List of films directed by women

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This is a selection of feature films directed by women directors.

1890s–1920s

1896 La Fée aux Choux; director: Alice Guy; one of the first narrative (fiction) films^{[citation needed]}
1905 Esmeralda; director: Alice Guy; earliest film adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1906 The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ; director: Alice Guy
1906 The Consequences of Feminism; director: Alice Guy; earliest feminist film
1912 Algie the Miner; director: Alice Guy-Blaché (uncredited); first western directed by a woman^{[citation needed]}
1912 Falling Leaves; director: Alice Guy-Blaché
1912 A Fool and His Money; director: Alice Guy-Blaché; likely the first film with an all African-American cast
1913 The Jew's Christmas; director: Lois Weber, co-directed with Phillips Smalley
1913 The Pit and the Pendulum; director: Alice Guy-Blaché; first English-language adaptation of the short story
1913 Suspense; director: Lois Weber, co-directed with Phillips Smalley
1914 The Merchant of Venice (lost film as of 2025); director: Lois Weber; the first full-length feature film directed by a woman^{[citation needed]}
1915 An Argentine Romance (Un Romance Argentino); director: Angélica Jovita García [es]
1915 Hypocrites; director: Lois Weber
1915 Sempre Avanti, Savoia!; director: Elvira Notari
1916 The Devil's Prize; director: Marguerite Bertsch
1916 Miss Peasant (lost film as of 2025); director: Olga Preobrazhenskaya
1916 Shoes; director: Lois Weber
1916 Where Are My Children?; director: Lois Weber, co-directed with Phillips Smalley
1917 '49–'17; director: Ruth Ann Baldwin
1917 Even As You and I; director: Lois Weber
1917 The Glory of Yolanda; director: Marguerite Bertsch
1917 The Mysterious Mrs. M; director: Lois Weber
1917 A Wife on Trial; director: Ruth Ann Baldwin
1920 La Fête espagnole; director: Germaine Dulac
1920 Remodeling Her Husband; director: Lillian Gish
1920 To Please One Woman; director: Lois Weber
1921 The Blot; director: Lois Weber
1921 Flor de España o la Leyenda de un Torero; director: Helena Cortesina
1921 The Good-Bad Wife; director: Vera McCord
1921 Just Around the Corner; director: Frances Marion
1921 The Love Light; director: Frances Marion
1921 Too Wise Wives; director: Lois Weber
1921 What Do Men Want?; director: Lois Weber
1921 What's Worth While?; director: Lois Weber
1922 The Smiling Madame Beudet (La Souriante Madame Beudet); director: Germaine Dulac; often cited as one of the first feminist feature films^{[by whom?]}
1923 Salomé; director: Alla Nazimova, co-directed with Charles Bryant
1923 The Song of Love; director: Frances Marion
1925 An Orphan's Cry (孤雏悲声); director: Xie Caizhen; first female Chinese director^[1]
1926 The Adventures of Prince Achmed; director: Lotte Reiniger
1926 Bulbul-e-Paristan; director: Fatma Begum; first female Indian director^[2]
1926 The Marriage Clause; director: Lois Weber
1927 The Angel of Broadway; director: Lois Weber
1927 Antoinette Sabrier; director: Germaine Dulac
1927 The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty; director: Esfir Shub
1927 Fashions for Women; director: Dorothy Arzner
1927 Get Your Man; director: Dorothy Arzner
1927 Goddess of Love; director: Fatma Begum
1927 Laila; director: Aziza Amir
1927 Sensation Seekers; director: Lois Weber
1927 Ten Modern Commandments; director: Dorothy Arzner
1927 Women of Ryazan; director: Olga Preobrazhenskaya, co-directed with Ivan Pravov
1928 Chandravali; director: Fatma Begum
1928 Heer Ranjha; director: Fatma Begum
1928 Manhattan Cocktail; director: Dorothy Arzner
1928 The Seashell and the Clergyman; director: Germaine Dulac
1929 The Last Attraction; director: Olga Preobrazhenskaya, co-directed with Ivan Pravov
1929 The Wild Party; director: Dorothy Arzner

1930s–1940s

1930 Anybody's Woman; director: Dorothy Arzner
1930 Sarah and Son; director: Dorothy Arzner
1931 Mädchen in Uniform (Girls in uniform); director: Leontine Sagan
1931 The Mystery of the Black Domino (O Mistério do Dominó Preto); director: Cléo de Verberena
1931 Honor Among Lovers; director: Dorothy Arzner
1931 Working Girls; director: Dorothy Arzner
1932 The Blue Light (Das blaue Licht)); director: Leni Riefenstahl
1932 Merrily We Go to Hell; director: Dorothy Arzner
1933 Christopher Strong; director: Dorothy Arzner
1934 Nana; director: Dorothy Arzner
1935 Robin Hood (animated film); director: Joy Batchelor
1935 Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens); director: Leni Riefenstahl
1936 Craig's Wife; director: Dorothy Arzner
1936 New Clothing (Hatsu Sugata); director: Tazuko Sakane; first female Japanese director^[3]
1936 Onnenpotku; director Glory Leppänen
1937 The Bride Wore Red; director: Dorothy Arzner
1938 Olympia (1938 film); director: Leni Riefenstahl
1940 Dance, Girl, Dance; director: Dorothy Arzner
1942 Derailed (Afsporet); director: Bodil Ipsen
1943 Meshes of the Afternoon; director: Maya Deren
1943 First Comes Courage; director: Dorothy Arzner
1944 At Land; director: Maya Deren
1944 Melody of Murder (Mordets Melodi)); director: Bodil Ipsen
1944 Possession (Besættelse); director: Bodil Ipsen
1944 Woman is the Wild Card; director: Ansa Ikonen
1945 Três Dias Sem Deus; director: Bárbara Virgínia
1946 Ritual in Transfigured Time; director: Maya Deren
1947 Wedding Night (Bröllopsnatten)); director: Bodil Ipsen
1949 Fedakar Ana; director: Cahide Sonku
1949 Gigi; director: Jacqueline Audry
1949 The Lost People; director: Muriel Box
1949 Not Wanted; director: Ida Lupino
1949 Never Fear; director: Ida Lupino

1950s–1960s

1970s

1970 The Dark Side of Tomorrow; director: Barbara Peeters
1970 Wanda; director: Barbara Loden
1971 Bury Me an Angel; director: Barbara Peeters
1971 For Women: Chapter 1 (Für Frauen: 1. Kapitel); director: Cristina Perincioli – documentary fiction on a women's strike in Berlin
1971 The Guest (L'ospite); director: Liliana Cavani
1971 The Long Farewell; director: Kira Muratova
1971 A New Leaf; director: Elaine May
1971 The Woman's Film; directors: Louise Alaimo, Judy Smith
1972 The Heartbreak Kid; director: Elaine May
1972 The Other Side of the Underneath; director Jane Arden
1972 Sambizanga; director: Sarah Maldoror – feature film about the liberation movement in Angola
1972 The Seduction of Mimi; director: Lina Wertmüller
1972/73 Es kommt darauf an, sie zu verändern; director: Claudia von Alemann – organised women workers discuss the possibilities for change
1973 Hollywood 90028; director: Christina Hornisher
1973 Milarepa; director: Liliana Cavani
1974 The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived ; director: Heiny Srour
1974 I, You, He, She (Je Tu Il Elle); director: Chantal Akerman
1974 The Night Porter (Il Portiere di Notte); director: Liliana Cavani
1974 Summer School Teachers; director: Barbara Peeters
1975 Anna und Edith; writers: Cristina Perincioli and Cäcilia Rentmeister – first feature film in German TV ZDF on a lesbian relationship^{[citation needed]}
1975 Catherine & Co.; director: Catherine Breillat
1975 Hester Street; director: Joan Micklin Silver
1975 Letter from My Village (Kaddy Bekat – Lettre Paysanne); director: Safi Faye
1975 Legacy; director: Karen Arthur
1975 The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (Die Verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder: Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie führen kann); directors: Margarethe von Trotta and Volker Schlöndorff
1975 The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir; directors: Shirley MacLaine, Claudia Weill
1975 Seven Beauties (Pasqualino settebellezze); director: Lina Wertmüller; the first time a woman was nominated for an Academy Award for directing a feature film^{[citation needed]}
1976 Harlan County, USA; director: Barbara Kopple
1976 Jeanne Dielman; director: Chantal Akerman
1976 Mikey and Nicky; director: Elaine May
1976 Not a Pretty Picture; director: Martha Coolidge
1976 A Real Young Girl; director: Catherine Breillat
1977 The Ascent; director: Larissa Shepitko
1977 Beyond Good and Evil; director: Liliana Cavani
1977 First Love; director: Joan Darling
1977 News from Home; director: Chantal Akerman
1977 One Sings, the Other Doesn't; director: Agnes Varda
1977 Les Rendez-vous d'Anna; director: Chantal Akerman
1977 Starhops; director: Barbara Peeters
1978 But what do they want, after all? (Mais qu'est ce qu'elles veulent?); director: Coline Serreau
1978 The All-Around Reduced Personality – Outtakes [de] (Die allseitig reduzierte Persönlichkeit – Redupers); director: Helke Sander
1978 Getting to Know the Big, Wide World; director: Kira Muratova
1978 Girlfriends; director: Claudia Weill
1978 The Mafu Cage; director: Karen Arthur
1978 The Power of Men is the Patience of Women [de] (Die Macht der Männer ist die Geduld der Frauen); writer, director, producer: Cristina Perincioli; (ZDF TV) feature film/documentary fiction on domestic violence
1978 Rabbit Test; director: Joan Rivers
1979 Anti-Clock; writer and co-director Jane Arden
1979 Daughter Rite; director: Michelle Citron; a feminist pseudo-documentary which deconstructs the conventions of Direct Cinema
1979 Germany Pale Mother (Deutschland bleiche Mutter); director: Helma Sanders-Brahms
1979 Provincial Actors (Aktorzy prowincjonalni); director: Agnieszka Holland
1979 My Brilliant Career; director: Gillian Armstrong
1979 Ticket of No Return (Bildnis einer Trinkerin); director: Ulrike Ottinger

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

List of films directed by women

1890s–1920s

1930s–1940s

1950s–1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

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