A recent dip in female-led theatrical releases in the UK - back to 2018 levels of 26% reminds us that our work is far from over; that we cannot be complacent.
Below you can read about the research we conduct into gender representation in film and the wider industry, tracking the release landscape to present an accurate picture of investment in films by filmmakers of marginalised genders.
Here you can also find out about news and opportunities at Reclaim The Frame, along with curated film recommendations, filmmaker interviews, and creative responses.
Updated: May 10, 2023
Strong friendships are a critical aspect of most people’s well-being. Research indicates that close friendships are associated with greater happiness. So, to mark this day, and celebrate the friends in our lives, here’s some films and filmmakers that deal with the subject of friendship in all its complexities. A couple of these films, we have supported through Reclaim The Frame
ENJOY!
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Daisies (1967) Dir by Věra Chytilová
Two teenage girls decide that since the world is spoiled, they will be spoiled too. They embark on a series of destructive pranks to rebel against a materialistic society.♥
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Rocks (2020) Dir Sarah Gavron – screenwriters Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson
A determined teenage girl struggles to take care of herself and her younger brother after her mother’s abrupt departure.
A joyful, heart-breaking story of young female friendship.
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♥Thelma and Louise (1991) Screenwriter Callie Khouri
Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis are two best friends on the run from the law in a
1966 T-Bird.
Sarandon said: “Films at their best should challenge your perspective.”
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9 to 5 (1980) Screenwriter Patricia Resnick
Office satire about three female secretaries who decide to get revenge on their tyrannical, sexist boss by abducting him and running the business themselves. The trio, one of whom has been passed over for promotion because she is a woman, spend a night together having drug-induced fantasies of killing the slave-driving chauvinist. One of them panics the following day when she suspects she really has poisoned the tyrant.
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Girl Interrupted (2000) Screenwriter Lisa Loomer. Novel Susanna Kaysen
A directionless teenager, Susanna, is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There, she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.
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Fried Green Tomatoes (1992) Screenwriters Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski. Novel by Fannie Flagg
On one of trapped housewife Evelyn Couch’s (Kathy Bates) Wednesday nursing home visits, she encounters Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy), a colourful old woman who brightens Evelyn’s outlook by sharing tales from her past. As Ninny recounts the exploits of her free-spirited sister-in-law Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson), owner of a small Alabama café in the 1920s, and the bond Idgie shared with her friend Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker), Evelyn gains the confidence to change her own life for the better.
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Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) Dir Eliza Hittman
After discovering that she is pregnant, Autumn, a teenager, along with her cousin Skylar, sets out to go to New York to have an abortion.
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Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) Dir Marielle Heller
When a bestselling celebrity biographer is no longer able to get published because she has fallen out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception.
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The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) DirDesiree Akhavan
Pennsylvania, 1993. After getting caught with another girl, teenager Cameron Post is sent to a conversion therapy center run by the strict Dr. Lydia Marsh and her brother, Reverend Rick, whose treatment consists in repenting for feeling “same sex attraction.” Cameron befriends fellow sinners Jane and Adam, thus creating a new family to deal with the surrounding intolerance.
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Frances Ha (2013) Co-written by Greta Gerwig
A story that follows a New York woman, who doesn’t really have an apartment. She apprentices for a dance company although she’s not really a dancer, and throws herself headlong into her dreams.
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Girls Trip (2017) Co-written by Tracy Oliver
When Ryan is invited to speak at the annual Essence Festival, she sees it as a chance to reconnect with her best friends Sasha, Lisa and Dina, and the girls set out on a trip to New Orleans.
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Set It Off (1996) Co-written by Kate Lanier
Four women undertake to rob banks. While initially successful, a policeman who was involved in shooting one of the women’s brothers is on their trail. As the women add to the loot, their tastes and interests begin to change and their suspicions of each other increase on the way to a climactic robbery.
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For a Good Time Call... (2012) Co-written Katie Anne Naylon
Lauren and Katie are poles apart but their financial state gets them to move in the same apartment and start a phone sex line together. However, challenges put their newly-formed bond to the test.
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Waiting to Exhale (1995) Co-written by Terry McMillan
The story is based on Terry McMillan’s best-selling novel, portraying the friendship of four African women. It also highlights the struggles faced by women in today’s world.
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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) Screenwriters Delia Ephron and Elizabeth Chandler. Novel by Ann Brashares.
Four best friends (Tibby, Lena, Carmen & Bridget) who buy a mysterious pair of pants that fits each of them, despite their differing sizes, and makes whoever wears them feel fabulous. When faced with the prospect of spending their first summer apart, the pals decide they’ll swap the pants so that each girl in turn can enjoy the magic.
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♥#friendshipday are #friendshipgoals❤️
Learn more about International Friendship Day HERE
“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”
Céline Sciamma
International Day of Friendship is a day to appreciate and promote friendships from all backgrounds. Celebrated across the globe. Friendships have and always will be an integral part of my life, as I’m sure they will be to everyone, they are something to be cherished. Exploring my current friendships, I see an array of timescales – some new friends in recent months, some of whom I cannot even remember the beginning of our friendship – but every relationship I maintain allows me to grow with that person.
As we celebrate International Day of Friendship, we should celebrate the friends who have made a difference in our lives, the ones who will show up and offer you the love and support you deserve wherever you are in life. I will eternally be grateful for my friends – no matter how new or old our relationship is.
♥I fell in love with Sciamma’s work initially when I watched Girlhood last year, my love only grew when I saw Petite Maman at my local cinema – it was the first time I had cried in front of the newly found friends I had made in my film course. Sciamma’s pivotal film for me, however, was Portrait of a Lady on Fire, her dealings with love, friendship and trust are so effortlessly executed. Sciamma is an iconic female-queer director of the 21st century and one I look up to significantly – she is a perfect choice for a film on friendship.
Girlhood (2014)
Girlhood was a transformative coming-of-age for me. Sciamma deals with navigating not only yourself – but the city you live in, and your newfound friends in a complex and inspiring way. Girlhood explores the trivialities of friendship and the importance of finding your crowd and we watch teenage Marieme transform into ‘Vic’ as she faces defining moments in her youth. This film is described by Sciamma herself as a “tribute to friendship” Girlhood is a perfect film to explore how your friendships can not only shape you but allow you to escape from yourself and the path you believed you were trapped within. Teenage life is something so complex for many people, and Sciamma shows through girlhood the importance of having friends during this time. I know for a fact that I was searching for a long time during my teenage years until I found my crowd, my group of people, and it felt so special when I did. This film is a perfect watch if you’re still discovering where you stand in the world, and the freedom your friends may lead you to.
Click HERE for where to watch Girlhood
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Petite Maman (2021)
“We only meet our mothers politically when we grow up. We understand the decisions they made and the specific pressures they were under. The political system. The reproductive system. At some point we read the world the same as they did. But through fiction, through time-travel, we can do it from a place of equality.” Céline Sciamma
Celine Sciamma’s Petite Maman is a beautifully crafted and sensitive story – exploring the intrinsic link between a mother and daughter’s relationship and the friendship that can sprout from it. Petite Maman is enigmatic and subtle but allows you to fall in love with the magic that Sciamma creates. The bond she showcases within this minute film is gigantic – sometimes your mum really can be your best friend. It reminded me as I grow up, that my mum is always going to be not only my mother and mentor in many ways but also my oldest friend. Sciamma’s film is playful and fun – it is a perfect film to watch with your friends, your sisters, or your mum.
Click HERE for where to watch Petite Maman
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Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
“It’s trying to embody how sorority can abolish social hierarchy but within a collective, small group with a kind of friendship.”
Céline Sciamma
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is not only a meticulously crafted love story but also a story of friendship between three women. The understated relationship between leads Marianne and Heloise and the housemaid Sophie is tender and sweet. Sophie follows the leads within this story, being their one confidant. The film captures the importance of female friendship as Sophie is supported by the women within an invasive moment within her life. The respect shown between the women is key, the film relies on the growing relationships and friendships between the key characters and this is led by the importance of their friendship. The effervescent love story that blooms within this story begins as a friendship.
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Click HERE for where to watch Portrait of a Lady on Fire
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French screenwriter and film director.
A common theme in Sciamma’s films is the fluidity of gender and sexual identity among girls and women. Aside from her career as a director, Sciamma is also a popular screenwriter whose credits include the Oscar-nominated animated feature “My Life as a Zucchini.” She also co-wrote Jacques Audiard’s next film “Les Olympiades” with Audiard and Léa Mysius (“Ava”). “Les Olympiades” started shooting in September in Paris.
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Betsy Finlay-Sheil
Betsy is an Art student from Nottingham. From a young age, she has been an avid lover of filmmaking and the local cinema (Broadway in Nottingham). Although a lover of all film, Betsy has a particular interest in the promotion of female and non-binary filmmakers, and how the presentation of women on screen is evolving and changing. She is particularly an avid lover of the works of Celine Sciamma. Betsy is currently studying Art in Nottingham, alongside filmmaking and film programming in her spare time.
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@betsysheil
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Special Screening Portrait of a Lady on Fire – featuring local art at Broadway Cinema
August 30th. All tickets £5 HERE
Paintings featured in Portrait of a Lady on Fire were created by modern artist Helene Delmaire who worked closely with director Céline Sciamma. In homage to Delmaire’s work, the screening will be accompanied by a zine curated by the Unnamed Undefined Collective, showcasing a range of modern art by Nottingham’s own young, women artists. Some of the work featured in the zine will be available to buy before the screening.
The Unnamed Undefined Collective is a group of young filmmakers from the 2021-22 BFI Film Academy alumni. They have met often since the course finished in March to watch films in Broadway’s Lounge and wanted to share one of their favourite watches with you.
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♥#friendshipday are #friendshipgoals❤️
Learn more about International Friendship Day HERE
