Thread by @philiplord

THREAD: In preparing to vote for awards (5 guilds! Two academies! You have to plan!) I made a (surely incomplete) list of films by women that were a big part of '19 for me. There are LOTS! Many made my ballots. 3 made my best director ballot. Glad I did my homework! Thanks, List!

(PS- I in no way want to diminish the deserving nominees of various guilds and academies— I liked those films a lot too!) Anyway, here come some films I loved that happened to be made by women. They are in alphabetical order cause I guess I am a librarian all of a sudden

ABOMINABLE directed by Jill Coulton— Jill has been a trailblazer and innovator for a long time. To say she’s fearless - she is! - is to shortchange the deep sensitivity that animates her filmmaking. I hope this second picture of hers leads to many more! Go Jill!

ATLANTICS directed by Mati Diop
The best kind of legacy filmmaker. Everything is great in this movie- Clare Mathon's images. Fatima Al Qadiri's score. But my favorite thing about it: FANTA. ALSO: Surprisingly good double bill with Magruber. In my world that’s a compliment.

BOOKSMART directed by Olivia Wilde
It’s so hard to make a movie funny. It’s annoying when the person making it funny is also good at camera and acting and is a movie star and has a big smart brain but I suppose we all just have to get over it.

Charlie’s Angels- W/D by Elizabeth Banks
She’s fearless. She’s funny. She never quits. She throws herself in the deep end and figures it out. All that confidence and yet a joy to work with. This movie made me laugh and cry. I don’t know what more you can ask for. Liz is my hero.

The Farewell - written and directed by Lulu Wang
No directorial effort surprised me more. The attention to detail in every character, environment, and shot. You don’t show up and find that on the day. You design it. I saw it with 3 men and we laughed and cried the whole time wtf

Greener Grass - Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe
This film should be unsustainably strange. And yet it never overstays its welcome. I laughed the whole way through. 2 unique writer/performer/ first-time feature directors who know how to sustain our engagement and put it to good use.

Hala written and directed by Minhal Baig
I could watch Geraldine Viswanathan skateboard for hours. This movie is personal and intimate and daring and turns its observant specificity into something universal.

HONEY BOY directed by Alma Har’el
“Make me look good Honey Boy.” Is one of my favorite lines of the year. And one of my favorite performances. And my favorite Conceptual Art Self Portrait Film.

HONEYLAND directed by Tamara Kotevska & Ljubomir Stefanov
A feature film debut for these two directors. And a masterpiece.

Hustlers - so crisply and energetically written and directed by Lorene Scafaria. Political, intelligent and really fun really. Fun is an underrated value during awards season. But not when you are watching two movies a day for a month! THANK you, Hustlers!

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood directed by our pal Marielle Heller
Mari wanted to subtitle this film “Men and their feelings.” Well, this man cried a LOT. It's also the best last shot of any movie this year. I'll try to recreate it on my keyboard now: AGDFLSKJL;LKDS!!!

Little Women W/D by Greta Gerwig
I love her writing. Mistress America! Frances Ha! And I admire her directing even more? There’s care and story and humor and observation and expression in every choice. She makes it look easy. It isn’t. AND SHE DOESN’T IMPROVISE WTF

Marona’s Fantastic Tale directed by Anca Damian
No one's seen this, but it's one of my top 3 animated movies of the year. It’s warm and funny and visually daring. It’s the essence of animation: story and character brought to life through MOVEMENT. And the dog is fucking CUTE.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire - W/D by Céline Sciamma
Like…how is anything this good? The female gaze! Another female gaze! Sciamma's gaze gazing the first 2 gazes. Our gaze gazing their 3 amazing gazes. Christ. A movie about looking is the most overlooked movie of awards season.

Queen and Slim directed by Melina Matsoukas (written by Lena Waithe!)
Just...Mythmaking. Melina should get offered every big studio job, and she’s so cool she’ll probably turn them all down. Also she is Cuban-American like me so someday I’m going to try to prove we’re cousins.

The Souvenir written and directed by the legendary Johanna Hogg
An origin story of a filmmaker and an artist. It doesn’t just show you pain and suffering, it offers a suggestion of what to do with it. Also DOUBLE SWINTONS.

I’m sure I left out a bunch! And all the great women producers and writers and actors and on and on. Add them here! Oh and I like films by men too! Men can be great! & many great films by men missed the awards cut too but that’s for someone else's thread this is gettingsolongBYE

Fudge. I forgot one! (At least!)

FROZEN II directed by Jennifer Lee (who wrote the script) and Chris Buck — the highest grossing animated feature of all time. Anyone who questions the commercial viability of women filmmakers is about to not make 1.3 billion dollars.

I should also mention I didn’t see every movie (yet) so some may be omitted here for that reason !

someone just reminded me that CAPTAIN MARVEL came out this year by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck unsurprisingly the most intimately photographed Marvel movie ever and another argument that women directors make the ducats! Also don’t miss their prescient 2008 feature SUGAR