ALL POSTS
Trailer Watch: Chloe Grace Moretz in If I Stay
Life-or-death situations are rarely as literal as the one teenage Mia (Chloe Grace Moretz) faces: Should she live or die? In this big-screen adaptation of Gayle Forman’s YA novel If I Stay, Mia,...
Megan Ellison to Develop TV Show about Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo
In news that’s almost too good to be true, Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures announced that it would develop a TV series about Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. Both stars were widely rumored...
Cynthia Lopez to Run NYC Film Office
Cynthia Lopez has been named the new chief of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting. The Hollywood Reporter notes that around 200 films are made each year in New York....
Guest Post: Getting to the Finish Line
I’ve worked on Vanishing Pearls: The Oystermen of Pointe A La Hache for years — three and a half years, to be exact. During that entire time, I so desired to have a woman on my team. There...
Guest Post: Younger: From Novel to TV Show in 527 Easy Steps
Exactly two years ago today, I got an emailfrom my agent Melissa Flashman at Trident Media saying that Darren Star wantedto turn my novel Younger into the next Sex & TheCity. I, of course, said,...
Guest Post: Write What You Don’t See
I started screenwriting five years ago because I was angry. Every time I watched a movie or TV show geared towards women, it had female friends fighting over a man or being catty to each other,...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Louise Ni Fhiannachta (Rubai)
Irishdirector Louise Ni Fhiannachta’s love affair with storytelling started whenshe discovered she could entertain her family at the age offour and a half. It wasn’t long beforeshe was...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Susanna Fogel (Life Partners)
Susanna Fogel began writing and directing short films as a teenager, premiering her first two, “For Real” and “Words of Wisdom,” at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1995 and 1997....
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Johanna Hamilton (1971)
Johanna Hamilton has most recently co-produced Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which won Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008 and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. She has produced...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Garrett Bradley (Below Dreams)
Garrett Bradley was born in New York City and now lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana. The recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award, the Lynn Weston Fellowship, the Motion...
TV: Trailer Watch: Orange is the New Black Season 2
At last, at last. Netflix has released a trailer for the second season of Orange is the New Black, and it seems the red-envelope suits have gotten the memo: this isn’t just Piper’s show. We...
Dreamworks to Make Adventure Movie With Black Girl Protagonist
If you caught Mr. Peabody and Sherman or Rio 2 in theaters, you probably also saw an adorable short called “Almost Home” about a group of aliens in a spaceship searching for a planet to...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Alexandra Liveris (Nocturnity)
Alexandra Liveris is currently an MFA Candidate in Stanford University’s Documentary Film Program. In 2013 she directed three shorts and is currently directing a documentary under the working...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Olivia Klaus (Life After Manson)
Olivia Klaus is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been seen on networks like CNN, HLN, Discovery, MTV and The History Channel. Sin by Silence, her 2009 directorial debut, went on...
Cannes 2014 Lineup Revealed; Only Two Women Directors in the Main Competition
For whatever reason, the Cannes Film Festival — perhaps because of its grandeur, glamorous red carpet, and press attention — has become the crux around which global conversations about...
Trailer Watch: Jenny Slate in Obvious Child
Here’s the 21st-century romantic comedy you’ve been waiting for. Writer-director Gilian Robespierre’s Obvious Child features former SNL castmember Jenny Slate as a stand-up comedienne named...
Spotlight on Sexism: Hollywood’s Lighting Departments
We’ve already brought you the dismal numbers on female directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, editors, composers, production designers, sound designers, special...
TV: The Maya Rudolph Show to Debut in May
After a long-delayed debut, The Maya Rudolph Show finally has a premiere date: Monday, May 19 at 10 PM. Except here’s the catch: it’s yet unclear whether Rudolph’s variety show will be a...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Grausman (Art and Craft)
Jennifer Grausman directed and produced the Emmy-nominated documentary Pressure Cooker (2008). Previously, she was the Director of the Screenwriters Colony and Manager of Exhibition and Film Funding...
Trailer Watch: Gone Girl Asks, Where’s Amy?
The very first trailer for Gone Girl has been released, and it essentially introduces novelist Gillian Flynn’s story to newbies. While Nick (Ben Affleck) searches for his missing wife Amy...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Linda G. Mills (Of Many)
Linda G. Mills is the inaugural Lisa Ellen Goldberg professor at New York University and co-Chair of the Advisory Board of the Of Many Institute with Chelsea Clinton (who produced “Of Many”)....
Rebecca Zlowtowski to Head Two Cannes Juries During Critics’ Week
After the much-welcome announcements earlier this year that Jane Campion would head this year’s Cannes jury and that Andrea Arnold would preside over Critics Week, more good news has come out...
Donna Tartt, Annie Baker Win Pulitzers
Novelist Donna Tartt and playwright Annie Baker have won the Pulitzer Prize’s most prestigious categories. Filmmaker Laura Poitras also won for her NSA articles in collaboration with Glenn...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Sofia Norlin (Broken Hill Blues)
Born in Njurunda in Sweden in 1974, Sofia Norlin studied film in Stockholm and Paris, where she now lives and works as a theater and film director. Her 2005 film Les Courants screened at numerous...
DVD Giveaway: Name Your Favorite Judi Dench Movie for a Copy of Philomena
The hilarious and heartbreaking Philomena, about an elderly Irish woman’s search for the son who was adopted against her will by the Catholic church, is finally out on DVD, Blu-Ray, VOD, and Pay...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Talya Lavie (Zero Motivation)
Talya Lavie is a director, screenwriter, and comics artist. She studied animation at the Bezalel Art Academy and graduated with merit from the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem. She has also...
Studios Still Leaving Money on the Table by Failing to Diversify
The Writer’s Guild ofAmerica West has released the executive summary of its 2014 Hollywood Writer’s Report, which reveals thatdespite modest gains, women remain underrepresented in television by...
Quote of the Day: Emma Thompson on Fighting for Female Roles and Women’s Rights
Emma Thompson rarely misses an opportunity to speak out on behalf of women in the film industry, and a recent appearance on the BBC Radio 4’s Front Row to promote her new comedy with Pierce...
Women Dominate This Year’s Olivier Awards
The winners of this year’s Olivier Awards were expected, and yet revolutionary. Playwright Lucy Kirkwood was the odds-on favorite to win best new play for Chimerica, which also picked up trophies...
Divergent Third Novel to be Split into Two Movies
Lionsgate is betting big on Shailene Woodley. Production has yet to begin on Insurgent, the sequel that picks up right after Divergent, but Lionsgate has announced that Allegiant, the third book in...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Anete Melece (The Kiosk)
Anete Melece was born in Latvia in 1983. She studied visual communication at the Art Academy of Latvia (BA) and animation at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (MA). She is an...
Julie Walters to Receive British TV’s Highest Honor
Seven-time BAFTA winner and two-time Oscar nominee Julie Walters can add another trophy to her crowded mantle: the 2014 Academy Fellowship, the British Academy Television Awards’...
Tribeca Women DIrectors: Meet Elizabeth Swados (My Depression)
Perhaps best known for her Broadway and international smash hit Runaways, Elizabeth Swados has composed, written and directed for over 30 years. Some of her works include the Obie Award-winning...
Weekly Update for April 11: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Hateship Loveship — Directed by Liza Johnson After receiving rave notices for her feature debut Return, director Liza Johnson has followed up with a second film...
Trailer Watch: Food Industry Scrutinized in Fed Up
“This is the first generation of American children expected to lead shorter lives than their parents,” intones a talking head in Stephanie Soechtig’s sugar expose Fed Up. “Over 95% of all...
Lego Movie Sequel Director Regretful Original Film Fails Bechdel Test, Wants to Do Better
Although I enjoyed The Lego Movie immensely (it’s clever and funny and visually stunning), I wasn’t really looking forward to the inevitable sequel — until now. Lego Movie 2 director...
Director and Exec Sarah Smith Launches UK Animation Studio
Sarah Smith, the former Aardman Animation Creative Director and Arthur Christmas helmer, has launched a new cartoon studio. Locksmith Animation will be the UK’s “first dedicated high-end CG...
Julianne Nicholson on August: Osage County, Masters of Sex, and Aging in Hollywood
August: Osage County offers apainfully intimate look at a family reuniting in the wake of tragedy. Deathbrings out the dysfunction in every family, but it’s clear that there have beengaping cracks...
Trailer Watch: Helen Hunt Discovers Cancer Gene in Decoding Annie Parker
The revolutionary discovery that breast cancer can be passed from mother to daughter through the BRCA1 gene gets the big-screen treatment in Decoding Annie Parker. Samantha Morton plays the titular...
Cannes Workshop to Focus on Women Directors and Screenwriters
The European Audiovisual Observatory, a EU organization that compiles statistical and analytical data on film and television, will devote its upcoming workshop at Cannes to women in the film...
Guest Post: When Violence is the Answer
About 7 months ago, I was readingthe Times while working as a researcher for ascreenwriter when I suddenly felt sick. My hands started shaking. I realized I feltviolent. All of the articles I...
Malala Movie Finds Second Financier
A documentary about Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who survived an assassination attempt at age 14 for advocating girls’ education, is one step closer to getting made. Socially...
Infographic: Black Inequality in Film
The good folks at the New York Film Academy have made another wonderful infographic, this time about black progress in Hollywood. Though the number of speaking parts for black actors (12.4%)...
90% of Summer 2014 Studio Movies Directed by White Guys
A comprehensive study of this summer’s major releases by The Wrap reveals that a dispiriting 90% of those films will be directed by white men. Jupiter Ascending helmer Lana Wachowski, along with...
Cate Blanchett, Susanne Bier Team Up for The Dig
Remember when Cate Blanchett argued for more movies about women? As Blanchett is probably aware, one of the most reliable routes to starring in a film about woman is working with female directors...
Lisa Cholodenko to be Guest Director of LA Film Festival
Lisa Cholodenko, the director of The Kids Are All Right, Laurel Canyon, and High Art, has been named the guest director of the Los Angeles Film Festival (June 11–19). In a statement, LAFF director...
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to Play Sisters in New Film
After killing it two years in a row hosting the Golden Globes, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, our favorite comedy duo, will reunite on the big screen in The Nest. The former SNL co-stars will star as...
Director Liza Johnson on Exploring Kristen Wiig’s Dramatic Side in Hateship Loveship
After receiving rave notices for her feature debut Return, director Liza Johnson has followed up with a second film about an outsider protagonist desperately wanting in. Return starred Linda...
TV: Trailer Watch: New Preview for Season 2
The Orphan Black team has released a second trailer for the upcoming season. This new cut of last month’s teaser is arguably more newbie-friendly. It explains Orphan Black’s premise: “We’re...
Cartoon: Who Will Take Letterman’s Chair?
Cross-posted from The Nib. Liza Donnelly is the author of the book Women on Men.
Watch: How Kamala Khan Is Changing Comics and Readers
Kamala Khan isn’t just the first Muslim superheroine — she’s a one-girl revolution. Created by Marvel editor Sana Amanat, writer G. Willow Wilson, and artist Adrian Alphona, Kamala is the...