20 of the Best Movies Directed By Women

They say women do everything men do except backward and in heels — in fact, it’s a saying so old that it originally referred to Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and you almost certainly can’t name a single one of their movies. In the intervening century or so, women have made great strides in the film industry, but they still don’t receive anywhere near the same recognition and opportunities as men.

That much was evident in a recent r/Movies post, which disappointed Redditor violetauto because “when I looked up all the directors, they were all men except for one or two.” They dug up a post about the best directors who are women, but noted that it was outdated as hell and “isn’t exactly a ‘best movies’ list.” They then asked for the “Best movies directed by women?” and we’ll be honest, it was mostly Kathryn Bigelow.