Films Directed by Women

In 2014, the movie « Mommy » directed by Xavier Dolan, got the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. This was a great achievement for this director prodigy from Quebec, who had just turned 25. The script - a tumultuous relationship between a single mother and his hyperactive and violent son - and the bold direction electrified the audience. Shot in Montreal, the documentary by Tessa Louise Salomé tells the genesis of this family drama. It also reveals the failures of the society in Quebec : the failure of the mental institution and the impoverishment of the middle class

With a new iPhone, an apartment near the Grove, and a comfortable bank account left to her by her beloved late husband, Marnie Minervini has happily relocated from New Jersey to Los Angeles to be near her daughter Lori, a successful (but still single) screenwriter, and smother her with motherly love. But when the dozens of texts, unexpected visits, and conversations dominated by unsolicited advice force Lori to draw strict personal boundaries, Marnie finds ways to channel her eternal optimism and forceful generosity to change the lives of others - as well as her own - and find a new purpose in life.

For twenty-five years Brenda Myers-Powell called herself 'Breezy' and she dominated her world, or that's what she thought. It was a world that had turned her into a teenage, drug-addicted prostitute. After a violent encounter with a 'john,' Brenda woke up in the hospital and decided to change her life. Today she is a beacon of hope and a pillar of strength for hundreds of women and girls as young as fourteen who want to change their own lives. 'Dreamcatcher' explores the cycle of neglect, violence and exploitation which each year leaves thousands upon thousands of girls and women feeling that prostitution is their only option to survive. By following the very charming, charismatic and truly empathic Brenda, we enter the lives of young women and see in verite footage their realities from their points of view. While the world may overlook these women and men, thankfully Brenda has not, providing an unflinching expose which contrasts seeming hopelessness against the difference that one ...

The planet’s busiest maternity hospital is located in one of its poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. There, poor women face devastating consequences as their country struggles with reproductive health policy and the politics of conservative Catholic ideologies.

Filmmaker Penny Woolcock spent eight months in a parallel world, the world of the homeless, befriending people and finding out where they eat, sleep and socialise. While making her film, Woolcock realised that the very real problems of homeless people have very little to do with the lack of a roof over their heads or a bed to sleep in. Their problems come from their past lives - and are less easy to remedy. Despite the efforts of different charities to move people into homes, the streets are often where they feel safe and what they know best. In this moving documentary, Woolcock gives the seen-but-unheard residents of London's streets a voice.

Stuck at a crossroads in her personal life, it falls on high school English teacher Miss Stevens to chaperone three of her students — Billy, Margot and Sam — on a weekend trip to a drama competition.

After two troubled but powerful men rape a young hitchhiker who happens to be a vet, she drugs them and removes their testicles.

A woman is seeking a true connection, unfortunately she doesn't relate to people like most in normal society. She starts making changes, and as her road to self improvement unfolds, her more eccentric interests lead her down a darker path.

Julia Reichert and Jim Klein (who were also responsible for UNION MAIDS - spotting a theme yet?) made this doco in 1983, fortunately in enough time to snag interviews with a number of senior citizens who were right in the thick of it way back when the communist party established itself in the U.S. SEEING RED takes us through the trials and tribulations of the party through the changes of the decades - the depression, the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the Cold War and subsequent HUAC hearings, the devastating revelations about exactly what kinda guy Stalin had become, and of course all the hardline propaganda that beleaguered them at every turn.
Even though the film-makers' sympathies lie clearly with their interview subjects, SEEING RED isn't meant to be pro-Pinko (while even now still holding on to their ideals these old folks admit the official party line lost its way, and point out where things went wrong). Pete Seeger (of The Weavers) gets to sing a few songs; Reagan, Nixon, McCarthy and even actor John Saxon make archival appearances. If you weren't aware of the full story behind this marginalised slice of history, then here's your chance to find out.

A young woman returns home and must confront her ex-boyfriend when an unexpected tragedy occurs.

An American film-star and an unknown British actress meet on set in Rome. She is angry when he refuses to speak to her journalist father, but later they have a passionate relationship.

2017 film directed by Naoko Ogigami

2008 film by Yuki Tanada

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his Jewish companion Paul Ree meet a beautiful young Russian intellectual and draw her into a ménage-à-trois.

Documentary chronicling America's justice system. Follows two female inmates – victims of horrific violence and tragedy – who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center.

A former child star buys her grandmother's house to rescue it from ruin but her hope for serenity is soon eclipsed by haunting dreams of her famous grandmother, who died of a supposed overdose in the house more than 30 years ago.

Rachel is a rambunctious girl from a polygamist colony in southern Utah. On Rachel’s 15th birthday, she finds a forbidden cassette tape. Having never seen anything like it before, Rachel plays the cassette tape, and finds glorious rock & roll thereupon. Weeks later, Rachel realizes a miracle has occurred - and the cassette tape must have something to do with it. She leaves her family and runs away to the closest city: Las Vegas. There she searches for the singer of the band on the cassette tape.

The retelling of France’s iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 15 to her reign as queen at 19 and ultimately the fall of Versailles.

A year in the life of Alice Klieg, a woman with Borderline personality disorder who wins the Mega Millions lottery, quits her meds and buys her own talk show.

A Korean woman leaves her two young daughters with her sister-in-law to search for their estranged father.