Working from home (no commuting) and no access to cinemas has meant that in this reclaimed time I have been continuing my #52FilmsByWomen pledge that I started in 2015. This is now my 7th ‘year’, year being such a loose term as I have watched this 7th batch of 52 films from 22 July - 29 August 2020. Read about films: 1 – 52, 53 - 104, 105 - 156, 157 - 208, 209 - 260 and 261 - 312.
This increase was in-part due to a separate viewing project #1930to2020 in which I'm watching films from sequential years each day, where possible ensuring that at least one film is by a female filmmaker.
Check out the blogs that cover the periods 1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 1970 - 1989 where I highlight the films directed by women.
From these 52 films only 4, yes 4 (!!!) were revisits. Delighted to have revisited Jane Campion's first feature film 2 Friends, two films directed by Mira Nair and Grease 2!
You can read more about decades-long interest in Jane Campion here, and how Mira Nair's films changed my life here. But I've equally pleased to have discovered new films and filmmakers: some shorts, some documentaries, but most were feature films.
Here's my top 10 from the 48 first-time watches this month, which include 5 new-to-me directors.
The Happy Family (1952, Muriel Box)
Le Bonheur (1965, Agnès Varda)
Sparrows Can't Sing (1963, Joan Littlewood)
Velvet Vampire (1971, Stephanie Rothman)
Hester Street (1975, Joan Micklin Silver)
Daguerreotypes (1976, Agnès Varda)
Peppermint Soda (1977, Diane Kurys)
My Brilliant Career (1979, Gillian Armstrong)
Just One of the Guys (1985, Lisa Gottlieb)
Your Sister's Sister (2011, Lynn Shelton)
You can read reviews of these films on my letterboxd.
Films 313 - 365
313. To Dorothy a Son (1954, Muriel Box)
314. The Old Guard (2020, Gina Prince-Bythewood)
315. Eyewitness (1956, Muriel Box)
316. Street Corner (1953, Muriel Box)
317. The Passionate Stranger (1957, Muriel Box)
318. The Truth About Women (1957, Muriel Box)
319. The Happy Family (1952, Muriel Box)
320. Queen of Katwe (2016, Mira Nair)
321. The Very Eye of Night (1958, Maya Deren)
322. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019, Marielle Heller)
323. A Diary of a Pregnant Woman (1958, Agnès Varda)
324. Too Young to Love (1959, Muriel Box)
325. Nude on the Moon (1961, Doris Wishman & Raymond Phelan)
326. We Joined the Navy (1962, Wendy Toye)
327. The House is Black (1963, Forough Farokhzad)
328. Sparrows Can't Sing (1963, Joan Littlewood)
329. Collective: Unconscious (2016, Frances Bodomo, Lily Baldwin, Daniel Patrick Carbone, Lauren Wolkstein, Josephine Decker)
330. Rattle of a Simple Man (1964, Muriel Box)
331. Le Bonheur (1965, Agnès Varda)
332. Elsa La Rose (1966, Agnès Varda)
333. A Time for Burning (1966, Barbara Connell & Bill Jersey)
334. The Creatures (1966, Agnès Varda)
335. The Trouble With Angels (1966, Ida Lupino)
336. Ruddigore (1967, Joy Batchelor)
337. Uncle Yanco (1967, Agnès Varda)
338. Lions Love (1969, Agnès Varda)
339. Wanda (1970, Barbara Loden)
340. Velvet Vampire (1971, Stephanie Rothman)
341. Growing Up Female (1971, Jim Klein & Julia Reicher)
342. A Woman's Place (1971, Anthony Wickert/Sue Crockford/Ellen Adams)
343. The Woman's Film (1971, Louise Alaimo, Judy Smith, Ellen Sorren)
344. The Seduction of Mimi (1972, Lina Wurtmuller)
345. The Heartbreak Kid (1972, Elaine May)
346. Je, Tu, Il, Elle (1974, Chantal Akerman)
347. Hester Street (1975, Joan Micklin Silver)
348. Daguerreotypes (1976, Agnès Varda)
349. Mikey and Nicky (1976, Elaine May)
350. Between the Lines (1977, Joan Micklin Silver)
351. Peppermint Soda (1977, Diane Kurys)
352. Girlfriends (1978, Claudia Weill)
353. My Brilliant Career (1979, Gillian Armstrong)
354. The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter (1980, Connie Field)
355. Anybody's Woman (1981, Bette Gordon)
356. Grease 2 (1982, Patricia Birch)
357. Valley Girl (1983, Martha Coolidge)
358. Hookers on Davie (1984, Janis Cole & Holly Dale)
359. Just One of the Guys (1985, Lisa Gottlieb)
360. 2 Friends (1986, Jane Campion)
361. Back to the Beach (1987, Lyndall Hobbs)
362. Salaam Bombay! (1988, Mira Nair)
363. Loverboy (1989, Joan Micklin Silver)
364. Your Sister's Sister (2011, Lynn Shelton)
365. No Home Movie (2015, Chantal Akerman)
You may have noticed a cluster of films in the 50s and 60s directed by Muriel Box, here's a trailer to a retrospective of her films. You can find some of her films 'free to watch' on YouTube, InternetArchive and the BFI player.