Women-Directed Films to see this year

In 2021 we continue our mission to promote women's representation in film. This year's Festival programme features a diverse selection of international and Irish films, documentaries and shorts directed by women.

Browse the list and pre-book your tickets, virtual seats are limited!

Documentaries

BIG vs SMALL, Minna Dufton

Joana Andrade is a Portuguese athlete and extreme competitor, one of the greatest in a sport traditionally dominated by men, big-wave surf. In the documentary she goes to train under revered free diver Johanna Nordblad as both women seek to empower themselves and be the greatest they can be.

Underplayed, Stacey Lee

Electronic music has long been connected to the ideals of diversity, community and inclusivity. Why then, as recently as 2019, were only seven of Billboard's Top 100 DJs women? Stacey Lee’s documentary challenges the traditions and conventions that lead to gender disparity.

Radiograph Of A Family, Firouzeh Khosrovani

“Mother married my father’s photograph,” says director Firouzeh Khosrovani in the opening line of her deeply personal film. Her father, it emerges, was away during his own wedding and encouraged the family to celebrate without him. It wasn’t the only disconnect…

Films

Fidelity, Nigina Sayfullaeva

Nigina Sayfullaeva’s provocative feature smashes its way through long-held sexual taboos in a story told through the eyes of its female protagonist. Lena suspects that her actor husband, with who she shares a passionless marriage, is having an affair - and decides that if he’s cheating, she will too.

Voir Le Jour, Marion Laine

French filmmaker Marion Laine, who previously directed the legendary Juliette Binoche in À Coeur Overt, sets her latest feature in a busy maternity ward in Marseille. Jeanne and her colleagues toil to protect mothers and newborns in a climate of understaffing and management pressure. Following a tragedy, Jeanne is forced to confront both her relationship with her daughter and her own past.

My Little Sister, Stéphanie Chuat & Véronique Reymond

German acting icon Nina Hoss gives a characteristic first-rate performance in a drama selected to compete for Berlin’s Golden Bear. She is Lisa, a playwright with writer’s block who yearns for the love and friendship of her twin brother Sven, an actor living abroad. When he’s diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia, she vows to do anything she can to get him back on stage - regardless of the personal and emotional costs.

Cowboys, Anna Kerrigan

Writer/director Anna Kerrigan’s tender and compassionate film tells the story of a loving father, Troy, and his young trans son. They disappear into the wild together after Troy discovers the boy's mother objects his identity.

Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period of Time, Lili Horvát

Hungary’s entry for Best International Feature Film at this year’s Oscars, Lily Horvat’s striking and unique story has received wide critical acclaim, as has Natasa Stork’s beguiling lead performance. The noirish melodrama centres on a surgeon who encounters her soulmate at a medical conference. But when she confronts him weeks later after being stood up, he’s adamant that he has never met her.