6 Films from Women Filmmakers

Pervasive sexism in the film industry means that few women have had a chance to mount a feature film and fewer still have been able to maintain a long and storied career. Thankfully there are many women directors waiting to be discovered, and even plenty of films you may not have known were directed by women.

This March, as we mark Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, I hope you will consider these six women-led films that premiere this month on Hollywood Suite. Check out our full Women in Film collection here, or click here to see all the movies that are new this month on Hollywood Suite.

Such Good Friends (1971)

Premieres March 29 at 9pm ET on HS70
Available on demand in March
Written by Elaine May

The same year as her ground-breaking directorial debut A New Leaf, Elaine May adapted this Lois Gould novel for Otto Preminger under a pseudonym. It tells the cynical and comedic story of a woman (Golden Globe nominee Dyan Cannon) who finds out her comatose husband is having an affair but struggles to liberate herself from society’s constraints.

Blue City (1986)

Premieres March 20 at 9pm ET on HS80
Available on demand in March
Directed by Michelle Manning

This 80s neo-noir film loosely adapts a classic novel from Ross Macdonald and follows a young man (Emilio Esteves) who returns to his hometown and becomes embroiled in a web of corruption and violence. Michelle Manning was perhaps best known for work as a producer on other ‘Brat Pack’ films like The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire, so it’s not surprising the characters were aged down to bring in Estevez and Ally Sheedy. Manning’s directorial career stopped in the 90s as she went on to be a major production executive at Orion and Paramount before putting out her own shingle at MM productions in 2005. She continues to produce and direct to this day.

Permanent Record (1988)

Premieres March 1 at 9pm ET on HS80
Available on demand in March
Directed by Marisa Silver

Many remember this high school drama directed by Marisa Silver for its nuanced and sensitive take on suicide, its early showcase of Keanu Reeves and its portrayal of the impact sudden death has on teens. If her name is familiar, it’s because she is the daughter of pioneering American independent filmmaking Joan Micklin Silver and continued her mother’s tradition of trying different genres and unique takes on her subject matter. If you’d like something a little lighter from her, we also have her Kevin Bacon & Elizabeth Perkins romantic drama He Said, She Said this month.

The Tango Lesson (1997)

Premieres March 15 at 9pm ET on HS90
Available on demand in March
Written & directed by Sally Potter

Filmmaker Sally Potter made art out of her own struggle to create a follow up to her early 90s hit Orlando with this self-starring examination of the joys of art and the terrors of creative block.  The Tango Lesson follows a filmmaker who becomes obsessed with the tango and was praised for its inventive blend of fiction and reality, as well as its stunning cinematography and mesmerizing dance sequences alongside her dance partner Pablo Verón.

D.E.B.S. (2005)

Premieres March 18 at 9pm ET on HS00
Available on demand in March
Written & directed by Angela Robinson

You’d be forgiven if you wrote off D.E.B.S. upon its release as some sort of tween-bait, Nickelodeon aesthetic comedy, but writer/director Angela Robinson brings so much more to the table in this tale of a girl recruited to a secret teen spy agency. D.E.B.S. is effortlessly diverse, unabashedly queer and truly funny all wrapped up in a self-consciously goofy aesthetic which has only brought more charm to the film as it has aged. Robinson has since taken her talent to TV shows like How to Get Away With Murder and True Blood, but also had recent indie hits with Professor Marston and The Wonder Women and as a producer on Rebecca Hall’s Passing.

Raw (2017)

Premieres March 3 at 12:15am ET on HS00
Available on demand in March
Directed by Julia Ducournau

Julia Ducournau’s horror debut about a vegetarian veterinary student who develops a taste for human flesh made waves with festival audiences shocked at the carnage on screen. Ducournau was praised for her fresh take on the horror genre, as well as her bold and unflinching exploration of feminism and taboo subjects. The film launched its star Garance Marillier in France and set Ducournau on the road to her Cannes win with her follow up Titane.