Women’s voices in film are now more important than ever. The days of big-budget blockbusters are waning and indie films are now proudly dominating the movie-making industry. This shift allows more indie projects to find their audience and shine, many of which come from amazing studios like A24, Neon, and Mubi and have a female writer and director at the helm.
Only three women have won the Best Director Oscar – Kathryn Bigelow, Chloé Zhao, and Jane Campion – and only nine women have ever been nominated for Best Director in the near century of the Academy Awards' existence, and those numbers must change. Women in film are amazing and should be celebrated, so load up your watchlist with the following fantastic female-led films!
Where To Stream
Halina Reijn
Maria Bakalova, Amandla Stenberg, Rachel Sennott, Pete Davidson, Myha’la, Chase Sui Wonders, Lee Pace, and Conner O’Malley
2022
86%
6.2
Tubi, Sling TV
Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn isbest known for her work with A24, first Bodies Bodies Bodies and then 2024’s erotic thriller Babygirl. Bodies Bodies Bodies is a horror comedy about a group of Gen Z-ers partying together during a storm, soon finding themselves stuck in a whodunit slasher scenario where paranoia drives everyone to extreme measures.
With stars like Pete Davidson and Rachel Sennott, the movie does a good job of balancing the comedy and satire of Gen Z’s habits and behaviors (particularly TikTok) with a more suspenseful thriller atmosphere where everyone doesn’t know who to trust and believe any one of the group could be the killer.The twist at the endis also a brilliant and darkly hilarious way of concluding the story.
Caroline Lindy
Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, Kayla Foster, Ikechukwu Ufomadu, Meghann Fahy, Megan Haley, Brandon Victor Dixon, Taylor Trensch, Lana Young, Brian McCarthy, and Matthew Lamb
2024
78%
6.4
HBO Max
Caroline Lindy’s Your Monster isa blend of horror and romantic comedythat puts a surreal spin on Beauty and the Beast. It tells the tale of an aspiring actress on Broadway whose life gets turned upside-down after receiving a cancer diagnosis. Soon after, she gets dumped by her boyfriend and finds a companion and romantic interest in a monster that has lived in her closet since she was a child.
There’s a bit of American Psycho, Sweeney Todd, Riverdale,and Nosferatu influences throughout. The film explores themes of love, beauty, and support, and also makes you question whether the monster is even real or not throughout the entire story, with an ending that’s pretty dark and somewhat predictable.
Zoë Kravitz
Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Adria Arjona, Alia Shawkat, Simon Rex, Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Liz Caribel Sierra, Levon Hawke, Trew Mullen, Geena Davis, and Kyle MacLachlan
75%
6.5
Amazon Prime Video, MGM+
Blink Twice is the directorial debut of actress Zoë Kravitz, who’s starred in projects like Matt Reeve’s Batman, Big Little Lies, and Soderbergh’s Kimi. The movie starts off with a trigger warning, and it indeed delves into some very disturbing and harrowing situations of sexual assault taking place on a private island owned by a tech billionaire, Slater King, who’s played by Channing Tatum.
It’s a psychological horror-thrillerin the vein of Blumhouse’s Get Out, with intense moments and a truly unsettling performance by Channing Tatum that comes with a very original concept and delivers a nice twist. The movie follows a group of girls who are invited to Slater King’s island for a relaxing getaway of fun, but the vibe turns sinister and the girls start disappearing, with no one being able to recall what’s happened in the last few nights.
Chloe Okuno
Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman, Madalina Anea, Daniel Nuta, Gabriela Butuc, and Tudor Petrut
88%
6.3
Netflix
Chloe Okuno’s Watcher is a terrifying and suspenseful thriller about an American woman dealing with a stalker in a foreign country who she suspects is the serial killer the media dubs ‘The Spider.’ You see her get very little support from her husband, who’s often not even present due to his work, and you might even suspect him of perhaps being the killer. This film also has some well-crafted commentary on not believing women.
Watcher follows a couple who move into an apartment in Romania that overlooks the window of a man who creepily stares into their space, and then things escalate. The atmosphere of paranoia and suspense right up until the final minutes of the movie make it an unpredictable and masterfully nail-biting experience. Maika Monroe’s performance as Julia in Watcher is even better than her character in Longlegs, and Burn Gorman will scare you in his role.
Emerald Fennell
Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Carey Mulligan, Sadie Soverall, and Ewan Mitchell
2023
71%
7
Amazon Prime Video
Following up her Oscar-winning debut revenge thriller, Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell conjured up Saltburn, a movie with even more shockingly wild, dark, and original moments transpiring between Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi. If The Killing of a Sacred Deer didn’t demonstrate anything about Keoghan’s choice of roles, his character in Saltburn makes this film seem almost like a sequelto the 2017 A24 Lanthimos film.
In Saltburn, Barry Keoghan plays Oliver, a student who comes from a lower-class background and doesn’t have the best family situation; plus, his father has just passed. Oliver, therefore, joins his friend Felix at his family’s wealthy estate, the eponymous Saltburn, where his sinister motives begin to become more and more apparent,with some sensual ‘vampire’ romance, disturbing grave shagging, and bath water-drinking activities occurring.
Saltburn is also a collaboration with Margot Robbie, who serves as an executive producer on the film through her production company LuckyChap Entertainment.
Jane Campion
Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie, Frances Conroy, Keith Carradine, and Geneviève Lemon
2021
94%
6.8
The Power of the Dog finally won director Jane Campion her long-awaited Best Director Oscar at the 94th Academy Awards, making her one of three women to hold this honor. The Power of the Dog is a dark and slow-burn Western about a cowboy rancher, Phil Burbank, and his eerie relationship with his brother’s new wife, with his sights also set on her young son.
The story is based on the novel by Thomas Savage, and it deals with themes of masculinity and homosexuality. Plus, it’s filled with some stellar performances from notable stars, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, and Kirsten Dunst all receiving Oscar nominations. But really the star of this movie is Kodi Smit-McPhee as the young Peter Gordon, who’s not as innocent of a young man as he seems.
Justine Triet
Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner, Antoine Reinartz, Samuel Theis, Jehnny Beth, Saadia Bentaïeb, Camille Rutherford, Anne Rotger, and Sophie Fillières
96%
7.6
Hulu, Disney+
Anatomy of a Fall is a Palme d’Or and Oscar-winning legal drama by French filmmaker Justine Triet. The movie examines the troubled marriage between a husband and wife, the latter of whom is facing trial under suspicion of murder after her husband took a deadly fall while working on some improvements to their home. The other factor in this case is the couple’s son, Daniel, who is blind.
The Zone of Interest’s Sandra Hüller plays Sandra Voyter, the woman whose life gets completely unraveled following her husband’s tragic accidental death, or was it? That’s what you’re trying to determine along with the judges and investigators throughout this movie, and it’s something that might never fully get answered, as in real life. But seeing all the drama, tension, and twists and turns unfold is superb.
Sofia Coppola
Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, Akiko Takeshita, Fumihiro Hayashi, Hiroko Kawasaki, and Shigekazu Aida
2003
95%
7.7
VOD
Sofia Coppola, daughter of Francis Ford Coppola and star of The Godfather Part 3, has grown into a talented writer and director, with Lost in Translation winning her an Oscar for Best Screenplay and seeing her nominated for Best Picture and Best Director. It stars Bill Murray as an aging actor sent to Tokyo to film a commercial for a Japanese whiskey, who befriends Charlotte, a college graduate married to a photographer husband who’s hardly present.
Bill Murray’s character, Bob Harris, is married himself but is unhappy and connects on a deeper level with Charlotte, spending a lot of time hanging out with her in Tokyo. With Bill Murray, you get some sharp comedic moments, but also a lot of compelling drama in Lost in Translation. Anna Faris is also in the supporting cast, and Sneaky Pete star Giovanni Ribisi plays Charlotte’s absent husband and celebrity photographer.
Coralie Fargeat
Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Edward Hamilton-Clark, Gore Abrams, Oscar Lesage, and Hugo Diego Garcia
89%
7.3
Mubi
Coralie Fargeat is another French filmmaker making waves witha rare Oscar-nominated sci-fi horror achievement, The Substance, which also has a Golden Globe-winning performance by Demi Moore. Moore is Elisabeth Sparkle, an aging fitness TV show host who overhears that she’s being dropped for someone younger. Desperate to cling to fame, she takes ‘the substance.’
It’s a green injectable chemical agent that basically creates a younger version of herself named Sue (played by Margaret Qualley), who comes out through her back in some of the most gnarly and fantastic body horror displays. It soon turns into a tale of betrayal and jealousybetween the two versionsand explores the consequences of taking the substance while poking great fun at Hollywood and how beauty is valued.
Mary Harron
Christian Bale, Chloë Sevigny, Justin Theroux, Jared Leto, Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Matt Ross, Samantha Mathis, Cara Seymour, Krista Sutton, Willem Dafoe, and Guinevere Turner
2000
68%
Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Plex
An even more iconic horror satire film is American Psycho, directed by Mary Harron and based on the shocking novel by Bret Easton Ellis. It follows a psychopathic Wall Street investment banker living a life of privilege, wealth, and murder. He’s the music-loving, business card-jealous, and skin-care-obsessed Patrick Bateman, one of the most notable movie characters next to Bruce Wayne ever portrayed by Christian Bale.
From the kill sequences to the off-beat dialogue, the idiosyncrasies of Bateman, and the “Let’s see Paul Allen’s card” scene, Christian Bale was brilliant in his interpretation of the role, giving way to so many memorable moments that have since been turned into classic memes. It’s truly absurd that American Psycho didn’t receive any Oscar nominations because the film is a national treasure.
