F-Rated

The F-Rating

Diversity statistics across the industry are extremely poor: 17% of the top-grossing films in 2022 had a female screenwriter attached, and only 11% employed a female director.

Despite recent publicity suggesting equality in cinema is on the rise, statistics show very little growth or improvement, both in the UK & overseas. The F-Rating is a response to this, designed to support and promote women in film, both on and off-screen.

The F-Rating will be applied to all films in our programme which are directed by women and/or written by women and/or have significant women on screen:

F-Rated: Either directed by a woman and/or written by a woman and/or starring significant women
Triple F-Rated: Directed by a woman AND written by a woman AND starring significant women

About The F-Rating

Developed by Bath Film Festival and now expanding across the UK, the F-Rating is a new film rating which highlight films made by and featuring women.

Any film that answers yes to one of these questions is awarded the F-Rating stamp of approval.

Does it have a female director?
Is it written by a woman?
Are there significant female characters on screen in their own right?

The aims of the F-Rating are:

To champion women in film and highlight the fantastic work they are doing.
To encourage conversation around who tells the stories we see on screen – and whether that matters.
To act like a Fairtrade stamp, giving the audience an opportunity to #VoteWithYourSeat, and support women in film.

Find out more at f-rated.org, on Facebook or @F_Rating on Twitter

F-Rated Films

Three children in Victorian dress huddle together in surprise

Family Time: The Railway Children U: English; Opening Family Time’s “staycation” themed August is the cosy and nostalgic childhood classic The Railway Children. A well-to-do London family who are forced to move to Yorkshire, keep themselves entertained by watching trains.

Janet Planet 12A: English; In rural Western Massachusetts, 11-year-old Lacy spends the summer of 1991 at home, enthralled by her own imagination and the attention of her mother, Janet. From Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker.

Sheffield Film Festival: Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging 12A: English; As part of the Sheffield Film Festival, Film Girls Galore and York St. John University have joined forces to bring a special screening of Gurinder Chadha’s Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

NT Live: Prima Facie 15: English; Jodie Comer’s (Killing Eve) Olivier and Tony Award-winning performance in Suzie Miller’s gripping one-woman play returns to cinemas.

The Echo 12A: Spanish with English Subtitles; This gorgeous, poetic documentary from acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Tatiana Huezo (Prayers for the Stolen) could easily be mistaken for drama. In a remote village, children care for the sheep and their elders.

DocNights: Agent of Happiness 12A: Dzongkha, Nepali with English Subtitles; A happiness surveyor in the Kingdom of Bhutan grapples with his own contentment in this light-hearted yet fascinating probe into how happiness can be measured.

Werckmeister Harmonies 12A: Hungarian with English subtitles; Showroom Cinema’s Béla Tarr retrospective opens with a stunning new 4K restoration of Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky’s masterpiece Werckmeister Harmonies.

Two teenagers sit in a dark room, lit by purple light.

I Saw The TV Glow 15: English; One of the coolest and most highly anticipated films of the year is an unsettling, supernatural coming-of-age film about a late-night TV show that has a deep impact on two suburban teenagers.

Relaxed Screening: Chuck Chuck Baby 15: English; A musical drama of love and loss set amongst the falling feathers of a Welsh chicken factory. Helen, a reserved and gentle woman, has her mundane life interrupted by the return of her childhood crush.

Baby Kino: Chuck Chuck Baby 15: English; This Baby Kino screening is exclusively for parents or guardians accompanying babies aged under one year old. A musical drama of love and loss set amongst the falling feathers of a Welsh chicken factory.

Sheffield Film Festival: Alma’s Rainbow + Intro 15: English; Sheffield Film Festival is proud to present a special 30th anniversary screening of Ayoka Chenzira’s Alma’s Rainbow, as part of T A P E Collective’s SNAPSHOT season.

The Turin Horse 15: Hungarian with English subtitles; Showroom Cinema’s Béla Tarr retrospective continues with 2011’s The Turin Horse, a visually striking drama in which a rural farmer is forced to confront the mortality of his faithful horse.

A male and female couple hold eachother in an intimate embrace.

The Nature of Love 15: French with English Subtitles; For fans of The Worst Person in the World and Sick of Myself, this fun and smart romantic comedy satirises the complexities and contradictions of love, sex, and relationships.

The Man from London (35mm) 12A: English and French with English subtitles; Showroom Cinema’s Béla Tarr retrospective concludes with a special one-off 35mm screening of 2007’s The Man from London.

Sheffield Film Festival: Freedom Fields + Q&A PG: English, Arabic with English subtitles; As part of the Sheffield Film Festival, Sheffield-based filmmaker Naziha Arebi presents a special screening of her 2018 award-winning documentary Freedom Fields - a love letter to Libya, sisterhood and the power of community.

Sheffield Film Festival: The Mountain Within Me – Preview + Q&A 12A: English; Sheffield Film Festival is proud to present a special preview screening of The Mountain Within Me with a Q&A, in association with long-term partners Sheffield Adventure Film Festival.

Chuck Chuck Baby 15: English; A musical drama of love and loss set amongst the falling feathers of a Welsh chicken factory. Helen, a reserved and gentle woman, has her mundane life interrupted by the return of her childhood crush.

Cartoon of a girl looking at her hands in shock as they glow.

Family Time: Mary and the Witch’s Flower U: Japanese with English subtitles; This week’s Family Time pick sees Northern England through a fantastical anime lens. Based on a 1970s British children’s book, Mary finds herself transported to a magical school, but not everything is as it seems.