The Top 100+ Women Directors

In case you're a fan of film analysis, you might enjoy my dissection of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, which you can find here: eyescream237.wordpress.com

As for how this list works, first off, it's a living list. Names are bound to shift and slide as I catch up with a master's masterpieces.

The films I've seen are listed first, and in descending order of recommendation. I decided to list everything I've seen, since women have herstorically had less opportunity for directorial vastness (and I didn't want to make it worse by being choosey), so, in some cases, it can be a pretty steep drop off from first title to second. Most of the top 50 are fairly consistent, though. The other tragedy this highlights is how hard it is to accidentally watch more than one film from a woman director's perspective - even for a driven moviegoer like myself, of my almost 6000 titles-worth of viewing, I've got less than 200 women with at least one film I'd give a perfect score to. And to be fair, I included some names at the bottom who only have a 4/5 from me, but who I see potential in for a masterpiece.

I did decide this time around (this is an update of a deleted list) to leave out directors where I've only seen their TV works, since I don't think the format allows for the same singularity of vision as film. But if I could throw one back in, it would be Beth McCarthy-Miller, who helmed what I consider the golden age of Saturday Night Live, as well as a sizeable chunk of one of the greatest series of all time, 30 Rock. Michelle MacLaren's work on Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and The X-Files would make her a close second.

And in case you're like me, and you're on a quest to see as many female-helmed films as possible, what follows here is my current list of directors I haven't made time for yet. Feel free to suggest any I've overlooked (with a title of note, if you don't mind), and I'll add them. Thanks.

Also, you'll notice I included titles on the list I'm hoping to see later: just so you know, these are mostly titles I've had recommended from various sources.

Marilyn Agrelo, Desiree Akhavan, Lexi Alexander, Debbie Allen, Haifaa Al-Mansour, Sini Anderson, Gillian Armstrong, Dorothy Arzner, Amma Asante, Jamie Babbit, Gabrielle Baur, Maria Luisa Bemberg, Houda Benyamina, Anna Boden, Patricia Cardosa, Niki Caro, Joyce Chopra, Shirley Clarke, Isabel Coixet, Martha Coolidge, Eleanor Coppola, Gia Coppola, Julie Davis, Donna Deitch, Julie Delpy, Katherine Dieckmann, Germaine Dulac, Marguerite Duras, Ildikó Enyedi, Deniz Gamze Erguven, Pelin Esmer, Shana Feste, Hannah Fidell, Anne Fontaine, Maya Forbes, Sarah Gavron, Eléa Gobbeé-Mévellec, Randa Haines, Tanya Hamilton, Sanaa Hamri, Marion Hänsel, Mia Hansen-Love, Leslye Headland, Sian Heder, Shirin Heshat, Joanna Hogg, Sophie Hyde, Dianne Jackson, Agnès Jaoui, Angelina Jolie, Miranda July, Chiemi Karasawa, Beeban Kidron, Clare Kilner, So Yong Kim, Lisa Krueger, Diane Kurys, Melanie Laurant, Julia Leigh, Claudia Llosa, Phyllida Lloyd, Ye Lou, Hettie Macdonald, Maïwenn, Samira Makhmalbaf, Tonie Marshall, Deepa Mehta, Meera Menon, Nancy Meyers, Crystal Moselle, Jocelyn Moorhouse, Kira Muratova, Anna Muylaert, Léa Mysius, Nina Paley, Stacie Passon, Marie Perennou, Adina Pintilie, Dawn Porter, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Leni Riefenstahl, Patricia Riggen, Gillian Robespierre, Alice Rohrwacher, Patricia Rozema, Leontine Sagan, Angela Schanelec, Susan Seidelman, Cate Shortland, Carla Simón, Jill Sprecher, Lynne Stopkewich, Barbra Streisand, Mami Sunada, Sophia Takal, Moufida Tlatli, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Margarethe von Trotta, Lina Wertmüller, Alice Winocour