Films Directed by Women

From 1972 until 1974, Joris Ivens and Marceline Loridan, along with a Chinese film crew, documented the last days of the Cultural Revolution, marking the end of an era. The vast amount of footage they shot was edited into 14 films of varying lengths. Focusing on ordinary people spread over a wide geographic area—many of whom were living and working in collectives—the filmmakers recorded a unique moment in history, and also captured some of the more enduring aspects of Chinese culture.

A WOMAN LIKE ME is a hybrid documentary that interweaves the real story of director Alex Sichel, diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2011, with the fictional story of Anna Seashell, who struggles to find the glass half full when faced with the same diagnosis. The film follows Alex as she uses her craft to explore what is foremost on her mind while confronting a terminal disease: parenting, marriage, faith, life, and death. When we are stuck between a rock and hard place, can our imagination get us out?

In Dunkirk, a man and a woman meet and fall in love, then hate each other.

FOREIGN PARTS portrays a hidden enclave of auto shops and junkyards fated for demolition in the shadow of a new baseball stadium in Queens. The film observes this vibrant community of immigrants - where wrecks, refuse, and recycling form a thriving commerce - as it struggles for daily survival and contests New York City's development scheme.

Lucy Church, the sole witness to a fatal robbery, is struck by a passing bus and her life lies in the balance as the thieves wait for a chance to finish her off.

A Danish officer, Michael, is sent away to the International Security Assistance Force operation in Afghanistan for three months. His first mission there is to find a young radar technician who had been separated from his squad some days earlier. While on the search, his helicopter is shot down and he is taken as a prisoner of war, but is reported dead to the family.

15-year-old Livia gets back on her feet after falling from her horse with the help of Jean, a volunteer fireman with whom she falls in love. A few days later, vacation begins. June 24. The girl, alone and exasperated, will stop at nothing to conquer this older man; her passion burns more and more. Her love consumes her, driving her into a mounting frenzy, until she commits an irreparable act.

The bittersweet story of Somying Dawrai, a beautiful and successful showgirl working in the famed transvestite cabaret Tiffani Show in Pattaya, Thailand. Somying swears to herself that she will never fall in love. However, when she meets Bunterm, a handsome young singer, her promise to herself falls by the wayside.

Alexa, Fernand, and Louis form a tender yet unconventional trio in a quiet suburban home. Fleeing failed marriages and societal expectations, they build a life rooted in love and mutual support. But their unorthodox arrangement stirs suspicion, especially from a curious police inspector whose own life is about to change in unexpected ways.

2004 American film by Jehane Noujaim

The story of Ioannis Zachos, a young psychopath who commits a murder in Athens.

The film consists primarily of degraded footage of landscapes shot from vehicles moving across the country; meanwhile, 537 computer-generated permutations of the film’s title appear like subtitles—the letters are scrambled over and over again, undermining the meaning of Pierre Trudeau's infamous motto.

Babe Scott, a cabaret dancer who is constantly searching for sensational material to shock her customers, conceives of burlesquing a Salvation Army girl and attends mission meetings on the East Side for atmosphere. There she meets Jerry Wilson, an honest truckdriver and friend of the Army captain. Although the act is a success, Babe is disillusioned to find Lonnie, a fellow worker who has been romancing her, stealing her money and making overtures to Big Bertha, the hard-boiled club hostess.

The story of a man coming to terms with the sins and secrets of his notorious brother and, in the process, exploring the legacy of violence in his own family.

Frontline looks at the case of Norfolk Four in which four men were convicted of the rape and murder of a woman on the basis of coerced confessions.

Martha "Red" Tierney used to be a hot-shot reporter, but that was before alcohol took over her life. One morning Martha's son, Jonathan, leaves for school, stopping first to meet his father for breakfast. But Jonathan never meets his dad. Instead, he is picked up by Lawrence, a pedophile who has been watching him. Now Martha must overcome her alcoholism and her bitterness towards her ex-husband and use her old investigative skills to find her son before it's too late.

Solaris (Russian: Солярис) is a 1968 TV film based on the 1961 novel Solaris by Stanisław Lem. It was written by Nikolay Kemarsky, directed by Boris Nirenburg and was a Central Television production.
4 years before Andrei Tarkovsky made his classic version of Stanislav Lem’s sci-fi novel Solaris there was this Russian TV version made by Boris Nirenburg and Lidiya Ishimbayeva.

Follows the serendipitous meeting of two young girls on the Venice Boardwalk, who, though worlds apart in lifestyle, embark on unexpected and lifelong friendship. CC is an aspiring singer trying to make it in Los Angeles. Hillary is the daughter of a prominent civil rights lawyer who struggles to find her own destiny. Their friendship—even with its ups and downs—sustains them for decades.

Documents a woman's actual pregnancy; the emotions, the affects on her husband and first-born child, the birth itself via Caesarean section, and her struggle to return to work and a social life, while still being a good mother.

The film is set in 1905, in a time of feverish revolutionary underground activity in Poland partitioned between three neighbours. All the characters are committed anarchists. The bomb maker puts an invention together to place it at the disposal of young inexperienced terrorists fighting against Tsarist oppression. The story follows the passing of this bomb from anarchist to anarchist as several attempts are made on the life of Tsarist governor general, until, at the end, it is effectively and harmlessly defused by a bomb expert. The presence of the bomb has a destroying effect on all of the Polish revolutionaries, they either die or breakdown.