<span class="mx-1">With this list, you can watch great movies and support strides towards gender equity while you do it. What could be better than that?</span>
</p><div id="">
<figure class="sf-entry-featured-media ">
<img width="800" height="600" src="https://filmschoolrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Best_Movies_Directed_By_Women_2021.jpg" class="articlethumb wp-post-image" alt="Best Movies Directed By Women" loading="lazy" srcset="https://filmschoolrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Best_Movies_Directed_By_Women_2021.jpg 800w, https://filmschoolrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Best_Movies_Directed_By_Women_2021-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"/> </figure>
<!-- START BYLINE -->
<div class="row align-items-center justify-content-center my-4 text-center medium dark-gray">
By Valerie Ettenhofer · Published on January 6th, 2022
</div>
<!-- END BYLINE -->
<p><em>This article is part of our 2021 Rewind. Follow along as we explore the best and most interesting movies, shows, performances, and more from this very strange year. In this entry, TV critic Valerie Ettenhofer spotlights great 2021 movies directed by women. </em>
Here’s something cool: from 2019 to 2020, the percentage of top-grossing movies directed by women increased significantly! Here’s something less cool: that significant increase was from 12 percent of all top-grossing films to 16 percent. It’s historic, yet it’s still an impossibly small piece of the industry pie.
I made the first of these lists several years ago because statistics like those made me realize moviegoers could probably go a whole year without even watching a movie made by a woman, and that sucks. I suppose that’s not necessarily true anymore. Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland won three Oscars last year. And a small handful of this year’s major tentpole releases, including Black Widow, The Matrix Resurrections, and Eternals, had a woman in the director’s chair.
Still, progress towards gender equity in Hollywood is incremental at best, and the discourse around the issue hasn’t caught up to reality. None of the research about gender equity behind the camera seems to include statistics about non-binary and genderqueer directors, despite evidence that they exist and are making great films. The conversation about gender diversity in the filmmaking industry has to push forward. Good art won’t wait for Hollywood to get its shit together.
While not every person reading this can change the state of the industry, every movie fan can put in a little effort to make their viewing habits more inclusive. You’re all but guaranteed to find some new favorite films along the way. We’ll even help you get started. Here are 15 of the year’s best movies directed by women.