HerPicks: Top Ten Women-Centric Films from the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival

By Farihah Zaman

Here’s the list for the Top Ten women-centric feature films from the Tribeca Film Festival.. Tribeca must be doing something right – it wasn’t easy whittling it down to just these thought-provoking, international, and thematically diverse flicks.

Black Butterflies (Paula van der Oest)

Ingrid Jonker, a seminal poet during the oppressive apartheid of 1960s Cape Town, was exuberant, brilliant, and emotionally unstable. Carice van Houten delivers a truly moving performance as Jonker, often described as the Sylvia Plath of South Africa, in this unusually raw and understated biopic.

Cairo Exit (Hesham Issawi)

18 and pregnant, Amal must decide between running away with her Muslim boyfriend or facing the prospect of being a poor, unwed mother among her Christian family. The film is a classic tale of star-crossed romance unexpectedly set against working class neighborhoods of a Cairo on the brink of revolution.

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (Dori Berinstein)

The life of iconic performer Carol Channing is as charming and fabulous as any role she has ever played; the title of this documentary is more than fitting. Berinstein’s experience and festival pedigree show in the way she skillfully weaves together archival television and stage performances with images of the 90-year-old legend today.

The Carrier (Maggie Betts)

This beautifully shot documentary follows Mutinta, the wife of a Zambian farmer who has just discovered she is HIV positive and pregnant. Betts allows her subjects to speak for themselves without the intrusion of heavy-handed filmmaking, and while Mutinta’s life is tough, her exploration of identity, motherhood, and self-respect is inspiring.

Last Night (Massy Tadjedin)

Plenty of films tell the story of people falling in love, or a long-term marriage on the rocks, but Last Night looks into the under-explored territory of temptation and doubt in a young, happily married couple. Keira Knightly and Sam Worthington do justice to the complexity of the tense and believable script.

The Good Life (Eva Mulvad)

Anne Beckman and her mother Mette used to live an affluent life traveling around Europe, but after suffering financial ruin they are forced to settle for a frugal life in Portugal. This documentary portrait of two flawed women and their complex love-hate relationship is already garnering comparisons to the classic Grey Gardens.

Higher Ground (Vera Farmiga)

Lauded actress Vera Farmiga stars and makes her directorial debut in this adaptation of Carolyn S. Briggs’ memoir. A hit out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Higher Ground follows several years in the life of Caroline, a woman struggling with life and relationships as her strong religious faith begins to shift.

Turn Me On, Godammit (Jannicke Systad Jacobsen)

Alma is a small town teen who longs to experience love and sex, even at the risk of the judgment of her peers. Ramström and Korkeasalo handle the often taboo subject of burgeoning female sexuality with aplomb, combining the film’s frank tone with sweetness and humor, but never veering into sensationalism.

Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (Marie Losier)

Experimental documentarian Marie Losier’s first feature, about groundbreaking industrial musician Genesis P-Orridge, is a truly unconventional romance. The film focuses on Gen’s all-consuming relationship with Lady Jaye, and the couple’s decision to undergo several surgeries in order to physically resemble one another, blending the line of their individual identities to form a new person.

NYWIFT Program – New York Women in Film and Television, our co-presenters of the annual SWAN Day showcase of shorts by female filmmakers, has been supporting women artists for decades. The shorts program they have curated for the Tribeca Film Festival is special selection of rare work from groundbreaking experimental female filmmakers like Marie Menken, Lian Brandon, Barbara Hammer, and many more.

Check back with us for interviews and additions.