AFI FEST 2024 is proud to present a diverse array of films directed by women, from emerging voices to celebrated auteurs. Their films explore a range of themes from gender politics and female empowerment to personal journeys of self-discovery. Head to FEST.AFI.com for the complete lineup of this year’s festival, or click on the films below for more details and to purchase tickets.

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AFI FEST 2024 Presented by Canva: Films Directed by Women
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT directed by Payal Kapadia

October 24 at 3:10 p.m.
October 26 at 4:15 p.m.
At once tenderly compassionate and fervently incandescent, ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT reflects on the complex realities of India’s urbanization reforms and gender politics, while charting the hope for community through sisterhood. The recipient of the Grand Prix award at Cannes, Kapadia’s symphonic portrait of modern India is a revelation. BUY TICKETS
APRIL directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili

October 25 at 12:30 p.m.
October 27 at11:25 a.m.
Unfolding with the heightened, primal tension of a psychological thriller, APRIL contends with abject violence on female bodies through an immersive and disquieting landscape. BUY TICKETS
THE BALCONETTES directed by Noémie Merlant

October 25 at 9:40 p.m.
Noémie Merlant’s sophomore directorial effort proves a confidently daring tilt of a cultish horror comedy with an emphatically feminist flair. BUY TICKETS
BIRD directed by Andrea Arnold

October 24 at 8:30 p.m.
AFI Conservatory Alum Andrea Arnold’s (AFI Class of 1991) latest film is a crowd-pleasing, coming-of-age fable that is truly in touch with the natural world. BUY TICKETS
BONJOUR TRISTESSE directed by Durga Chew-Bose

October 27 at 6:10 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and writer Durga Chew-Bose and actor Lily McInerny.
Adapted from the scandalous, 1950s-set novel, Chew-Bose takes a modern approach to this nostalgic coming-of-age story in which young Cécile (Lily McInerny) plays a sharply aware, sympathetic character caught in the crossfires of first love, jealousy and unexpected tragedy. BUY TICKETS
DAHOMEY directed by Mati Diop

October 23 at 6:45 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with director, producer and writer Mati Diop.
French/Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop (ATLANTICS, AFI FEST 2019) continues to explore the havoc wrought by colonialism, through a dreamlike, quasi-supernatural lens in her new film which won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival. BUY TICKETS
FAMILIAR TOUCH directed by Sarah Friedland

October 24 at 11:30 a.m.
October 26 at 1:10 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with director, producer and writer Sarah Friedland.
Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant), an aging woman with dementia, transitions to life in assisted living, grappling with her shifting relationships with caregivers, her son (H. Jon Benjamin) and her memory loss in this poignant feature debut. BUY TICKETS
THE FIRE INSIDE directed by Rachel Morrison

October 27 at 3:00 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with AFI Alumna, director and executive producer Rachel Morrison and actor Ryan Destiny moderated by filmmaker Ryan Coogler.
Acclaimed cinematographer Rachel Morrison (AFI Class of 2006) makes her directorial debut with this engrossing drama about professional boxer Claressa Shields and her meteoric journey from Flint, Michigan, to London for the 2012 Olympics. BUY TICKETS
GLORIA! directed by Margherita Vicario

October 26 at 11:15 a.m.
Tradition and the nouveau clash in this poppy feminist romp about a quartet of renegade musicians. First-time director Margherita Vicario crafts an energetic, unapologetic musical set to remixed beats of Vivaldi, charting the boldly reimagined lost history of women composers and artists. BUY TICKETS
HANAMI directed by Denise Fernandes

October 24 at 6:30 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and writer Denise Fernandes and actress Alice da Luz.
Dreams and reality are seamlessly interwoven to create a lyrical rumination on familial, geographical longing and belonging in Denise Fernandes’ coming-of-age tale set on the volcanic island of Fogo, Cape Verde. BUY TICKETS
HARVEST directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari

October 26 at 8:45 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with director, producer and writer Athina Rachel Tsangari.
Acclaimed filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari returns with this darkly funny and intoxicating period piece following a community of medieval farmers who face the destruction of their simplistic way of life. BUY TICKETS
THE HUMAN HIBERNATION directed by Anna Cornudella

October 24 at 9:10 p.m.
With stunning imagery and a profound visual language that offers equal attention to flora, fauna and humans alike, Spanish filmmaker Anna Cornudella Castro has crafted an utterly enthralling debut. BUY TICKETS
INTERCEPTED directed by Oksana Karpovych

October 24 at 4:45 p.m.
October 26 at 8:15 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with sound designer Alex Lane.
Documentarian Oksana Karpovych presents a raw, unfiltered look at the war ravaging Ukraine by juxtaposing haunting shots of besieged villages and towns with hideous phone calls made by Russian soldiers back home intercepted by Ukrainian special forces. BUY TICKETS
LANGUE ÉTRANGÈRE directed by Claire Burger

October 24 at 11:15 a.m.
October 26 at 10:45 a.m.
Cultural borders and language barriers meld together in Claire Burger’s third feature, a Franco-German coming-of-age love story, which explores complicated desires for collective ambition in a Europe that’s on the precipice of transformative change. BUY TICKETS
MEET THE BARBARIANS directed by Julie Delpy

October 26 at 3:00 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with director, writer and actor Julie Delpy.
A comedy with a big heart, big ideas and plenty of big laughs, this timely fish out of water tale pokes fun at the bigoted views of Europe’s right-wing and at the performative ideals of liberal-minded citizens alike. BUY TICKETS
MY FAVOURITE CAKE directed by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha

October 24, 12:45 p.m.
October 26, 10:30 a.m.
Seventy-year-old widow Mahin lives a solitary lifestyle with her daughter having emigrated long ago and friends too busy to keep up with regular dinner parties. At the encouragement of her friends at one of these rare get-togethers, Mahin finally ventures outdoors to find love from a chance encounter. BUY TICKETS
NIGHTBITCH directed by Marielle Heller

October 25 at 9:15 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with producer and actor Amy Adams.
A frank, perceptive and fur-ociously funny adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s bestselling novel, NIGHTBITCH will have you howling with laughter and crying with joy. BUY TICKETS
NO OTHER LAND directed by Rachel Szor, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham

October 24 at 6:40 p.m.
October 25 at 6:45 p.m.
A Palestinian activist and an Israeli journalist strike up a friendship and, together with Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal, form a collective to document the gradual destruction of Masafer Yatta, the forced eviction of its Palestinian residents and the illegal takeover of their lands at the hands of Israeli authorities. BUY TICKETS
ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL directed by Rungano Nyoni

October 24 at 12:15 p.m.
October 26 at 4:00 p.m.
Driving alone at night, Shula discovers her uncle’s lifeless body, prompting her to take on funeral preparations and, through conversations with her cousins, confront long-buried secrets and their conflicted relationships to culture, tradition, and family in this striking sophomore feature from Rungano Nyoni, which was awarded Best Director in Un Certain Regard at Cannes. BUY TICKETS
REAS directed by Lola Arias

October 27 at 8:30 p.m.
With a visually arresting style and singular approach that features plenty of voguing, REAS portrays the camaraderie and deeply felt bonds between a vibrant, varied group of former Buenos Aires inmates, as well as the empowerment gained through owning and telling your story. BUY TICKETS
SANTOSH directed by Sandhya Suri

October 27 at 11:30 a.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and writer Sandhya Suri.
A little-known policy in India could mean salvation for Santosh, whose police constable husband has been killed in the line of duty, as it entitles her to his job as his widow. BUY TICKETS
SECOND CHANCE directed by Subhadra Mahajan

October 27 at 5:10 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and writer Subhadra Mahajan, executive producer and cinematographer Swapnil S. Sonawane, actor Dheera Johnson and composers Aniruddha Borahn and Tammy Nguyen.
Nia retreats to her family’s vacation home in the Himalayan mountains to discreetly heal from an at-home abortion. There she encounters old friends and unexpectedly makes some new ones. BUY TICKETS
SONGS FROM THE HOLE directed by Contessa Gayles

October 26 at 5:30 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and producer Contessa Gayles, subject, writer and producer JJ’88, producer and music producer richie reseda moderated by filmmaker D’Lo Louis.
Documentary filmmaker and Emmy®-nominated producer Contessa Gayles (THE FEMINIST ON CELLBLOCK Y) peers inside the creative mind and emotional world of James “JJ‘88” Jacobs, a man who has been incarcerated since he was 15 years old, to bring to life the songs and music video concepts that Jacobs wrote while in “the hole.” BUY TICKETS
SUJO directed by Astrid Rondero, Fernanda Valadez

October 27 at 5:45 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with filmmaker Fernanda Valadez.
Nature and nurture collide in this lyrical coming-of-age tale, where young Sujo, spared by a cartel on the condition he never return to Michoacán, is drawn back years later into the violence that claimed his father, with directors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez crafting a tender, ghostly-infused drama that earned the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. BUY TICKETS
THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! directed by Laila Abbas

October 26 at 1:20 p.m.
Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and writer Laila Abbas.
Palestinian filmmaker Laila Abbas’ stellar narrative feature debut is a riveting tale of two sisters unexpectedly reunited in a race against the clock to secure their inheritance under Islamic law. BUY TICKETS
VERMIGLIO directed by Maura Delpero

October 24 at 12:00 p.m.
October 27 at 2:30 p.m.
October 27 screening to be followed by a conversation with director Maura Delpero.
Director Maura Delpero examines the intersection of midcentury gender politics, imposed tradition and religion in this year’s Silver Lion Grand Jury Winner from the Venice Film Festival. BUY TICKETS
Learn more about AFI’s annual film festival at FEST.AFI.com.
