5 Women-Made Movies to Watch During Women’s History Month
This includes some massive hits and awards winners, including this year’s Oscar holder.
Despite the industry still being far from putting male and female filmmakers on equal positions, movies helmed by women receive more and more recognition with every new year, proving that the major social change in Hollywood is just a matter of time.
Several flicks made and led by women quickly turned into international hits, with Greta Gerwig’s 2023 comedy Barbie and Coralie Fargeat’s 2024 body-horror The Substance serving as great reminders.
Now that Women’s History Month is finally here, it’s time to give a watch (or a rewatch) to some of those recent flicks highlighting the omnipresence of girl power.
Clueless (1997)
A 1990’s romcom that became the genre’s cult classic, Clueless stars Alicia Silverstone as popular Beverly Hills high schooler Cher as she befriends a new shy student to make the latter the centre of her school foul play.
When things start getting messier than she expected, Cher finally comes to realize that she was actually the one to be clueless all this time.
The movie isn’t just a story about someone’s personal growth as it also explores the themes of gender roles in the society and, most of it all, female friendship that should never be a competition.
Lady Bird (2017)
Greta Gerwig’s breakout directorial work, Lady Bird came as a solid proof of its director’s intention to become Hollywood’s loudest mouthpiece for female voices.
Starring Saoirse Ronan in one of her best roles to-date, Lady Bird follows a 17-year-old teenager as she tries to navigate through complicated relationships with her strong-willed mother during a challenging and intense graduation year at high school.
Lady Bird soon became a manifestation of themes like adolescence and mother-daughter bonds, eventually paving the way for Gerwig’s other women-led movies Little Women and Barbie.
Frozen (2013)
Apart from delving into the story of two lead female characters, one of Disney ’s highest-grossing animated movies ever also features a female directorial vision of filmmaker and playwright Jennifer Lee.
Despite aiming at mostly underage audiences, Frozen is another powerful story about feminism as it sees both princesses seeking ways to connect to each other rather than waiting for a prince to marry them and make their life a fairytale.
More than 10 years later, the film remains the beloved beginning of the franchise, the next part of which is set to be released sometime in 2027.
The Substance (2024)
The movie that conquered everyone at the Cannes Film Festival back in 2024, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance is a poignant satire about the modern-day cinema industry throwing its long-standing devotees away in an attempt to find new and fresh faces.
The film stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley as Hollywood’s fading star and her younger version respectively, with both taking some sort of substance to remain relevant in the industry, though at some point things do get out of control.
The Substance received 5 nods from the Academy and eventually won one statuette for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Bottoms (2023)
Emma Seligman’s refreshing perspective of typical high school issues, Bottoms stars The Bear ’s actress Ayo Edebiri and Ruby Cruz as two students who decide to start up a self-defence club in an attempt to eventually lose their virginities to cheerleaders they have a crush on.
Not everything goes according to their plan, and Bottoms ends up being another hilarious, but brilliant flick about women’s self-discovery and friendship.
