Author Archive for Melissa Silverstein

I find it pretty hysterical that the folks at Disney are freaking out and changing the names of their movies so they don’t alienate boys who won’t come and see a movie with the name princess in the title.  Of course they would never freak out if girls weren’t coming to the movies.  Disney believes that The Princess and the Frog did not do the numbers it should have is because boys won’t go see a movie with a princess.

But keep in mind that girls will see a movie with a prince in it because, you know, he is a hero.  So even five year olds know that girls in movies aka princesses are not as worthy as princes.

So folks Rapunzel, is now Tangled.  Last time I checked the word Rapunzel is not princess. So what’s the problem?  I guess it’s more that the titles.  It seems that there were too many films with girl leads.  We can’t have that.  Now that Pixar is fully integrated into Disney it didn’t take too long for the girls to be toned down and the boys to be given higher visibility.  Pixar has never been known as a girl focused studio.  They hadn’t hired a single female director of their films until this year when Brenda Chapman was hired to helm The Princess and the Bow which will be voiced by Reese Witherspoon.

Concluding it had too many animated girl flicks in its lineup, Disney has shelved its long-gestating project The Snow Queen, based on the Hans Christian Andersen story. Snow Queen would have marked the company’s fourth animated film with a female protagonist, following The Princess and the Frog, Tangled and Pixar’s forthcoming The Bear and the Bow, directed by Pixar’s first female director, Brenda Chapman, and starring Reese Witherspoon.

The Disney folks only have themselves to blame.  They are the ones who took all the female characters from their films and repackaged them in a pink box with a pink bow and set girls afire.  And they made a ton of money.  Walk by the Disney store and you can’t help but be overwhelmed by the princesses that are everywhere.

I for one am happy that princesses are banished from the titles.  Princesses make moms of girls who don’t want their daughters to be so focused on those types of things crazy.  I know, my sister is one of them.  She is fighting with all her might to free her daughter, my niece, from the pink box that so many girls live in. (Don’t get her started on the pink Dora softball mitts that the girls play with.)  But I don’t want to see strong, smart and independent girls to disappear along with the princess titles, because we know that girls are so much more than princesses.

One good thing that could come out of this is to socialize boys at an early age to see films with feisty female characters — what ever the title.  If they start to see and respect girls and women from an early age on film, maybe 20 years later when they are buying a movie ticket on a Friday night they might look at a film with women a bit differently.

Disney Wrings the Pink out of Rapunzel (LA Times)

h/t Margot Magowan

The sun is out, the birds are singing, it’s getting warmer here in NY and to me that means the summer movie season is coming.

This year the biggie is Sex and the City 2.  The women were feted at Showest with the best ensemble award.  Amanda Seyfried who is having a big year with Dear John, the upcoming Chloe and this summer’s Letters to Juliet got the breakthrough actress award.  High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgen’s is the star of tomorrow, and Katherine Heigl is the female star of the year. She stars with Ashton Kutcher in Killers this summer.

Check out the Sex & The City Women.  This one kind of has a Mamma Mia (but with better clothes) feel.

Last night I saw someone do something very brave.  My friend, Theresa Rebeck, a very successful playwright, TV writer and novelist, got up in front of a group of theatre people and talked about gender.  She talked about how her career has been hampered because she is a woman.  She talked about how she became toxic after a bad NY Times review.  She talked about the abysmal number of plays produced by women.  She talked about the missing women’s plays.

She challenged the theatre community to acknowledge that it has a gender problem and to do something about it.

Theresa has been kind enough to share her entire speech with us.  It is funny and it is important because it is the TRUTH.  Also, if you don’t know who Theresa is please check out this introduction that playwright John Weidman wrote.

Because I am someone who believes in the power of storytelling, I am going to tell you a story.  It is the story of a play, and the story of things that happened to me, because of that play.

The play is called The Butterfly Collection.  I wrote it in 1999.   It is about a family of artists, and the tensions that rise between the father, who is a successful novelist, and his two sons, one of whom is a struggling actor, and the other who is an antiques dealer.   Tim Sanford at Playwrights Horizons fell in love with this play and said he would produce it in the fall of 2000, and he talked to the guys who run South Coast Rep and they read it and included it in the new play festival that spring, so that we had a chance to work on it out there.  The workshop was great, and we were the hit of the festival.  When the play came into New York the following fall, we had a thrilling cast—Marion Seldes and Brian Murray, in their first production together, Reed Birney, Betsey Aidem, and the young Maggie Lacy in her New York stage debut.  Bartlett Sher directed, and there was enormous excitement gathering around the production.  A lot of commercial producers came, as people felt that it could potentially move.  Nine separate regional theaters were circling to produce it.  American theater magazine called my agent to ask for the script because they were interested in publishing it (in those cool inserts I was very excited I’ve always wanted one of those).   Audiences were thrilled with the play.  Lincoln Center Library was filming it for their collection.

When the New York Times published its review it was not what anyone expected.  The reviewer, who shall remain nameless, dismissed the play—which was about art and family—as a feminist diatribe.   He accused me of having a thinly veiled man-hating agenda, and in a truly bizarre paragraph at the end of the review, he expressed sympathy to the director because he had to work with someone as hideous as me.

The review was horrible and personal and projected all sorts of terrible things on me.  I was shocked, a lot of people were shocked.  And there was real outcry in the community. A lot of letters were written to the Times—someone told me it was sixty letters, which I don’t know how anyone would know that but it made me feel better, even though none of them were published.  Apologies were made behind the scenes, none to me but to other people.  The heroic Tina Howe went to the Dramatists Guild council and read the review aloud and insisted something be done about this; she and a lot of people made the excellent point that if anyone at the Times had ever dared to publish a review as racist or homophobic or anti-Semitic as this review was, in its bigotry—well, the review would never have been published.   So there was a flurry of upset.   But with a review that bad, the play closed.  All the other productions went away.  American Theater magazine went away.   Everybody knew that that was a crazy misogynistic review.  But no one would produce the play.  Ever again.  And you should know that many people consider it my best play.  Still. Continue reading ‘Text of Theresa Rebeck Laura Pels Keynote Address’

Playwright John Weidman introduced Theresa Rebeck for the Laura Pels Keynote address at an ART/NY event in NYC.  Here’s the intro:

Theresa Rebeck and I have been friends for a very long time, and one of the first things I learned about her was also one of the most important.  When she has something to say the best thing to do is just get out of the way.

Which is what I plan to do tonight.

First, however, there are a couple of things I want to say about Theresa:

A number of years ago, somebody asked George S. Kaufman what it was like to write a play.  He said it was easy.  You simply sat down in front of a blank piece of paper and stared at it until blood began to seep through your forehead.  From my point of view, an entirely accurate description.

But what about from Theresa’s?

Since she graduated first from Notre Dame, then from Brandeis—a religious mystery I still can’t quite sort out—Theresa has produced a body of work the breadth and variety of which is genuinely breathtaking.

16 full-length plays, 23 one acts, 3 produced screenplays, 2 published novels, a book of essays, between 25 and 40 episodes of prime time television shows like L.A. Law, NYPD Blue, and Law & Order, along with a grab bag of pilot scripts, treatments, unfinished or abandoned plays, Christmas lists, to-do lists, grocery lists, and a list of people who really piss her off—a list which, believe me, you do not want to be on. Continue reading ‘John Weidman Introduction to Theresa Rebeck’

Yesterday, Tribeca released the films that will play in the Encounters, Discovery, Cinemania and Spotlight sections.

Here are the women directed films:

Encounters- Zero out of 14

Discovery- (2 out of 18)

brilliantlove, directed by Ashley Horner, written by Sean Conway. (UK) – World Premiere, Narrative. Love and lust entangle over a sweltering summer as a novice photographer, Manchester, documents his sweaty affair with his taxidermist girlfriend, Noon. But when a wealthy art-world pornography collector “discovers” Manchester as a genius, the trappings of the art world are unleashed upon the unsuspecting couple, shattering Noon’s trust and heart. Director Ashley Horner captures the yearning and desire that can simultaneously strengthen and burn romance.

No Woman, No Cry, directed by Christy Turlington Burns. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. More than half a million women each year die from preventable complications during pregnancy or childbirth. In her gripping directorial debut, Christy Turlington Burns shares the powerful stories of pregnant women in four parts of the world, including a remote Maasai tribe in East Africa, a slum of Bangladesh, a post-abortion care ward in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the United States.

The Other City, directed by Susan Koch. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. There’s a part of Washington, DC never seen by the tourists and ignored by the mass media. At least three percent of DC is HIV positive, a staggering rate higher than parts of Africa, but the city is also full of encouraging stories of grassroots movements to extend education, combat stigmas, and spread hope. TFF alum Susan Koch’s (Kicking It, TFF ’08) eye-opening documentary tells the unheard stories behind the growing epidemic in our nation’s capital.

Cinemania (Zero out of six)

Spotlight (Three out of nine)

Cairo Time, directed and written by Ruba Nadda. (Canada, Ireland, Egypt) – US Premiere, Narrative. In this graceful cross-cultural love story, a happily married woman (Patricia Clarkson) is separated from her husband in the overwhelming city of Cairo. While waiting for his return, she experiences the unique beauty of Egypt with his friend (Alexander Siddig). As their tender friendship blossoms, a series of small yet profound moments changes both of their worlds forever. An IFC Films release.

Joan Rivers – A Piece of Work, directed by Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg. (USA) – New York Premiere, Documentary. Joan Rivers is the undisputed queen of American comedy, and at 76 years old, with a career spanning five decades, she shows no sign of slowing down. Following Rivers over the course of a year, A Piece of Work reveals the fascinating combination of vulnerability and irreverence behind the public figure in this endlessly entertaining, quintessential profile of a New York icon. An IFC Films release.

Please Give, directed and written by Nicole Holofcener. (USA) – New York Premiere, Narrative. Death, materialism, liberal guilt, adultery, midlife malaise… writer/director Nicole Holofcener (Friends with Money, Lovely & Amazing) makes such topics sing with earnest emotion and devastating humor. Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt star as well-to-do Manhattanites waiting out the death of their crotchety neighbor so they can take over her apartment. Things get messy when they try to make nice with the old lady and her granddaughters (Amanda Peet and Rebecca Hall).A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Just so that you know that I am not the only one obsessed with the numbers, I got this an email from producer of forthcoming documentary, “a woman like that” directed by Ellen Weissbrod:

I was just curious, so I counted for the Tribeca Festival 2010:

ENCOUNTERS – 0 of 14 films
DISCOVERY – 2 of 18
CINEMANIA – 0 of 6
SPOTLIGHT 3 of 9
WORLD NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION – 2 of 12
WORLD DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION 4 of 12
SHOWCASE 0 of 7
SPECIAL EVENTS 0 of 3

christ.  11 out of 81 = 13.5%

Really this issue is about about women’s voices and women’s stories getting equal time.

I guess we are supposed to be satisfied w/ Christy Turlington and Joan Rivers.

Not that they aren’t good films or valid issues,  but when that’s THE ONLY thing – it feels . . .  stilted. Un-diverse.

end of lecture.

See earlier post: Tribeca Film Festival Lineup Part 1

The 2010 Birds Eye View (BEV) festival finished in style Friday night with an awards ceremony followed by a screening of one of the contenders for best feature, Drew Barrymore’s Whip It.

At a time when women’s participation in the film industry continues to shrink, BEV’s role in redressing the balance is vital. Although the festival’s initial remit was to raise public awareness about women filmmakers, it is now so much more than that. In addition to screening features, documentaries and shorts made by women, the festival this year ran a series of networking events and heavily-subsidized training workshops. At one of the workshops it was a huge pleasure to be entertained and educated by three women who clearly were masters of their field: Paula Le Dieu, Margaret Robertson and Alice Taylor.

BEV also managed to lure Susanne Bier to give an informative masterclass to support a retrospective of her work. Interviewed onstage by Briony Hansen of the Script Factory, Bier generously shared her insights on how her work centers on  tiny incidents shattering lives, though she felt that at the end of her films there was usually a lot of hope for the characters.

Speaking on the eve of the closing gala, BEV marketing manager Juliana Zenker reflected that “filmmakers don’t want to be labeled females—that ghettoizes them and prevents them getting jobs.” She pointed to the fact that many men had attended the festival; probably around 15% of festival audiences have been male, which speaks against ghettoizing.

Juliana also emphasized the importance of venue; the festival has principally used the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the British Film Institute, both outstanding venues for film, separated by the Thames. The venues help to validate the importance of the festival and allow audience crossover.

The buzz of excitement as the crowd waited to be allowed into the largest NFT auditorium for the closing gala led judge Louise Jury, chief arts correspondent for the London Evening Standard, to hope that some of the attendees will want to make their own films with a female sensibility. She had judged the feature film section, praising the winner as “an astonishing bit of filmmaking.”

Festival founder Rachel Millward took the stage to introduce the awards ceremony before ceding the bulk of the presentation to new Managing Director Amy Mole, as Millward had been preoccupied with a production of her own: her first baby, born on International Women’s Day.

Amy announced three winners:

• Best feature: Lourdes, by Jessica Hausner
• Best documentary: Junior by Jenna Rosher
• Best short: awarded jointly to The Door, by Juanita Wilson, and Slaves, co-directed by Hanna Heilborn and David Aronowitsch.

Amy pointed out that Kathryn Bigelow’s historic win has “helped focus the international spotlight on the lack of women film-makers within the industry.” To help redress this imbalance, one of the most important ongoing functions of BEV is its First Weekenders Club. This encourages members to “vote with their feet”—attend opening weekend screenings of films made by women in order to ensure highest possible opening weekend figures, thus helping to widen the film’s distribution.

Bird’s Eye View

About the author: Hilary Hadley Wright writes screenplays and non-fiction, and teaches writing and presentation skills to business clients. She spent the last week cheering Kathryn Bigelow.

Don’t miss what will be a very exciting conversation with Floria Sigismondi, director of The Runaways, opening this Friday in the US. We can take questions from folks on the show or feel free to post some things you want to know in the comments area.

Listen live at 1pm EST or at your convenience.

This past week there have been a lot of stories looking at Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar win from a variety of perspectives.  The fact that we are even having these conversations at all is in itself a huge and gigantic (and every other adjective I can throw in) leap forward as Manohla Dargis wrote in her excellent piece How Oscar Found Ms. Right which ran on the cover of this Sunday’s NY Times Arts & Leisure section.  (Sidenote: I think we all owe Manohla a big wet kiss for her incisive writing and candor in talking about gender during this awards season.  Her visibility on the topic has made a big difference and I know it can’t be easy at the NY Times especially when you are a critic.)  Here’s what she wrote:

Uncharacteristically, the issue of female directors working — though all too often not working — was being discussed in print and online, and without the usual accusations of political correctness, a phrase that’s routinely deployed to silence those with legitimate complaints. I don’t think I’ve read the words women and film and feminism in the same sentence as much in the last few months since Thelma and Louise rocked the culture nearly two decades ago.

But of course, a visible win like an Oscar has unleashed criticism especially because Kathryn Bigelow did not embrace her fellow directing sisters in a big bold, feminist rant.

For example a piece from NOW in Toronto said:

You got the sense she was embarrassed that Barbra Streisand acknowledged the achievement and then Bigelow made no reference to the significance. How she could get up there and not mention the likes of Ida Lupino is baffling.

You know that if she would have gotten up there and talked about women directors and how this was historic for women the next day all anyone would have talked about was how she shouldn’t define herself as a woman director cause that marginalizes women.  Either way she couldn’t please everyone.

The Times of London criticizes her win not as a step forward for women, but confirmation of her selling out and joining the boys club.  Can West News Service reporter Jamie Postman talks about his angry encounter with Bigelow 15 years ago when she was promoting Strange Days and how she has a short fuse and berated and yelled at a female reporter at a press conference because stood up and confronted Bigelow on the fact that her film perpetuated violence against women.

I’m not really down with bringing up stories form 15 years ago to illuminate anything about anyone today, but the comment does bring up one one of the questions that will continue to plague her and this win.  Do women have more of an obligation to women not to perpetuate female stereotypes?  And do women directors have a moral imperative not to make films that put women in situations where they are assaulted, murdered and victimized? Is that part of the responsibility of having a vagina when you are a director?

That is an interesting conversation.  I don’t believe that a woman director should be handcuffed on any topic precisely because a woman could handle those topics differently.  Finally it feels like people have finally awakened to the fact that women directors have been getting the short end of the stick for decades.  Welcome to the party.  I implore you not to just talk and rant but do your part.  Go and see films by women directors.

Another issue that has been illuminated in this conversation — one that I find just as vital and important — is the discussion that movies about women don’t generate the same interest, passion and gravitas that movies about men do especially if they are directed and written by women.  TV writer Sarah Fain wrote on her blog:

My annoyance at Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar win is rooted in the man-off conundrum, which is basically this:  to garner attention and respect, women in Hollywood have to act like/write like/direct like men.

Is this an absolute rule?  No.  (And by no, I mean pretty much yes, unless you’re Nancy Meyers, and even that’s debatable.)

Just to be clear, I’m not saying that Bigelow didn’t deserve her Oscar— she certainly did.  So did Randa Haines, who wasn’t even nominated for Children of a Lesser God in 1986, despite the movie’s nomination for Best Picture.  And so did Niki Caro, whose 2002 film Whale Rider is still one of the most stunning pieces of artistic achievement I’ve ever seen.

This is where we need to focus energy on in the future and I’m afraid that it might even be just as hard — if not harder — to get respect in this area as it is for women directors.  But again, people can do their parts in this fight.  When there is a film about women that gets dismissed by your friends and partners as just a plain old stupid chick flick and it is one that you know deserves better than that — because lord knows some are really crappy — stand up for them.  Have some ammunition in your conversation.  Talk about why films about women don’t get taken seriously.   This is where we can all make a difference.  This is why awards matter.  Because it causes people to talk and consider and question.

Kathryn Bigelow, the absentee feminist (NOW Toronto)

Kathryn Bigelow’s great leap forward — or was it? (The Times of London)

Kathryn Bigelow And The Man-Off Conundrum (Sarah Fain Has Starfish Envy)

Kathryn Bigelow is no ‘bad boy’ (The Guardian)

How Oscar Found Ms. Right (NY Times)

The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow: Don’t mess with her (Vancouver Sun)

You know things are shifting a bit when Entertainment Weekly has a column that spotlights female directors at the box office the week after Kathryn Bigelow won at her Oscar.

They note in the that Betty Thomas (former actress on Hill Street Blues) who has been a director since the late 80s first on TV and then in films, had her latest film, Alvin and the Chipmunks – The Squeakquel recently cross the $200 million mark at the US box office.  In fact, as of March 11, according to boxofficemojo the film has grossed $217,501 here and pratically the same amount overseas.

Betty Thomas is also a very interesting director to look at because she has never been relegated to the girl director ghetto.  She’s always made commercial mainstream family comedies (Dr. Dolittle and the Brady Bunch movie) with a little raunch thrown in with the Howard Stern film Private Parts.

Her venture into traditional drama — 28 Days with Sandra Bullock — did not fare as well but it is an interesting film.  I’m guessing she got that film made post the success of Dr. Dolittle.  Wondering what film she’s going to do next.

Just another reminder of the diversity of female talent out there.

Folks, the reactions keep coming in. Here are some more female directors and their thoughts on the Bigelow Oscar.

This roundup includes: Martha Coolidge, (Rambling Rose); Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Secret Life of Bees; Maria Maggenti, The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love; Sarah Walker, The Underdog Club; Arlene Bogna, Patriot Johnny; Ela Thier, Foreign Letters

Martha Coolidge

It’s great that she won!  I was at the DGA and the Oscars.  You could feel the swell of enthusiasm in the room at the Oscars.  It felt like a stampede.  She did a terrific film that has a special meaning to the country right now and walked a fine line politically.  On so many levels it worked to push her over the top.  Jim (Cameron) was thrilled!  Now the question is what will it do for women getting jobs?  I certainly hope it improves her choices.

Gina Prince-Bythewood

My thoughts are pretty simple — watching her walk up to the stage to collect her oscar, I just felt good.

Maria Maggenti

I was really happy when Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar. She’s been working a very very long time as a director. And The Hurt Locker was a beautifully directed film, even if it was more of a character study than a conventional narrative. Do I think it will have an impact on the industry and the dreams of other female directors? No. I don’t. If you have as many meetings as I do, every week, with studios and financiers who are responsible for helping you make your next feature, you realise that the blind, matter-of-fact sexism that informs executive decisions is still there. Bigelow has never once done a studio film — no one would hire her. All her films have been negative pick-ups, which means she’s had to take them onto the marketplace after they’ve been financed. I kind of wish that I could say to some of the execs I meet (mostly female by the way) “Hey, look what Kathryn Bigelow did – why not trust that I can do the same thing?” but quite frankly, the answer will be: “You’re no Kathryn Bigelow.”  A singular voice will always be seen as a singular voice. And Bigelow herself didn’t exactly hold up the feminist mantle in her win — in fact, I was more moved by Barbra Streisand who’s “it’s about time” was the most that seemed to be made of Bigelow’s triumph as a woman director. Hey, maybe I’m wrong. If the picture I’m trying to get off the ground goes, and I get financing, a studio behind me, a big P&A commitment and the kind of behind the scenes political push that make awards go one way or the other, I’ll let you know.

Sarah Walker

Kathryn Bigelow I believe in you. Your magic is real.

Arlene Bogna

I can still hear Barbra Streisand’s words “Well, the time has come,” and I agree with Kathryn Bigelow’s statement about being a filmmaker without a gender modifier.

History has been made, and from this day on it is possible for a woman to win an Oscar for Best Director.  A door has been unequivocally opened, and perhaps it is a chance for more and more talented lady directors to contribute to cinema and be recognized for their work. Future audiences may even take for granted how long it took for all this to happen. And that would be great.

Ela Thier

I admire Bigelow’s talent and thrilled that she be recognized! I look forward to a culture in which half of the films in the theater are directed by women.

I’ve been watching Zoe Kazan since I saw her on stage in The Seagull where she and Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan acted circles around veteran actors Kristen Scott Thomas and Peter Sarsgaard.  Last year was a breakthrough year for her onscreen playing daughters, first of Robin Wright in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and then of Meryl Streep in It’s Complicated.

But this year begins with a bang and Zoe gets her own film.  She stars as the Exploding Girl in Bradley Rust Gray’s new film.  He wrote it for Zoe after they spent a lot of time walking and talking together.  Zoe plays Ivy a young college student home for spring break.  She’s at the beginning of a new relationship with a guy at school and this week away has made Ivy unsure of how they feel about each other.  Ivy is a typical 20 year old and spends a lot on time on the phone.  The cell phone is basically a character in the film.  The conversations with Ivy and the boyfriend are full of awkward silences and remind us that while we might be more connected to people, at the same time it’s even harder to truly connect.

The emotions of a young woman not yet an adult and no longer child are written all over Zoe’s face.  She’s at the stage where everything feels slippery and unsure.  She doesn’t yet know where she fits into the world and to complicate matters she also has to deal with a chronic medical condition that has made her grow up much faster than others around her.  For example, she might have a hard time having children because of the medication she takes.  That’s just her reality.  She also can’t take a bath alone because she could have a seizure and drown.  But she manages this chronic condition with the help and understanding of her long time friend Al (played by Mark Rendall), and their week together (his parents rented out his room so he sleeps on Ivy’s mom’s couch) brings to the fore feelings she really never knew she had.

Zoe Kazan is the real deal.  She’s going to have a long career in film and theatre as an actor and a writer since she is also a playwright.  I am excited to keep watching her work.  Count me as a big fan.

It’s been a while — November 2008– since the release of her last film, you know that little film Twilight, the one that made her the highest grossing female director EVER.   It’s taken way too long for her to get back in the saddle.  I personally don’t understand why it has taken this long.  She had a couple of things in the works but they all fell through.   Guy directors always are able to get the next project going.  Lee Daniels, director of Precious has booked Selma, and Guy Ritchie, the director with 22,000 lives is taking advantage of his current good fortune with Sherlock Holmes and booked King Arthur.

But now it looks like Hardwicke has gotten the green light from Warner Brothers for The Girl with the Red Riding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried (who will be feted next week as Showest’s breakthrough star.)

The premise for the red riding hood redo came from Leonardo DiCaprio and his production company will produce along with Warner Brothers.

Here’s a description from EW:

[The film] is about a girl who tries to uncover the true identity of the wolf that’s been terrorizing her village for the  two decades. She must also resolve her feelings for her wealthy fiance and the town’s bad boy.

I guess that Warner Brothers has seen the writing on the wall and has moved on from the days not too long ago when they supposedly did not want to see any scripts with female leads.  I’m sure it helped to have Leonardo DiCaprio’s name attached to this one.  According to Screen Daily, the budget is a little over the budget of Twilight which was $37 million so Warners commitment is contained.

Hardwicke will receive the Honorary Director Award from the Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto later this month.  Here’s what she said about the award:

“Thank you, Female Eye Film Festival, for honoring me with this award.  It’s such a privilege to be a part of a festival that recognizes what all the women filmmakers around the world have to offer. Looking forward to chilling with my northern sisters!”

Details on the Female Eye festival.

Hardwicke set to shoot Riding Hood in Vancouver (Screen Daily)

Here’s the trailer for The Runaways.  I found it interesting that this one focuses heavily on Dakota Fanning and her character.

Film opens next Friday, March 19.  Writer/director Floria Sigismondi will be our next guest on In Conversation- Women & Hollywood’s online radio show next Tuesday, March 16th at 1pm EST.  Listen here.

What do you think?  Does the trailer make you want to see the film?

You know that whole conversation about how women don’t go to the movies and are not a film market?  You know that conversation that we hear over and over as the big reason why we are inundated with crappy boy films week in and week out.

Well thanks to the statistics that we released by the MPAA with barely a blip yesterday, (thanks David Poland for the heads up) the news is that not only do women go to movies, we go more than men.  Yes, folks — women go to the movies more than men do.

This news should rock each and every executive in Hollywood more than the Bigelow Oscar win.  Cause this is something they understand.  This is money and women are delivering the money.  Big time.

So I am officially holding a funeral for the term “women are not a film market.”  I never want to hear it uttered again.  I am going to keep these statistics next to my computer (or maybe make them my screensaver but that would mean removing my picture of Kathryn Bigelow holding two Oscars) because every time someone says that women don’t go to the movies I’m just going to throw the stats in their faces.

I know exactly why the 2009 numbers increased.  If you follow the business it’s not too hard to figure it out.  The reasons are New Moon and The Blind Side with a side of The Proposal (now Sandra Bullock’s Oscar makes even more sense.)  Maybe folks are going to try and say that it is a fluke because there were two female centric successes and we don’t have those frequently.  Friends, that is the whole fucking point.  It’s like that line from Field of Dreams – “if you build it they will come.”  It is only looked at as a fluke because of the shortsightedness of people who won’t believe that women will continue to go to the movies.  There is nothing in any of the data that I have looked at the gives me any indication that women won’t go to the movies in the future.  In fact, I would venture to say that if they continue to make movies that attract women we will continue to be there.

Another line that I want to bury for good is that young men go to the movies more than anyone else.  That’s just bullshit.  Younger men don’t go to the movies more than younger women.  Younger people in general go to the movies more, but based on the MPAA numbers of frequent moviegoers (ones who go more than once a month) in the coveted demographic of 18-24, women make up 3.4 million filmgoers while men make up 3.1 million.  Suck on that Hollywood!

Don’t believe me, check out the numbers from the MPAA:

See the yellow?  That’s the women.

Here are the other stats:

• In 2009 there were 217 million moviegoers.  The total admissions was 1.4 billion dollars.
• Women are 113 million of the moviegoers and bought 55% of the tickets.
• Men are 104 million of the moviegoers and 45% of the tickets.

Here’s the money quote from the MPAA:

“A higher percentage of women than men are moviegoers in all categories of frequency.”

In. All. Categories. of. Frequency.

Women make up 9 million more filmgoers than men.

Bottom line: The future is female.  The upside is great.  The market is there ready to be tapped.  The only issue is who will take advantage of it.

Here are the women directed flicks that have been announced so far for the Tribeca Film Festival.  (Summaries are by the festival)

World Narrative Feature Competition (Women directors account for 3 out of 12)

Paju, directed and written by Chan-ok Park. (South Korea) – North American Premiere. Joongshik and Eunmo live in Paju: a gray town where the urban landscape is as bleak as the fate of its residents. In writer/director Chan-ok Park’s emotionally intense follow-up to award-winning Jealousy Is My Middle Name (TFF ’03), the personal travails of two antiheros are delicately unveiled through an anachronistic period of eight years, demonstrating how easily the lines of development and destruction are sometimes blurred. In Korean with English subtitles.

Snap, directed and written by Carmel Winters. (Ireland) – World Premiere. With a fresh and intense style, playwright-turned-director Carmel Winters composes a gripping psychological drama about three generations of a family poised to repeat the mistakes of the past. Aisling O’Sullivan (The War Zone) commands the screen as a calloused mother who will do anything to protect her son—even deny her own past. From the producers of TFF award winner Eden and the Academy Award® winner Once.

When We Leave (Die Fremde), directed and written by Feo Aladag. (Germany) – North American Premiere. When young Turkish-German woman Umay can no longer stand her husband’s ill-treatment, she flees from Istanbul with her five-year-old son into the arms of her family in Berlin. But love, affection, and loyalty soon become irrelevant as they struggle to reconcile Umay’s willful self-determination with the social system that governs their lives. This passion piece on female flight from oppression builds its considerable dramatic intensity to a glowing payoff. In German, Turkish with English subtitles.

World Documentary Feature Competition (Women directors account for 6 out of 12)

American Mystic, directed by Alex Mar. (USA) – World Premiere. Set against a vivid backdrop of American rural landscapes, Alex Mar’s meditative documentary artfully weaves together the stories of three young Americans exploring alternative religion: a Wiccan in California mining country, a New Ager in upstate New York, and a Native American father and sundancer in South Dakota, all yearning for fulfilling spirituality in disparate but often strikingly similar ways.

The Arbor, directed by Clio Barnard. (UK) – World Premiere. Brilliantly blending the borders of narrative and documentary filmmaking, artist-cum-director Clio Barnard beautifully reconstructs the fascinating true story of troubled British playwright Andrea Dunbar and her tumultuous relationship with her daughter. Working from two years of audio interviews, Bernard uses classic documentary techniques, actors, theatrical performance, and Dunbar’s own neighborhood to generate a unique cinematic feast while unraveling the truths of a dark family past.

Budrus, directed by Julia Bacha. (USA, Palestine, Israel) – North American Premiere. In one of the most conflicted parts of the world, a Palestinian family man unites rival parties Fatah and Hamas, Western activists, and even groups of progressive Israelis in a nonviolent crusade to save his village from being destroyed. Award-winning documentarian Julia Bacha (Encounter Point, TFF ’06) captures with rawness and galvanizing intensity the power of ordinary people to peaceably fight for extraordinary changes. In Arabic, English, Hebrew with English subtitles.

Earth Made of Glass, directed by Deborah Scranton. (USA) – World Premiere. This powerful investigative documentary by the Oscar®-nominated director of The War Tapes (best doc, TFF ’06) skillfully weaves interviews with President Kagame of Rwanda and Jean-Pierre Sagahutu, a survivor of the horrific 1994 genocide. When a president and a citizen—bound together by a profound love of country and an unquenchable desire to see the truth revealed—fight to expose the truth behind a murder and France’s hidden role in the Rwandan genocide, their stories will inspire and uplift. In English, French, Kinyarwandan with English subtitles.

Monica & David, directed by Alexandra Codina. (USA) – North American Premiere. Monica and David are in love. Truly, blissfully in love. They also happen to have Down syndrome. Alexandra Codina’s affectionate and heartwarming documentary is an intimate, year-in-the-life portrait of two child-like spirits with adult desires. Supported (and, for more than 30 years, sheltered) by endlessly devoted mothers, Monica and David prepare for their fairy tale wedding and face the realities of married life afterward.

Sons of Perdition, directed by Jennilyn Merten, Tyler Measom. (USA) – World Premiere. In the polygamist community cultivated by the notorious (and now incarcerated) “prophet” Warren Jeffs, women are a commodity, children are reared to be ignorant, and free thought is surrendered. For a group of teenage boys, the desire for autonomy means banishment from their homes and families. This fascinating documentary explores the heartbreaking losses and hopeful determination of these exiles as they struggle to make new lives in mainstream America.

Showcase (Women directors account for one out of seven)

A Brand New Life (Yeo-haeng-ja), directed and written by Ounie Lecomte. (South Korea, France) – New York Premiere. When her father offers to take her on a trip, nine-year-old Jin-hee happily sings him a love song, the bittersweet notes inaudible to her own ear, until she realizes he has abandoned her at a Catholic orphanage. Celebrated from the Cannes to Berlin film festivals, Ounie Lecomte’s directorial debut, a semi-autobiographical portrait of 1970s South Korea, masterfully captures the emotional journey of loss, friendship, and starting anew. In Korean with English subtitles.

Reese Witherspoon was in DC yesterday talking about the need to stop violence against women.  She represents Avon which came to town to give a $500,000 grant to the State Department’s Fund for Global leadership.

One of her quotes:

I think when you have strong powerful women standing up and speaking out about these issues, not to mention how many women represent us in the Senate and the House of Representatives, you’re going to start to see a major change in these areas,” stated the actress.

Here’s an interview she did with ET talking about the importance and the responsibility she has in doing this work.  She is in circus training getting ready to start her next film based on the best selling novel Water for Elephants, with Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz.

What a great idea.  The people who run the Cultural Leadership Programme in the UK know that there is a leadership disparity between men and women in the arts.  Lots of times the issue is that the women are just not visible enough in order to get that next job, so they decided to highlight the current women leaders to build the pipeline for the future.

Here’s why they put together the list:

There are nowhere near enough women in positions of power and influence, whether it be in the cultural and creative industries or other sectors. We need to do everything we can to enable and encourage the next generation.

Nominees were submitted and were judged by a high profile panel of men and women heading by BBC radio’s Jenni Miller.

The list of women was released this week.  Check them out.

• Bridget Nicholls
• Claire Whitaker
• Carol Bell
• Cathy Woolley
• Claire Cunningham
• Clare Hudson
• Daisy Heath
• Delia Barker
• Emma Stenning
• Emma Underhill
• Freda Matassa
• Gail Parmel
• Geraldine Collinge
• Helen MacNamara
• Hermione Way
• Indy Hunjan
• Jane Finnis
• Jacqui O’Hanlon
• Jenni Lewin-Turner
• Juliana Farha
• Julie Tait
• Kate Bellamy
• Kate McGrath
• Laura Sillars
• Liz Pugh
• Lucy Worsley
• Dr Maria Balshaw
• Maria Oshodi
• Maxine Millar
• Melanie Abrahams
• Moira Buffini
• Nike Jonah
• Pim Baxter
• Purni Morell
• Rachel Holmes
• Rachel Millward
• Rebecca Dawson
• Roanne Dods
• Ruth Daniel
• Ruth Gill
• Ruth Gould
• Sally Goldsworthy
• Sarah Munro
• Seonaid Daly
• Sharnita K Athwal
• Sharon Watson
• Siobhán Bales
• Sophie Thomas
• Theresa Heskins
• Vanessa Reed

March is Women’s History Month, but we should be celebrating all year.  Women artists’ perceptions and stories offer a valuable contribution to society, but statistics show a lowly percentage of plays and films produced by and about women. Just to make you aware:  Only 17 % of plays produced on national non-profit stages are written by women. (Wilner, Jordan, The Dramatist,Sept.-Oct.2009)

It’s not that women aren’t writing plays and trying to get them produced.  It’s impossible without an agent, and agents rudely ignore your query or send your letter back with a note scribbled, “Not interested without a professional recommendation.” There are a lot of closed doors.

As a person who believes fervently in equality, I’ve been working with advocacy groups through the Dramatists Guild and with 50/50 in 2020 to improve opportunities for women to have our work produced in theater and in films. We need your support. Here’s how you can help:

• If you are in NY, use this listing of plays by women from NYTheatre.com.  It has committed to cover as many plays by women playwrights this year as plays by men. They will team with 50/50 in 2020 to create online profiles of women playwrights and theatre companies that specialize in work by women.
• To show our appreciation for this initiative, please opt in to receive weekly updates via email, and a listing of plays by women in NYC.
• Tell theater party organizers (in any city) that you want to see plays by and about women.
• Mention this on Facebook, tell your friends, tell a theatre manager or board member, write letters to editors, tweet, spread the word.
• When a theatre calls asking you to subscribe, ask,”How many women playwrights? How many women directors? How many roles for women? How many women designers?”  Our  support should depend on how close they are to gender parity.
• Celebrate  SWAN DAY/ Support Women Artists Now Day, Saturday, March 27,  at a woman’s art exhibit, concert, film, play, or book reading.

What about women and films?

24% of women work in a key behind-the-scenes role (directors, writers, producers, cinematographers, and editors) on independent festival films, compared with 16% for high budget studio films.  YET WE ARE IN THE MAJORITY IN THE POPULATION. The first step to change is awareness.  Here are some things you can do:

• Attend opening week-end films by and about women to boost their commercial status.
• Subscribe to this blog’s newsletter that keeps you aware of films by and about women.
• Join your local women’s film organization.  In NY, NYWIFT (New York Women in Film and Television) has 2,000 women working in different aspects of filmmaking.  Happily, I’ve found a place where I can work with other professionals to improve the pathetic statistics.
• Check out my new online column, Where are the Women? which is aimed at Tracking coverage of women in the media for NYWICI (New York Women in Communications).

Be aware, be indignant, be pro-active. Onward and upward.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barbara Sutton Masry is a playwright, screenwriter, producer, and activist whose independent feature film, “A Wake-up Call” is in development.

It’s still sinking in — the big Bigelow win — and I wanted to hear what other folks thought, so I reached out to women directors around the world at all levels of their careers and asked them what they thought and what it means for them.  Thanks to everyone who responded.  If other still want to respond, I’d be happy to add.  I would love to get the reactions of the women who have been nominated previously and I am working on that — if you know Lina Wertmuller, or Sofia Copolla and can contact them (I already have a feeler out to Jane Campion), please email me —   I’ll let you know if I hear from them.

Here are the women who participated in alphabetical order (check out their sites to learn about their work):

Allison Anders, director Gas, Food Lodging; Anne Bass, director- Dancing Across Borders;  Tracy Lynch Britton, director, Melrose Place; Gabrielle Burton, Five Sisters Productions; Kathi Carey, director – Worth; Wendy Jo Carlton, director - Hannah Free; Jules Dameron; Katherine Dieckmann, director – Motherhood; Emily Dell, director- B-Girl;  Rachel Feldman, director – Beyond the Break and Sisters; Carey Graeber, director- Rediscovering Dorothy; Rhianon Elan Gutierrez, director- When I’m Not Alone;  Deborah Kampmeier, director-Hounddog; Aviva Kempner, director- Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg; Alex Kondracke, director- GirlTrash; Barbara Kopple, director – Shut Up and Sing, Harlan County USA (Oscar winner); Sue Kramer, director – Gray Matters; Alexis Krasilovsky, Director – Women Behind the Camera; Kasi Lemmons, director- Eve’s Bayou; Suzanne O’Keefe, director- Full Serve; Shamim Sarif, director – The World Unseen; Nancy Schwartzman, director- Where is Your Line?; Dawn Scibilia, director- Home; Nell Scovell, director- It Was One of Us; Therese Shechter, director- I Was A Teenage Feminist; Amy Sewell, director- What’s Your Point, Honey?; Karen Skloss, director- Sunshine; Juanita Wilson, director – The Door (nominated for an Oscar) Continue reading ‘Women Directors React to the Bigelow Win’

Aside from the historic Bigelow win there were several other moments during the Oscar show (which I still strongly feel was really bad, but I was tweeting the whole time) and the wrap up that are worthy of note.

Mo’Nique

The woman rocks.  She did everything this whole season on her own terms and every time people tried to bring her down and shame her for it, she said I am not playing by your bullshit rules.  The fact that she won proves that art triumphs over bullshit.  She took all the shit that was shoved at her and rose above it, big time.  I really hope Hollywood learns a lesson from how Mo’Nique was treated.  There were racist quips, sexist shit (you know the crap about her shaving her legs) and in general a whole lot of you need to kiss some Hollywood ass if you think you are going to win this award.

Yesterday, on Oprah she talked about dedicating her win to Hattie McDaniel, the first African American woman to win an Oscar which she did for the 1939 film Gone With the Wind.  McDaniel, as Kate Harding at Salon reminds us, was not able to attend the opening of Gone with the Wind because the theatre was segregated.

Here’s what Mo’Nique said about the moment before they announced her name:

They are going through the nominees and I know this woman Hattie McDaniel had to endure so much in this industry.  And because of her is why you sit (talking to Oprah) where you sit and I sit where I sit because she did so much for all of us.

Sandra Bullock

So she beat Meryl and poor Meryl has not won in some 25 years which is unbelievable to me.  Part of it is that everything she does is Oscar worthy so that people think they don’t need to vote for her because she will be back again and again.  News flash people.  She’s taking some time off.  She made two movies this past year, both directed by women directors.  Both made $100 million.

But the thing about this year and the Sandra Bullock factor is that we all know that not everything that Sandra Bullock does is Oscar worthy.  She’s the first to admit it.  The Blind Side hit a chord in the country.  As did Sandra Bullock.  Remember, things suck out there (out here).  No matter how much they tell us the recession is over.  Things are still really hard and The Blind Side gave people a moment to feel better about things and themselves.  That’s why it has made a fortune.

And Bullock rode those waves all the way to the Oscar win. She was so funny talking about her kiss with Meryl that people can’t let go.  She talked about how during the awards season the group of nominees became a sorority and that they all liked and respected each other.  And she tore down some more bullshit about how women hate each other.  Here’s what she said to Oprah:

They pit women against each other all the time.  They don’t do it to the men.  I am so sick of it.

Here’s her wonderful acceptance speech.  I loved how she gave tribute to her mom It is worth watching again:

Barbra Streisand

How poignant must it have been for Barbra to have the honor to announce the first female directing winner when she has been so visibly snubbed by the Academy in the past.  There are of course women who directed great films before Barbra.  One, Lina Wertmuller, was nominated before Barbra made Yentl and The Prince of Tides which was nominated for best picture and best actor for Nick Nolte but she was not nominated for best director.  Barbra chose to direct when she was a gigantic huge acting and recording star.  She chose to direct and got shit for it.  She is a trailblazer and let’s not forget it.  Here’s what she said after she gave the award to Bigelow:

I hope there will come a time when it will not be about a woman director or a man director but will just be about who the best director is.  When there is no regard for gender.  That it’s just about the talent.

Other Thoughts:

I did love Geoffrey Fletcher winning for Precious.  Now I know people are upset because he forgot to thank Sapphire.  In his defense he was beyond shocked.  You could see it on his face and hear it in his voice.  The fact that Precious got that award over the film everyone (including me) expected Up in the Air really shows how much that film resonated within the Hollywood community.

I loved Gabourey Sidibe’s awesomeness on the red carpet.  She showed no signs of nervousness and has come through this Oscar season as the most unexpected and  success.  Every single time I see her I smile.