19, 1987 in Rødovre, Denmark. She is an actress and writer, known for 29 (2018), Bag enhver mand (2023) and Elsker dig for tiden (2022).
38. Maria Schrader
Director | She Said
Maria Schrader was born in Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany, on September 27th, 1965. She directed and co-wrote the screenplay of the awards-winning film Liebesleben (2007). As well, she directed Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe (2016) and the Emmy-award wining miniseries Unorthodox (2020) (...
39. Ally Pankiw
Director | The Great
Ally Pankiw is a Canadian writer/director known for directing the full first season of Netflix's "Feel Good," and blocks on TV shows like Hulu's "Shrill" and "The Great." She has also written on "Schitt's Creek" and is developing a new, original series with its star and creator, Dan Levy, for Hulu ...
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