Mainstream films directed by women were are hard to come by, and it feels odd to say that in 2023, when a film (Nomadland) directed by a woman (Chloe Zhao) won the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture in 2021, and a film (Wonder Woman) directed by a woman (Patty Jenkins) earned $822 million at the global box office in 2017, making it the third highest-grossing movie of that year. While 2023's highest-grossing film of the year, Barbie, was directed by a woman, it still seems like Hollywood will take the wrong lessons from the movie and, instead of giving more films to women filmmakers, instead will greenlight a bunch of movies based on toys.

In fact, 2020 was a banner year for female-directed films; 2021, though, was not. Among the top 100 most popular films at the box office, women directed 12% of the films compared to 16% in 2020. Both percentages are pretty dismal. When Chloe Zhao won the Oscar for Best Director, she became only the second woman to win her field’s top honor, after Kathryn Bigelow. Additionally, she was the first woman of color to win, and while that representation is important for budding female directors to see, it has yet to translate into more women directing more films.

Update August 16, 2023: In honor of Barbie, this list has been updated with even more talented directors.

It's important, however, to not just throw the word "female" in front of something in order to give it significance; what's more helpful is recognizing the specific cultural and personal experiences that each person can bring to a project. That said, the women directors working today have given the world some of the most impactful, insightful, and inspiring films of recent years by tapping into their own unique visions. Let’s take a look at a handful of them, in no particular order, and see why they provide such a crucial perspective.

10 Jane Campion

Jane Campion
Getty Images/Stephane Cardinale

A trailblazer who is also a pioneer in bringing a feminine gaze to the big screen, Jane Campion has received a number of accolades for her work. Right from The Piano, which won an Oscar for the Best Original Screenplay, the filmmaker has transported the audience to a world seen through a woman’s eyes. She showcases empathy as well as an artistic flair in her visuals. We’ve seen that in her feature debut, Sweetie (aired in 1989), and in the movies that followed, including In The Cut and Bright Star. The stories she weaves act as a humble meditation on how gender shapes people’s perspective and how society views women.

Ultimately, Campion is known for spinning stories where the girls live, love, and laugh with an admirable grace and authenticity. Her films have one and only one motive – to push the boundaries set by the patriarchy. Campion’s second Academy Award nomination came from The Power of the Dog, which is a movie that left viewers in awe because of its deep insight into human relationships.

9 Maggie Gyllenhaal

Maggie Gyllenhaal first worked her magic in front of the screen with movies like Secretary and Donnie Darko. As a member of the Gyllenhaal family, a pure talent and distinct perspective runs in her blood. With her breakout performance in Crazy heart, where she showed a high caliber of Oscar-worthy skills, Gyllenhaal proved that she could be subtle and mature when needed. This actress turned into a director and announced her incredible new career with 2021’s The Lost Daughter, which starred Dakota Johnson and Olivia Coleman.

In the movie, she fleshes out the inner complexities of womanhood and lays them bare with much care. Creating not one but two characters dealing with motherhood in different ways isn’t an easy feat. But Maggie digs deep into a mother’s psyche, leaving viewers in awe at the honesty. In a way, her films expand our understanding of the female experience. No wonder her debut won so many awards. We cannot wait to see what she’ll do next.

8 Kelly Fremon Craig

Kelly Fremon Craig
Lionsgate

Kelly Fremon Craig has directed two films, The Edge of Seventeen and Are You There God? It's Me, Margret. Both films are incredible coming-of-age stories that show her strength as a filmmaker. Craig has the ability to tell grounded, relatable human stories centered on women coming of age. She is great at getting naturalistic performances out of her stars, and her movies often harked back to the With just two films under her belt, she is showing no signs of slowing down, and audiences can eagerly anticipate whatever film she makes next.

7 Emerald Fennell

Emerald Fennell in The Crown
Netflix

Cheeky, clever and totally unpredictable, Emerald Fennell is a familiar face for the British TV fanatics. Her early on-screen appearances on critically acclaimed shows Call the Midwife and Netflix’s The Crown gave her a boost. And with each project, the star has only left us spellbound with her talents. When it comes to small screens, Fennell rose to fame with roles in period pieces like The Danish Girl, Anna Karenina, and Vita & Virginia. But that’s not all. The lady can win the spotlight with her many passions like writing books and musicals, and recently, with direction.

Related: Best Movies That Pass the Bechdel Test

After being a showrunner of Killing Eve, Fennell waved her magical wand and created Promising Young Woman in 2020. The movie was as captivating as it was unconventional, telling the story of an incredibly smart and passionate woman who blames herself for an incident with her best friend and is on an unstoppable path for revenge. Filled with feminine rage and dark humor, the movie showed that Fennell has a bold new voice that will disrupt the norm and revolutionize cinema for good.

6 Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola
Oscars

Sofia Coppola has spent her entire life in the film industry. Her father is, of course, legendary director Francis Ford Coppola. In fact, Sofia made her film debut before she was a year old, appearing in her father’s film The Godfather. Sofia made a big splash with her directorial debut, 1999’s The Virgin Suicides. In 2003, she wrote and directed Lost In Translation and won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Stylistically, Coppola has said that every film she does influences the next one.

Her upbringing in the film industry has also played a huge part in influencing the choices she makes in her films; according to her, she makes films that she would have wanted to see when she was younger. One thing is certain, Sofia has set herself apart from her father and become one of the best directors -- man or woman -- in Hollywood.

5 Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty
Universal Pictures 

Kathryn Bigelow secured her spot in history when she became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director for 2009’s The Hurt Locker, but she had been directing iconic films since the '80s, including the cult classic Point Break. In 1990, Bigelow talked about women as directors in Hollywood, saying, “If there's specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can't change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies. It's irrelevant who or what directed a movie, the important thing is that you either respond to it or you don't. There should be more women directing; I think there's just not the awareness that it's really possible. It is.”

Related: Here's a List of Women Directors Who Should Have Been Nominated For the Best Director Oscar

Stylistically, Bigelow is known for highlighting social issues including gender, race, and politics in her films, regardless of the genre, though she excels at tense, psychological action films.

4 Chloe Zhao

Chloe Zhao
Photo: Gage Skidmore

Chloe Zhao became the second woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director in 2021 for her film Nomadland. Zhao said that adapting the book into a screenplay and directing Nomadland felt like a natural next step after her first two films. It is similar in its structure and storytelling and the intimate look it takes as a small subset of people. Zhao, a Chinese native who was educated in the U.K. and U.S., made her feature film debut with Songs My Brother Taught Me followed by The Rider.

Her style of filmmaking highlights the intricacies of the relationships between her characters, especially contrasted with the beauty of nature and the vast empty spaces of Westerns. More recently, she filmed the MCU picture Eternals.

3 Ava DuVernay

Ava DuVernay sits in a film studio
Vogue / Prakash Shroff

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay has a few “firsts” on her resume. In 2012, she was the first Black woman to win the Sundance Film Festival’s directing award, for her stunning second film Middle of Nowhere. Then, in 2018, her film A Wrinkle in Time became the first live-action film directed by a Black woman to break $100 million at the box office. She received critical acclaim for Netflix’s When They See Us, based on the trial and conviction of the Central Park 5, which was nominated for a whopping 16 Emmy Awards.

She grew up in Los Angeles and spent summers visiting her father in Selma, Alabama, an experience she has said influenced the making of Selma. DuVernay came to directing in her 30s after a career as a journalist, notably covering the O.J. Simpson murder trial. DuVernay’s films explore the experience of being Black in America, particularly in the dynamic of families and of Black women’s experiences in an often racist, patriarchal society. She also frequently explores the injustices that affect Black families and communities, as seen in her documentary 13th.

2 Patty Jenkins

Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot hang out on the beach filming Wonder Woman
Warner Media

These days, Patty Jenkins is known as the woman who made a blockbuster female-driven superhero movie that grossed nearly a billion dollars worldwide, with 2017’s Wonder Woman (a title which aptly describes Jenkins herself); she also helmed the sequel Wonder Woman 1984. However, her very first feature film was 2003’s Monster, the film that won Charlize Theron an Academy Award for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Jenkins made a series waves with that provocative film, winning the Independent Spirit Award's Best First Feature.

In fact those three films are the only three features she’s directed so far, along with her incredibly strong television work mainly directing engaging pilots for shows like The Killing. Nonetheless, Jenkins has made an impression – she was ranked in sixth place on Time’s 2017 Person of the Year list. Stylistically, Jenkins’s ensures that her audience views the story through the main character (whether that’s Aileen Wuornos or Diana Prince), and themes of the strength of women and an exploration of feminism and ethics run throughout her films. Hopefully, there won't be another 14-year gap before her fourth film.

1 Greta Gerwig

Greta Gerwig Directing Lady Bird
A24

Greta Gerwig is still relatively early in her filmmaking career, but she has been an incredible actor for some time, helping to kickstart the 'mumblecore' movement. She had a massive hit right out of the gate with her directorial debut Lady Bird in 2017, for which she also wrote the screenplay. Next, she helmed 2019’s Little Women, and both films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture – proving that Gerwig has a unique perspective that grabs audiences and holds onto them until the final credits roll. In 2018, she was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People; she was just 35 at the time.

Stylistically, Gerwig’s films tend to be based on her own experiences. She also believes films are about the actors and encourages her cast to bring a bit of themselves and their own experiences into their roles. Having been (and still being) an actor has helped her relate to her performers and bring out their best. Gerwig's latest film, Barbie, has been a box office hit and smashing multiple records and will soon become the highest-grossing film by a woman. This means Gerwig has essentially been given a blank check for the rest of her career and will be a leading voice in cinema for years to come.