Despite reams written about how difficult it still is for women to direct movies, there are suggestions that the tide is slowly turning. We’ve been through the entire line-up for the 60th BFI London Film Festival and picked out every film directed or co-directed by a woman. We’ve discovered that 24 per cent of the 245 features comprising this year’s programme are the product of a female director, and according to a report from the BFI, this is up by roughly two per cent on last year. It may seem only seem like a meagre shift, but it’s progress all the same. This year’s selection brings with it not only a colourful array of films to look forward to, but a diverse mix of titles by both seasoned directors, lesser known talents and first-time filmmakers from all around the world.
1. Certain Women
Directed by Kelly Reichardt (USA)
Official Competition
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2. Layla M
Directed by Mijke de Jong (Netherlands/Germany/Belgium/Jordan)
Official Competition
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3. Divines
Directed by Houda Benyamina (France/Qatar)
First Feature Competition
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4. The Levelling
Directed by Hope Dickson Leach (UK)
First Feature Competition
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5. Raw
Directed by Julia Ducournau (France/Belgium)
First Feature Competition
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6. What’s in the Darkness
Directed by Wang Yichun (China)
First Feature Competition
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7. All This Panic
Directed by Jenny Gage (USA)
Documentary Competition
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8. Chasing Asylum
Directed by Eva Orner (Australia)
Documentary Competition
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9. David Lynch: The Art Life
Directed by Jon Nguyen, Olivia Neergaard-Holm (USA/Denmark)
Documentary Competition
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10. The Graduation
Directed by Claire Simon (France)
Documentary Competition
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11. Lovetrue
Directed by Alma Har-el (USA)
Documentary Competition
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12. On Call
Directed by Alice Diop (France)
Documentary Competition
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13. The Send-off
Directed by Ivete Lucas, Patrick Bresnan (USA)
Short Film Programme 1
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14. Love
Directed by Réka Bucsi (France/Hungary)
Short Film Programme 1
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15. Your Mother and I
Directed by Anna Maguire (Canada/UK)
Short Film Programme 1
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16. Import
Directed by Ena Sendijarevic (Netherlands)
Short Film Programme 1
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17. Pickle
Directed by Amy Nicholson (USA)
Short Film Programme 2
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18. There is Land!
Directed by Ana Vaz (France/Brazil)
Short Film Programme 2
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19. A United Kingdom
Directed by Amma Asante (UK)
Opening Night Gala
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20. Queen of Katwe
Directed by Mira Nair (USA/Uganda)
Virgin Atlantic Gala
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21. Their Finest
Directed by Lone Scherfig (UK)
The Mayor of London’s Gala
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22. Toni Erdmann
Directed by Maren Ade (Germany/Austria)
Laugh Gala
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23. American Honey
Directed by Andrea Arnold (USA/UK)
Festival Special Presentation
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24. The 13th
Directed by Ava DuVernay (USA)
Documentary Special Presentation in association with Time Out
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25. Ascent
Directed by Fiona Tan (Netherlands)
Experimenta Special Presentation
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26. The Dreamed Ones
Directed by Ruth Beckermann (Austria)
Love
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27. Heal the Living
Directed by Katell Quillévéré (France/Belgium)
Love
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28. Lovesong
Directed by So Yong Kim (USA)
Love
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29. Rara
Directed by Pepa San Martín (Chile/Argentina)
Love
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30. The Wedding Ring
Directed by Rahmatou Keïta (Niger/Burkina Faso/France)
Love
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31. Boundaries
Directed by Chloé Robichaud (Canada)
Debate
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32. A Day for Women
Directed by Kamla Abouzekri (Egypt)
Debate
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33. Farouk, Besieged Like Me
Directed by Hala Alabdalla (France/Syria)
Debate
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34. Park
Directed by Sofia Exarchou (Greece)
Debate
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35. The Revolution Won’t Be Televised
Directed by Rama Thiaw (Senegal/France)
Debate
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36. Stopover
Directed by Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin (France/Greece)
Debate
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37. The Last Laugh
Directed by Ferne Pearlstein (USA)
Laugh
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38. Lost in Paris
Directed by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon (France/Belgium)
Laugh
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39. Prevenge
Directed by Alice Lowe (UK)
Laugh
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40. Tickling Giants
Directed by Sara Taksler (USA/Egypt/UK)
Laugh
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41. Women Who Kill
Directed by Ingrid Jungermann (USA)
Laugh
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42. By the Time it Gets Dark
Directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand/France/Qatar)
Dare
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43. Dearest Sister
Directed by Mattie Do (Laos/France/Estonia)
Dare
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44. Ovarian Psycos
Directed by Joanna Sokolowski, Kate Trumbull-LaValle (USA)
Dare
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45. Planetarium
Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski (France/Belgium)
Dare
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46. Private Property
Directed by Leslie Stevens (USA)
Dare
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47. The Rehearsal
Directed by Alison Maclean (New Zealand)
Dare
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48. Wild
Directed by Nicolette Krebitz (Germany)
Dare
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49. Wolf and Sheep
Directed by Shahrbanoo Sadat (Denmark/France/Sweden/Afghanistan)
Dare
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50. All of a Sudden
Directed by Asli Özge (Germany)
Thrill
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51. Daughters of the Dust
Directed by Julie Dash (USA)
Journey
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52. Don’t Call Me Son
Directed by Anna Muylaert (Brazil)
Journey
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53. The Innocents
Directed by Anne Fontaine (France/Poland)
Journey
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54. Letters from Baghdad
Directed by Sabine Krayenbühl, Zeva Oelbaum (UK/USA/France)
Journey
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55. Jewel’s Catch One
Directed by C Fitz (USA)
Sonic
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56. Fanny’s Journey
Directed by Lola Doillon (France/Belgium)
Family
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57. Moroshka
Directed by Polina Minchenok (Russia)
Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences
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58. Awesome Beetle’s Colours
Directed by Indra Sproge (Latvia)
Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences
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59. Perfect Houseguest
Directed by Ru Kuwahata, Max Porter (USA)
Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences
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60. I am Not a Mouse
Directed by Evgenia Golubeva (UK)
Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences
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61. Perfect Piggies
Directed by Sandra Boynton (USA)
Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences
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62. Stone Soup
Directed by Clementine Robach (France/Belgium)
Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences
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63. Achoo!
Directed by Yuki Hirakawa (Japan)
Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences
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64. The Teeny-Weeny Fox
Directed by Aline Quertain, Sylwia Szkiladz (France/Belgium/Switzerland)
Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences
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65. Born in Flames
Directed by Lizzie Borden (USA)
Experimenta
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66. Confessions to the Mirror
Directed by Sarah Pucill (UK)
Experimenta
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67. Eglantine
Directed by Margaret Salmon (UK)
Experimenta
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68. Further Beyond
Directed by Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor (Ireland)
Experimenta
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69. Moderation
Directed by Anja Kirschner (Greece/Italy/UK/Egypt)
Experimenta
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70. An Experiment in Leisure
Directed by Manon De Boer (Belgium)
Conditions of Creation Shorts
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71. Rolls and Shutters
Directed by Stina Wirfelt (UK)
The Past is The Present Too Shorts
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72. Transmission from the Liberated Zone
Directed by Filipa Cesar (France/Germany)
The Past is the Present Too Shorts
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73. Dame 2
Directed by Kathryn Elkin (UK)
The Possessed Shorts
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74. Reluctantly Queer
Directed by Akosua Adoma Owusu (USA/Ghana)
Returning and Repressing Shorts
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75. On a Wing and a Prayer
Directed by Alia Syed (UK)
Returning and Repressing Shorts
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76. Liliesleaf Farm Mayibuye: In Search of the Spectres of History
Directed by Patti Gaal-Holmes (UK/South Africa)
Returning and Repressing Shorts
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77. Last Days of Leningrad
Directed by Maria Zennstrom (Sweden)
Returning and Repressing Shorts
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78. In the Future, They Ate From the Finest Porcelain
Directed by Larissa Sansour, Soren Lind (UK/Denmark/Qatar)
Future Pasts and Past Futures Shorts
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79. Hero City
Directed by Ruth Maclennan (Russia/UK)
Future Pasts and Past Futures Shorts
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80. Two Marxists in Hollywood
Directed by Zoe Beloff (USA)
Hollywood Dissections Shorts
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81. A Woman Returns from a Journey
Directed by Ruth Novaczek (UK/USA)
Hollywood Dissections Shorts
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82. The Man from Hong Kong
Directed by Karen Yasinsky (USA)
Hollywood Dissections Shorts
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83. Mirror Without Likeness
Directed by Julia Dogra-Brazell (UK)
Reinterpretations of Forms
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84. Between the Bullet and the Hole
Directed by Aura Satz (UK)
Reinterpretations of Forms
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85. (Self)exhibitions (Auto)Exposiciones
Directed by Florencia Aliberti (Spain/Argentina)
Dare
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86. #YA
Directed by Ygor Gama, Florencia Rovlich (Germany/Chile/Argentina)
Debate
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87. 9 Days – from My Window in Aleppo
Directed by Issa Touma, Thomas Vroege, Floor van der Meulen (Netherlands)
Debate
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88. Battalion to My Beat
Directed by Eimi Imanishi (USA/Western Sahara/Algeria)
Debate
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89. Catch it
Directed by Paul Bar, Marion Demaret, Nadège Forner, Pierre-Baptiste Marty, Julien Robyn, Jordan Soler (France)
Family
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90. Domestic Policy
Directed by Alicia MacDonald (UK)
Laugh
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91. Highway
Directed by Vanessa Gazy (Australia)
Cult
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92. Don’t Blink – Robert Frank
Directed by Laura Israel (USA)
Journey
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93. An Insignificant Man
Directed by Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla (India)
Competition – Grierson
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94. Knock Down Ginger
Directed by Cleo Samoles-Little (UK)
Journey
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95. Men Talk About Mother
Directed by Bunny Schendler (UK)
Journey
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96. Moriom
Directed by Francesca Scalisi, Mark Olexa (Switzerland)
Journey
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97. Noor at Mytilini Port
Directed by Treasa O’Brien (UK)
Debate
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98. Pregnant Pause
Directed by Alice Seabright (UK)
Journey
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99. The Silence
Directed by Ali Asgari, Farnoosh Samadi (Italy/France)
Journey
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100. The War Show
Directed by Andreas Dalsgaard, Obaidah Zytoon (Denmark/Finland/Syria)
Competition – Grierson
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101. Man on the Hill
Directed by Daisy Dickinson (UK)
Cult
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102. Here Nor There
Directed by Julia Hutchings (Canada)
Love
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103. Dreamlands
Directed by Sara Dunlop (UK)
Thrill
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104. Seide
Directed by Elnura Osmonalieva (Kyrgyzstan)
Love
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105. Roger Ballen’s Theatre of Apparitions
Directed by Emma Calder, Ged Haney (UK/South Africa)
Cult
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106. Richard Linklater – Dream is Destiny
Directed by Louis Black, Karen Bernstein (USA)
Love
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107. The Purple Plain
Directed by Kim Albright (UK)
Journey
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108. Nelson
Directed by Juliette Klinke, Thomas Xhignesse (Belgium)
Dare
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109. Mia
Directed by Maria Martinez Bayona (UK)
Journey
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110. Take Your Partners
Directed by Siri Rodnes (UK)
Journey
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111. The Illinois Parables
Directed by Deborah Stratman (USA)
Family
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112. Between the Chalets
Directed by Finley Christina Wray (UK)
Journey
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113. Crystal Lake
Directed by Jennifer Reeder (USA)
Dare
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114. Hold On
Directed by Charlotte Scott-Wilson (Netherlands)
Sonic
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115. We Love Moses
Directed by Dionne Edwards (UK)
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The BFI London Film Festival runs 5-16 October. For more info visit bfi.org.uk/lff
Published 6 Sep 2016
One of the great Cannes competition films of recent years comes from a little-known German director.
Wanda and India Song feature in part two of our celebration of women filmmakers.
By Ed Frankl
Kelly Reichardt confirms herself as one of America’s greatest living filmmakers with this stunning three-part character study.
Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
