Film4 celebrates 'PHENOMENAL' women with a month of female-led films

2 February 2018

Beginning on Wednesday 7th February and continuing through to Thursday 8th March, Film4 channel presents PHENOMENAL, a month-long marathon of films that celebrates female talent both in front of and behind the camera.

The season – which takes its name from the poem ‘Phenomenal Woman’ by Maya Angelou – runs throughout February and into March, marking the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 which first gave women the right to vote. With over 100 films either featuring female actors in key roles or directed by a woman, the PHENOMENAL season begins with the network premiere of The Dressmaker, starring Kate Winslet and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, and goes on to include premieres of The Diary of a Teenage Girl (starring Bel Powley and Kristen Wiig, and directed by Marielle Heller); Big Eyes (starring Amy Adams); Still Alice (starring Julianne Moore in her Oscar-winning role and Kristen Stewart); and The Voices (directed by Marjane Satrapi).

The season finishes on International Women’s Day (8th March) with an entire day of films that put female stars and filmmakers in the spotlight, with the first play on Film4 of Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette the 9pm centrepiece of an all-female directed final evening.

The PHENOMENAL films are spread throughout the Film4 schedule in the daytime, evening and late-night slots, with a third of the line-up directed by women (102 titles in all; 34 female-directed). The full line-up of titles spans contemporary award-winners and blockbusters (Room; Carol; Lucy; Ex Machina); classics from yesteryear (Mary, Queen of Scots, with Glenda Jackson and Vanessa Redgrave; In a Lonely Place, with Gloria Grahame; a focus on female stars of the male-dominated Western genre); world cinema favourites (Girlhood; Wadjda; The Second Mother); and cult movies (American Mary; The Duke of Burgundy; Ninja III: The Domination).

British cinema is well-represented by two films from Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies, starring Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste; and Happy-Go-Lucky, starring Sally Hawkins); Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold and starring Kaya Scodelario; Dreams of a Life, directed by Carol Morley and starring Zawe Ashton; and Belle, directed by Amma Asante and starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Another highlight is a special screening of the ‘Alien Quadrilogy’ (Alien; Aliens; Alien 3; Alien Resurrection), starring Sigourney Weaver in the iconic role of Ripley, over four consecutive nights.

The season also features a number of original Film4 interview programmes, led by 2018 Oscar nominees Greta Gerwig and Saoirse Ronan discussing their collaboration on Lady Bird and director Lynne Ramsay on her new film You Were Never Really Here. Other stars and directors talking about their work include Brie Larson and Meryl Streep on their Oscar-winning roles in Room and The Iron Lady respectively; Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara and writer Phyllis Nagy on Carol; Angelia Jolie on directing Unbroken; Alice Lowe on starring in and directing Prevenge; and Anne Marie Duff, Sarah Gavron and Abi Morgan on making Suffragette.  

A complete list of films featured in the PHENOMENAL season is below; all titles are subject to change. Weekly listings and day-by-day highlights and listings with confirmed titles and transmission dates will be available at http://www.channel4.com/channel/film4, @Film4 on Twitter and Film4 on Facebook.

 

About Film4
Film4 is the number 1 film channel and the fourth largest digital channel in the UK, and is available for free to everyone with digital TV. A daily line-up of classic and contemporary ‘great films you know and great films you don’t’ guarantees a choice for every type of film fan, including the best of British cinema, US independent films, Hollywood blockbusters, mainstream drama and comedy, cult favourites, classics dating back to the 1930s and an extensive range of world cinema.

 

TITLES & TALENT FOR ‘PHENOMENAL’ SEASON ON FILM4

 

STARRING…

Alien Quadrilogy: Alien: Aliens; Alien 3; Alien Resurrection (Sigourney Weaver)

All That Heaven Allows (Jane Wyman)

The Best Man Holiday (Regina Hall; Sanaa Lathan; Nia Long)

Big Eyes (Amy Adams) – network premiere

Black Swan (Nataile Portman; Mila Kunis)

Carol (Cate Blanchett; Rooney Mara) 

Charade (Audrey Hepburn)

Come Drink With Me(Pei-Pei Cheng)

Copycat (Sigourney Weaver; Holly Hunter)

The Craft (Fairuza Balk; main cast ensemble)

Cutthroat Island (Geena Davis)

Damsels in Distress (Greta Gerwig)

Dancing at Lughnasa (Meryl Streep; Kathy Burke; Catherine McCormack; Sophie Thompson)

Double Jeopardy (Ashley Judd)

The Duke of Burgundy (Sidse Babett Knudsen; Chiara D’Anna)

Easy A (Emma Stone)

Ex Machina (Alicia Vikander)

The Family Stone (Rachel McAdams; Diane Keaton)

Fast & Furious 6 (Gal Gadot; Michelle Rodriguez)

Fast Girls (Lily James; main cast ensemble)

The Fly (Geena Davis)

Fruitvale Station (Octavia Spencer)

Gilda (Rita Hayworth)

Gloria (Paulina Garcia)

Happy Go Lucky (Sally Hawkins)

How I Live Now (Saoirse Ronan)

The Hunger Games  (Jennifer Lawrence)

In a Lonely Place (Gloria Grahame)

Indiscreet (Ingrid Bergman)

The Jewel of the Nile (Kathleen Turner)

The Lady from Shanghai (Rita Hayworth)

The Land Girls (Rachel Weisz; Catherine McCormack; Anna Friel)

Last Holiday (Queen Latifah)

Lifeboat (Tallulah Bankhead)

Lucy (Scarlett Johansson)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (Doris Day)

Mary, Queen of Scots (Vanessa Redgrave, Glenda Jackson)

Morning Glory (Rachel McAdams; Diane Keaton)

Nina Forever (Abigail Hardingham; Fiona O’Shaughnessy)

Ninja III: The Domination (Lucinda Dickey)

The Other Boleyn Girl (Scarlett Johansson; Natalie Portman)

The Other Woman (Cameron Diaz, Nicki Minaj; Leslie Mann)

Pitch Perfect (Anna Kendrick; Rebel Wilson; main cast ensemble)

Pride & Prejudice (Keira Knightley; Rosamund Pike; Carey Mulligan)

Prometheus (Noomi Rapace; Charlize Theron)

Rear Window (Grace Kelly)

The River Wild (Meryl Streep)

Robin and Marian (Audrey Hepburn)

Room (Brie Larson)

Salt (Angelina Jolie)

Secretary (Maggie Gyllenhaal)

Secrets & Lies (Marianne Jean Baptiste; Brenda Blethyn)

Silver Linings Playbook (Jennifer Lawrence)

Snow White and the Huntsman (Kristen Stewart; Charlize Theron)

Still Alice (Julianne Moore)

Thoroughly Modern Millie (Julie Andrews; Carol Channing)

Titanic (Kate Winslet)

12 Years a Slave (Lupita Nyong’o; Alfre Woodard)

Vertigo (Kim Novak)

Vivre sa vie (Anna Karina)

 

WOMEN OF THE WEST

Destry Rides Again (Marlene Dietrich)

The Furies (Barbara Stanwyck)

The Misfits (Marilyn Monroe)

The Quiet Man (Maureen O’Hara)

Shane (Jean Arthur)

 

DIRECTED BY…

American Mary (Katharine Isabelle. Directed by The Soska Sisters)

The Babadook (Essie Davis. Directed by Jennifer Kent)

Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Directed by Amma Asante)

Black Rock (Lake Bell, Katie Aselton, Kate Bosworth. Directed by Katie Aselton)

The Bling Ring (Taissa Farmiga; main cast ensemble. Directed by Sofia Coppola)

Bound (Gina Gershon; Jennifer Tilly. Directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski)

Cameraperson (Directed by Kirsten Johnson)

Charlotte Gray (Cate Blanchett; Directed by Gillian Armstrong)

The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Bel Powley; Kristen Wiig. Directed by Marielle Heller)

Dreams of a Life (Zawe Ashton. Directed by Carol Morley)

The Dressmaker (Kate Winslet; Judy Davis. Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse)

Enough Said (Julia Louis-Dreyfus; Directed by Nicole Holofcener)

The Future (Directed by and starring Miranda July)

Girlhood (Directed by Celine Sciamma)

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour)

The Iron Lady (Meryl Streep. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd)

The Jane Austen Book Club (Directed by Robin Swicord)

A League of Their Own (Geena Davis; Madonna; main cast ensemble. Directed by Penny Marshall)

Little Man Tate (Directed by Jodie Foster)

Monsoon Wedding (Directed by Mira Nair)

No Home Movie (Directed by Chantal Akerman)

One Day (Anne Hathaway; Directed by Lone Scherfig)

Prevenge (Directed by Alice Lowe)

The Principles of Lust (Directed by Penny Woolcock)

The Second Mother (Directed by Anna Muylaert)

The Secret Life of Bees (Sophie Okenedo; Jennifer Hudson; Queen Latifah; Alicia Keys. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood)

The Selfish Giant (Directed by Clio Barnard)

Stories We Tell (Directed by Sarah Polley)

Suffragette (Carey Mulligan; Anne Marie Duff. Directed by Sarah Gavron, written by Abi Morgan)

Unbroken (Directed by Angelina Jolie)

The Voices (Directed by Marjane Satrapi)

Wadjda (Directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour)

Wuthering Heights (Kaya Scodelario. Directed by Andrea Arnold)

Zero Dark Thirty (Jessica Chastain. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow)