Women in film was a hot topic in 2015, both behind and in front of the camera, and there’s no doubt that gender disparity remains a huge problem for the industry. This year has, however, seen a number of filmmakers create strong, memorable and diverse female characters, and I wrote the following piece in celebration of the best of them for the British Independent Film Awards ceremony brochure.
Saoirse Ronan
LFF 2015: Brooklyn
Screenwriter Nick Hornby’s masterful adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s bestselling novel may be set in the 1950s, but its ideas about immigration, displacement and the evolution of the family unit are entirely modern in their outlook thanks to its female-centric narrative.