A series of 12 films celebrating 'malicious', 'treacherous' and 'control freak' female leads has been slammed for an absence of female directors on the line-up.
Organised by the British Film Institute the the series has been titled 'Playing the B****' and will focus on the stereotype of the 'defiant' woman.
'Self-determining, independent, but always charismatic anti-heroines in film and TV' will be featured, according to organisers.
Death Becomes Her (1992) starred Meryl Streep as Madeline Ashton and Goldie Hawn as Helen Sharp. The British Film Institute organised a series of 12 films and titled the series 'Playing the B****'
But despite a dozen films being picked not one was directed by a woman, with one Twitter user saying 'they almost had to work harder to have no female directors'.
On Twitter Ruby Martin wrote: 'How hard would it be to put some films directed by women?'
Blockbusters such as The Favourite, Gone Girl and Dangerous Liasons will be included in the event.
Strong women in the line-up include Bette Davis as a malevolent Southern aristocrat in The Little Foxes, Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as sworn enemies in Death Becomes Her, Nicole Kidman as an ambitious weather girl in To Die For, Rosamund Pike as the anti-heroine in Gone Girl and ruthless Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction.
Despite a dozen films being picked not one was directed by a woman, with one Twitter user saying 'they almost had to work harder to have no female directors'
Others have taken offence to the use of the word 'b****' to describe strong female characters.
Joanna Pocock said: 'I can't stop thinking about this! It's made by blood boil. How are they planning to 'reframe' the term 'b****' I wonder?'
NadjaBee added: 'The name of the season: unacceptable.'
In December, when the series was first announced, the working title was 'B****es'.
It said the season was about 'social climbing broads' and 'self-destructive chicks'.
More than 300 academics, film critics and
