10 Female-Directed Films to Stream Now
In honor of having a female win best director at the Academy Awards this year, we have picked out 10 films directed by a female that have been favorites throughout the years. These films range from a 1990s dark comedy to a coming of age story made in 2019. In a year where there was not one, but two women directors nominated for best director we wanted to highlight even more.
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1. Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (2017)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
How to watch: Stream on Netflix
A coming-of-age film that also doubles as a love story to the city of Sacramento. Gerwig’s directorial debut is both heart warming and breaking in every sense. Saoirse Ronan brilliantly stars as a very strong-willed and deeply opinionated high school senior figuring out relationships with her family and friends as well as thinking about her future.
2. Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (2019)
How to watch: Stream on Amazon Prime.
Gerwig’s second directed movie does not disappoint. In this incredibly smart and moving adaption of the classic book, Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women, each determined to live life on her own terms. It manages to rethink while also hold true to the beloved tale.
3. Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides (1999)
How to watch: Stream on Amazon Prime
Sofia Coppola’s film is a dark comedy punctuated by moments of drama, that drifts with a dream like melancholy. The Virgin Suicides explores the emotional underpinnings of a family starting to come apart at the seams in 1970's Midwestern America.
4. Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone (2010)
How to watch: Stream on Hulu
Directed by Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone stars Jennifer Lawrence and is about an unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.
5. Olivia Wilde’s Book Smart (2019)
How to watch: Stream on Hulu
In Olivia Wilde’s film Book Smart Academic overachievers Amy and Molly thought keeping their noses to the grindstone gave them a leg up on their high school peers. But on the eve of graduation, the best friends suddenly realize that they may have missed out on the special moments of their teenage years. Determined to make up for lost time, the girls decide to cram four years of not-to-be missed fun into one night -- a chaotic adventure that no amount of book smarts could prepare them for.
6. Amy Heckerling’s Clueless (1995)
How to watch: Stream on Amazon Prime
In this timeless film, the shallow, rich and socially successful Cher is at the top of her Beverly Hills high school's pecking scale. The film stars Alicia Silverstone, and Paul Rudd.
7. Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland
How to watch: Stream on Hulu
Chloe Zhao’s film Nomadland was the 2021 Academy Award for Best Picture. It follows a woman in her sixties who, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
8. Kelly Fremon Craig’s The edge of Seventeen (2016)
How to watch: Stream on Hulu
The Edge of Seventeen is a 2016 honest and awkward coming-of-age comedy-drama film about an awkward teen tackling the challenges of high school without her best friend. It was written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig, in her directorial debut. The film stars Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson, Kyra Sedgwick, and Haley Lu Richardson.
9. Nora Ephron’s Julie and Julia (2009)
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
How to watch: Stream on Netflix
Frustrated with a soul-killing job, New Yorker Julie Powell (Amy Adams) embarks on a daring project: she vows to prepare all 524 recipes in Julia Childs' landmark cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Intertwined with Julie's story is the true tale of how Julia Child (Meryl Streep) herself conquered French cuisine with passion, fearlessness, and plenty of butter.
10. Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
How to watch: Stream on Amazon Prime
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a 2019 French historical romantic drama film. Marianne, a painter, is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Héloïse is a reluctant bride to be and Marianne must paint her without her knowing. She observes her by day, to paint her secretly.
Check out our article on the lack of women directors in Hollywood here
