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Asian Women Directors: The Official Top 100 Narrative Feature Films

This list of the 100 highest-rated narrative feature films directed by Asian women is current as of August 30, 2023, 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 and thanks to Mihir Nanda for ongoing suggestions. 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…

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  • Past Lives

    1

  • A Silent Voice

    2

  • The Farewell

    3

  • Forever a Woman

    4

  • House of Hummingbird

    5

  • K-On! The Movie

    6

  • Dou kyu sei – Classmates

    7

  • Us and Them

    8

  • The World of Us

    9

  • 0.5 mm

    10

  • Little Forest

    11

  • The Rider

    12

  • Liz and the Blue Bird

    13

  • Microhabitat

    14

  • Saving Face

    15

  • One Million Yen Girl

    16

  • Suzaku

    17

  • 20th Century Girl

    18

  • A Simple Life

    19

  • Slumdog Millionaire

    20

  • The Cave of the Yellow Dog

    21

  • Boat People

    22

  • Nomadland

    23

  • Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

    24

  • Salaam Bombay!

    25

  • Shara

    26

  • Moral

    27

  • Sweet Bean

    28

  • Close-Knit

    29

  • Take Out

    30

  • Om Shanti Om

    31

  • Dear Ex

    32

  • Kim Ji-young, Born 1982

    33

  • Bangalore Days

    34

  • Mukhsin

    35

  • Helter Skelter

    36

  • Yuni

    37

  • Kamome Diner

    38

  • Mississippi Masala

    39

  • Ode to Nothing

    40

  • Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll

    41

  • The Way Home

    42

  • An Autumn's Tale

    43

  • The Girl from the Other Side

    44

  • Vikram Vedha

    45

  • Polisse

    46

  • Take Care of My Cat

    47

  • American Girl

    48

  • Talvar

    49

  • A Death in the Gunj

    50

  • Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms

    51

  • Rent-a-Cat

    52

  • Scarborough

    53

  • My Broken Mariko

    54

  • Still Human

    55

  • Moving On

    56

  • The Moon Has Risen

    57

  • Monsoon Wedding

    58

  • On Happiness Road

    59

  • Saint☆Young Men

    60

  • Lingua Franca

    61

  • Songs My Brothers Taught Me

    62

  • Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl

    63

  • English Vinglish

    64

  • 37 Seconds

    65

  • Angels Wear White

    66

  • Fresh Kill

    67

  • Soorarai Pottru

    68

  • Gully Boy

    69

  • Aloners

    70

  • Tamako Love Story

    71

  • The Mourning Forest

    72

  • A Brand New Life

    73

  • Water

    74

  • Under the Open Sky

    75

  • The House of Us

    76

  • Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts

    77

  • Leonor Will Never Die

    78

  • The Namesake

    79

  • Parched

    80

  • Next Sohee

    81

  • Hold Me Back

    82

  • Our Times

    83

  • My Small Land

    84

  • Treeless Mountain

    85

  • Fiction.

    86

  • Sir

    87

  • True Mothers

    88

  • My King

    89

  • Glasses

    90

  • Lucky Chan-sil

    91

  • Raazi

    92

  • The Long Walk

    93

  • Anak

    94

  • By the Time It Gets Dark

    95

  • Love Letter

    96

  • Given

    97

  • Moothon

    98

  • Queen of Katwe

    99

  • Dil Dhadakne Do

    100