We Were Dangerous – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

MOVIE OF THE WEEK May 30, 2025: Team MOTW’S Summer Watch List

May 25, 2025June 4, 2025 Jennifer Merin Being Maria, betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, Jazzy, jennifer merin, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, nell minow, Pam Grady, Pangolin: Kulu's Journey, Sabdue Angulo Chen, sherin nicole, STORY $ PICTURES BY, The Assessment, The President’s Wife, There’s Still Tomorrow, Timestalker, We Were Dangerous

If you’re looking forward to some summer cinema chilling with some hot movies, here’s AWFJ’s list of ten must see femme-directed femme-centric films for your June-July-August viewing pleasure. Each of the films on this watch list was featured on AWFJ.org as one of our previous 2025 Movies of the Week.For our summer 2025 watch list, each member of Team MOTW selected her favorite of 2025’s featured MOTWs to recommend to you. Representing the diverse preferences and perspectives of Team MOTW members, the list includes titles ranging from romcoms to thrillers to documentaries, each with a compelling new story or a fascinating twist on a classic, a timely and relatably relevant theme, and exceptional artisanship by female creatives. We suggest that you read the original MOTW post for each (the links are included) to get the full array of Team MOTW’s takes on the film.

Movie of the Week

MOVIE OF THE WEEK April 4, 2025: WE WERE DANGEROUS

March 30, 2025April 3, 2025 Jennifer Merin betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, erana james, jennifer merin, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, Manaia Hall, Nathalie Morris, nell minow, Rima Te Wiata, sandie angulo chen, sherin nicole, We Were Dangerous

Forced against their will to “Christianize, civilize, and assimilate” in a strict New Zealand reform school in the 1950s, three teenage girls refuse to accept a fate that’s been pre-determined for them in director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu’s rousing feature debut We Were Dangerous. The girls’ stirring story — and the movie’s strong themes of friendship, hope, and self-determination — ensure that the 2024 SXSW Special Jury Award winner resonates powerfully.

Reviews

WE WERE DANGEROUS – Review by Loren King

March 24, 2025March 29, 2025 Loren King Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu, maori, new zealand, Rima Te Wiata, We Were Dangerous

From its opening frame, Māori filmmaker Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu’s alternately enraging and celebratory “We Were Dangerous” announces an assured screen debut. Set in 1950s New Zealand, the film has echoes of Rabbit-Proof Fence and The Magdalene Sisters in its story of abuse and exploration and colonialism but has its own voice and fresh approach. The story is about a Christian School for Incorrigible and Delinquent Girls where an abusive matron (Rima Te Wiata) drills the Bible into the mostly Māori girls sent or abandoned to the facility.

Festivals Reviews

WE WERE DANGEROUS (SXSW2024) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

March 11, 2024March 17, 2024 Valerie Kalfrin erana james, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu, Maddie Dai, Manaia Hall, maori, Nathalie Morris, new zealand, Rima Te Wiata, SXSW2024, We Were Dangerous

We Were Dangerous, the feature directing debut from Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu, takes place in a New Zealand reform school for girls in the 1950s, reclaimed from a former leper colony. “If it can contain leprosy, it can probably manage a few girls in heat,” says a bureaucrat assigning a matron to the task. Designed for “incorrigible and delinquent girls,” the school takes in runaways, pregnant teens, and others labeled as sexual deviants, such as Lou, whose doctor father sends her there once he catches her making out with her female math tutor.