We need more women in the director’s chair. Big time. One of the best and most enjoyable ways of making that happen is to go out and watch awesome films directed by women. Easy, right?
With that said, here are the films we’re most psyched for in 2019 directed by women.
10. The Kitchen
Andrea Berloff, one of the Oscar-nominated writers behind Straight Outta Compton, makes her directorial debut adapting Ollie Masters’ graphic novel set in 1970s Hell’s Kitchen. Stars Melissa McCarthy, Elisabeth Moss and Tiffany Haddish as the wives of gangsters who keep the business going when their husbands go behind bars.
In cinemas September 19.
9. Mary Queen of Scots
Director Josie Rourke pits Saoirse Ronan against Margot Robbie as dueling cousins in an historical power-struggle drama written by House of Cards scribe Beau Willimon.
In cinemas January 17.
More info on Mary Queen of Scots
8. Charlie’s Angels
Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott (Power Rangers) and relative newcomer Ella Balinska are the Angels in this new new take on the ’70s action series. Elizabeth Banks directs a script she co-wrote with writers behind Narcos, Mad Men, The Hangover series, and The Girl in the Spider’s Web.
In cinemas October 24.
7. The Nightingale
Australian filmmaker Jennifer Kent follows up her much-loved horror The Babadook with this gothic period thriller set in 1825 Tasmania. A big winner at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, the story follows a young Irish women hellbent on revenge against a British officer who committed a heinous act against her family.
Not yet dated in NZ.
6. Galveston
Filmmaker and Inglourious Basterds star Mélanie Laurent makes her English language directorial debut with this on-the-run crime thriller starring Ben Foster (Leave No Trace) and Elle Fanning (The Beguiled). Based on the novel by Nic Pizzolatto, creator of True Detective.
Not yet dated in NZ – releases April 4 in AU.
5. Hala
Minhal Baig expands her 2016 short film to feature length, following a 16-year-old Muslim teenager exploring her sexuality while growing up in a conservative household. The image above is from the short, which you can watch here, but Blockers star Geraldine Viswanathan will take the lead role.
Not yet dated in NZ.
4. Vai
The producers of Waru, the outstanding 2016 film made up of eight single-shot shorts set on the same day, collaborated with nine female Pasifika filmmaker for a new twist on the same idea. This time, each story centres on the same character but in different stages of her life.
Not yet dated in NZ.
3. Captain Marvel
Oscar winner Brie Larson will save us all. Under the guidance of filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Mississippi Grind, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Half Nelson), Marvel’s pre-Endgame film looks to be in reliable hands. The trailers so far have felt pretty reserved for the most part, so we can’t wait to see what’s hiding up their sleeves.
In cinemas March 7.
2. Destroyer
If you saw director Karyn Kusama’s previous feature The Invitation, you’d know why we’re excited for this. Hell, if you saw this trailer, you’d know why we’re excited for this. If nothing else, the idea of Nicole Kidman playing a grisly one-ciggy-left-in-the-packet cop should get everyone excited.
In cinemas March 7.
1. High Life
Making her long-awaited English language debut, French filmmaking master Claire Denis (Beau Travail) chucks Robert Pattinson up into space and towards a black hole in this isolating sci-fi. It’s hard to ignore the early buzz with Variety calling it “kinky, often grotesque,” IndieWire saying the film is “fixated on the hypnotic rhythms of oblivion,” and The Guardian praising the film for having “the single greatest one-person sex scene in the history of cinema.”
Not yet dated in NZ.
