To celebrate International Women’s Day, Films We Like has curated a collection of some of our favourite films that are directed by women and focus on the narratives of women from around the world. Our #ByTheWomenWeLove collection highlight a few of the countless and immeasurable cinematic achievements and contributions to film made by women over the course of the medium’s more than century long history. This collection includes docs about the women that have shaped cinema and the social and cultural movements of the 20th century, and biopics, dramas and comedies about women navigating the complex experiences and challenges they face. Happy International Women’s Day 2023!
CALLING THE SHOTS (1988)
The third and final feature-length documentary co-directed by Janis Cole and Holy Dale, CALLING THE SHOTS unpacks the role of women in cinema, by way of interviews with some of the most renowned women directors and actresses of the last 60 years. Including original and intimate interviews with Agnes Varda, Mararethe von Trotta, Margot Kidder and many more, this Canadian documentary is a frank and impactful analysis of the place women hold in the history of film, and the development of the medium.
GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE (2022)
The sophomore feature film from Canadian multihyphenate Jacquelyn Mills, GEOGRAPHIES OF SOLITUDE is a meditative and immersive look at the life of Canadian naturalist Zoe Lucas, and Sable Island, Nova Scotia, where Lucas has live and worked for over four decades. This film has dazzled audiences around the world and garnered acclaim at the most prestigious and renowned film festivals across the globe, having won the Best Canadian Documentary Award and the Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award at the 2022 Hot Docs International Documentary Festival, and the C.I.C.A.E. Award, the Caligari Award and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival.
GREENER GRASS (2019)
This outlandish and hysterical comedy from directors Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe is part Twin Peaks and part Stepford Wives. GREENER GRASS stars DeBoer and Luebbe (who also serve as the film’s writers and producers) as housewives living in a bizarro suburb where unnecessary orthodontics and and inter-familial competition reign supreme. A demented and hilarious indictment of family values and gender roles, this film will make you laugh as hard as it will make you cringe.
LISTEN (2020)
Heartbreaking and unflinching in its depiction of the experience of immigrants in England, LISTEN is the feature-length debut from Ana Rocha, and swept the 2020 Venice Film Festival, where it won 5 major awards. The film follows Bella and Jota, two Portuguese immigrants living outside of London, as their children are senselessly taken from them by British social services, forcing the two parents to fight against a cruel social structures to keep their family in tact.
NICO, 1988 (2017)
This insightful and tragic biopic follows the final twelve months of infamous singer Nico’s life. Struggling to establish her own identity outside of her role as one of Andy Warhol’s muses and the singer of the Velvet Underground, NICO, 1988 follows its titular icon as she completes her final tours of Europe and reconnects with her estranged son before her untimely death at the age of 49.
PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME (2020)
Winner of the Golden Hugo at the 2020 Chicago International Film Festival, director Lili Horvát’s sophomore feature PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME is a biting rumination on memory, love, manipulation and fantasy. After meeting a man at a conference and falling in love with him, Natasa, a neurosurgeon at a New Jersey hospital, quits her job and returns to Budapest to start a new life with the man. However, when Natasa gets to Budapest, the man says that he has never met her. This forces Natasa to start questioning her own recollection of the events that led her back to Hungary.
P4W: PRISON FOR WOMEN
Filmed within the walls of the Prison for Women, in Kingston, Ontario, this documentary from Janis Cole and Holly Dale follows the lives of multiple women living in the federal correctional facility. The film navigates the narratives of its subjects, their experiences and personal circumstances in a profoundly empathetic and humanizing manner, lending the film a profoundly impactful tone. The film premiered at the 1981 Festival of Festivals, was nominated for a Golden Hugo at the 1981 Chicago International Film Festival and won Best Theatrical Documentary at the 1982 Genie Awards.
TOVE (2020)
Illustrator and author Tove Jansson’s ‘Moomin’ characters have been the basis of hundreds of comic strips, books, films, plays and television series, and earned their creator the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1966. TOVE (2020) tells the story of its titular character as she creates the iconic characters while living an uncompromising and transgressive life. This touching and passionate biopic is as tender as the Moomin characters themselves.
WHITE RIOT (2019)
Amidst the rise of racism and white nationalism in England the late 1970s, and following a vitriolic, bigoted, and hateful tirade from Eric Clapton, music photographer Red Saunders wrote a letter calling for rock n’ roll to become a force against racism. This letter was eventually printed by multiple influential music magazines, and resulted in the creation of the Rock Against Racism movement. WHITE RIOT (2019) traces the origins of the movement and its founders, as they pushed for equity in the global rock n roll culture, and rallied against hate. The film, the feature debut of Rubkia Shah, garnered a special mention at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival.
THE FIVE DEVILS (2022)
Léa Mysius’ sophomore directorial effort, THE FIVE DEVILS (2022), tells the story of Vicky, a child with a special ability to recreate smells, including those of the people around her. When Vicky’s estranged aunt comes back into the child’s life, Vicky’s special ability leads her to unravel the complex history between her aunt and mother. THE FIVE DEVILS was selected as part of the Quinzaine des Realisateurs, and was nominated for the Queer Palm at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
FWL’S #BYTHEWOMENWELOVE COLLECTION
Find out where to watch all of the titles in our #ByTheWomenWeLove Collection
ABOUT FILMS WE LIKE
Founded by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ron Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential, Carmine Street Guitars) Films We Like is a boutique distributor of documentary, independent, and international films in Canada. Recent releases include Saint Omer, Godland, Academy Award nominee EO and the Academy Award winning film Drive My Car by Ryusuke Hamaguchi.