This list of the 100 highest-rated narrative feature films directed by Asian women is current as at May 23, 2022, and ranked by average member rating. Please read the accompanying essay by Jessica Siu-yin Yeung, for the thematic discoveries she made while exploring this list.
Compiled by our lists editor Jack Moulton, with gratitude for Vanessa’s extensive list of films directed by women. To be included, films must have a minimum of 1,000 member ratings.
Eligibility Rules:
• Includes female directors of south, east and central Asian heritage, regardless of where they were born, or the country they make their films in.*
• Includes women co-directors, even if uncredited. For example, Slumdog Millionaire is included due to Loveleen Tandan’s co-director credit.
•…
This list of the 100 highest-rated narrative feature films directed by Asian women is current as at May 23, 2022, and ranked by average member rating. Please read the accompanying essay by Jessica Siu-yin Yeung, for the thematic discoveries she made while exploring this list.
Compiled by our lists editor Jack Moulton, with gratitude for Vanessa’s extensive list of films directed by women. To be included, films must have a minimum of 1,000 member ratings.
Eligibility Rules:
• Includes female directors of south, east and central Asian heritage, regardless of where they were born, or the country they make their films in.*
• Includes women co-directors, even if uncredited. For example, Slumdog Millionaire is included due to Loveleen Tandan’s co-director credit.
• Films must be feature-length (45+ minutes), with a theatrical and/or festival release.
• Documentaries of any kind, short films, theater/stage, TV movies, TV series or miniseries, and TV episodes are excluded.
• Films must have at least 1,000 ratings.
* Directors of west Asian heritage will be celebrated in an upcoming list. In the meantime, follow this list for films by Iranian women.
Statistics of Interest:
Japanese film director Naomi Kawase and Indian film director Mira Nair lead the list with five films and Naoko Yamada have four films on the list, Zoya Akhtar, Naoko Ogigami, and Chloé Zhao are all represented with three films each, and the following directors have two films each: Dwein Baltazar, Yoon Ga-eun, Maghna Gulzar, Ann Hui, Maïwenn, Deepa Mehta, Mika Minagawa, and Mouly Surya.
The countries with the greatest representation are India (eighteen directors), Japan (sixteen directors) and South Korea (thirteen directors). China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Laos, Pakistan, Thailand and Mongolia are all represented.
More Statistics
Top Decade: 2010s (67 films)
Top Year: 2018 (14 films, by Letterboxd year)
Newest Film: Turning Red (2022)
Oldest Film: Boat People (1982)
Longest Film: 0.5 mm (198 mins)
Shortest Film: The Stranger by the Shore (59 mins)
Oscar Nominations: 17 (between 3 films, Slumdog Millionaire, Nomadland and Salaam Bombay!)
Oscar Wins: 11 (between 2 films, Slumdog Millionaire and Nomadland)
Best Picture Nominees: 2 (Slumdog Millionaire and Nomadland, the only two Best Picture winners by Asian women)
Best Director Nominees: 1 (Chloé Zhao for Nomadland, as co-directors aren’t recognized by the Academy)
Films in the Letterboxd Top 250: None
Films in the Female Top 100: 23
Animated Films: 11
English Language Films: 15
Male Co-Directors credited: 3 (Chih-yen Hsu for Dear Ex, Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, Pushkar for Vikram Vedha)
