Letterboxd Is Right: 2023 Was a Big Year for Women Filmmakers

Women really do change the world. One thing they tackled in 2023 was making waves in Hollywood. Some of the biggest movies of the year were directed by women (and written by women), and getting to see female directors highlighted for their brilliance is what we love!

Letterboxd released their year in review for 2023, and one of the aspects highlighted was the impact that women had in movies in 2023, with 14 of the service’s 50 highest-rated films coming from women directors. They pointed out that there’s still a long way to go, and even linked to outside data on the subject from the Celluloid Ceiling Report and Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Particularly, women of color are still underrepresented, even among women directors.

Still, it’s worth celebrating the success stories. From movies like Totally Killer, with director Nahnatchka Khan, to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie breaking box office records, 2023 showed that women directors can (and will) make names for themselves (and break records while doing so).

The year also included Past Lives, the directorial debut of Celine Song, which served to completely wreck those who watched it. Pair that with romantic comedies like Rye Lane from director Raine Allen Miller and comedies like Bottoms, and we had a wide range of genres and films to chose from this year to rally behind women in filmmaking.

Getting to watch a movie like Saltburn from Emerald Fennell and then turning around to watch Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear right after? That’s a sign of a brilliant year in movies, but more importantly, a big year for women behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera. We had Priscilla, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Anatomy of a Fall, and Theater Camp that all also made the Letterboxd list, and they’re all so good, but there are still movies that didn’t even make the top 10 that I LOVED.

That is saying something when there are so many films from women directors that you have a struggle picking your top 10!

Truly so many good titles and some didn’t even make the Letterboxd cut

One of my favorite movies of 2023 was Polite Society, directed by Nida Manzoor. Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) is an aspiring martial artist and stunt woman, and she dedicates her time and energy to creating videos to show off her skill. But when she thinks that her sister Lena (Ritu Arya) needs saving, it’s her time to show what all her training has been for.

Action packed, beautiful, and one of the best action movies of 2023, Polite Society doesn’t get enough praise, and it should. It truly is one of the best movies of all of 2023 and Manzoor deserves praise for her work, too.

All of this is a testament to just how good 2023 was for movies, because we also had Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret and About My Father, which were helmed by women directors! I want every year to feel like this, with so many good movies that we are trying to figure out what the best 10 movies are and have so many to choose from. Because it felt good to see women celebrated for their work behind the lens!

(featured image: Searchlight Pictures / Warner Bros. / MGM / A24)