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Women's History Month: Watch

MC Library's Guide to Women's History!

Films by Women Directors

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A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Strange things are afoot in Bad City. The Iranian ghost town, home to prostitutes, junkies, pimps, and other sordid souls, is a place that reeks of death and hopelessness, where a lonely vampire is stalking the towns most unsavory inhabitants.

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Sweetie (1989)

Though she went on to create a string of brilliant films, Jane Campion will always be remembered for her stunning debut feature, which focuses on the hazardous relationship between the buttoned-down, superstitious Kay and her rampaging, devil-may-care sister, Sweetie—and on their family’s profoundly rotten roots.

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The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

Beyond its obvious cultural significance as the only classic film noir directed by a woman (actress Ida Lupino), THE HITCH-HIKER is perhaps better remembered as simply one of the most nightmarish motion pictures of the 1950s. Inspired by the true-life murder spree of Billy Cook, THE HITCH-HIKER is the tension-laden saga of two men on a camping trip (Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy) who are held captive by a homicidal drifter (William Talman). He forces them, at gunpoint, to embark on a grim joyride across the Mexican desert.

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Daughters of the Dust (1991)

At the dawn of the 20th century, a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina – former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions – struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore while contemplating a migration to the mainland.

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Winter's Bone (2010)

An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.

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Mississippi Masala (1991)

The vibrant cultures of India, Uganda, and the American South come together in Mira Nair’s MISSISSIPPI MASALA, a luminous look at the complexities of love in the modern melting pot. Years after her Indian family was forced to flee their home in Uganda by the dictatorship of Idi Amin, twentysomething Mina spends her days cleaning rooms in an Indian-run motel in Mississippi. When she falls for the charming Black carpet cleaner Demetrius, their passionate romance challenges the prejudices of both of their families and exposes the rifts between the region’s Indian and African American communities.

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The Bling Ring (2013)

A group of fame-obsessed teenagers living in the suburbs of LA use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their empty homes.

Ringleader Rebecca leads Marc, Nicki, Sam, and Chloe on the ultimate heist of designer clothes and jewelry -- and what starts out as teenage fun quickly spins out of control.

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The Watermelon Woman (1996)

The wry, incisive debut feature by Cheryl Dunye gave cinema something bracingly new and groundbreaking: a vibrant representation of Black lesbian identity by a Black lesbian filmmaker. Dunye stars as Cheryl, a video-store clerk and aspiring director whose interest in forgotten Black actresses leads her to investigate an obscure 1930s performer known as the Watermelon Woman, whose story proves to have surprising resonances with Cheryl’s own life as she navigates a new relationship.

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The Farewell (2019)

In this funny, heartfelt story, Billi’s (Awkwafina) family returns to China under the guise of a fake wedding to stealthily say goodbye to their beloved matriarch—the only person that doesn’t know she only has a few weeks to live.

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Clemency (2019)

As she prepares to execute another inmate, prison warden Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates.

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Losing Ground (1982)

The inimitable Kathleen Collins's second film tells the story of two remarkable people, married and hurtling toward a crossroads in their lives: Sara Rogers, a Black professor of philosophy, is embarking on an intellectual quest just as her painter husband, Victor, sets off on an exploration of joy.

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American Honey (2016)

An adolescent girl from a troubled home (Sasha Lane, Hearts Beat Loud) runs away with a traveling sales crew who drive across the American Midwest selling subscriptions door to door.

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Born in Flames (1983)

When Adelaide Norris, the black radical founder of the Woman’s Army, is mysteriously killed, a diverse coalition of women - across all lines of race, class, and sexual preference - emerges to blow the System apart.

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High Life (2018)

Monte (Robert Pattinson) and his baby daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to the outer reaches of the solar system. The crew of death-row inmates led by a doctor (Juliette Binoche) with sinister motives has vanished. As the mystery of what happened onboard the ship is unraveled, father and daughter must rely on each other to survive as they hurtle toward the oblivion of a black hole.

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Past Lives (2023)

Two childhood sweethearts, after decades apart, are reunited for one fateful week in New York as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life in this heartrending modern romance from filmmaker Celine Song.

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Lady Bird (2017)

Directed by Greta Gerwig and nominated for five Oscars, LADY BIRD is a warm, affecting comedy about a high schooler (Saoirse Ronan) who must navigate a loving but turbulent relationship with her strong-willed mother (Laurie Metcalf) over the course of her eventful and poignant senior year of high school.

Films on Women's History and Identity

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How It Feels to Be Free

How It Feels to Be Free takes an unprecedented look at the intersection of African American women artists, politics and entertainment and tells the story of how six trailblazing performers changed American culture through their films, fashion, music and politics.

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Orchids: My Intersex Adventure

Questioning rigidly defined constructs of gender, sexuality, and normality, often with lively good humor, ORCHIDS is the first film to look at intersex from a positive perspective. Its engaging portrait of survival, courage and reconciliation will speak to a variety of audiences and spark lively discussion about what it means to be perceived as "different."

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Paris is Burning

Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women—including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza—PARIS IS BURNING brings it, celebrating the joy of movement, the force of eloquence, and the draw of community.

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The Stroll

When Director Kristen Lovell moved to New York City in the 1990s and began to transition, she was fired from her job. With so few options to earn money to survive, Kristen, like many transgender women of color during this era, began sex work in an area known as “The Stroll” in the Meatpacking District of lower Manhattan, where trans women congregated and forged a deep camaraderie to protect each other from harassment and violence.

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Finding Kukan

Through a dynamic mix of verite, archival, and re-enactment footage, FINDING KUKAN creates an unforgettable portrait of a female filmmaking pioneer, and sheds light on the long history of racial and gender discrimination behind the camera, which continues to reverberate in Hollywood today.

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Don't Tell Anyone: No Le Digas a Nadie

Since the age of 4, Angy Rivera has lived in the United States with a secret that threatens to upend her life: She is undocumented. DON’T TELL ANYONE (NO LE DIGAS A NADIE) follows Rivera’s remarkable journey from poverty in rural Colombia to the front page of The New York Times.

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Framing Agnes

The pseudonymous Agnes was a pioneering transgender woman who participated in an infamous gender health study conducted at UCLA in the 1960s. Her clever use of the study to gain access to gender-affirming healthcare led to her status as a fascinating and celebrated figure in trans history.

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Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland

The film follows the Bland family and legal team from the first weeks after her death as they try to find out what really happened. Embedded with the family and their lawyers, the filmmakers tracked the story for two years, drawing on key documents, jail footage and interviews with those closest to the events.

The Archivettes

Exploring the fascinating origins of the organization, THE ARCHIVETTES is a tribute to second-wave feminism and intergenerational connection, as well as an urgent rallying cry for continued activism in a politically charged moment.

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The Janes

In 1972, police raided an apartment on the South Side of Chicago where seven women who were part of a clandestine network were arrested. Using code names, fronts, and safe houses to protect themselves, the accused had built an underground network for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions.

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Nice Chinese Girls Don't

Kitty Tsui recounts her emergence as a poet, artist, activist, writer, and bodybuilder in the early days of the Women’s Liberation Movement in San Francisco.

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Ohero: Kon - Under the Husk: A Native American Rite of Passage

This documentary follows two Mohawk girls on their journey to become Mohawk women. Friends since childhood, Kaienkwinehtha and Kasennakohe are members of the traditional community of Akwesasne on the U.S./Canada border.

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Slaying the Dragon

A comprehensive look at media stereotypes of Asian and Asian This fascinating videotape shows how stereotypes of exoticism and docility have affected the perception of Asian-American women.

Find Films at MC Library

MC Library provides both physical media (DVDs) and streaming films. You can search for films (both DVDs and streaming films) using RaptorSearch, or search in an individual streaming media database.

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Borrowing at MC Library

Current Montgomery College students, faculty, and staff can borrow materials from any MC Library location with their MC ID card. In addition, these users can access electronic resources, such as e-books, from anywhere by entering their M number when prompted.

Community users (those not currently affiliated with MC) can apply for a community user card, which allows them to borrow materials and use other library resources. Community users are not eligible to use electronic resources from off-campus but can use electronic resources on campus.

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