BY KAILEY TEDESCO

My fiancé is a Criterion Collection buff, and for the past few years he’s been working his way through autodidactic film school, one Blue Ray at a time. Inspired by his dedication, I started to pick some heavily acclaimed and remotely known films of my own, only to discover I definitely have a type. Since I was young, I’ve always fallen prey to a good execution of the Hero Cycle — I love a fantastical journey, a dynamic heroine, and an easily subverted plot line all too much. I even named my black tabby Coraline after the popular Gaiman novella.

As I’ve gotten older and more analytical of the art I consume, I started to notice patterns in the fantasy films I love, especially those that involve young female protagonists (my faves!). The universal cinematic representation of girlhood (when it is done justice) often shows young women negotiating their identities on the threshold of "womanhood" (just after their first menstrual cycles, sexual experiences, trauma, etc.) They must navigate their place in a family structure/society that wants to make them into an archetype (à la Snow White or Red Riding Hood). Only of course such a place doesn’t exist. Thus, these films below present young women creating an alternative reality to the limited structures or paths enforced upon them. These protagonists often find themselves willingly entering a rabbit hole, so to speak, to freely explore the nuances of their selves. Through magics within the self, these protagonists return to the familiar world ready to assert their narrative.

These films are existential, empowering, surreal, and wildly beautiful. And, the great news is many of them are available for free on Netflix, Youtube, or Hulu right now!

1. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970 - Jaromile Jires - Czechoslovakia)

Promotional trailer advertising the first public screening of a newly discovered print of Jaromil Jire's legendary erotic horror-fantasy. Two showings only, MARCH 29th-30th 2008. Only at THE BELCOURT THEATER in NASHVILLE, TN. http://www.belcourt.org

“And yet I feel so sad for some reason.”

2. Picnic at Hanging Rock ( 1975 - Peter Weir - Australia)

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1975 Australian mystery film directed by Peter Weir, adapted from the novel of the same name. It premiered at the Hindley Cinema Complex in Adelaide, South Australia on 8 August 1975.

“Everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and place.”

3. House (1977 - Nobuhiko Obayashi - Japan)

Out on Blu-ray and DVD on October 25, 2010! Learn more: http://www.criterion.com/films/27523 How to describe Nobuhiko Obayashi's indescribable 1977 movie HOUSE (Hausu)? As a psychedelic ghost tale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of Scooby-Doo as directed by Mario Bava? HOUSE might have been beamed to Earth from some other planet.

“She eats unmarried young girls. It’s the only time she can wear her wedding gown.”

4. Phenomena or Creepers (1985 - Dario Argento - Italy)

Dario Argento Film. Info: http://www.facebook.com/AttSeFilm http://attsefilm.blogspot.se/

“I am sleepwalking. I must wake up.”

5. ALICE (1988 - Directed by Jan Svankmajer/Czechoslovakia)

Im Jahr 2010 kam der Trailer zu Timburttons Alicefilm raus auf den ich mich seit 2000 gefreut hatte leider was dieser einfach Ungenügend. Aber vor Vorfreude hab ich damals Gleichmahl eine ähnlichen Trailer geschnitten mit dem oTon aus TimsTrailer zum Alice film von Jan Svankmaijer eine der besten Filmemacher den es gibt.

“I’m not sorry for anything.”

6. Ginger Snaps - (2000 - John Fawcett - Canada)

A cool Horror / comedy movie which is quickly becoming a cult... Is becoming a woman analogous, in some deep psychological way, to becoming a werewolf? Ginger is 16, edgy, tough, and, with her younger sister, into staging and photographing scenes of death. They've made a pact about dying together.

“I get this ache and I thought it was for sex, but it’s to tear everything to fucking pieces.”

7. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006 - Guillermo del Torro - Spain & Mexico)

Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro returns to the phantasmagorical cinema that defined such early fare as Cronos and The Devil's Backbone with this haunting fantasy-drama set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and detailing the strange journeys of an imaginative young girl who may be the mythical princess of an underground kingdom.

“You are not born of man. It was the moon that bore you.”

8. Girl Asleep (2015 - Rosemary Meyers - Australia)

Based on her acclaimed Windmill Theatre production, Rosemary Myers' feature debut is a journey into the absurdities of the teenage mind. Navigating puberty in 1970s suburbia, Greta (Bethany Whitmore) doesn't want to grow up. Her mum is embarrassing and her sister disinterested. Geeky Elliott (Harrison Feldman) is her only ally.

“They were not the beautiful song, the one I remember from my youth, full of promise and love.”

Kailey Tedesco (STAFF WRITER) is the author of These Ghosts of Mine, Siamese (Dancing Girl Press) and the forthcoming full-length collection, She Used to be on a Milk Carton (April Gloaming Publications). She is the co-founding editor-in-chief of Rag Queen Periodical and a member of the Poetry Brothel. She received her MFA in creative writing from Arcadia University, and she now teaches literature at several local colleges.

Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. You can find her work in Prelude, Bellevue Literary Review, Sugar House Review, Poetry Quarterly, Hello Giggles, UltraCulture, and more. For more information, please visit kaileytedesco.com.