Criterion Channel programmer Penelope Bartlett discusses the films in Shorts for Days: Women Auteurs.

Directed by Sofia Coppola • 1998 • United States

Sofia Coppola made the following 16 mm short film in 1998, the same year she began production on THE VIRGIN SUICIDES.

Directed by Agnès Varda • 1968 • France

In her effervescent first California film, Agnès Varda delves into her own family history. The short documentary UNCLE YANCO features Varda tracking down a Greek emigrant relative she’s never met, discovering an artist and kindred soul leading a bohemian l...

Directed by Chantal Akerman • 1968 • Belgium

Made when the director was just eighteen, Chantal Akerman’s debut film is a blistering first expression of what would become one of her major themes: women’s confinement in and rebellion against the domestic sphere. Akerman plays a young woman who, al...

Directed by Jane Campion • 1982 • Australia

This short, concerning a father disciplining his son whilst on a road trip, went on to win the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival and effectively launched director Jane Campion's feature-filmmaking career.

Directed by Andrea Arnold • 2003 • United Kingdom

Andrea Arnold’s Oscar-winning short film details the struggles of a young mother who feels that her children are preventing her from rekindling an old relationship.