Fearless Females

Fearless Females

Transporting audiences from the streets of London to the slums of Nicaragua and the deserted hills of remote Indonesian, the films of this collection take an expansive view of womanhood. Papicha follows Nedjma (Lyna Khoudri), an Algerian fashion design student resisting the social conservatism of Algeria in the 1990s. Sailing aboard a long-haul cargo ship with an almost exclusively male crew, mechanic and sailor Alice (Lucie Borleteau) works fearlessly to come to terms with her own identity and conflicting desire in Fidelio. Featuring additional lead performances from Michelle Williams, Asia Argento, Salma Hayek and Charlotte Rampling, the collection sidesteps the clichés of generic female empowerment to embrace the diversity and complexity of female-led films from across the world.

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Fearless Females
  • Sex & Lucía

    Directed by Julio Medem • Drama • With Paz Vega, Tristán Ulloa, Javier Cámara • 2004 • 122 minutes

    Lucía is a young waitress in Madrid, who seeks refuge on a quiet, secluded Mediterranean island after the loss of her longtime boyfriend. Amidst the fresh air, dazzling sun, and glistening deep blu...

  • Papicha

    Directed by Mounia Meddour • Drama • With Lyna Khoudri, Shirine Boutella, Amira Hilda Douaouda • 2019 • 108 minutes

    Set in Algeria in the 1990's, Nedjma (Lyna Khoudri, The French Dispatch), is an 18 year-old student passionate about fashion design who refuses to let the tragic events of the Alge...

  • Battaglia

    Directed by Daniela Zanzotto • Documentary • 2002 • 58 minutes

    At almost 40 years old, Sicilian photographer Letizia Battaglia decided that being a mother and wife, the thing that she was meant to do according to the society she lived in, just wasn’t enough anymore. With great inner strength, sh...

  • Nefertiti's Daughters

    Directed by Mark Nickolas and Racha Najdi • Documentary • 2015 • 40 minutes

    A story of women, art and revolution, this vibrant film documents the critical role that revolutionary street art played-and is continuing to play-in the political uprising of Egypt. Introducing a cadre of courageous and...

  • Queer Genius

    Directed by Chet Pancake • Documentary • 2019 • 115 minutes

    Queer Genius explores the remarkable lives and work of five queer female artists: Barbara Hammer, Eileen Myles, Black Quantum Futurism, Moor Mother, and Dynasty Handbag / Jibz Cameron. Deep, affectionate and intimate portraits resonate ...

  • Riddles of the Sphinx (Laura Mulvey & Peter Wollen)

    Directed by Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen • Drama • With Dinah Stabb, Merdelle Jordine, Rhiannon Tise • 1977 • 92 minutes

    Laura Mulvey, author of the seminal essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, helped to establish feminist film theory as a legitimate field of study. With Peter Wollen, sh...

  • Good Manners

    Directed by Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra • Drama • With Sabél Zuaa, Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo • 2017 • 135 minutes

    Filmmakers Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra’s second collaboration (after the acclaimed Hard Labor) deftly integrates art-house and genre cinema to create a thrilling and dark gothi...

  • Devil in the Flesh (Marco Bellocchio)

    Directed by Marco Bellocchio • Drama • With Maruschka Detmers • 1986 • 109 minutes

    One of the most controversial Italians films of the '80s, DEVIL IN THE FLESH takes Raymond Radiguet's classic novel and updates it to modern times. Dealing with the legacy of Italy's "leaden years" and the afterma...

  • Blind (Eskil Vogt)

    Directed by Eskil Vogt • Drama • With Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Vera Vitali • 2015 • 96 minutes

    Ingrid (Ellen Dorrit Pettersen) is a woman contending with the loss of vision. In trying to navigate a world without sight, she spends her days attempting to reconstruct the visual worl...

  • No Light and No Land Anywhere

    Directed by Amber Sealy • Drama • With Gemma Brockis, Jennifer LaFleur, Kent Osborne, David Sullivan • 2018 • 75 minutes

    Grieving her mother’s death and her own failing marriage, Lexi boards a plane from London to Los Angeles in search of the estranged father who abandoned her when she was three...

  • Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, w/ Michelle Williams)

    Directed by Kelly Reichardt • Drama • With Michelle Williams, Walter Dalton, Will Oldham, John Robinson, Larry Fessenden, Will Patton • 2008 • 80 minutes

    Proving why she is one of the most highly-regarded auteurs of current cinema, Kelly Reichardt's (OLD JOY) subtle storytelling technique uses a...

  • La Yuma

    Directed by Florence Jaugey • Drama • With Alma Blanco • 2011 • 91 minutes

    Nicaragua’s first full-length feature in 20 years, La Yuma tells the story of a young woman who dreams of transcending her bleak life in the slums of Managua by becoming a boxer. Looking beyond the meager possibilities th...

  • I, Anna (w/ Charlotte Rampling & Gabriel Byrne)

    Directed by Barnaby Southcombe • Drama • With Charlotte Rampling, Gabriel Byrne, Eddie Marsan • 2016 • 93 minutes

    The lives of a beautiful divorcee and a troubled detective intersect during the investigation of a vicious murder on the grimy, rain-soaked streets of London, sparking a tangled web ...

  • The Assistant

    Directed by Christophe Ali & Nicolas Bonilauri • Drama • With Nathalie Baye, Malik Zidi, Jean-Stan Du Pac • 2018 • 87 minutes

    With his wife in labor, father-to-be Thomas (Malik Zidi) speeds to the hospital and, in the process, accidentally kills a young man on the road. The death sets into motio...