Ranked: 40 Best Debut Movies from Female Directors
The movie industry has long been dominated by men but the past decade has witnessed a new wave of female directors ensuring a wider perspective and the journey to equality.
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- DirectorDeniz Gamze ErgüvenStarsGünes SensoyDoga Zeynep DogusluTugba SungurogluWhen five orphan girls are seen innocently playing with boys on a beach, their scandalized conservative guardians confine them while forced marriages are arranged.Director Deniz Gamze Ergüven
- DirectorCeline SongStarsGreta LeeTeo YooJohn MagaroNora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.Dir Celine Song
- DirectorEmma SeligmanStarsRachel SennottDanny DeferrariFred MelamedAt a Jewish funeral service with her parents, a college student runs into her sugar daddy and ex girlfriend.Director Emma Seligman
- DirectorMegan ParkStarsJenna OrtegaMaddie ZieglerNiles FitchHigh schooler Vada navigates the emotional fallout she experiences in the wake of a school tragedy. Relationships with her family, friends and view of the world are forever altered.Director Megan Park
- DirectorBora KimStarsPark Ji-huKim Sae-byeokJeong In-giSeoul 1994, in the year the Seongsu Bridge collapsed, 14-year-old Eunhee wanders the city searching for love.Director Kim Bora
- DirectorHouda BenyaminaStarsOulaya AmamraDéborah LukumuenaKévin MischelA street teenager from a dysfunctional family from a banlieue (HLMs) in Paris comes across a young dancer who turns her life upside down.Director Houda Benyamina
- DirectorJulia DucournauStarsGarance MarillierElla RumpfRabah Nait OufellaA young woman, studying to be a vet, develops a craving for human flesh.Director Julia Ducournau
- DirectorMelina MatsoukasStarsDaniel KaluuyaJodie Turner-SmithBokeem WoodbineA couple's first date takes an unexpected turn when a police officer pulls them over.Director Melina Matsoukas
- DirectorNatalie PortmanStarsNatalie PortmanGilad KahanaAmir TesslerThe story of Amos Oz's youth, set against the backdrop of the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel. The film details the young man's relationship with his mother and his beginnings as a writer, while looking at what happens when the stories we tell become the stories we live.Director Natalie Portman
- DirectorShannon MurphyStarsEliza ScanlenMichelle LottersToby WallaceMilla, a seriously ill teenager, falls in love with a drug dealer, Moses, her parents' worst nightmare.Director Shannon Murphy
- DirectorHaifaa Al-MansourStarsWaad MohammedReem AbdullahAbdullrahman Al GohaniAn enterprising Saudi girl signs on for her school's Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs in order to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest.Director Haifaa Al-Mansour
- DirectorCathy YanStarsVivian WuHaoyu YangMeng LiA bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly-modernizing Shanghai.Director Cathy Yan
- DirectorRose GlassStarsMorfydd ClarkCaoilfhionn DunneJennifer EhleA pious nurse becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.Director Rose Glass
- DirectorTatiana HuezoStarsGuillermo VillegasMayra BatallaTeresa SánchezLife in a town at war seen through the eyes of three young girls on the path to adolescence.Director Tatiana Huezo
- DirectorRobin WrightStarsRobin WrightDemián BichirSarah Dawn PledgeEdee, in the aftermath of an unfathomable event, finds herself unable to stay connected to the world and retreats to the wilds of the Rockies. After a local hunter brings her back from the brink of death, she must find a way to live again.Director Robin Wright
- DirectorAlanna BrownStarsEliane UmuhireCharmaine BingwaElla CannonIn April of 1994, four women from different backgrounds and beliefs are trapped and hiding during the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Their fight for survival against all odds unites the women in an unbreakable sisterhood.Director Alanna Brown
- DirectorElie GrappeStarsAnastasiia BudiashkinaSabrina RubtsovaCaterina BarloggioA 15-year-old Ukrainian gymnast exiled in Switzerland, who is working to secure a place at the country's National Sports Center. When the Euromaiden revolt breaks out in the country, anxieties rise as her family gets involved.Director Elie Grappe
- DirectorMaggie GyllenhaalStarsOlivia ColmanJessie BuckleyDakota JohnsonA woman's beach vacation takes a dark turn when she begins to confront the troubles of her past.Director Maggie Gyllenhaal
- DirectorLila AvilésStarsGabriela CartolAgustina QuinciTeresa SánchezA look at the working environment of a chambermaid in one of Mexico City's most luxurious hotels.Director Lila Avilés
- DirectorSonja TarokicStarsMarina RedzepovicStojan MatavuljNives IvankovicA new school counsellor tries to stay out of power dynamics imposed by the Headmistress, teachers and parents.Director Sonja Tarokic
- DirectorIuli GerbaseStarsRenata de LélisEduardo MendonçaGirley PaesAfter a toxic and mysterious pink cloud appeared, Giovana finds herself stuck in a flat with a man she just met, changing her life in a way she never expected.Director Iuli Gerbase
- DirectorGreta GerwigStarsSaoirse RonanLaurie MetcalfTracy LettsIn 2002, an artistically inclined 17-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California.Director Greta Gerwig
- DirectorFeng-I Fiona RoanStarsKarena Kar-Yan LamKaiser ChuangCaitlin FangDuring the SARS outbreak of 2003, 13-year-old Fen returns to Taiwan.Director Feng-I Fiona Roan
- DirectorNatalya VorozhbitStarsIgor KoltovskyyAndrey LelyukhVolodymyr HurinFour short stories are set along the roads of Donbas, Ukraine during the war.Director Natalya Vorozhbit)
- DirectorAmalia UlmanStarsAle UlmanAmalia UlmanNacho VigalondoAmidst the devastation of post-crisis Spain, mother and daughter bluff and grift to keep up the lifestyle they think they deserve, bonding over common tragedy and an impending eviction.Director Amalia Ulman
- DirectorPrano Bailey-BondStarsNiamh AlgarMichael SmileyNicholas BurnsAfter viewing a strangely familiar video nasty, Enid, a film censor, sets out to solve the past mystery of her sister's disappearance, embarking on a quest that dissolves the line between fiction and reality.Director Prano Bailey-Bond
- DirectorAna Lily AmirpourStarsSheila VandArash MarandiMarshall ManeshIn the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.Dir Ana Lily Amirpour
- DirectorJamie DackStarsLily McInernyGretchen MolEmily JacksonA disconnected teenage girl enters a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.Director Jamie Dack
- DirectorKhrystyna SyvolapStarsMarianna JanuszewiczAlesya RomanovaRoman LutskyiWelcome to the kitchen of the perfect maid Stefania Chornenko where she excels in cooking while intoxicating the marriage of her half-sister master Adelia Anger against the backdrop of 1900 small town on the outskirts of Austro-Hungary.Director Christina Sivolap
- DirectorFernanda ValadezStarsMercedes HernándezDavid IllescasJuan Jesús VarelaA mother travels across Mexico in search for her son whom authorities say died while trying to cross the borders into the United States.Director Fernanda Valadez
- DirectorLila NeugebauerStarsJennifer LawrenceBrian Tyree HenryLinda EmondA US soldier suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home.Director Lila Neugebauer
- DirectorFrida KempffStarsCecilia MiloccoAlbin GrenholmVille VirtanenA woman leaves a psychiatric ward after a nervous breakdown, only to start hearing mysterious knocking sounds in her apartment.Director Frida Kempff
- DirectorRebecca HallStarsTessa ThompsonRuth NeggaAndré Holland"Passing" follows the unexpected reunion of two high school friends, whose renewed acquaintance ignites a mutual obsession that threatens both of their carefully constructed realities.Director Rebecca Hall
- DirectorRungano NyoniStarsMaggie MulubwaHenry B.J. PhiriNancy MuriloIn a remote Zambian community a girl is denounced as a witch and sent on a trajectory of exploitation, as a tethered member of a witches' camp, a witch for hire and a tourist exhibit.Director Rungano Nyoni
- DirectorMimi CaveStarsDaisy Edgar-JonesSebastian StanJojo T. GibbsAfter quitting dating apps, a woman meets the supposedly perfect man and accepts his invitation to a romantic weekend getaway, only to find that her new paramour has been hiding some unusual appetites.Director Mimi Cave
- DirectorOlivia WildeStarsKaitlyn DeverBeanie FeldsteinJessica WilliamsOn the eve of their high-school graduation, two academic superstars and best friends realize they should have worked less and played more. Determined not to fall short of their peers, the girls try to cram four years of fun into one night.Director Olivia Wilde
- DirectorNikyatu JusuStarsAnna DiopMichelle MonaghanSinqua WallsPiecing together a new life in New York City while caring for the child of an Upper East Side family, immigrant nanny Aisha is forced to confront a concealed truth that threatens to shatter her precarious American Dream.Director Nikyatu Jusu
- DirectorOlivia NewmanStarsElvire EmanuelleYahya Abdul-Mateen IIColman DomingoHardened by years in foster care, a teenage girl from Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood decides that joining the boys' wrestling team is the only way back to her estranged father.Director Olivia Newman
- DirectorAnnabelle AttanasioStarsCamila MorroneJames Badge DaleCalvin DembaFaced with the responsibility to take care of her addict, veteran father, headstrong teen Mickey Peck keeps her household afloat.Director Annabelle Attanasio
- DirectorHanna BergholmStarsSiiri SolalinnaSophia HeikkiläJani VolanenA young gymnast, who tries desperately to please her demanding mother, discovers a strange egg. She hides it and keeps it warm, but when it hatches, what emerges shocks them all.Director Hanna Bergholm
- DirectorIsold UggadottirStarsKristín Þóra HaraldsdóttirBabetida SadjoPatrik Nökkvi PéturssonTwo women's lives will intersect while trapped in circumstances unforeseen. Between a struggling Icelandic mother and an asylum seeker from Guinea-Bissau, a delicate bond will form as both strategize to get their lives back on track.Director Isold Uggadottir
- DirectorNathalie Álvarez MesénStarsWendy Chinchilla ArayaAna Julia Porras EspinozaDaniel Castañeda RincónIn a remote village in Costa Rica, Clara, a withdrawn 40-year-old woman, experiences a sexual and mystical awakening as she begins a journey to free herself from the repressive religious and social conventions which have dominated her life.Not seen yet, thus unrated - Dir Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
- DirectorDina AmerStarsLorenza GrimaudoIlonna GrimaudoMouna SoualemWhen two young sisters are torn apart, the eldest loses her identity and transforms into someone new in the name of belonging and resistance.Not seen yet, thus unrated - Dir Dina Amer