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
