Films Directed by Women

The complicated and bizarre story of Ana (Haien Qiu), a Chinese born in Argentina who is, unexpectedly, pursued by danger. She accidentally becomes involved in the affairs of the Chinese triads established in Argentina. To get rid of them she must flee to her hometown, but what is not known is that in the meadow, things have changed. The people have left and all she find are rabbits. But even the rabbits have changed; mutating into bloodthirsty carnivores.

2010 film directed by Verónica Chen

2019 film directed by Verónica Chen

Charting the recent advancements in weaponized communication by investigating the rise and fall of the world’s most notorious public relations and reputation management firm: the British multinational Bell Pottinger.

In 2016, a young Australian filmmaker began documenting amateur inventor Peter Madsen. One year in, Madsen brutally murdered Kim Wall aboard his homemade submarine. An unprecedented revelation of a killer and the journey his young helpers take as they reckon with their own complicity and prepare to testify.

2020 film directed by Zoé Wittock

Two con artists have spent 26 years training their only daughter to swindle, scam and steal at every turn. During a desperate and hastily conceived heist, they charm a stranger into joining them, only to have their entire world turned upside down.

In Compton, a soon-to-be undocumented teenager fights for her right to stay in America while risking her family, her friendships, and her first love.

At the turning point of the Iran-Contra affair, Elena McMahon, a fearless investigative journalist covering the 1984 US presidential campaign, puts herself in danger when she abandons her assigned task in order to fulfill the last wish of her ailing father, a mysterious man whose past activities she barely knows.

Turquoise, a former beauty queen turned hardworking single mother, prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant, hoping to keep her from repeating the same mistakes in life that she did.

2020 film directed by Philippa Lowthorpe

When British aid worker Hana returns to Luxor, a sleepy city on the banks of the Nile, she comes across Sultan, a talented archeologist and former lover. As she wanders, haunted by the familiar place, she struggles to reconcile the choices of the past with the uncertainty of the present.

Juggling the sudden abduction of her childhood sweetheart as well as a blooming love affair, a French Manhattanite makes her way as an artist in an indifferent, sometimes hostile world.

When Mari Gilbert's daughter disappears, police inaction drives her own investigation into the gated Long Island community where Shannan was last seen. Her search brings attention to over a dozen murdered prostitutes.

When a daughter becomes concerned about her mother's well-being in a retirement home, private investigator Romulo hires Sergio, an 83-year-old man who becomes a new resident—and a mole inside the home, who struggles to balance his assignment with becoming increasingly involved in the lives of several residents.

For sixty years, Maria Teresa and her high school friends have been meeting for monthly tea in Santiago. As a maid quietly keeps cups and plates filled, the genteel women pray, then talk about their ailments, their husbands, and the rapidly changing world around them. Director Maite Alberdi keeps a tight focus on the food and the friends' faces, as they listen to each other's stories, gently tease, and reminisce. Gradually their personalities emerge, and over four years of filming, we come to know them individually, understanding their differences and senses of humour. As their number dwindles, their friendship group takes on even more significance. A deceptively simple construct, Tea Time in fact works on several levels, not least as a journey into the little seen world of upper middle class Chile, and, most memorably, as a moving love letter to female friendship.

Adults, but seldom treated as such: that's the dilemma facing this group of friends with Down syndrome, in this warm and compassionate documentary.
When we first meet Anita, she's justifiably frustrated with her boring kitchen job and overprotective parents – she's been attending the same school for 40 years. Things start to look up when she begins a romance with the courteous Andrés and the loving duo dream of doing what everyone else does, including marriage and having a family. Their friend Ricardo works part-time and also has plans for the future. The school encourages its mature students to be responsible adults, but do they really have any say in their future? This is not a sombre film – it's full of joy and intimacy, a recurring quality in the work of talented Chilean director Maite Alberdi (Tea Time, SFF 2015).
A fascinating parade of strong characters – feisty Anita, entrepreneurial Ricardo, suave Andres, and Rita, "smarter than your average bear" each confronting a series of touching challenges as Alberdi looks at lives lived under neverending restraint. – Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International

Mauricio, a lifeguard on a Chilean beach, considers himself to be a model of efficiency and professionalism. His colleagues, however, think otherwise, and speculate on why he never goes into the water. Maite Alberdi's visually gorgeous feature documentary debut has the intensity of a short story; beginning as a quirky character study of lifeguards and beachgoers, it becomes something altogether darker and more shocking when events take a dramatic turn.

The film follows 24 hours in the life of father and daughter Leo and Molly, as they weave their way around New York City, until their ordinary but stressful day takes on a hallucinatory and epic quality.

Once the world's most famous astrologer, Walter Mercado seeks to resurrect a forgotten legacy. Raised in the sugar cane fields of Puerto Rico, Walter grew up to become a gender non-conforming, cape-wearing psychic whose televised horoscopes reached 120 million viewers a day for decades before he mysteriously disappeared.