On the final day of the 2018 Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF), I slipped into a theater just after nine in the morning and listened as a CIFF employee introduced the film about to play, Revenge. “It’s a gore-filled assault against misogyny,” she said, “so in my opinion, a perfect way to spend a Sunday morning.”
We all laughed and settled in to watch the film. Revenge was directed by Coralie Fargeat, which means it’s part of the roughly 40% of CIFF films directed by women. That’s a big deal—as CIFF employees reminded audiences throughout the festival’s run, the industry average for women-directed films is about 11%. Just as I invest in women writers (and writers of color) by reading their work, I always make a point to see as many films at CIFF directed by women as possible.
Here, I’ll share my top five favorite women-led films from the 2018 festival. We’ll start—where else?—with that gore-filled assault against misogyny:
Revenge (France), directed by Coralie Fargeat: The official CIFF description claims this film “rises like a phoenix from the ashes of its exploitation-film, rape-revenge forebears and celebrates grind-house style and excess while upending genre expectations with its director’s unapologetically female gaze,” and I’d have to agree with that assessment. Even though I’m generally not a fan of blood and gore, Revenge was a wild ride, and one I found myself reflecting on frequently in the following days. Watching Jen, the protagonist, solder her own abdomen wound and take off on a merciless payback tour through the desert against her attackers was, I admit, pretty satisfying.
The Art of Loving (Poland), directed by Maria Sadowska. This film was an education for me: I learned about the life and work of Michalina Wisłocka, who was, as the CIFF description indicates, “a lesser-known hero of the sexual revolution” who worked tirelessly “to print what would become the first sexual guidebook in a communist country.” This film was charming, compelling, and well-constructed—and on my way out of the theater, I overheard a young woman tell her friend they should head to Barnes & Noble to see whether they could purchase Wisłocka’s sex guide. (Spoiler: I’m pretty confident our local B&N does not have that book in stock, but that doesn’t mean a translation isn’t absolutely impossible to locate.)
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (Indonesia, France, Malaysia, Thailand), directed by Mouly Surya: This film shares some similarities with Revenge in that it surrounds a woman who was assaulted and goes on to regain her power and wreak havoc on the lives of those who harmed her. I expected the feminist empowerment, but I wasn’t prepared for the gorgeous cinematography or the fact that this film is often just downright funny. Here’s hoping it comes to a streaming service ASAP.
I Am Not a Witch (U.K., France, Zambia, Germany), directed by Rungano Nyoni: A sly, magical realist satire that stands as a commentary on real-life witch camps in Africa. This imaginative, richly visual film follows the plight of Shula, a young girl accused of witchcraft. She’s given a choice: live and work in a witch camp or be turned into a goat. Read an interview with the director here.
RBG (United States), directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen: Speaking of witches, the venerable Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been called a witch plenty of times by high-profile men—including in the first few minutes of this film. But I’m ending this post with RBG because it is a documentary of great heart and inspiration. This film is eminently watchable, and it will give both casual and fervent RBG fans a new appreciation for all the ways Justice Ginsburg has helped the plight of American women over the course of decades. This film made a splash at Sundance and was on standby for both its screenings at CIFF—so go buy your Notorious RBG shirt and make plans to watch this one soon.