Women with a Movie Camera

Kaouther Ben Hania’s bold and defiant fiction debut tells the story of a sexual assault in nine stunning single-take sequences.

A timid Long Island skater-girl befriends an all-girl, New York City-based skateboarding crew.

Andrea Riseborough is extraordinary in this disquieting drama about a woman convinced that she was kidnapped as a child and might have found her real parents.

Chloé Zhao's luminous and enthralling study of a young South Dakotan cowboy’s struggle following a rodeo injury.

Revelatory documentary on an unexpected hero - former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The story of how one of the 20th century's most important artists emerged from the post-punk, b-boy and graffiti scenes of late '70s New York.

Engaging, poetic story of three generations of Scottish women made by artist Margaret Tait.

A Taiwanese graduate begins work at a massage parlour, in this illuminating and authentic depiction of the migrant experience at London's margins.

Clio Barnard follows The Selfish Giant and The Arbor with this searing and eloquent Yorkshire-set drama exploring the fragility of familial relationships.

Coralie Fargeat's gloriously bloody tale of one woman's retribution; a razor-sharp feminist subversion of the revenge-thriller.

Nancy Buirski's vital documentary revisits an unjustly forgotten chapter of American history; the story of an immensely brave woman who refused to be silenced.

Acclaimed filmmaker Lauren Greenfield examines modern greed amid the world of the 1%. Travelling through America and beyond, she meets the international elite and families overwhelmed by debt, yet determined to live the ‘luxury lifestyle.

Fascinating documentary about the glamorous Hollywood star who was also a genius inventor of military technology.

Grace Jones is laid bare in this intimate and electrifying insight into the fascinating world of a pop-cultural phenomenon.

Shirley Henderson's sensitive performance as a woman with Parkinson's disease grounds this spartan family drama set in the Canadian wilderness.

Lynne Ramsay journeys with Joaquin Phoenix into the mind of an ex-soldier gun-for-hire whose own demons are as brutal as the actions of his adversaries.

A lonely prankster upends the life of his high-powered daughter in a riotous comedy, deep and sharp.

Athina Rachel Tsangari's biting and hilarious dissection of the male ego was awarded Best Film at the 2015 BFI London Film Festival.

The US indie hit tells the bold, bawdy and hilarious story of a teenager's sexual awakening after she sleeps with her mother’s boyfriend.

If you only see one Iranian vampire western this year, make sure it’s this one. A female vampire stalks a ghost town in Ana Lily Amirpour’s arresting debut.

Kelly Fremon Craig’s coming-of-age comedy eschews quirkiness for genuine warmth, while boasting a hilarious supporting turn from Woody Harrelson.

Alex Lawther is outstanding as a teenage rebel in this tale of an unrepentant high-school outsider, directed by Trudie Styler.

The captivating Zosia Mamet (Girls) takes centre-stage in this smart and sassy Manhattan-set relationship drama which channels the spirit of Nora Ephron.

Anna (Jodie Whittaker) is an emotionally stunted 30-year-old living in her mum’s shed, learning to confront adult reality, in Rachel Tunnard’s quirky debut.

Breakups have never been funnier, as Mercedes Grower's all-star, ensemble comedy charts the end of various affairs. With Julian Barratt, Steve Oram, Julia Davis and Noel Fielding.

Three strong, independent Israeli-Palestinian women try to square their liberated, hedonistic lifestyles with the stultifying restrictions of conservative family life, in Maysaloun Hamoud's charming and vital drama.

The story of an affair between a Palestinian woman and her British Indian friend, from the same team behind The World Unseen.

Sweeping romantic drama about two Indian women who fall for each other in the hostile environment of apartheid South Africa.

Kathryn Bigelow won the Best Director Academy Award in 2010 for this visceral, thrilling story of an American maverick bomb disarmer in Iraq.

Kathryn Bigelow's masterful, meticulous account of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden is a thrilling account of contemporary history.

John Boyega excels as the security guard caught up in a violent conflagration during the riots of 1967, in Kathryn Bigelow's blistering thriller.

Gurinder Chadha’s smash hit about an Asian girl with an undying love for football.

Gurinder Chadha’s Bollywood retelling of Austen’s classic romance is an all-round joy, adding colour and song to Austen’s evergreen wit.

Gurinder Chadha's charming and critically acclaimed comedy about a group of British Asian women from Birmingham who bond during a day-trip to Blackpool.

Gurinder Chadha channels David Lean for this sweeping romance set during the last days of the Raj, with Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson as Lord and Lady Mountbatten.

Toni, an eleven year-old tomboy, finds a new purpose when an epidemic of seizures strikes her dance class, in this riveting and psychological character portrait from filmmaker Anna Rose Holmer.

Christian Bale slays his competition in this chilling satire set in ‘80s Wall Street.

The pangs and pains of young love are artfully and respectfully rendered in this subtle and sensitive drama from Mia Hansen-Løve (Eden).

In the tough suburbs of Paris, sixteen-year-old Marieme decides to reinvent herself when she joins a girl gang.

Lisa Gornick's funny and frank drama sketches the relationship between a sex-obsessed lesbian illustrator and a randy hetero author, who bond over their favourite subject.

Kanchi Wichmann's feature adaptation of her hit web series follows Ren (Alana Lake) as she hunts for romance in world of Tinder and zero commitment.

Meet the Angulos: seven siblings imprisoned for most of their childhoods who learnt much of life’s lessons from film and TV; the subjects of this captivating documentary.

Documentary portrait of the mercurial football genius who inspired the game’s modern renaissance while battling personal demons.

Artist Gillian Wearing’s ‘documentary’ observes seven people creating (fantasy?) identities in collaboration with a drama teacher. Raw and revealing.

Naomi Kawase’s visually ravishing, beautifully composed film tells the story of two youths growing up and falling in love on a Japanese island.

British-Chinese filmmaker Xiaolu Guo follows her ageing parents' journey to the West as they visit Europe. A rare chance to see one of Guo’s most personal films.

Lee Chang-dong (Poetry) produces this offbeat drama about a policewoman who becomes protector of an abused teen in a town riven by corruption and alcoholism.

Kim Longinotto’s inspirational documentary about Brenda, a Chicagoan charity worker who helps vulnerable prostitutes leave the industry.

A hundred years of love and courtship on the silver screen, with music created by celebrated Sheffield singer-songwriter-producer Richard Hawley.

Riveting account of the disastrous attempt by novice sailor Donald Crowhurst to compete in a round-the-world, solo yachting race.

Louise Osmond's funny, provocative and revealing account of the life and career of one of Britain’s most celebrated and controversial filmmakers.

The inspirational, larger-than-life true story of how a group of friends in a poor mining village took on the elite 'sport of kings' and breed themselves a racehorse.

Andrea Arnold dazzles with a sun-soaked and tune-filled epic about door-to-door teenage magazine sellers (led by Shia LeBeouf) traversing the American highways.

Tilda Swinton gives a BAFTA-nominated performance as the mother of a teenager who commits a high school massacre. With Ezra Miller and John C. Reilly.

Tilda Swinton stars in Sally Potter's dazzling interpretation of Virginia Woolf's novel.

Teenage friendship is torn apart when Rosa finds love in the wrong place, in Sally Potter's acute, 60s-set drama.

Two Yorkshire tearaways struggle with life and friendship in this challenging, compassionate growing-up tale by the director of The Arbor.

The power of kinship is explored in Carol Morley’s drama-documentary, drawn from real life and resonant with the way we live now.

Sixty years young, this British cartoon of George Orwell’s political ‘fairy story’ is still the most abiding adaptation of this powerful, cautionary tale for all ages.

Norman McLaren and Helen Biggar’s urgent work of animated agit-prop uses rapid editing to create an incisive polemic against arms spending.

Another giallo-inspired exercise in operatic violence from Belgian duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, directors of the acclaimed Amer.

Jessica Hausner’s cool, compassionate exploration of religious faith follows various believers and non-believers hoping for miracle cures in Lourdes

A stirring tale of love, music, and coalmining in Abergwynfi, South Wales.

The time is now for factory worker Maud (Carey Mulligan) as she joins the campaign movement for women’s votes, in Sarah Gavron’s stirring social history.

An estranged father-son relationship in the vibrant city of Nazareth makes for an immensely entertaining drama by Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir (When I Saw You).

Following the Six-Day War in 1967, a young Palestinian refugee boy yearns to be reunited with his father and joins a band of freedom fighters.

Farida Pacha's transcendent observational documentary captures the gruelling work of salt harvesters in a Gujarati desert.

A maid for a rich São Paulo family is allowed to take her provincial teenage daughter into the household, but tensions quickly surface between her old and new lives.

An Argentinian family befriends a travelling doctor, unaware that he’s a Nazi war criminal, in this haunting drama inspired by true events.

An assured and authentic lesbian coming-of-age drama, boasting a mesmerising and heartfelt lead performance.

A broken soldier guards a tycoon's family in this involving thriller with hints of Taxi Driver, starring Matthias Schoenaerts and Diane Kruger.

The great illusionist Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) meets his match when the charming and manipulative Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) magically appears in his life.

Samuel L. Jackson stars in this seething slice of Southern Gothic, about the travails of a Louisiana family bedevilled by infidelity, incest and witchcraft.

Beth Orton stars in a fragile and subtly nuanced drama that explores the toll of physical and mental illness on a fractured family.

Chantal Akerman’s rigorously observational portrait of her late mother takes on a whole new significance in the wake of the director’s own premature passing.

Ground-breaking documentary that uses archive film to tell the story of the British Deaf community’s fight for civil rights.

Mapping how British film and TV depicts the gay and lesbian lifestyle, Andrea Weiss raids the archives for her funny and persuasive documentary.

Samantha Morton plays the enigmatic title character in Lynne Ramsay’s dreamy and atmospheric road movie.

High-school students start a private orgy society in Eva Husson’s dazzlingly shot, no-holds-barred drama.

A troubled teen finds love during a summer spent at a horse ranch, in this captivating lesbian drama from cult director Monika Treut.

Two of the planet’s biggest stars – Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence – align in this extravagant period drama set in depression-era America.

Deborah Kerr’s final big screen role is a gentle tale of a widow and her friendship with an Indian neighbour.

A German-Jewish musician seeks exile in Cold War London in this rich experimental work.

Meryl Streep delivers an extraordinary performance as Margaret Thatcher in a provocative portrait.

Experimental monologue about the trauma of racial harassment and self-hate that accompanies growing up mixed-race in Britain.

A ferocious dystopian nightmare, this was the first film directed by a Black British woman to receive a UK theatrical release.

In this spiky and stylish debut from novelist Helen Walsh, two girls from different backgrounds form an unlikely bond, setting off on a dangerous course.

Splitting the atom is as easy as ABC in this family-friendly adventure.

Amma Assante (Belle) directs this impassioned drama starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike depicting an interracial romance that changed the world.

The borstal drama – billed as the female Scum – features Amanda York and Kathy Burke as inmates of a ruthless women’s prison.

Stephen Mangan and Chris O’Dowd star in this sharp comedy following the trials of a trio of ambitious comedians aiming to take the Fringe by storm.

Playful, charming, Oscar-nominated take on the Christmas song directed by queen of the dance Wendy Toye and designed by the great Ronald Searle.