Continuing my #52FilmsByWomen pledge that I started in 2015. This is now my 6th ‘year’, year being such a loose term as I have watched this 6th batch of films directed by women since 7 June 2020. Read about films: 1 – 52, 53 - 104, 105 - 156, 157 - 208 and 209 - 261.
The acceleration in watches was due to finding new ways to re-visit films and find new ones. In this list there are letters F – Z from my A-Z of films directed by women project, read more here. After that I started my #1930to2020 project for which I have been watching films each day from a sequential year. You can read about years 1930 – 1949 here, hence there are clusters of films from Maya Deren, Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino.
From these 52 films, 22 films were revisits. Delighted to revisit films such as Sally Potter’s Yes which is all in rhyming couplets, Carol Morley’s Dreams of a Life which I saw as part of online viewing day #MorleyMarathon, Alice Lowe’s Prevenge which Lowe made whilst 8 months pregnant, Julie Delpy’s 2 Days double bill and Ava DuVernay’s powerful and important documentary 13th.
My Top 10 films from the 30 first-time-watches are:
The Private Life of a Cat (1947, Alexander Hammid/Maya Deren)
Olivia (1951, Jacqueline Audry)
The Wayward Girl (1959, Edith Carlmar)
The Watermelon Woman (1996, Cheryl Dunye)
Away From Her (2006, Sarah Polley)
XXY (2007, Lucía Puenzo)
Sita Sings the Blues (2008, Nina Paley)
Edge (2010, Carol Morley)
Honey Boy (2019, Alma Har'el)
Queen & Slim (2019, Melina Matsoukas)
I also have to do a big shout-out and thank you to Carol Morley for her curated #fridayfilmclub online viewing parties, which introduced me to filmmakers I’d not come across before including Edith Carlmar, Jacqueline Audry, Nina Paley and Aparna Sen.
You can read reviews of these films on my letterboxd.
Films 261 - 312
261. The Father of My Children (2009, Mia Hansen-Love)
262. Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami (2018, Sophie Fiennes)
263. Honey Boy (2019, Alma Har'el)
264. I Feel Pretty (2018, Abby Kohn/Marc Silverstein)
265. The Jane Austen Book Club (2007, Robin Swicord)
266. K-12 (2019, Melanie Martinez)
267. Little Miss Sunshine (2006, Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris)
268. Michael (1996, Nora Ephron)
269. Music of the Dance (2006, Carol Morley), I'm Not Here (1994, Carol Morley)
270. Edge (2010, Carol Morley)
271. Dreams of a Life (2011, Carol Morley)
272. The Falling (2014, Carol Morley)
273. A New Leaf (1971, Elaine May)
274. Near Dark (1987, Kathryn Bigelow)
275. Out of Blue (2016, Carol Morley)
276. Prevenge (2016, Alice Lowe)
277. Queen & Slim (2019, Melina Matsoukas)
278. Red Riding Hood (2011, Catherine Hardwicke)
279. Sleepless in Seattle (1993, Nora Ephron)
280. Soundtrack to Sixteen (2020, Shakespeare Sisters)
281. Trouble the Water (2008, Tia Lessin & Carl Deal)
282. Unforgettable (2017, Denise DiNovi)
283. Viceroy's House (2017, Gurindar Chadha)
284. The Wayward Girl (1959, Edith Carlmar)
285. With This Ring (2015, Nzingha Stewart)
286. XXY (2007, Lucía Puenzo)
287. Yentl (1983, Barbra Streisand)
288. Yes (2004, Sally Potter)
289. Zipper (2015, Mora Stephens)
290. Away From Her (2006, Sarah Polley)
291. 13th (2016, Ava DuVernay)
292. 2 Days in Paris (2007, Julie Delpy)
293. 2 Days in New York (2012, Julie Delpy)
294. The Watermelon Woman (1996, Cheryl Dunye)
295. The Bride Wore Red (1937, Dorothy Arzner)
296. Little Joe (2019, Jessica Hausner)
297. Vanity Fair (2004, Mira Nair)
298. 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981, Aparna Sen)
299. Meshes of the Afternoon (1943, Maya Deren)
300. First Comes Courage (1943, Dorothy Arzner)
301. Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946, Maya Deren)
302. Sita Sings the Blues (2008, Nina Paley)
303. The Private Life of a Cat (1947, Alexander Hammid/Maya Deren)
304. Dance Girl Dance (1940, Dorothy Arzner)
305. Not Wanted (1949, Ernie Clifton & Ida Lupino)
306. Olivia (1951, Jacqueline Audry)
307. Never Fear (1949, Ida Lupino)
308. Outrage (1950, Ida Lupino)
309. Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951, Ida Lupino)
310. Street Corner (1953, Muriel Box)
311. The Hitch-hiker (1953, Ida Lupino)
312. The Bigamist (1953, Ida Lupino)