Political ParticipationFilms

A historical action epic directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, starring Viola Davis. Set against the backdrop of the 19th-century West African Kingdom of Dahomey's all-female warrior regiment, the Agojie, following General Nanisca as she trains a new generation of female warriors to defend the kingdom. The film explores important themes of Black female power, African historical narrative, decolonialism, and women's military leadership.

Payal Kapadia combines fictional love letters, student protest footage, and archival fragments to connect caste-separated intimacy with the remaking of Indian universities under nationalist power.

This documentary follows the Dalit women journalists of Khabar Lahariya as they move from print to smartphones, turning reporting into a practice of anti-caste feminist authority.

Set in 18th-century British court, the power game between Queen Anne and two women - Sarah Churchill and Abigail Hill. This dark comedy explores complex themes of female power, gender politics, female friendship and competition through gorgeous visual style and sharp satire, challenging traditional gender role expectations.

Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman stars Gal Gadot as the titular DC Comics superhero, who fights injustice with strength, courage, and her golden Lasso of Truth. A box-office smash that scored more than $100 million on opening weekend - a record for a female-helmed film - it definitely positions Wonder Woman as the antidote to toxic masculinity her original creator imagined her to be.

This HBO television movie stars Kerry Washington as Anita Hill, a law professor whose story of sexual harassment is worth revisiting through a post-#MeToo lens. This film dives into one of recent American history's watershed moments, chronicling the testimony given before the nation regarding the sexual harassment of women in the workplace.

In 1987 Romania under Ceaușescu's dictatorship, college roommate Otilia helps pregnant Găbița seek an illegal abortion. This harsh and brutal realist masterpiece reveals the state's control over women's bodies and women's brave resistance for reproductive autonomy within the span of one night.

Katja von Garnier made this Golden Globe winner, about the women who risked their lives for the suffrage movement. It stars Hilary Swank, Anjelica Huston, and Vera Farmiga.

Frida Kahlo's famous self-portrait, with that thick unibrow and unwaxed upper lip, has become an iconic symbol of feminism. Julie Taymor's biopic takes us behind the canvas to reveal the artist, the activist, the revolutionary. And knowing what we do now about lead actor Salma Hayek's off-screen experience, this film proves an even greater victory.

Girls aren't allowed to be Whangara chiefs. But that's not acceptable to Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes), the 11-year-old powerhouse who believes her destiny is to ride whales and lead her tribe. Courage, leadership, and defiance are all at play in this Kiwi drama from Niki Caro.

A romp through a Catholic girls' school courtesy of a pair of mischievous teens, this Hayley Mills classic is all about sisterhood. But the real feminism is happening behind the lens: Ida Lupino, the sole working female director of the '50s, was blazing a trail for the women who would follow.