The 20 Best Movies Directed by Women

Across four decades and nearly every genre — gut-punch war dramas, candy-colored teen comedies, slow-burn arthouse romances, even a blockbuster or two — these are the films that prove the director's chair was always theirs. Which one tops your list?

1. 1
   The Hurt Locker

   Kathryn Bigelow's tense 2008 Iraq War thriller about a reckless bomb-disposal expert, which made her the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar.
   1000pts
2. 2
   The Babadook

   Jennifer Kent's 2014 Australian psychological horror about a grieving mother haunted by a storybook monster.
   722pts
3. 3
   Persepolis

   Marjane Satrapi's 2007 animated coming-of-age film about a girl growing up during the Iranian Revolution.
   555pts
4. 4
   Past Lives

   Celine Song's 2023 romantic drama about two childhood friends reconnecting decades after one emigrated from Korea.
   508pts
5. 5
   Lost in Translation

   Sofia Coppola's 2003 melancholic comedy about two Americans forming an unlikely bond in a Tokyo hotel.
   508pts
6. 6
   Big

   Penny Marshall's 1988 fantasy comedy about a boy who wakes up in a grown man's body, the first film by a woman to gross over $100 million.
   454pts
7. 7
   Daughters of the Dust

   Julie Dash's lyrical 1991 film about a Gullah family at the turn of the century, the first by a Black woman to get U.S. theatrical release.
   454pts
8. 8
   Wonder Woman

   Patty Jenkins's 2017 superhero blockbuster about the Amazonian warrior Diana entering the world of men during WWI.
   454pts
9. 9
   Boys Don't Cry

   Kimberly Peirce's 1999 drama based on the true story of trans man Brandon Teena, earning Hilary Swank an Oscar.
   454pts
10. 10
    The Piano

    Jane Campion's 1993 Palme d'Or-winning period drama about a mute Scottish woman and her piano in colonial New Zealand.
    394pts
11. 11
    Fish Tank

    Andrea Arnold's 2009 British drama about a volatile teenage girl on an Essex housing estate.
    394pts
12. 12
    Portrait of a Lady on Fire

    Celine Sciamma's 2019 French romance about a painter and her subject falling in love on an isolated island.
    394pts
13. 13
    Clueless

    Amy Heckerling's 1995 teen comedy reimagining of Jane Austen's Emma in Beverly Hills high school.
    325pts
14. 14
    Lady Bird

    Greta Gerwig's 2017 coming-of-age film about a strong-willed Sacramento teenager and her mother.
    324pts
15. 15
    American Psycho

    Mary Harron's 2000 satirical horror about a wealthy Wall Street banker leading a murderous double life.
    324pts
16. 16
    The Farewell

    Lulu Wang's 2019 dramedy about a family hiding a terminal diagnosis from their beloved grandmother.
    245pts
17. 17
    Nomadland

    Chloe Zhao's 2020 Best Picture winner following a woman living as a modern-day nomad across the American West.
    245pts
18. 18
    Selma

    Ava DuVernay's 2014 historical drama chronicling Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1965 voting-rights march.
    245pts
19. 19
    Promising Young Woman

    Emerald Fennell's 2020 revenge thriller about a woman avenging a trauma from her past.
    245pts
20. 20
    Winter's Bone

    Debra Granik's 2010 Ozarks drama about a teenage girl searching for her father to save her family's home.
    245pts

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