18 Essential Sci-Fi and Fantasy Films Directed by Women

In honor of Women ’s History Month , we ’ve rounded up 18 all important fantasy and sci - fi film send by women ( want repugnance ? We ’ve gota list for that , too ! ) And with projects likeBlack Widow(directed by Cate Shortland ) andEternals(Chloé Zhao ) on the direction shortly , this list is just gon na keep expanding .

1) The Matrix

Though the sequel were a second polarizing , there ’s no denying the power , lasting impingement , and tremendous influence of the Matrix picture show — especiallythe 1999 original . Over 20 years later on , the sci - fi serial publication make by Lana and Lilly Wachowski — about a man ( Keanu Reeves ) who see humanity is trammel in an tyrannous pretense and spring back and forth between globe after link up a group of shiny - jacket cyberpunk rebels — is still such a cultural criterion thatthe 4th Matrix film(directed by Lana Wachowski solo this metre ) , due later this year , seems potential to spark a full - plate series revival meeting .

https://gizmodo.com/the-matrix-was-intended-to-be-a-trans-story-says-lilly-1844611323

2) Birds of Prey

Cathy Yan’svibrant , crimson , feminist answerto risible book action movie did indeed hand over the fantabulous emancipation of one Harley Quinn , as the movie ’s full form of address assure . But it also gave us an remarkably diverse ensemble plaster cast , with Jurnee Smollett ’s Black Canary , Rosie Perez ’s Detective Renee Montoya , Mary Elizabeth Winstead ’s Huntress , and Ella Jay Basco ’s Cass backing up Margot Robbie ’s wildly attired , magnetic , nut sandwich - covet Harley . Inventive , colorful , and hyper - energetic , Birds of Prey felt more like a standalone than part of DC ’s inflate cinematic universe , something that made it all the more merriment to watch .

3) Captain Marvel

Marvel’sfirst distaff standalone superhero movie — took ‘ em long enough — was co - directed by Marvel ’s first female film director , Anna Boden , who helm with her partner Ryan Fleck ( next year ’s Captain Marvel 2 , however , will be directed solo byNia DaCosta ) . While Carol Danvers’turn in Endgamewas kind of a non - event ( to be fair , that movie had a portion going on ) , the movie showcasing Brie Larson ’s introduction as the character made great use of its 1990s setting while show us significant moments in Marvel story ( Nick Fury ’s eye , we hardly knew ye ) and giving us one ofthe greatest sci - fi cats ever — while also emphasizing themes of authorisation , leeway , the deep bond of female friendship , and resiliency no matter which cosmic jerkface is trying to keep you down .

4) Wonder Woman

No tilt of fantasy moviesdirected by womencould leave off Wonder Woman — Patty Jenkins ’ blockbuster reminder that , yes , audience would very much like to see a fierce female superhero save the world , spreading joy , and maybe even enjoying some frosting emollient and a fashion montage along the mode . We were slightly less guide withthe sequel , butthe goodwill forged by the first filmstill counts for a fortune — especially that scene where Gal Gadot ’s Diana rises up to charge a World War I battlefield as the movie ’s iconic topic medicine swells in the background . gelidity . Every . clip .

5) Frozen

Some effortless statistic : Jennifer Lee , who co - head the Oscar - winning animated sensation with Chris Buck , is the first female director of a Walt Disney Animation Studios have . ( She also co - directedFrozen IIand pen both theFrozenand Frozen II screenplays . ) Thanks to the cinema ’s enchanting story of two majestic sisters seek to navigate youthful maturity without their parents , a state of affairs complicate by one baby ’s burgeon magic powers — not to note castle machination , snowman wile , and an incessantly catchy soundtrack — Lee also became the first distaff film director of any celluloid that gross over a billion dollar mark .

https://gizmodo.com/the-13-most-iconic-tv-witches-1829685261

6) Bewitched

Nora Ephron carbon monoxide gas - wrote ( with Delia Ephron ) and directed this big - concealment take on thesupernatural sitcom , starringNicole Kidmanas a nozzle - twitching witch who stumbles into playing the lead in a Bewitched series revival opposite a buffoonish , egotistical actor ( Will Ferrell ) . Not all the composition fit together dead in this one ( though the ensemble form , which let in Shirley MacLaine , Michael Caine , Kristen Chenoweth , and Steve Carell , is splendid ) , but funniness caption Ephron ’s clever meta - approach is exalt ; this Bewitched end up being just as much about celebrity civilization as it is about witchery , with fame being present as kind of the ultimate magic spell .

7) Twilight

Say what you will about its sparkly lamia and the questionable depiction of baseball game , but for a import in time there , Twilight was the hottest property in pop culture . In 2008 , at the yell meridian of Twilight febricity , the feature film strike dramatics — head by Catherine Hardwicke , who ’d break out a few years prior with Thirteen , a very different ( but also kind of alike ) tale of a young girl ’s troublesome come - of - age . crepuscule , filmed on a relatively minor budget , became a huge hit , transformed googly - eyed lovers Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson into exigent superstars , and made Hardwicke one of the most commercially successful female filmmakers to date .

8) Bird Box

Susanne BierdirectedNetflix ’s adaptationof Josh Malerman ’s novel , which follow a woman named Malorie ( Sandra Bullock ) who desperately tries to keep a pair of child safe in a world that ’s been invade by aliens that ’ll make anyone who catch sight of them immediately kill themselves . The movie flips between Malorie at the start of the intrusion , dealing with the sudden fright and chaos , and Malorie in the present day — a aweary but saucy subsister who has to resort to being a sorting of bad - cop female parent to the kids whose lives she literally holds in her hands . It ’s tense ( lots of unnerving blindfolded scene ) , but somehow also tender , and Bier draws outstanding performances not just out of Bullock , but the entire cast .

9) Mulan

Disney’slive - natural process adaptationof its own Mulan animate film wasn’twithout controversy , but it ’s still dumbfound the distinction of being take by Niki Caro , one of few women ( at that time , though the number ’s still not huge ) rent to take aim a cinema budgeted over $ 100 million . Though covid-19 intend the photographic film ended upbowing on Disney+rather than in thousands of theaters worldwide , its dazzle visuals and action chronological sequence still earned high praise , even when viewed on the little screen .

https://gizmodo.com/val-kilmers-14-greatest-genre-movie-roles-1844013750

10) Real Genius

teenaged nerd goes to college , makes friends with misfit who ’re as bright and weird as he is , and finally , they all unite forces to stop their slimeball prof from profiting off a antic innovation they all worked on for what turned out to be sinister military purposes . Everything in 1985 ’s Real Genius is pretty much wonderful — especiallyVal Kilmer ’s performanceas a brainiac slacker — and the picture ’s tonicity of good - time geekery and stick - it - to - the - man uprising , all wrapped up in a goofy college - campus setting , has made it a perpetual favorite . All hail film director Martha Coolidge , who also directed 1983 ’s Valley Girl and is therefore a torpedo to all fan of eighties teen comedies .

11) Big

Body - swapping comedies have been done to end . ButPenny Marshall ’s Big remains the aureate banner , with Tom Hanks ’ sincere yet uproarious performance cast anchor its fantasy tale of a tween male child who wish himself into maturity — and then recognize how much he ’s missed out on by on the spur of the moment making all his dream get rightful . Marshall ’s own comedy background no doubt helped vastly in take a leak crowing such a achiever , so much so that it ’s now a music genre classic .

12) Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

The world is ending — imminently , thanks to an incoming asteroid — when thisapocalyptic romanticistic comedyfrom writer - conductor Lorene Scafaria commence , and its tale follows a pair of neighbor who are essentially strangers ( Steve Carell , Keira Knightley ) as they figure out their true priorities while the end of the world clock mark off down . Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is build up around a gimmick , but it ’s an endearing one , and it ’s very effective in pushing its characters to extremes that they would n’t otherwise have dared to explore . Why not , when they ’ve bring literally nothing to fall behind ?

13) Deep Impact

mouth of Earth and asteroid … 1998 will forever be remembered as the twelvemonth Hollywood try out to bang up the planet twice withcompeting megahit movies . While Michael Bay ’s Armageddon was a certified sausage balloon party , Mimi Leder ’s Deep Impact took a more aroused approach , following efforts in place and on the ground to not just visualise out a selection strategy , but to grapple with the overwhelming , surreal fear that existence was on the edge of end evermore . The cinema endeavors to create persona we in reality worry about , like Téa Leoni ’s challenging cable - news newsperson ( whose bounteous break is , regrettably , the Last Day goop ) , and Elijah Wood ’s bereft teen , who shows noteworthy speed when it fall time to outrun a tidal undulation . Deep Impact is ultimately a pretty whacky disaster film — but it wish about feelings almost as much as it does explosion , which is saying something .

https://gizmodo.com/remember-1998-when-the-world-almost-ended-twice-1835910231

14) Teknolust

Lynn Hershman Leeson ’s 2002 indie , which she wrote and address , starsTilda Swintonas a scientist named Rosetta Stone who creates three “ Self Replicating Automotons”—clones of herself , also play by Swinton in a variety of glamorous wigs and colorful turnout . The clones survive by shoot themselves with human sperm , a harvesting process that soon begins to affect the humankind in their midst … oh , and they also run a porn internet site where they pass themselves off as robot . The end solvent is stylized , mirthful , and totally original .

15) Strange Days

Kathryn Bigelow — incidentally , still the only woman to win a Best Director Oscar , though we ’ve got a good feeling about Chloé Zhao this yr — madeour revulsion listwith Near Dark , and is back to represent sci - fi with Strange Days . It’sa noirish storyset in turn - of - the - millennium Los Angeles , a blank space where everyone ’s addicted to “ jacking in ” to virtual reality , prefer to experience ugly memories pilfer from somebody else ’s brain rather than face the low , violent actual reality around them . The movie was n’t a box - office hit , but in retrospect , it ’s a passably entrancing metre capsule of how people in the mid-1990s viewed the coming of the yr 2000 ( and all the freaky new technology that was bound to follow ) . Also , it sport one of Angela Bassett ’s most ass - kicking performances .

16) A Wrinkle in Time

Ava DuVernay ’s adaptation ofMadeleine L’Engle ’s classic novel(the screenplay was co - indite by Frozen ’s Jennifer Lee)wasn’t double-dyed , but there was much to observe in its lavish visuals and the way it update a story from 1962 to reflect a more contemporary sensibility . Storm Reid leads a diverse cast as Meg Murry , who embarks on an intergalactic risky venture with her sidekick and best friend to find her missing Father-God with the help of a wizard trio of women ( play by Reese Witherspoon , Mindy Kaling , and a sorta - disorder - but - what - did - you - await ? Oprah Winfrey ) . While A Wrinkle in Time stammer a bit when it came to pacing and patch , it was dazzling enough to make us eager to see what DuVernay — who has establish groovy winner in multiple genres — will fulfil when she makes herreturn to fancy .

https://gizmodo.com/one-of-the-all-time-most-important-cult-movies-is-back-1760211474

17) Born in Flames

Lizzie Borden ’s raw , radical1983 film — put together together with imitation - documentary footage , news account , and other elements — is set in an alternative , close - future version of the U.S. , where revolutionary feminist mathematical group fight back against sexism . It ’s since become a fad plastic film ( some have called itlife - changing ) and , fun fact , it features an acting appearance by Kathryn Bigelow , who pops up as a newspaper editor .

18) Nude on the Moon

This kitschy exploitation classic direct by Doris Wishman and Raymond Phelan is literally what it says on the canister : a nudist picture limit on the moon . There ’s ostensibly a plot about a span of spaceman who travel to the moon ( which looks suspiciously like Florida ) and discover there ’s a thriving nudist colony there — moderate by a Moon Queen , no less . But the plot is n’t the main draw here , and neither is the moving picture ’s idea song “ I ’m moon Over You ( My Little Moon Doll ) , ” as hard as that is to trust .

https://gizmodo.com/the-io9-guide-to-essential-horror-films-directed-by-wom-1787684070

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Birds of Prey and cereal.