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Born Today
Marshall Thompson (1926)
Melbourne McDowell (1857)
Benjamin Britten (1913)
Betty Schade (1894)
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Feminist Film

A film that displays feminist philosophy and shows action through a female(s) point of view, often discussing political, economical and cultural oppression of women in society. Stemming from literary and film theory, it also describes non-traditional methods for reading, understanding, and evaluating films from the viewpoint of how they portray women. Unlike most genres, which arise formally out of successfully repeated conventions and formulas, feminist filmmaking is defined ideologically. These films often point out the necessity to reconsider film history, its existing stereotypes and formulas -- and along with it, women's roles in both cinematic narratives and society -- through subversion and re-definition. Some films acknowledge the typical sexual objectification, weakness and stock images (the good mother, the vamp, the fallen woman, the waif) assigned to women characters as a way to unbury long-accepted norms (Dance, Girl, Dance, Female Perversions, Desperately Seeking Susan). Others favor eliminating these constructed roles altogether by presenting strong, independent women transcending inherited definitions (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Drowning By Numbers), while some more controversial features (to subvert the genre) substitute women into roles historically reserved for men (Thelma and Louise, G.I. Jane, Johnny Guitar).

Major Works
Rating
Year
 Title
 
 Director
  9 Stars 1999 All About My Mother   Pedro Almodóvar
  9 Stars 1993 The Piano   Jane Campion
  9 Stars 1991 Thelma & Louise   Ridley Scott
    8 Stars 1993 Ruby in Paradise   Victor Nuñez
    8 Stars 1987 Housekeeping   Bill Forsyth
  8 Stars 1983 Entre Nous   Diane Kurys
  8 Stars 1985 The Color Purple   Steven Spielberg
  8 Stars 1974 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore   Martin Scorsese
  7 Stars 2000 The Day I Became A Woman   Marzieh Meshkini
  7 Stars 2000 The Circle   Jafar Panahi
  7 Stars 2000 Erin Brockovich   Steven Soderbergh
    7 Stars 1998 Nic   Dorota Kedzierzawska
  7 Stars 1998 Elizabeth   Shekhar Kapur
  7 Stars 1996 If These Walls Could Talk   Cher
  7 Stars 1996 The Portrait of a Lady   Jane Campion
  7 Stars 1995 Antonia's Line   Marleen Gorris
  7 Stars 1994 Little Women   Gillian Armstrong
  7 Stars 1990 An Angel at My Table   Jane Campion
    7 Stars 1980 The Women's Room   Glenn Jordan
  7 Stars 1992 Orlando   Sally Potter
  7 Stars 1986 Working Girls   Lizzie Borden
  7 Stars 1985 Vagabond   Agnès Varda
  7 Stars 1989 Sweetie   Jane Campion
    7 Stars 1982 De Stilte Rond Christine M   Marleen Gorris
  7 Stars 1979 My Brilliant Career   Gillian Armstrong
  7 Stars 1977 Julia   Fred Zinnemann
  7 Stars 1983 Heart Like a Wheel   Jonathan Kaplan
  7 Stars 1992 Gas Food Lodging   Allison Anders
  7 Stars 1991 Fried Green Tomatoes   Jon Avnet
  7 Stars 1992 Daughters of the Dust   Julie Dash
    7 Stars 1984 Committed   Sheila McLaughlin
  6 Stars 2001 Personal Velocity: Three Portraits   Rebecca Miller
  6 Stars 2000 Girlfight   Karyn Kusama
  6 Stars 1997 Mrs. Dalloway   Marleen Gorris
    6 Stars 1996 Girls Town   Jim McKay
  6 Stars 1993 Mi Vida Loca   Allison Anders
  6 Stars 1993 The Ballad of Little Jo   Maggie Greenwald
  6 Stars 1980 Nine to Five   Colin Higgins
  6 Stars 1983 Yentl   Barbra Streisand
  6 Stars 1980 Private Benjamin   Howard Zieff
  6 Stars 1983 Lianna   John Sayles
    6 Stars 1974 Je Tu Il Elle   Chantal Akerman
    6 Stars 1978 Girlfriends   Claudia Weill
    6 Stars 1970 Diary of a Mad Housewife   Frank Perry
  6 Stars 1985 Desperately Seeking Susan   Susan Seidelman
  5 Stars 1999 Kadosh   Amos Gitai
  5 Stars 1998 Mansfield Park   Patricia Rozema
  5 Stars 1999 Romance   Catherine Breillat
  5 Stars 1996 Female Perversions   Susan Streitfeld
  5 Stars 1994 Bandit Queen   Shekhar Kapur
  5 Stars 1992 A Private Matter   Joan Micklin Silver
    5 Stars 1975 Hedda   Trevor Nunn
  4 Stars 2000 Live Nude Girls Unite!   Vicky Funari
  4 Stars 1996 Fire   Deepa Mehta
  4 Stars 1996 I Shot Andy Warhol   Mary Harron
    4 Stars 1977 L'Une Chante, l'Autre Pas   Agnès Varda
  4 Stars 1990 The Handmaid's Tale   Volker Schlöndorff
  4 Stars 1985 Desert Hearts   Donna Deitch
    3 Stars 1999 The 24-Hour Woman   Nancy Savoca
    3 Stars 1972 La Vie Rêvée   Mireille Dansereau
  3 Stars 1996 Foxfire   Annette Haywood-Carter
  3 Stars 1995 When Night Is Falling   Patricia Rozema
  3 Stars 1986 Extremities   Robert M. Young
  3 Stars 1990 Eating   Henry Jaglom
  1 Stars 1983 Born in Flames   Lizzie Borden
 
 
 
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