So SIFF 2017 is still going on, because it’s amazing, and also because it lasts for 25 days, so we’ve still got a solid week left. But because it’s still going on, I’ve hit my next 25 films in a little over a week, so that merits another post!

After the festival, I’ll make a top ten list for the films I’ve seen (which is going to be hard, because I’ve seen a ton of films I loved, and I’ve already seen 42 films, and I’m going to add at least another ten this coming week… but I will made some hard choices!), but for now these highlighted films have a theme: All but one of them were directed by women! Since film 175 for me was ‘Wonder Woman’, which is breaking box office records for films directed by women and superhero films headlined by women, etc., it felt natural to focus on the smaller films that I have been able to see during this festival that were also spearheaded by talented women. So enjoy!

As always, the full list of 25 films is at the end of this post, and you can find out more about those films by checking out my full MovieADay list on IMDb here. (Which I’d highly encourage this time, because there are so many films from the festival on this list of 25, so you should learn more about them!)

‘Step’
In a world that seems to be splintering and adopting an ‘every man for themselves’ mentality, I cannot recommend this documentary enough. It focuses on the step team at an inner-city Baltimore girls school, a school established several years ago with the goal of 100% graduation and college acceptance for its students. A few of the girls in the school’s inaugural class of students formed a step dance team, and ‘Step’ follows them as they reach their senior year and prepare to graduate, apply to colleges, and find success as a step team.
Director Amanda Lipitz, a native of Baltimore and a veteran Broadway producer, artfully brings the facets of this story together. It’s full of the real hopes and dreams of these young girls, who work hard to overcome so many obstacles already in their lives and, thanks to the support from their school and step community, continue to be inspirations that we definitely need in this day and age. The director, step coach, and three main girls from the film’s story were present to answer questions after the screening I saw, and they mentioned how much they’ve already given back to that school and community that helped them on their way, and it was really such a joy to see.

‘The Wedding Plan’
This movie is about a woman, Michal, who is left by her fiancé several weeks before her wedding, and decides to go through with the wedding anyway, believing that God will provide her with a husband. What follows is a sweet, touching, and laugh-out loud funny film. As Michal is part of the Haredi Jewish community (part of Orthodox Judaism), the film provides a window to that world while exploring questions of faith, love, and marriage that are universal. Shout out to Rama Burshtein, not only the talented director, but who also remains true to her ultra-Orthodox beliefs while creating her wonderful films, which as you can read more about in this article, is no easy task.

‘The Farthest’
Guys, space documentaries are awesome. Especially when they are really well done, and ‘The Farthest’ is just that. This doc explores the Voyager space probe program, going into to detail about each planetary fly-by, and the behind-the-scene bureaucracies and near-catastrophes that the mission faced. It was fascinating, and awesome, and NASA in the late 60s and 70s seems like it would have been such a cool place in science to have worked. Also, the director is another kickass woman, Emer Reynolds, an award-winning documentary director who studied physics and maths at university and, of course, has a life-long passion for space exploration.

‘Band Aid’
I love this movie for so many reasons. The basic plot is a married couple who fight all the time, and when their therapist moves to Canada, they decide to turn their fights into songs, and end up forming a band with their recovering sex-addict neighbor. …yeah, you want to watch it now too, don’t you? Even if the plot sounds a bit silly, it’s actually done with the perfect balance of humor and seriousness - their fights will sound familiar to anyone who has been in a long-term relationship, I guarantee you.
In that way, the writing was fantastic, especially the songs - my only complaint is that we didn’t get more full songs! I definitely want a full movie soundtrack that are just songs that were hopefully left on the cutting room floor (rather than just discussed and not created?), because the songs in this film were so much fun. Also, the female lead (Anna) really resonated with me - there’s this moment when you see a part of yourself on screen when you weren’t quite sure if anyone else felt the same way, and there’s this release inside like ‘I’m not crazy, and I’m not alone’, and I have to thank Zoe Lister-Jones for that moment in ‘Band Aid.’
On that note, the other thing I love about this film is how much of the crew were women. It was mentioned prior to the screening, and I tried to count on IMDb, but I think at least 70% of the crew? Maybe more? Which is awesome, even though it sucks that this is a “thing” we celebrate in 2017. But this was a fantastically written, shot, and performed film, and it was largely created by women, and that is something worth shouting from the rooftops right now. (UPDATE: Just found this article about Lister-Jones’s crew for ‘Band Aid’, and yeah, it was pretty much all women. Awesome.)

‘The Hippopotamus’
Okay, this is the only film on my highlights list that isn’t directed by a woman, but I loved it, and I had to include it. If you enjoy Stephen Fry’s sense of humor, you should enjoy this film. It’s based on a book he wrote, and much of the dialogue is his typical blend of the British intellectual with a cruder sense of disillusionment. It’s fantastically funny, and shot largely on an idyllic estate in the English countryside that ends up hiding all manner of secrets. The main character, played by Roger Allam, (almost an anti-hero, if you will) is a has-been poet, whose introduction as a drunk, yet undeniably intellectual theater critic, is as perfect as a character intro can get. Upon his inevitable firing, he encounters someone from his past who asks him to investigate “strange going-ons” at the country home of his godson. It’s half mystery, half hysterical farce, as the cast at times resembles an Agatha Christie ensemble (without the murder). It’s a lot of fun.

‘Sami Blood’
This is a beautifully shot film exploring a culture that I really had no knowledge of prior to this film. The Sami (also known as Laplanders) are an indigenous people of Scandinavia best-known as semi-nomadic reindeer herders, who inhabit the Arctic area of Lapland. The story follows a young Sami girl in the 1930s who wants to explore a world outside of the Sami way of life, but encounters the discrimination and racism that is far too common against indigenous peoples. She finds that she faces a choice of having to break ties from her family and her culture to become someone else. As I said, it was beautifully shot against the stunning landscapes of Lapland. More impressively, it featured two young amateur Sami actresses who are sisters in real life, which made the sisterly bond in the film wonderfully touching and real. Lene Cecilia Sparrok, who plays the lead Elle-Marja, is a particular standout, with beautifully expressive acting within a dialogue-light film that centers more on facial and body language. And to top it all off, ‘Sami Blood’ is written and directed by Amanda Kernell, who becomes the first Sami to direct a full-fledged feature film.

‘Wonder Woman’
Finally, a DC movie worth seeing! Ahem. Finally, a female-driven superhero movie that actually celebrates the character and doesn’t degrade the fact that she is a woman, and she is capable and kickass and caring and can be all these things without any of it being a negative, or a weakness! Seriously, this was the movie I needed right now. Gal Godot perfectly blends fierce idealism with a compassionate heart, and totally captures the essence of the badass Amazonian princess. The humor lands really well, especially within the oil vs. water flirtations between Diana and Steven Trevor, played by Chris Pine. There’s a ton more I want to say, but basically, it was fun, it was fierce, it was witty, and it was beautifully shot and executed by director Patty Jenkins, who is a badass herself. Also, the score, specifically the new Wonder Woman theme, is freakin’ amazing, and I want it as my ringtone.

All Films: 151 through 175

151. Alien: Covenant (2017)
152. Step (2017)
153. The Wedding Plan (2016)
154. Manifesto (2015)
155. Dina (2017)
156. Those Redheads from Seattle (1953)
157. The Farthest (2017)
158. Beatriz at Dinner (2017)
159. Investigating Paradise (2017)
160. Gholam (2017)
161. Vampire Cleanup Department (2017)
162. Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World (2017)
163. Tom of Finland (2017)
164. Weirdos (2016)
165. A Date for Mad Mary (2016)
166. The Little Hours (2017)
167. The Net (2016)
168. Searchers (2016)
169. Band Aid (2017)
170. The Hippopotamus (2017)
171. Two Irenes (2017)
172. Sami Blood (2016)
173. Anisoara (2016)
174. Those Who Remain (2016)
175. Wonder Woman (2017)

I’m still eating, sleeping, and breathing film right now, so the next 25 recap post may once again come very soon. But also keep an eye out for my SIFF recap once the festival is over. And if you missed any of my previous MovieADay posts, you can find them here!