Films Directed by Women

Fancy watching a comical, surreal musical with Robinson Crusoe, about refugees on the Mediterranean Sea? Look no further! The switch of perspective, previously demonstrated by Romanian animator Anca Damian in L’extraordinaire voyage de Marona in 2018 – in which a dying dog reflects on his owners – also drives The Island. Here, Robinson Crusoe is not a desperate marooned sailor, but someone who voluntarily wiles away his days on an island. One day, Friday washes ashore – the sole survivor from a boat full of people trying to reach Italy. Criminals, border guards, and mermaids follow.
The result is not so much an indictment, as an absurd animation set to music which, in Damian’s own apt words, is a mix of The Little Prince, Robinson Crusoe, and Monty Python. The most bizarre scenes pass across the screen and merge together. In short, a film powered by wild free association, comic observation, and visual poetry.

2022 animated film

This film will explore the reasons why the colourful and passionate Kahlo still captivates 65 years after her death. Featuring key moments from her life combined with a dramatized depiction of her vivid imagination, the film will depict Frida Kahlo’s life in a sensitive and celebratory way and give a concise, compelling and accurate representation of her development as an artist and a woman.

Olivia, a 12-year-old middle class girl, is forced to reorganize her basic needs when her family (mother, little brother and herself) is evicted and forced to live in a squatted apartment on the edge of the big city, in a rough neighborhood. Her mother can no longer bear the situation and falls in a depression, so Olivia has to replace her. It means caring for her brother and her own mother, while dealing with the feeling of an emotional earthquake. But she is not alone, Olivia will make friends that will help her to see her own life from other points of view. Because things don’t always happen the way we want, but we can choose the way we live them.

In Tulugalik things are getting busy. The village is building a new harbor to make room for the increased tourism. 12-year-old Maliina adores living here, but her mother wants for her to get a real education in the big city. As things start to heat up between the two, a mystery occurs. The fish has disappeared and soon the town starts to suffer. Maliina learns that she is the one who can solve the mystery. Facing her own fears and the unknown of the Spirit Realms, she begins her journey. But as she delves down into the depth of the sea, destructive storms strike the town. Can Maliina persevere enough to find and calm the Mother of the Sea before the town – and life as they know it – unravels?

2022 animated film directed by Amandine Fredon and Benjamin Massoubre

Two nobles and a lap dog on a dangerous quest to the North Pole.

2018 Turkish film directed by Guillaume Giovanetti and Çagla Zencirci

Filmmaking partners Guillaume Giovanetti and Cagla Zencirci immersed themselves in the magical world of Japanese folklore to create this intricate and delightfully amusing modern-day parable

A government minister must choose between using his position to help his father in law stay out of jail for tax evasion or allow the law to take its course with him. His decision causes him and his family more harm than good.

A young surgeon's chance meeting with her ex-boyfriend throws her world into absolute chaos when she makes a horrible discovery about her past and what could be the end of a great career, and beautiful marriage.

A divorced couple who decide to share equal space in their ex-matrimonial home soon realize that the ingenious idea is easier said than done. Bent on flexing their egos and scoring points, the two implore various hilarious tactics that soon inflames emotions and turns an already complicated situation into a roller coaster ride.

SHAKEDOWN (2017) chronicles explicit performances in an underground lesbian club in Los Angeles. Filmed from 2002 - 2015 the story functions as a legend where money is both myth and material. Cumulatively, questions arise about how to diagram the before and after of a utopic moment. Directed by Leilah Weinraub.

2019 film by Halina Reijn

2019 film directed by Eva Cools

In July 1988, Mizue Furui was in the Gaza Strip and West Bank with her camera as a rookie freelance journalist. Covering the Palestinian condition, she became acquainted with Ghada Ageel, a 23-year-old teacher at an elementary school, in November 1993 and started shooting her life up to when she turned 35. The 12 years Furui spent shooting still and video images has borne fruit in a documentary titled "Ghada -- Songs of Palestine," which will be released in Uplink Theater in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, in May as a rare report on women in the traditionally male-oriented Palestinian society.

Eiko Kanno is a 79 year old grandmother whose life has been completely changed by the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Her life should have been with her grandchildren but because of the disaster which caused her entire village of Iitate to be evacuated. She now lives by herself in temporary housing. Yoshiko Kanno and her extended family are very important to her changed life. Yoshiko Kanno lost her parents in the evacuation and she found herself living next door to Eiko Kanno. They entertain themselves by telling jokes to each other like a comedic duo. They now live together.

A documentary of Palestinian children that lived through the Israeli military's intervention in the Gaza Strip in late 2008. The film depicts how the children of the Samuni family, that lost 29 members in the conflict, have accepted the deaths of their loved ones and how they try to overcome.