Great post from one of my favorite sites: Bitch Flicks, in celebration of International Women’s Day yesterday (March 8 — this year and every year.)

They ask: What films inspire you?  Check out this awesome list of inspiring titles:

Happy International Women’s Day:

11 Films that Celebrate Inspiring & Trailblazing Women.

Strong women and women who are realistically portrayed, aren’t THAT common in film, especially Hollywood studio pictures.  Some films with powerful and inspiring central female characters that I have loved throughout the years (or some, very recently) are:

Harold and Maude (1971) / The genius Ruth Gordon plays the title character, a quirky, empowering, and inspiring heroine.  Watching this film is one of my earliest memories.

Where Do We Go Now? (2011) / Directed, co-written & starring Lebanese filmmaker-actress, Nadine Labaki, this film is an emotional and stunning tale of women.

Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee (1994 TV movie) / Stars one of my favorite actresses, Irene Bedard, in this biopic of Mary Crow Dog, a Lakota activist who participated in the Wounded Knee (South Dakota) protest in support of Native American rights and the rejection of abuse by the FBI. (Based on the autobiography Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog (with Richard Erdoes)).

Waitress (2007) / Written, directed and starring the late, incredible actress-filmmaker Adrienne Shelly.  I love this film for its artful balance of the humor and heartbreak of life.

Mi Vida Loca (1993) / Written and directed by the amazing Allison Anders. Albeit I was 15 when I first saw it, and knew that I wanted to be a filmmaker even then, but I hadn’t seen women portrayed like this, nor seen the story of this community told.

Leona’s Sister Gerri (1995) / A biographical documentary by Jane Gillooly about a woman named Gerri Santoro who is shown in a photograph (published 1973) as an “anonymous woman” dead from an illegal abortion.  Santoro is the woman, a mother of two, who died in 1964.  This photograph helped fuel the pro-choice struggle in the 1970’s.