FemaleDirectors.com is a website for female-directed movies: you can find, play, and add them to your Netflix queue, and buy them on Amazon.com. Browse within our genres to find movies from the female perspective.
Independent
The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love
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The Incredibly True Adventure of 2 Girls in Love

1995
While working part-time at her aunt's gas station, defiant tomboy Randy Dean (Laurel Holloman) falls in love with Evie Roy (Nicole Ari Parker), a rich, straight honor student who's already in a relationship. The two girls navigate the magical and confusing world of young love. Writer-director Maria Maggenti's touching and funny debut won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Independent Film in 1996.

Directed by:

  • Maria Maggenti
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Lost in Translation
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    Lost in Translation

    2003
    Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.

    Directed by:

  • Sofia Coppola
    • rating:3.2.png 3.2 Average Rating


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    Serious Moonlight
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    Serious Moonlight

    2009
    When Louise (Meg Ryan) discovers that her husband, Ian (Timothy Hutton), is about to run off to Paris with a much younger woman, Sara (Kristen Bell), she does what any self-respecting wife would do: She duct-tapes him to the toilet, which is where he remains when their home is burglarized. The plot only gets thicker in this dark comedy helmed by first-time director Cheryl Hines and penned by Adrienne Shelly.

    Directed by:

  • Cheryl Hines
    • rating:3.1.png 3.1 Average Rating


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    Love & Sex
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    Love & Sex

    2000
    Love is war, and sex is the battleground in this wry, funny look at contemporary mating and relating. Kate (Famke Janssen) is a magazine writer who discards boyfriends the way some people change shoes. Adam (Jon Favreau) is a serious-minded serial monogamist. When they meet, it's love at first sight -- but staying together may take more than just love and a liberal dose of sex. Noah Emmerich and Cheri Oteri co-star.

    Directed by:

  • Valerie Breiman
    • rating:3.1.png 3.1 Average Rating


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    Gay & Lesbian
    I Shot Andy Warhol
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    I Shot Andy Warhol

    1996
    In 1968, radical feminist Valerie Solanas (Lili Taylor) shot pop-art icon Andy Warhol (Jared Harris) when he ignored the screenplay she wrote. This film traces Solanas's life up to that moment, from childhood abuse to college prostitution to writing the male-bashing "SCUM Manifesto." Taylor won a Special Recognition Award at the Sundance Film Festival for her portrayal of a deranged woman seeking recognition.

    Directed by:

  • Mary Harron
    • rating:3.2.png 3.2 Average Rating


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    But I'm a Cheerleader
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    But I'm a Cheerleader

    1999
    In this hilarious satire, Megan Bloomfield (Natasha Lyonne) lives a "normal" teen life as a cheerleader dating the captain of the football team. But her parents and friends suspect Megan is gay because of "clues," such as her distaste for kissing her boyfriend. Shipped off to True Directions -- a camp designed to shove her back in the closet -- Bloomfield meets tomboy Graham Eaton (Clea DuVall), who helps her recognize her sexual orientation.

    Directed by:

  • Jamie Babbit
    • rating:3.4.png 3.4 Average Rating


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    Before Stonewall
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    Before Stonewall

    1984
    Life was very different before the 1969 Stonewall riots put the issue of gay rights front and center in America. Using archival films and interviews with gays and lesbians who were forced to hide their sexuality for fear of reprisals, this documentary by Robert Rosenberg, Greta Schiller and John Scagliotti sheds light on American gay life from the 1920s to the 1960s and the sociopolitical climate that finally led to profound change.

    Directed by:

  • Greta Schiller
    • rating:3.7.png 3.7 Average Rating


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    Chutney Popcorn
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    Chutney Popcorn

    2000
    When Reena (Nisha Ganatra, in her feature film debut) learns that married sister Sarita (Sakina Jaffrey) can't have a baby, she decides to play surrogate mother, but Reena's girlfriend (Jill Hennessy) worries that three might be a crowd. Themes of love, family obligations and fertility swirl through the story as Sarita grapples with her failure to conceive, and Reena's mother remains in the dark about her daughter's same-sex relationship.

    Directed by:

  • Nisha Ganatra
    • rating:3.1.png 3.1 Average Rating


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    Special Interest
    The Trouble with Angels
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    The Trouble with Angels

    1966
    Two teens turn a staid convent upside down with their youthful glee and zany antics. Although the pair gets in trouble for transgressions like invading the nuns' quarters and substituting soap for sugar in the kitchen, their charm wins everyone over.

    Directed by:

  • Ida Lupino
    • rating:3.8.png 3.8 Average Rating


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    Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Teatro alla Scala
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    Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Teatro alla Scala

    2007
    Titania (Alessandra Ferri), Oberon (Roberto Bolle), Puck (Riccardo Massimi) and company find romance and adventure during one wild midsummer night in this sumptuous ballet staging of the Shakespeare classic, featuring music by Felix Mendelssohn and original choreography by George Balanchine. Israeli conductor Nir Kabaretti presides over the Corps de Ballet of the Teatro alla Scala in this glorious production.

    Directed by:

  • Tina Protasoni
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Dancing for Mr. B: Six Balanchine Ballerinas
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    Dancing for Mr. B: Six Balanchine Ballerinas

    1989
    Through interviews and performance excerpts, ballerinas Mary Ellen Moylan, Maria Tallchief, Melissa Hayden, Allegra Kent, Merrill Ashley and Darci Kistler salute their legendary teacher, George Balanchine, and share the impact he had on their lives. A perfectionist who demanded the best from his students, Balanchine achieved considerable acclaim for his wonderful ballets such as "Concerto Barocco," "Serenade," "Firebird," and "Stars and Stripes."

    Directed by:

  • Deborah Dickson
    • rating:3.2.png 3.2 Average Rating


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    Minkus: La Bayadère: Teatro alla Scala
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    Minkus: La Bayadère: Teatro alla Scala

    2006
    Noteworthy Bolshoi Ballet superstar Svetlana Zakharova, Corps de Ballet of the Teatro alla Scala and their lead dancer, Roberto Bolle, bring a stirring live performance of Marius Petipa's "La Bayadère" ("The Temple Dancer") to the Milan stage. Choreographed by Natalia Makarova and directed for video by Tina Protasoni, the 2006 performance is inspired by a libretto purportedly written by the choreographer himself and conducted by David Coleman.

    Directed by:

  • Tina Protasoni
    • rating:3.1.png 3.1 Average Rating


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    Sci-Fi & Fantasy
    Twilight
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    Twilight

    2008
    When Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) moves to a small town in the Pacific Northwest to live with her father, she starts school and meets the reclusive Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), a mysterious classmate who reveals himself to be a 108-year-old vampire. Despite Edward's repeated cautions, Bella can't help but fall in love with him, a fatal move that endangers her own life when a coven of bloodsuckers try to challenge the Cullen clan.

    Directed by:

  • Catherine Hardwicke
    • rating:3.6.png 3.6 Average Rating


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    Big
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    Big

    1988
    Penny Marshall directs this whimsical comedy in which 12-year-old Josh yearns to be a grown-up, and when he makes that wish at a Coney Island fortunetelling machine, he awakens the next morning as a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks). Josh lands a job at a Manhattan toy company, where his child's-eye view helps him climb the ranks -- but he finds himself pining for all he left behind, despite the attention of a beautiful co-worker (Elizabeth Perkins).

    Directed by:

  • Penny Marshall
    • rating:3.8.png 3.8 Average Rating


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    Orlando
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    Orlando

    1992
    Director Sally Potter adapts Virginia Woolf's 1928 allegorical novel about a woman who lives for 400 years -- the first half as a man -- in this surrealist study of sex and gender roles throughout the ages. The transition from man to woman and from the 16th to the 20th century is realized by Tilda Swinton's breakthrough performance and the film's Oscar-nominated costumes and art direction. Quentin Crisp plays Queen Elizabeth I.

    Directed by:

  • Sally Potter
    • rating:3.3.png 3.3 Average Rating


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    Hideaways
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    Hideaways

    2011
    James is a troubled young man whose family possesses supernatural talents. After discovering the lethal nature of his own abilities, James isolates himself in the woods until he meets fearless Mae, a cancer patient who has escaped from a hospital.

    Directed by:

  • rating:3.7.png 3.7 Average Rating


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    Now and Then
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    Now and Then

    1995
    Waxing nostalgic about the bittersweet passage from childhood to puberty in this tender coming-of-age tale, four childhood girlfriends -- Teeny, Chrissy, Samantha and Roberta -- recall the magical summer of 1970. During their walk down memory lane, they reconcile experiences with boys, secrets, bullies and more. Lesli Linka Glatter directs; Gaby Hoffmann, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Cloris Leachman, Thora Birch and Christina Ricci co-star.

    Directed by:

  • Lesli Linka Glatter
    • rating:3.8.png 3.8 Average Rating


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    Now and Then (1995)
    A heartwarming movie about four childhood girlfriends who, in adulthood reunion, relive their experience of the life-changing summer of 1970, including a mystery death, divorce, standing up to the boys, first kiss, and the meaning of true friendship. Each explores her unique identity amidst family and friends. Beautifully directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.
    - Frances   
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