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33 ESSENTIAL FEMINIST FILMS EVERY FEMINIST SHOULD SEE AT LEAST ONCE

Every so often—usually around Women’s History Month—a “feminist film canon” makes the rounds and, surprise, it looks like a very specific group of women had all the thoughts, all the problems, and all the agency. Meanwhile, women of color have been running businesses, running from the law, running entire kingdoms, running girl groups, and, occasionally, running scams. So instead of continuing to ask where the WOC-led feminist films are, I made a list of my own—one that answers the question properly.


Watch Nola Darling assert radical autonomy in She’s Gotta Have It, or the women of Set It Off and Hustlers bend unfair systems to their will. Find friendship in Waiting to Exhale and Girls Trip, or see it evolve across decades in The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat. Watch women ignite a political awakening in Chi-Raq or witness the world-building power of the women of Wakanda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. And across films like Tangerine, Lingua Franca, and The Farewell, watch filmmakers expand what it means to center women across race, class, and sexuality.



What ties these films together isn’t a shared aesthetic or genre—it’s perspective. So, keep scrolling to see my top 33 picks for the best (and most essential) feminist movies of all time.



Stream on: Amazon Prime



Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut trades in luxury, power, and the kind of male entitlement that thrives in private. What begins as a seductive escape for two young women quickly curdles into something far more sinister, peeling back the glossy veneer of wealth to expose the systems that protect it. Blink Twice is less about survival and more about recognition—of danger, of complicity, and of the subtle ways women learn to read a room. And once that recognition clicks, the power dynamic shifts.


Rent on: Amazon Prime



Two queer girls start a fight club to hook up with cheerleaders. That’s the pitch, but Bottoms is really about the absurd lengths girls will go to be seen and the strange, often rediculous ecosystems they build to get there. Ayo Edebiri’s deadpan precision grounds the absurdism, while the film gleefully dismantles the idea that female desire has to be polite, legible, or even particularly rational. It’s messy. It’s unhinged. It’s oddly sincere.


Stream on: Disney+



Grief reshapes a nation, and the women of Wakanda are the ones holding it together. Angela Bassett’s Ramonda leads with fury, Letitia Wright’s Shuri leads with intellect, and Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia leads with strategic resolve. Wakanda Forever expands the idea of power beyond brute force, centering diplomacy, innovation, and emotional intelligence as forms of leadership. The result is a film where power takes many forms and each carries equal weight.


Stream on: Disney+



In all honesty, The Cheetah Girls was my introduction to intersectional feminism. Yes, it’s a star-making vehicle for Disney It-Girls, packed with pop hits and peak-2000s fashion, but it also centers young women of color from a range of backgrounds who support one another, pursue their ambitions together, and hold each other accountable. Between “Cinderella” and “Cheetah Sisters,” it finds room for conversations about identity, privilege, and belonging—plus some truly elite tracksuits.


Stream on: Amazon Prime



Spike Lee’s bold, polarizing satire imagines what happens when women decide they’ve had enough—and organize accordingly. Drawing from Lysistrata, Chi-Raq centers a collective of Black women who weaponize abstinence as political strategy, forcing a city to confront its cycles of violence. It’s loud, theatrical, and intentionally provocative, but beneath it all is a simple, radical idea: when women move together, systems can be changed.


Rent on: Amazon Prime



Cleopatra Jones is a government agent, a fashion icon, and an all-around force. Tamara Dobson moves through the film with effortless authority, taking down drug empires while serving look after look after look. Cleopatra Jones isn’t subtle, and it doesn’t need to be. It’s about presence, power, and a woman who operates entirely on her own terms.


Stream on: Tubi (1985) & HBO Max (2023)



Few stories map the interior lives of women quite like The Color Purple. Across both iterations, the film traces Celie’s journey from silence to self-possession, held together by a network of women who challenge, nurture, and ultimately help her reclaim her voice. Whether through Steven Spielberg’s restrained drama or Blitz Bazawule’s more expressive, music-infused reimagining, the core remains the same: liberation is often a collective effort.


Stream on: Paramount+



Savanah Leaf’s Earth Mama is unflinching, following a young Black mother navigating the foster care system while trying to hold on to her children—and herself. Tia Nomore anchors the film with a performance that feels raw and immediate, capturing the tension between vulnerability and determination. It’s a story about survival, yes, but also about the choices women make when the stakes are this high.


Rent on: Amazon Prime



Lulu Wang’s The Farewell centers on Billi, a young Chinese American woman caught between cultural expectations and personal grief. As her family gathers under the guise of a wedding, the film tracks the different ways women carry responsibility, care, and loss. It’s touching, intimate, and deeply attuned to the dynamics that shape family and identity.


Stream on: Amazon Prime



The Fire Inside follows a young Black boxer with something to prove—and the discipline to back it up. The training is grueling but the real fight is navigating the systems that decide who gets funding, who gets visibility, and who gets left behind. It’s about staying focused, trusting your ability, and choosing yourself even when the path isn’t laid out for you.


Stream on: Netflix



The Forty-Year-Old Version follows a playwright who decides to bet on herself, trading industry expectations for something riskier, louder, and a lot more honest. Shot in black and white but full of personality, the film is funny, a little scrappy, and deeply self-aware. It captures what it looks like to reclaim your voice on your own timeline.


Stream on: Tubi



Pam Grier is a woman who can handle a lover, a gun, a car, a plane and her enemies—which include a mobster, a madam, a pimp, and a rapist—with ease. She’s Foxy Brown. It’s what she does. Cool, calculated, and always a few steps ahead, Foxy Brown infiltrates, outsmarts, and dismantles an entire criminal operation without ever losing her composure (or flattening her fro).


Stream on: HBO Max



Four friends, one weekend, and absolutely no intention of behaving. Girls Trip is messy and genuinely joyful, following a group of women who show up for each other through career highs, personal lows, and everything in between. The jokes land, the moments hit, and underneath it all is a simple truth: friendship is survival.


Stream on: Netflix



Marriage, manipulation, and the art of self-destruction—just girl things. Newly married and already restless, Hedda returns home to a life that feels far too small. When a former flame re-enters the picture, she begins to interfere, testing how much control she can exert over the people around her. What unfolds is a sharp portrait of a woman pushing back against the expectations, respectability, and domestic life. Because sometimes, a girl just wants to watch the world burn.


Stream on: Tubi



Inspired by a true story, Hustlers follows a group of strippers who decide to take control of a system that was never designed in their favor. Led by Ramona and anchored by Destiny, the women build a lucrative operation targeting the very men who once held all the power. What begins as survival becomes strategy, loyalty, and and a business entirely their own. It’s a story about labor, exploitation, and what it looks like when women finally claim their share.


Stream on: Netflix



Horny, gutter-minded, and fueled by wholesale quantities of drugs and booze, Joy Ride is an uninhibited blast of girls behaving badly. When Audrey’s business trip to Asia goes sideways, she calls in reinforcements: Lolo, Kat, and Deadeye. What follows is equal parts debauchery and self-discovery, as the trip turns into something deeper about friendship, belonging, and figuring out what it means to know and love who you are.


Stream on: Netflix



Lingua Franca follows Olivia, a Filipina trans woman working as a caregiver in Brooklyn while building a life on her own terms. Written, directed by, and starring Isabel Sandoval, the film focuses on the choices she makes about work, relationships, and stability as she shapes a future that feels secure and holds onto her sense of self.


Stream on: Starz



Miss Juneteenth centers on Turquoise, a former pageant winner who sees a second chance for herself through her daughter’s entry into the same competition. Set in Fort Worth, it leans into ambition, community, and a little bit of pageant drama, as Turquoise tries to shape a future that looks different from her own past.


Stream on: Disney+



It takes a strong woman to join the single-moniker club occupied by the likes of Beyoncé, Madonna, and Elsa, but this Polynesian voyager princess is worthy of her membership. A near-perfect Disney film with a solid Lin-Manuel Miranda soundtrack, Moana is a fairy tale, yes, but the “happily ever after” here has nothing to do with a prince and everything to do with self-discovery.


Stream on: HBO Max



What starts with a dead body on the side of the road quickly turns into something far more layered. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl follows a Zambian woman returning home, only to find herself pulled into the rituals, expectations, and unspoken tensions of family and community. As the funeral unfolds, so do long-buried truths. It’s sharp, darkly funny in the way it exposes what everyone knows but no one says out loud.


Stream on: Netflix



Some days just refuse to go smoothly and One of Them Days leans all the way in. What starts as a regular day quickly turns into a string of increasingly ridiculous obstacles, as two best friends/roommates try to keep it together while going to extremes to collect enough money to pay this month's rent. It’s fast, funny, and rooted in the kind of friendship that makes even the worst day feel survivable.


Stream on: Peacock



Ria Khan has two goals: become a stuntwoman and save her sister from what she’s convinced is a terrible marriage. Polite Society blends action, comedy, and family drama into something that’s as heartfelt as it is over-the-top. At its core is sisterhood, loyalty, protection, and the belief that you know what’s best for the people you love… even if they disagree.


Stream on: Netflix



Before she was a legend, she was Roxanne Shanté, a teenage battle rapper out of Queens with a mic, a sharp tongue, and something to prove. Roxanne Roxanne follows her rise in a male-dominated space where where respect has to be earned, showing what it takes to claim your voice and keep it.


Rent on: Amazon Prime



Set in the 1960s South, The Secret Life of Bees follows a young girl who finds refuge in a household of Black women beekeepers who offer her care, structure, and a sense of belonging. It's rooted chosen family, mentorship, and the  ways women build spaces for each other without asking for anything in return.


Stream on: Starz



Four women. One plan. No safety net. Set It Off follows a group of friends who, pushed by economic pressure, turn to bank robbery as a way out, each bringing something different to the table. What holds it together is their bond and their refusal to go it alone.


Stream on: Netflix



Nola Darling is dating three men—and answering to none of them. She’s Gotta Have It centers her choices, her desires, and her refusal to be boxed into anyone else’s expectations of what a woman should want. Spike Lee’s debut is stylish, talky, and entirely anchored in Nola’s point of view. She’s not here to be understood.


Stream on: Hulu



Sister Midnight is a Mumbai-set black comedy following Uma, a headstrong woman fresh from the sticks who’s chafing at her arranged marriage to a distant man. As she grapples with isolation and circumscribed domesticity, Uma’s frustrations manifest in ways both macabre and surreal (not to mention darkly funny), including sucking blood and galavanting with a gaggle of stop-motion goats.


Rent on: Amazon Prime



Lisa runs a sports bar that’s part workplace, part support system. Over the course of a very long day, she juggles staff drama, customers, and a rotating cast of problems that refuse to stay contained. Yet, she still shows up for the women around her, offering support, stepping in when needed, and keeping things moving even when everything feels like it’s about to fall apart.


Stream on: Hulu



Three best friends, decades deep, still showing up for each other through marriages, loss, mess, and everything in between. Weekly dinners turn into catch-ups, check-ins, and occasional interventions, as life keeps moving and their bond stays intact.


Stream on: Hulu



Shot on an iPhone and set over the course of a single day, Tangerine follows Sin-Dee and Alexandra on a mission that quickly escalates. It’s fast, funny, and completely grounded in the friendship of two women navigating life on their own terms, no matter how messy it gets.


Rent on: Amazon Prime



Waiting to Exhale is as much about romantic relationships as it is about the friendships that make those relationships survivable. Whether they’re venting, celebrating, or regrouping, these women move as a unit.


Stream on: Peacock



Before the green skin and the reputation, there was Elphaba: a smart, misunderstood young woman trying to find her place in a world that’s already decided who she is. Wicked traces her relationship with Glinda, from unlikely friendship to something far more, as politics, power, and perception start to shift around them. Big, glossy, and emotionally grounded, it celebrates the power of choosing who you are for yourself.


Stream on: Hulu



Zola, based on a viral 2015 Twitter thread, follows a Detroit waitress seduced into a weekend of stripping in Florida for some quick cash. but the trip becomes a sleepless 48-hour odyssey involving a nefarious new friend, her pimp and her idiot boyfriend. It's a zany, unpredictable and perfectly captures the stranger-than-fiction appeal of the viral Twitter thread that inspired it.

 
 
 

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