10th Femme Filmmakers Festival

This year’s Femme Filmmakers Festival (an online festival from 16 - 28 September 2025) highlighted the extraordinary contributions of women filmmakers across both short and feature-length works. From intimate personal documentaries to daring avant-garde experiments and gripping narrative dramas, these films showcased a rich spectrum of voices, perspectives and storytelling approaches.

I managed to see 16 of the 24 curated features, alongside a strong selection of shorts. Here are my thoughts on the features…

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 Stars)

Le Bonheur 1965 – Directed by Agnès Varda Varda’s luminous pastoral surfaces conceal a devastatingly cold portrait of male entitlement. The vibrant colours, idyllic family life and seasonal imagery lull the viewer into complicity only for the narrative’s casual treatment of infidelity to sting. A quietly radical critique disguised as domestic bliss. Read my full review of Le Bonheur on the Femme Filmmakers Festival website.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 Stars)

For Sama 2019 – Directed by Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts An intimate war diary that feels both epic and unbearably close. Filmed over five years in Aleppo, al-Kateab’s raw footage of daily life under siege is threaded with her voice to her daughter Sama, a child born into chaos. Brutal, tender and unforgettable, an urgent testimony of resilience in the face of atrocity.

⭐⭐⭐⭐½ (4.5 Stars)

The Swallows of Kabul 2019 – Directed by Zabou Breitman and Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec A haunting animated drama set in Taliban-ruled Kabul. The delicate hand-painted animation lends fragile beauty to scenes of violence and oppression, heightening the contrast between tenderness and brutality. Following two couples whose lives become intertwined under the weight of authoritarian rule, the film conveys both the crushing despair of daily existence and the quiet persistence of love and resistance.

⭐⭐⭐⭐½ (4.5 Stars)

News from Home 1976 – Directed by Chantal Akerman A remarkable fusion of distance and intimacy. Static or gliding shots of 1970s New York, alienating yet mesmerising, are layered with Akerman’s voice reading her mother’s letters full of mundane gossip and longing. The disconnect between image and sound turns the ordinary into something extraordinary: a portrait of migration, memory and estrangement.

⭐⭐⭐⭐½ (4.5 Stars)

Past Lives 2023 – Directed by Celine Song A gentle, aching exploration of “what if”. Spanning decades and continents, the story follows Na and Hae Sung across childhood separation, digital reconnection and an eventual New York reunion. Song stages longing in small gestures and quiet silences, allowing time itself to become the film’s greatest character. The final scene devastates in its restraint.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 Stars)

Morvern Callar 2002 – Directed by Lynne Ramsay A dreamlike character study led by Samantha Morton’s astonishing performance. In the aftermath of her boyfriend’s suicide Morvern drifts through landscapes and parties, carrying grief, denial and strange liberation. Ramsay’s hypnotic use of sound, with music as lifeline and escape, and her elliptical visuals capture a psyche dissolving and remaking itself.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 Stars)

Tigers Are Not Afraid 2017 – Directed by Issa López A chilling yet tender fable set against the backdrop of cartel violence in Mexico. Children orphaned by the drug wars navigate survival through a mixture of grit and fantasy. López fuses ghost stories with brutal reality, showing how imagination becomes both a shield and a mirror of trauma. A contemporary urban fairy tale that cuts deep.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 Stars)

Revenge 2017 – Directed by Coralie Fargeat Stylish, suspenseful and ferocious, Fargeat reworks the rape-revenge template into something both confrontational and cinematic. Sun-drenched desert landscapes become an arena of survival and payback, with violence rendered in bold, gory strokes. A film of convention and controversy, it pushes its genre roots with nerve and flair.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 Stars)

The Second Mother

2015 – Directed by Anna Muylaert A sharp yet tender family drama set in São Paulo. Val, a live-in housekeeper, has raised her employer’s son as her own, but when her estranged daughter comes to stay, long-buried tensions around class, motherhood and generational change begin to surface. Muylaert unfolds these dynamics with warmth and precision, making space for humour, conflict and quiet rebellion.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 Stars)

The Short History of the Long Road 2019 – Directed by Ani Simon-Kennedy A moving road drama following Nola (Sabrina Carpenter), a teenager raised off-grid by her father until his sudden death forces her to fend for herself. Simon-Kennedy directs with empathy and restraint, sketching a portrait of grief, resilience and the search for belonging. A tender film about piecing together a future from fragments of loss.

⭐⭐⭐½ (3.5 Stars)

Black Box Diaries 2024 – Directed by Shiori Ito Ito’s searing personal documentary places her own assault and legal battle at its core, transforming the private into a political act of resistance. The vulnerability of her storytelling can feel raw and uneven at times but its bravery is undeniable. A film less about polish than the power of testimony, insisting on being heard.

⭐⭐⭐ (3 Stars)

Fair Play 2023 – Directed by Chloe Domont A sharp corporate psychodrama that twists romantic passion into toxic competition. Dynevor and Ehrenreich excel as lovers turned rivals, weaponising ambition and intimacy against one another. While its metaphors can feel blunt the film thrives on its tension and sharp turns, capturing the claustrophobic collision of love and power in the finance world.

⭐⭐⭐ (3 Stars)

The Novice 2021 – Directed by Lauren Hadaway An intense psychological sports drama following a college rower’s obsessive pursuit of perfection. With little dialogue, Hadaway relies on kinetic camerawork, harsh sound design and physical performance to pull the viewer into the character’s punishing mindset. The relentlessness is striking but its repetition can wear thin, muting the film’s emotional payoff.

⭐⭐½ (2.5 Stars)

Daughters 2024 – Directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae A moving but uneven documentary following young girls preparing for a special dance with their incarcerated fathers. The emotional core is strong, heartbreaking stories of absence, systemic failure and the fleeting joys of connection, but the structure feels stretched and occasionally repetitive. A story worth telling if not fully realised in its telling.

⭐⭐½ (2.5 Stars)

Cameraperson 2016 – Directed by Kirsten Johnson Johnson curates a personal memoir from more than fifty documentaries she has shot over her twenty-year career as a cinematographer. Working with leading filmmakers of her generation, she pieces together fragments into a collage of memory and experience. With no voiceover to guide, what emerges is a fascinating, if uneven, glimpse into dozens of lives and the act of filming itself.

⭐⭐½ (2.5 Stars)

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair 2021 – Directed by Jane Schoenbrun A lonely teenager takes part in an online role-playing horror game, drifting between performance, isolation and digital folklore. Schoenbrun captures the eerie atmosphere of life lived through screens, but the film’s slow pacing and fragmented narrative make it more mood piece than fully realised story.

The eight features I need to catch up on are…

·  Trouble Every Day (2001 – Directed by Claire Denis)

·  Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2023 – Directed by Ariane Louis-Seize)

·  Papicha (2019 – Directed by Mounia Meddour)

·  Beauty and the Dogs (2017 – Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania)

·  Happening (2021 – Directed by Audrey Diwan)

·  Prayers for the Stolen (2021 – Directed by Tatiana Huezo)

·  A Night of Knowing Nothing (2021 – Directed by Payal Kapadia)

·  Vermiglio (2023 – Directed by Maura Delpero)

I also caught up with some of the shorts, my thoughts…

Francie (2024, Zoë Ellender) Content warning: postpartum psychosis, depression, baby loss, suicidal thoughts.

Francie is a well-crafted short that draws the viewer into the disorientating world of a grieving mother, Francie (Aimee Cassettari), suffering from postpartum psychosis. Intimate camerawork keeps us close to her fragile state, while the sound design, shifting between music, amplified domestic noise and overlapping voices, mirrors her fractured perception of reality. The film captures the tension of a family under strain as the mother withdraws from her partner, Adam (Dave Hart) and older child, Lily (Mila Thursfield). Made on a modest budget, it is intended to provoke a wider conversation on perinatal mental health. A bold and affecting portrayal.

Bi-Nocular Panic (2024, Anouk Witkowska Hiffler) Bi-Nocular Panic is a witty and well-executed short that subverts the male gaze through the lens of two teenage girls. On a sunny afternoon, Cass (Albertine Sins) and Jane (Lucy Kean) engage in the familiar pastime of spying on boys (Luke Azille and Jed Cox). However, when the captivating Melody (Vanessa Eng) appears, Cass experiences a shift in perspective, realising her attraction extends beyond the boys. The film playfully turns the tables on objectification, using slow-motion sequences and exaggerated reactions to highlight the girls' newfound gaze. Realistic dialogue and chemistry between the leads add authenticity to their exploration of emerging sexuality. With its clever premise and engaging execution, Bi-Nocular Panic offers a refreshing take on teenage discovery from the less usual female perspective and the complexities of attraction.

Don't Be Rude (2025, Jessica Hof)

Don't Be Rude is a taut, unsettling short that explores how social conditioning to “be polite” can become a quiet but dangerous trap. Cassidy (Lola McLeod), a broke backpacker selling solar panels door-to-door, senses something is off when Brian (Spencer Schunk) invites her inside, but she stays out of politeness. What follows is an unnerving game of psychological chess, heightened by unusual camera angles, distorted framing and an ominous score that keep the viewer off balance. Supposedly inspired by a true story, the film plays with ambiguity - is Brian a threat or merely lonely? Well executed on a minimal budget, it’s an atmospheric and suspenseful study of vulnerability, instinct and survival.

Dear Mr Williams (2024, Stefania Aronica)

Producer/Writer/Cinematographer/Editor: Danny Szam

Dear Mr Williams is a touching exploration of grief, ageing and connection. Mr Williams (Richard Tate), an elderly widower, has withdrawn from life since the loss of his wife Martha. His daughter Flora (Rosaleen Maguire), hardened by her own grief, hires Isabella (Stefania Aronica), a lively young carer, to look after him. Initially resistant, Anthony is gradually drawn to her through the small comforts of her cooking, her music and her kindness. Their growing bond is warm and gently humorous, while Martha’s presence lingers through his memories, giving the film added poignancy. Sensitive and well executed, it reflects on dignity in old age and the complicated ways families navigate loss.

Can (2024, Kailee McGee)

Content warning: cancer, medical treatment, scars, emotional distress.

Can is a well-executed and deeply personal short in which Kailee McGee turns the camera on herself while navigating a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis. Written, co-produced and edited by McGee, the film unfolds largely as an inner monologue, shifting between versions of the old me, the new me and the future me. The title resonates both with cancer and with canvas, as she remakes herself on screen in an attempt to navigate a difficult transition she cannot otherwise control. Raw close-ups of her unmade face, tears and scars lend the film an immediacy that is both vulnerable and confronting, as McGee asks whether to give in, exploit the experience or find a way through. Honest, layered and unsettlingly intimate, Can is a striking meditation on illness, identity and self-representation.

Paradise Blue (2024, Roxana Stroe)

Content warning: depression, suicidal thoughts, mental distress.

Paradise Blue is a meditative and visually arresting short that explores loneliness, grief and the expectations surrounding depression. Drawing on archival interviews from 1959 with patients and a psychiatrist, the film presents these conversations alongside home‑movie-style footage in 4:3, complete with crackle and white edging reminiscent of old 8 mm film. Music and ambient sound evoke the calm of meditation, contrasting with the intensity of the stories: suicidal thoughts, the pressures to “snap out of it,” and others’ perceptions of what a depressed person should be. The narrative threads shift between a woman in the first half and a man in the latter, subtly exploring the commonalities of depression across gender. The film’s experimental form, delicate editing and contemplative tone turn archival material into a reflective meditation on memory, expectation and human vulnerability.

Closing Thoughts

The 10th Femme Filmmakers Festival offered a vivid reminder of just how expansive women’s cinema can be, moving across continents, genres and forms. From Varda’s sly domestic radicalism to al-Kateab’s frontline testimony, from Akerman’s avant-garde rigour to Ramsay’s dreamlike poetics, the festival showcased an astonishing breadth of artistry. Even the uneven works sparked conversation, underscoring the importance of creating spaces where women’s voices in film can be seen, heard and celebrated in all their diversity.