News, Women Directors

Little White Lies Lists 100 Greatest Movies by Women Directors

Last month, the BBC created a list of the 100 greatest American films ever made. Appallingly, only three female co-directors made the cut: Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer on “Grey Gardens” and Maya Deren on “Meshes of the Afternoon.”

In response, the film site Little White Lies has completed a list of the 100 greatest films by female directors. Compared to the BBC list, it skews newer and more popular.

How many of these have you seen, and which films would you add to the list?

100 Great Films by Female Directors

1. Falling Leaves (Alice Guy-Blaché, 1912)
2. Suspense (Lois Weber, 1913)
3. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1926)
4. The Seashell and the Clergyman (Germaine Dulac, 1928)
5. Merrily We Go to Hell (Dorothy Arzner, 1932)
6. Triumph of the Will (Leni Riefenstahl, 1935)
7. Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)
8. Death is a Caress (Edith Carlmar, 1949)
9. A Portrait of Ga (Margaret Tait, 1952)
10. The Hitch-Hiker (Ida Lupino, 1953)
11. The Connection (Shirley Clarke, 1962)
12. Something Different (Vera Chytilová, 1963)
13. The House is Black (Forough Farrokhzad, 1963)
14. Brief Encounters (Kira Muratova, 1968)
15. Wanda (Barbara Loden, 1970)
16. The Arch (Cecile Tang Shu Shuen, 1970)
17. Terminal Island (Stephanie Rothman, 1973)
18. Double Agent 73 (Doris Wishman, 1974)
19. India Song (Marguerite Duras, 1975)
20. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1975)
21. Seven Beauties (Lina Wertmüller, 1975)
22. Harlan County, USA (Barbara Kopple, 1976)
23. The Ascent (Larisa Shepitko, 1977)
24. Girlfriends (Claudia Weil, 1978)
25. The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (Margarethe von Trotta, 1978)
26. Chilly Scenes of Winter (Joan Micklin Silver, 1979)
27. Old Boyfriends (Joan Tewkesbury, 1979)
28. My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979)
29. Germany Pale Mother (Helma Sanders-Brahms, 1980)
30. Freak Orlando (Ultrike Ottinger, 1981)
31. Boat People (Ann Hui, 1982)
32. Born in Flames (Lizzie Borden, 1983)
33. Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge, 1983)
34. Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan Seidleman, 1984)
35. Vagabond (Agnès Varda, 1985)
36. Ishtar (Elaine May, 1987)
37. Big (Penny Marshall, 1988)
38. Celia (Ann Turner, 1989)
39. Pet Sematary (Mary Lambert, 1989)
40. Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, 1991)
41. Dogfight (Nancy Savoca, 1991)
42. Orlando (Sally Potter, 1992)
43. Wayne’s World (Penelope Spheeris, 1992)
44. Billy Madison (Tamra Davis, 1995)
45. Strange Days (Kathryn Bigelow, 1995)
46. Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995)
47. Home for the Holidays (Jodie Foster, 1996)
48. Grace of My Heart (Allison Anders, 1996)
49. Eve’s Bayou (Kasi Lemmons, 1997)
50. Fire (Deepa Metha, 1997)
51. Divorce Iranian Style (Kim Longinotto, 1998)
52. Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (Joan Chen, 1998)
53. The Apple (Samira Makhmalbaf, 1998)
54. Boys Don’t Cry (Kimberley Peirce, 1999)
54. Ravenous (Antonia Bird, 1999)
56. Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 2000)
57. Faithless (Liv Ullmann, 2000)
58. American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000)
59. A Ma Soeur! (Catherine Breillat, 2001)
60. Lovely & Amazing (Nicole Holofcener, 2001)
61. Whale Rider (Niki Caro, 2002)
62. In My Skin (Marina de Van, 2002)
63. Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, 2002)
64. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
65. Innocence (Lucile Hadzihalilovic, 2003)
66. Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July, 2005)
67. I for India (Sandhya Suri, 2005)
68. Longing (Valeska Grisebach, 2006)
69. An Education (Lone Scherfig, 2009)
70. Lourdes (Jessica Hausner, 2009)
71. XXY (Lucia Puenzo, 2007)
72. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel, 2008)
73. Treeless Mountain (So Young Kim, 2008)
74. Wendy & Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, 2008)
75. Bright Star (Jane Campion, 2009)
76. Craneway Event (Tacita Dean, 2009)
77. Double Tide (Sharon Lockhart, 2009)
78. Everyone Else (Maren Ade, 2009)
79. Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009)
80. The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, 2009)
81. Archipelago (Joanna Hogg, 2010)
82. The Arbor (Clio Barnard, 2010)
83. Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)
84. Attenberg (Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2010)
85. Dreams of a Life (Carol Morley, 2011)
86. Tomboy (Céline Sciamma, 2011)
87. Nana (Valérie Massadian, 2011)
88. One. Two. One (Mania Akbari, 2011)
89. The Loneliest Planet (Julia Loktev, 2011)
90. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)
91. Wadjda (Haifaa Al Mansour, 2012)
92. Sister (Ursula Meier, 2012)
93. Butter on the Latch (Josephine Decker, 2013)
94. A Thousand Suns (Mati Diop, 2013)
95. Dusty Stacks of Mom (Jodie Mack, 2013)
96. Appropriate Behaviour (Desiree Akhavan, 2014)
97. Rocks in My Pockets (Signe Baumane, 2014)
98. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014)
99. Selma (Ava DuVernay, 2014)
100. Eden (Mia Hansen-Lɵve, 2014)

READ MORE: 115 Films By and About Women of Color, and What We Can Learn From Them

[via Criticwire, Little White Lies]

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