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Feminist Tendencies

Feminism as a concept has gone in and out of vogue since the first suffragette demanded the right to vote, but throughout history there have always been remarkable women, prepared to claim their power in the name of a cause ('Ride to Freedom: The Rosa Parks Story', 'Veronica Guerin'), or just to rediscover their own self-worth ('Shirley Valentine', 'My Brilliant Career'). This collection does not only contain films about the political struggle of women to achieve equality ('Iron Jawed Angels'), if it did it would be a very short list because despite the fact that the rise of women in the workforce and in politics was one of the defining movements of the 20th century, very few films have been made on the subject - filmmaking being still a largely male-dominated pusuit. Now, as women are making films in greater numbers than ever, our own Niki Caro is a good example of someone ready and willing to tell a story about the oppression, and ultimate triumph of women in the 'post-feminist' 1980s ('North Country'). Perhaps women as an audience are now ready and willing to hear their own stories.

An Angel At My Table (1990)

7.6/10
Director: Jane Campion
Starring: Kerry Fox, Karen Fergusson, Alexia Keogh, Iris Churn

Jane Campion's remarkable award-winning film based on the autobiographical writing of Janet Frame is a portrait of a sweet-natured, imaginative, painf... Read more

Once Were Warriors (1994)

7.9/10
Director: Lee Tamahori
Starring: Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Cliff Curtis, Julian Arahang...

Director Lee Tamahori's stunning debut film focuses on a violent love story set against a contemporary urban backdrop. This insightful, gutsy drama fe... Read more

Erin Brockovich (2000)

7.3/10
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Peter Coyote

Julia Roberts shines in this powerful true story, playing a feisty, divorced mother of three who takes a job as her lawyer's secretary and finds herse... Read more

Bread and Tulips (2001)

7.4/10
Director: Silvio Soldini
Starring: Licia Maglietta, Bruno Ganz, Antonio Catania, Giuseppe Battiston

Aka "Pane e Tulipani". After being left behind by her tour bus a bored housewife decides to hitchhike home, and after a few rides finds herself in Ven... Read more

The Favourite (2018)

7.7/10
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn, Mark Gatiss,...

In the early 18th century, England is at war with the French. Nevertheless, duck racing and pineapple eating are thriving. A frail Queen Anne occupies... Read more

Monster (2003)

7.3/10
Director: Patty Jenkins
Starring: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen

Charlize Theron won the Best Actress Academy Award for her astonishing performance as Aileen Wuornos, the prostitute convicted of killing several men... Read more

Wit (2001)

8.1/10
Director: Mike Nichols
Starring: Emma Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Atkins, Audra McDonald, Jonathan M Wood...

Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson) is an English professor with a biting wit that educates but also alienates her students. With her teaching and life bot... Read more

Go Fish (1994)

5.6/10
Director: Rose Troche
Starring: Guinevere Turner, V S Brodie, T Wendy McMillan

Described as a 'fun and feisty lesbian romance' telling the tale of a young writer Max (co-writer and producer Guinevere Turner), searching for a suit... Read more

RBG (2018)

7.2/10
Director: Julie Cohen, Betsy West

At the age of 84, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture ic... Read more

Antonia's Line (1995)

7.5/10
Director: Marleen Gorris
Starring: Willeke van Ammelrooy, Els Dottermans, Jan Decleir

Marleen Gorris' winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film centres on an elderly woman who recalls her life in a small Dutch village on the day... Read more