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Women Make Film
Mark Cousins' epic odyssey of women's cinema - plus a selection of remarkable films that feature throughout.
"Look back at movie history and you find loads of great films directed by women. Yes, men ran the business and mostly gave jobs for the boys, but in many countries, especially in the former Soviet bloc, female filmmakers told stories that were epic, angry, enchanting, prophetic, political, beautiful, mythic or melancholic. They did so with camera styles that craned like in a musical, or observed like a doc. They rethought acting and editing, tackled all genres and periods. They put things on screen that we hadn’t seen before, in new guises. They unveiled worlds.
To tie in with the release of Women Make Film, BFI Player presents some of these remarkable movies below. They aren’t at the edges of film history. They are its centres."
- Mark Cousins
Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Part 1 Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Part 1
Documentary 2019 179 mins Director: Mark Cousins
Mark Cousins' epic odyssey through female filmmaking represents one of the most ambitious and in-depth documentaries ever made.
Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Part 2 Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Part 2
Documentary 2019 179 mins Director: Mark Cousins
Mark Cousins' epic journey continues with focuses on movement, simplicity of style, the story of films about children, dreams, the power of the close-up.
Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Part 3 Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Part 3
Documentary 2019 178 mins Director: Mark Cousins
Sex, religion and politics are among the themes in the third part of Mark Cousins' monumental documentary on women's cinema.
Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Part 4 Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Part 4
Documentary 2019 178 mins Director: Mark Cousins
Melodrama, memory, classic genres and tense emotions come under the spotlight in the fourth part of Mark Cousins' sprawling opus.
Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Part 5 Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Part 5
Documentary 2019 122 mins Director: Mark Cousins
The journey ends with the biggest themes of love, death and the meaning of life.
Women Make Film - a companion collection by Mark Cousins
Evolution Evolution
Drama 2015 82 mins Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic
The long-awaited second feature from Lucile Hadžihalilović (Innocence) is a gorgeously surreal coming-of-age tale laced with bizarre body-horror.
"Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s eerie, dazzling film about a boy in a world of women is a dream-movie, as distinctive as Eraserhead."
The Watermelon Woman The Watermelon Woman
Comedy 1997 85 mins Director: Cheryl Dunye
Cheryl Dunye's smart and funny romance - thought to be the first feature directed by a black lesbian - remains a breath of fresh air decades on.
"Cheryl Dunye plays Cheryl Dunye in this wry, playful mock-doc about an African American actor who was marginalised in early cinema – or was she? A landmark in queer cinema."
Something Different Something Different
Drama 1963 81 mins Director: Věra Chytilová
Věra Chytilová's first feature is an important work of women's cinema, which contrasts the parallel stories of a gymnast (filmed as documentary) and a housewife (told as fiction).
"Two women, a gymnast and a mother, their parallel lives intercut. Looping camerawork and innovation galore in one of Vera Chytilová’s greatest films. "
XXY XXY
Drama 2007 91 mins Director: Lucía Puenzo
A sensitive exploration of the sexual awakening and confusion of one intersex teenager.
"Argentine director Lucia Puenzo’s engrossing, searching film for our times, about a 15 year old who is intersex."
Orlando Orlando
Fantasy 1993 93 mins Director: Sally Potter
Tilda Swinton stars in Sally Potter's dazzling interpretation of Virginia Woolf's novel.
"Sally Potter, Tilda Swinton and Virginia Woolf travel in time, gender and form together. See Orlando when you’re a teenager, and treasure it your whole life."
More from Women Make Film in our Rentals collection.