20 movies directed by women coming out in 2019

New year, new movies.

2019 has got a stellar list of releases coming to cinema and there is a decent number with female director at the helm.

From period dramas to documentaries, black comedies to animations, here are 21 to save the date for this year.

An Impossible Love

Dir: Catherine Corsini
Release date: 4 January

Synopsis: Based on the book by controversial French novelist Christine Angot, the film is set in 1950s rural France about a female office worker falls for a bourgeois man who gets her pregnant but refuses to marry her because of her social class. Over ten years we see her fight to have her daughter recognised by her father and the consequences of that.

RBG

Dir: Julie Cohen, Betsy West
Release date: 4 January

Synopsis: A look back at the exceptional career of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and how she overcame gender discrimination to fight against it and become a leading voice in America as well as an unexpected pop culture icon.

Nina

Dir: Olga Cahjdas
Release date: 11 January

Synopsis: A teacher in her mid-30s and struggling to conceive finds the perfect surrogate candidate but ends up falling in love with her.

Mary Queen of Scots

Dir: Josie Rourke
Release date: 18 January

Synopsis: This period drama follows Mary Stuart as she returns to Scotland to take her rightful throne and in doing so causes friction with Queen Elizabeth I and the men who would seek to control them.

London Unplugged

Dir: Natalia Casali, Rosanna Lowe, Gaelle Mourre, Kaki Wong, Layke Anderson, Nick Cohen, Mitchell Crawford, Andreas Heger-Bratterud, Ben Jacobson
Release date: 28 April

Synopsis: This anthology film is about modern Londoners and comprised of ten shorts from a talent pool of emerging filmmakers that explore themes of isolation, asylum, unmanageable rents and identity.

Destroyer

Dir: Karyn Kusama
Release date: 25 January

Synopsis: LAPD detective Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) went undercover with a gang as a young cop but it led to tragic consequences. Years later, the gang’s leader reemerges and she must reconnect with past members in order to reckon with her past demons.

On Her Shoulders

Dir: Alexandria Bombach
Release date: 25 January

Synopsis: This documentary follows Nadia Murad, a young woman who survived the 2014 genocide of the Yazidis in Northern Iraq and escaped the hands of ISIS, and her journey into advocacy and fame, all the while, trying to live a normal life.

Can You Ever Forgive Me

Dir: Marielle Heller
Release date: 1 February

Synopsis: Based on the true story of Lee Israel, a journalist and biographer who, after getting fired and unable to pay her rent, begins forging and selling literary letters. With the help of her friend Jack, the pair’s deception becomes increasingly lucrative but soon the FBI is alerted to their scheme.

On the Basis of Sex

Dir: Mimi Leder
Release date: 8 February

Synopsis: This biographical drama centres on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a struggling attorney and new mother in the face of gender discrimination takes on a tax case with her husband that could change the face of equal rights legislation.

Capernaum

Dir: Nadine Labaki
Release date: 22 February

Synopsis: A young, hardened boy sues his negligent parents for bringing him into the world after committing a violent crime and being sentenced to five years in jail. It won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Rhythm Section

Dir: Reed Morano
Release date: 22 February

Synopsis: Based on the novel of the same name, the film centres on Stephanie Patrick, a woman who assumes a new identity to track down those responsible for the death of her family in a plane crash that she was meant to be on.

What They Had

Dir: Elizabeth Chomko
Release date: 1 March

Synopsis: This family drama centres on a woman who returns to her family home in Chicago, at the request of her brother, as their mother’s health begins to deteriorate and she continues to lose her memory, though their father doesn’t want to put his wife into a care home.

Captain Marvel

Dir: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Release date: 7 March

Synopsis: Set in the 90s, Carol Danvers is a pilot who is given superhuman powers by an alien race called the Kree and joins their intergalactic force, but when she returns to Earth she must team up with a young Nick Fury to stop a rival alien threat from taking over the world.

The Kindergarten Teacher

Dir: Sara Colangelo
Release date: 8 March

Synopsis: A kindergarten teacher discovers one of her five-year-old students has considerable creative promise but goes to inappropriate lengths to nurture his talent.

Out Of Blue

Dir: Carol Morley
Release date: 22 March

Synopsis: A veteran New Orleans police officer investigates the murder of a renowned astrophysicist and black hole expert, Jennifer Rockwell, who is found shot to death in her observatory. As she investigates deeper into the case she’s forced to question her own personal history and understanding of reality.

Little

Dir: Tina Gordon Chism
Release date: 12 April

Synopsis: Based on an idea by Black-ish star Marsai Martin, the film centres on a woman who gets to relive the life of her younger self when adulthood becomes too stressful to bear.

Breakthrough

DIr: Roxann Dawson
Release date: 17 May

Synopsis: This Christian drama is based on the true story of a St Louis teenager who miraculously recovers after falling through an icy lake and having no pulse for nearly 45 minutes. His parents believe their faith in God is what brought him back.

The Sun is Also a Star

Dir: Ry Russo-Young
Release date: 9 August

Synopsis: Based on the novel of the same name, by Everything Everything writer Nicola Yoon, the film centres on a teen girl who falls in love during a tumultuous moment in her family’s life.

Charlie’s Angels

Dir: Elizabeth Banks
Release date: 25 October

Synopsis: This reboot starring Kirsten Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinski centres on three highly-trained private investigators who work for the mysterious Charlie.

Frozen 2

Dir: Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck
Release date: 22 November

Synopsis: Plot details haven’t been revealed but the original voice cast including Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad will be back as well as new cast members Sterlink K. Brown and Evan Rachel Wood.

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