Archive for the 'Festivals' Category

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.

Just wanted to remind you all that the 6th Annual Bird’s Eye View Film Festival kicks off in London next month.

This is one of the most prestigious festivals that highlights films directed by women.

Here’s festival director Rachel Millward talking about why the festival is important:

Birds Eye View is the UK’s only festival celebrating international women filmmakers, founded as a positive response to the still startling fact that women make up only 7% film directors and 12% screenwriters. We passionately believe that a healthy culture requires a balanced perspective and we want to see that on screen. So, we celebrate the talented women making great work today, inspire, encourage and equip more women to make more films, and show the industry and our audiences that without a female perspective in cinema, they’re really missing out!

Birds Eye View keeps working all year round, with a First Weekenders Club, promoting the opening weekend of cinema releases written or directed by women, and bespoke training labs which hothouse exceptional female writers in order to get more commercial features from women into production.

They have a wide variety of films including: Amreeka directed by Cherien Dabis; and Lourdes by Jessica Hauser.

Director Susanne Bier (who directed Brothers which was remade into a horrible Hollywood version) will hold a masterclass, and the festival will close with the London premiere of Whip-It, directed by Drew Barrymore.

More from Rachel Millward:

This is the 6th Birds Eye View Film Festival and it’s a hum-dinger of a programme, celebrating such amazing women filmmakers as Drew Barrymore (Whip It), Jessica Hausner (Lourdes), Isabel Coixet (Map of the Sounds of Tokyo), Kim Longinotto (Rough Aunties), Wanuri Kahiu (From a Whisper) and Susanne Bier (with a retrospective and masterclass).

Plus Blonde Crazy: a celebration of dazzling iconic blondes from the silent era to the present day, and special live music commissions from female artists to silent film, including the first ever animated feature film The Adventures of Prince Achmed from pioneering artist Lotte Reineger. All this with BEV’s usual sprinkling of celeb presence… It looks set to be one to remember.

Support women directed films by attending this festival.

PS- If anyone is planning on attending and wants to write a report for all of us, just get in touch with me. Thanks.

Bird’s Eye View Film Festival

Drew Barrymore debut at Birds Eye View Fest (Hollywood Reporter)

Dutch director Marleen Gorris is one of the most feminist directors around.  She has actually won an academy award for one of the most feminist films I have ever seen -Antonia’s Line which won the best foreign language film Oscar in 1995.  Her other films include A Question of Silence, Mrs. Dalloway and the Luzhin Defence.

Her new film tells the true story of Evgenia Ginzburg (Emily Watson) who was sentenced to 10 years hard labor in Siberia during Stalin’s reign in the Soviet Union.  Watson is her usual wonderful self in this intense story about a woman who believed she was a solid and stalwart party member, who wound up in a whirlwind of accusations with no power.  But while the gulag is extraordinarily depressing, the film is a story of hope as Evgenia is able to find love with the camp’s doctor (played by Ulrich Tukur) under these most difficult circumstances.

Women & Hollywood was able to ask some questions of director Marleen Gorris and writer Nancy Larson when their film was screened at the recent NY Jewish Film Festival.

Women &Hollywood: Nancy, tell us how the story began.

Nancy Larson: I had developed a film with another producer and the producer wanted to work with me again. And he asked me what book I would like to do. And I had read this book and I said this is the one I would like to do.

W&H: So they hired you to write the script?

NL: I came in more like a writer/producer in a way. I just wrote the script and the first person we thought of was Marleen.

W&H: Marleen, what made you interested in the film?

Marleen Gorris: I was very interested in the subject because there is so little done with that particular period. The Stalin Purges. Stalin in general. And I was also fascinated with Russia. Even now, a great part of the population worships Stalin. So obviously the Russians did not do anything with their history in that sense as for instance the Germans did. What I mean is that it came out into the open and people started talking about it and historians went into the subject. None of all that happened in Russia. And then of course it was a personal story of a woman who had written very extensively with great memory about what she went through.  Also, my admiration for this woman. Where does one get the power to survive something like this? And all these elements I thought were fascinating to make a film of.

Continue reading ‘Interview with Marleen Gorris and Nancy Larson – director and writer of Within the Whirlwind’

Winter's Bone

This year Sundance is telling us to “rebel”, re-start the revolution, to re-think what independent filmmaking is. Their animated bumpers before the films are persuasive propoganda and it’s embedded in all the panels and new director John Cooper’s conversations.  As female filmmakers, I say we take this advice.  Sundance is noted for highlighting filmmakers who are ignored in the mainstream media. For giving new directors a chance to break in with their smaller films that would be ignored in the larger Hollywood film industry.  For finding original voices.  Well, for the most part, that’s us.  I’m hear at Sundance mostly for programming for the Citizen Jane Film Festival, a film festival in Columbia, Missouri that celebrates films by female filmmakers.  And I am excited that some of the best work at Sundance this year comes from original female voices, with the biggest buzz circulating around Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone.

Granik is no stranger to Sundance.  She took the Dramatic Directing Award for her first feature-length film Down to the Bone back in 2004, and this year she is one of the few lucky filmmakers to have multiple distributors interested in her work.  Winter’s Bone is a unique coming of age story set in the Missouri Ozark mountains and told through the experiences of 17-year old Ree Dolly (in a breakout performance by Jennifer Lawrence).  While Ree’s meth-cooking father is running from the law, Ree is left to tend to her younger siblings and mentally ill mother.  We are soon swallowed into Ree’s world through her journey to find her missing father, who has put the family house up for bond after being arrested.  Based on the award-winning novel by Daniel Woodrell and shot completely on location in the Missouri Ozarks, this “country noir” has a sense of place rarely seen.   Granik immersed herself in the Ozarks, starting with writer Woodrell’s own neighborhood and befriending locals to develop locations, find many of her actors, get a sense of the local dialect, and find musicians that we see and hear throughout the film.  Her collaborative nature and attention to detail ultimately creates a reality that is both naturalistic and at times mythical.  Granik captures the close-knit sense of family kin and codes of law, as well as the devastation the meth epidemic has had on families in that region, much like the rest of rural America.  But what is most obvious from both Down to the Bone and Winter’s Bone is Granik’s ability to bring out the best in actors.  Much like Down to the Bone brought Vera Farmiga attention and awards, I suspect Winter’s Bone will garner much deserved attention for young Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes, who plays Ree’s uncle who goes from sinister to sympathetic with very few words.  Hopefully the buzz and attention for Winter’s Bone will last beyond the festival circuit.

Perhaps no film follows the Sundance slogan of “renewed rebellion” more than Katie Aselton’s directing debut The Freebie.  Festival regulars know Aselton as actress in many a mumblecore film and the wife of one of the pioneers of the mumblecore movement, Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair).  Like many other actresses, Aselton wasn’t getting the roles she wanted, so she took the advice from her husband and decided to write and direct her own film to solve this problem.   And along with writing, directing, and co-producing, Aselton is also in nearly every frame of the film.   Continue reading ‘Guest Post: The View on the Ground at Sundance by Kerri Yost’

Adriana Maggs is one of a bunch of up-and-coming female directors with their work on display this year at Sundance.  Her writing and directing debut Grown Up Movie Star is in competition this year in the World Cinema Narrative section.

Synopsis is below.  Adriana answered some questions by email while she was at Sundance.

Women & Hollywood: How did you come up with the story for Grown Up Movie Star?

Adriana Maggs: Grown Up Movie Star was a short film script I wrote and was workshopping on a panel. A local producer, Jill Knox-Gosse, was interested in it and asked me if I would tell more of the story, make it into a feature. The characters and scenarios are rooted in the themes that I explore both in my work and in my life.

W&H: Female directors tend to get pigeon holed into certain types of movies. Are you aware of that, and did you ever take that into consideration when writing this film?

AM: No, I didn’t take that into consideration.  I come from a place that is completely open to artists, a community that fully supports all storytelling perspectives.  I actually find it really hard when I step onto a “main stage” so to speak, that so many women artists and filmmakers struggle to have their stories told.  But I am not naive to think that the support we receive from the Newfoundland government and arts community is “standard” practice.  I am so thankful to have been nurtured in a creative environment. But after having moved to Toronto, I do understand the importance of supporting women in the arts and appreciate all of the strong and talented filmmakers and producers who as women have really paved the way for the rest of us.  Heather Rae, producer of Frozen River comes to mind.

W&H: Do you think its easier for a female director to be more successful in directing if she also writes the film?

AM: Again, I’m finding the question unusual, considering how I was, if you will, raised in a community of artists.  I suppose it’s easier for a first time director whether male or female to have an opportunity to direct if they in fact, write their own script.  I really want to believe that good story telling is good story telling and I also feel watching a film is like going to an art gallery or reading poetry or any artistic medium.  The viewer is subjective based on taste, life experiences, tolerance, empathy and will choose whether they like or dislike a film based on individual taste whether written and directed by a woman or a man.

W&H: What does getting into Sundance mean for your film and your career and what are you hoping to get out of it?

AM: It is a complete honor and really wonderful to have Grown up Movie Star included in such a prestigious and welcoming festival.  I have always thought that if I could have a film in a festival, I would have wanted it at Sundance.  The history of the festival, the amazing support of independent film and filmmakers, the amazing Sundance Institute are all reasons I am very proud our film was accepted this year.

For me, once I wrote the film and we were on set, it became everyone’s film.  The actors — Shawn, Tatiana, Jonny — and the amazing crew really brought it to life and added so much to the story.  They really let me see the film through new eyes and it was like discovering the story all over again.  So what am I hoping to get out of it?  Well, I am really happy people are coming to see our work, I hope that people appreciate the work and hope that some can relate to the characters and their personal struggles.  And being from a small island off the coast of Canada and arriving in Park City on an international stage, I am excited to meet other filmmakers, see lots of films and figure out a way for more people to see ours!

Continue reading ‘Sundance Interview: Adriana Maggs, Director/Writer of Grown Up Movie Star’

It’s not news that gay and lesbian films struggle to get out of the niche and be seen as mainstream entertainment and make serious box office dollars.  We all know that many films have gay characters, but films that star and are driven by gay people — male or female — are few and far between.  In the last couple of years there have been several high profile and award winning films that told gay stories namely Milk and Brokeback Mountain.  Milk made $31 million on a budget of $20 and won two Oscars.  Brokeback Mountain was way more successful making $83 million on a $14 million budget and wound up winning three Oscars.

But there really hasn’t been a film of the stature that starred a woman or women.  In doing some research in a very unscientific manner (on twitter) the responses I got when asking for the most mainstream lesbian films were: Basic Instinct, Monster, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Hours, Kissing Jessica Stein, But I’m a Cheerleader, Chasing Amy, Bound, Desert Hearts, Imagine Me & You.

Some good, some bad, some terrible and none really big successes.

Desert Hearts while excellent is from the 80s and while Basic Instinct grossed the most, it is not anyone’s example of a lesbian film.  Fried Green Tomatoes grossed $82 million but that was way back in 1991.  Charlize Theron ruled in Monster but that was not a positive movie.  The Hours was Oscar bait and while several of the main characters were lesbians, I wouldn’t call it a lesbian film.  And then there is Boys Don’t Cry which I honestly don’t know how to categorize.

So when I read the news out of Sundance about how well Lisa Cholodenko’s new film The Kids Are All Right played, I got excited. It’s got all the elements for a mainstream hit. Stars, including Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo. And it’s a comedy. All too often niche films of any kind take themselves too seriously. It’s about time we got a comedy about lesbian life.

Here’s a report from The LA Times:

Cholodenko’s movie, a late addition to the festival, centers on the drama that ensues after two children of a lesbian couple seek out their birth father. Supporters of the movie — and there are many — say it can sustain both an awards campaign as well as a broad release to an audience that would be taken with the film’s comedic and poignant moments. The movie, which played to a house packed with distribution execs (and whose screening evoked, in some ways, the response to “Little Miss Sunshine” four years ago.

It also described the audience as “giddy.”  Nobody said that about Cholodenko’s previous films which included Laurel Canyon and High Art.

Here’s NY Magazine’s Vulture blog:

But Bening and Moore are the real treats. Bening plays an uptight, wine-slurping doctor and Moore plays her wife, a compost-loving free spirit. They have two kids, an 18-year-old girl (Mia Wasikowska, who will soon play Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland) and a 15-year-old son (Josh Hutcherson) who both reach out to the sperm donor (Ruffalo), who gave his DNA to each mother. Chodolenko shows a warm, funny side and crafts some brilliant chemistry between her two leads, who make an extraordinarily believable onscreen couple. This may turn out to be one of the most significant lesbian films yet made — especially because it’s premiering in the long shadow of Prop 8. (Emphasis mine) But straight marrieds will have little trouble identifying with the undermining, bitching, nagging, teasing, and reconciling, either: Lighthearted and uproariously funny, it’s not at all a gay-marriage film, but just a great film about marriage. Now, back to that question: Who to push for Best Actress?

Distributors are nervous hoping that this could be a Little Miss Sunshine instead of a Friends With Money.  I think that it is time to stop underestimating audiences.  Figure out a way to market this to women and you will make money.  Make it about family, not just a gay family, and people will come.  Make sure people know they will have a good time and not be hit over the head with a diatribe.

The time is ripe for a successful film driven by a lesbian storyline.

As of this morning, there was no distribution deal yet for the film.

Update: As of 12pm EST it looks like the film is going to Focus Features.

Sundance: Annette Bening and Julianne Moore Wow the Fest With a Gay Marriage Drama (NY Mag Vulture)

Sundance 2010: ‘The Kids Are All Right’ becomes a Sundance sensation (LA Times)

“Kids” More Than All Right: Cholodenko Shines At Sundance (IndieWIRE)

Special thanks to The Linster and Dorothy Snarker for their help.

Talk about girl power!  The film has its world premiere this weekend at Sundance with Joan Jett in attendance (and I read they rocked out afterwards.)  Here’s a description (from fandango):

The story of the groundbreaking ’70s female rock group the Runaways is recounted in this River Road Entertainment production focusing on the duo of guitarist/vocalist Joan Jett (portrayed by Twilight’s Kristen Stewart) and lead vocalist/keyboardist Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) as they navigate a rocky road of touring and record label woes under the malevolent eye of abusive manager Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) during their teen years. Acclaimed video artist Floria Sigismondi directs from her own script, with Scout Taylor-Compton co-starring as guitarist Lita Ford.

This movie looks so great. Looks like Dakota Fanning is officially grown up and Kristen Stewart gets back to her indie roots.  The one important point is that Apparition who releases the film on March 19th, needs to figure out how to avoid what happened to Whip-It to make this one a success.

Some reviews

Sundance Review: The Runaways (Cinematical) -- positive

Sundance: Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning rock out in ‘The Runaways,’ but the movie itself is no knockout (EW) -- mixed

The Runaways

Here’s the rest of the women directed and women-centric movies showing at Sundance in January.  (Info from Hollywood Reporter)

PREMIERES

The Extra Man (Directors: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini; screenwriters: Robert Pulcini, Jonathan Ames, Shari Springer Berman). A down-and-out playwright who escorts wealthy widows in Manhattan’s Upper East Side takes a young aspiring writer under his wing. Cast: Katie Holmes, John C. Reilly, Paul Dano, Kevin Kline, Alicia Goranson. (U.S.)

Please Give (Director-screenwriter: Nicole Holofcener). In New York, a husband and wife butt heads with the granddaughters of the elderly woman who lives next door. Cast: Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Sarah Steele. (U.S.)

The Runaways (Director-screenwriter: Floria Sigismondi). In 1970s Los Angeles, a teenager named Joan Jett connects with an eccentric producer to form an all-girl band. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Scout Taylor-Compton, Michael Shannon, Alia Shawkat, Tatum O’Neal. (U.S.)

NEXT

(A new section composed of eight American films selected for their innovative and original work in low- and no-budget filmmaking.)

Armless (Director: Habib Azar; screenwriter: Kyle Jarrow). Comedy about a woman who comes to terms with her husband’s strange secret. Cast: Daniel London, Janel Moloney, Keith Powell, Laurie Kennedy, Matt Walton.

The Freebie (Director-screenwriter: Katie Aselton). A young married couple decides to give each other one night with someone else. Cast: Dax Shepard, Katie Aselton.

SPOTLIGHT

Bran Nue Dae (Director: Rachel Perkins; screenwriters: Reg Cribb, Rachel Perkins, Jimmy Chi). In summer 1965, a young man is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome — fishing, hanging out with his mates and his girl. Cast: Rocky McKenzie, Jessica Mauboy, Geoffrey Rush, Ernie Dingo. (Australia)

Lourdes (Director-screenwriter: Jessica Hausner). A woman in a wheelchair travels to Lourdes in an attempt to escape her isolation. Cast: Sylvie Testud, Lea Seydoux, Bruno Todeschini, Gilette Barbier, Gerhard Liebmann, Irma Wagner. (Austria/France/Germany)

Mother & Child (Director-screenwriter: Rodrigo Garcia). The lives of three women –a physical therapist, the daughter she gave up at birth three decades ago and a black woman seeking to adopt a child of her own — intersect. Cast: Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Kerry Washington, Jimmy Smits, Samuel L. Jackson. (U.S.)

Women Without Men (Directors-screenwriters: Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari). A dissection of Iranian society at the time of the 1953 CIA-backed coup that overturned the nationalist government and installed the shah in power. Cast: Pegah Ferydoni, Arita Shahrzad, Shabnam Tolouei (Munis), Orsi Toth. (Germany/Austria/France)

DOCUMENTARY FILMS IN SPOTLIGHT

To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America (Director: Gayle Ferraro). Tapping into the success of Muhammad Yunus after winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Bangladesh/U.S.)

NEW FRONTIER

Pepperminta (Director: Pipilotti Rist; screenwriters: Pipilotti Rist, Chris Niemeyer). Pepperminta is an anarchist of the imagination: Colors are the young woman’s best friends, and strawberries are her pets. With her friends, she sets out to fight for a more humane world. (Austria/Switzerland)

Shit Year (Director-screenwriter: Cam Archer). An aging, unhappy actress pursues enlightenment through early retirement, isolation, self-analysis and time aboard a spaceship. Cast: Bob Einstein, Ellen Barkin, Luke Grimes, Melora Walters, Nate Archer. (U.S.)

Sundance Reveals Non-Competition Lineup (Hollywood Reporter)

The Sundance Film Festival released a good amount of the lineup for the next festival and it looks at first glance to be dark and very boy oriented.  Women account for only 4 out of the 16 (25%) of dramatic films in competition.  Women are better represented in the documentary area making up 7 out of the 16 films (43%) in competition.

Here are the films by and about women that have been announced (descriptions from Sundance via LA Times).  Some of the films that most interest me are Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone.  Remember she introduced us to Vera Farmiga in the brutal Down to the Bone a couple of years ago.  The docs I want to see are Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s (The Devil Came on Horseback) doc on Joan Rivers and Jesus Camp’s Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing new doc on abortion 12th & Delaware.

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION (16 Films in Competition)

The Imperialists are still Alive! (Director and screenwriter: Zeina Durra)—Juggling the sudden abduction of her childhood sweetheart as well as a blooming love affair, a French Manhattanite makes her way as an artist in an indifferent, sometimes hostile world. Cast: Élodie Bouchez, José María de Tavira, Karim Saleh Karolina Muller, Marianna Kulukundis, Rita Ackerman. World Premiere

Night Catches Us (Director and screenwriter: Tanya Hamilton)—In 1978, complex political and emotional forces are set in motion when a young man returns to the race-torn Philadelphia neighborhood where he came of age during the Black Power movement. Cast: Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Jamie Hector, Wendell Pierce, Jamara Griffin. World Premiere

Obselidia (Director and screenwriter: Diane Bell)—A lonely librarian believes love is obsolete until a road trip to Death Valley with a beguiling cinema projectionist teaches him otherwise. Cast: Gaynor Howe, Michael Piccirilli, Frank Hoyt Taylor. World Premiere

Winter’s Bone (Director: Debra Granik; Screenwriters: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini)—An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact. Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser, Kevin Breznahan, Isaiah Stone. World Premiere

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION (16 films in competition)

Bhutto (Directors: Duane Baughman and Johnny O’Hara; Screenwriter: Johnny O’Hara)—A riveting journey through the life and work of  recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister and a polarizing figure in the Muslim world. World Premiere

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Director: Tamra Davis)—The story of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose work defined, electrified and challenged an era, and whose untimely death at age 27 has made him a cultural icon. World Premiere

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Directors: Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg)—A rare, brutally honest glimpse into the comedic process and private dramas of legendary comedian and pop icon Joan Rivers as she fights tooth and nail to keep her American dream alive. World Premiere

My Perestroika (Director: Robin Hessman)—Intimately tracking the lives of five Muscovites who came of age just as the USSR collapsed and are adjusting to their post-Soviet reality, My Perestroika maps the contours of a nation in profound transition. World Premiere

The Oath (Director: Laura Poitras)—Filmed in Yemen, The Oath tells the story of two men whose fateful encounter in 1996 set them on a course of events that led them to Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo, and the U.S. Supreme Court. World Premiere

A Small Act (Director: Jennifer Arnold)—A young Kenyan’s life changes dramatically when his education is sponsored by a Swedish stranger. Years later, he founds his own scholarship program to replicate the kindness he once received. World Premiere

12th & Delaware (Directors: Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing)—The abortion battle continues to rage in unexpected ways on an unassuming corner in America. World Premiere

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION (12 films in competition)

A Film Unfinished / Germany, Israel (Director: Yael Hersonski)—Film reels uncovered in Nazi archives reveal the mechanisms used to stage Warsaw Ghetto life–images which have shaped our view of history. World Premiere

His & Hers / Ireland (Director: Ken Wardrop)—Seventy Irish women offer moving insights into the relationships between women and men. North American Premiere

Kick in Iran / Gemany (Director: Fatima Geza Abdollahyan)—The first female professional Taekwondo fighter from Iran to qualify for the Olympic Games struggles for recognition in a society where women still play a subordinate role. World Premiere

Russian Lessons / Georgia, Germany, Norway (Directors: Olga Konskaya and Andrei Nekrasov)—An investigation into Russian actions during the 2008 war in Georgia, revealing the little known story of the ethnic cleansing in the region since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. World Premiere

Waste Land / United Kingdom (Director: Lucy Walker)—Lives are transformed when international art star Vik Muniz collaborates with garbage pickers in the world’s largest landfill in Rio de Janeiro. World Premiere

WORLD CINEMA NARRATIVE COMPETITION (14 films in competition)

Grown Up Movie Star / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Adriana Maggs)—After her mother runs away, a teenage girl, determined to grow up fast, is left to care for her hopelessly rural father.  U.S. Premiere

Vegetarian (Chaesikjueuija) / South Korea (Director and screenwriter: Lim Woo-seong)—A young housewife, finds herself having strange dreams that make her disgusted by meat, leading to trouble with her meat-loving husband and attention from her artist brother in law.  International Premiere

Sundance Film Festival Announces 2010 Competition Lineup (LA Times)

This past weekend I was lucky enough to get flown to Columbia, Mo to attend the second year of the Citizen Jane Film Festival run out of Stephens College. (a woman’s college)  Columbia is a good town for a fest because they already have a reputable one True/False and with three colleges (U of Missouri, Columbia College and Stephens) it can sustain a weekend of films.

As part of my weekend as a guest of the festival I did a workshop and talked about my blog and issues it raises, and also moderated a panel with some of the other guests.  What was cool about the festival was that there were women who worked in a variety of disciplines including directors, animators and designers so I got to meet all find of folks and talk about their work.

The weekend went by way too fast and I got into so many great conversations that I missed some of the films.  Thanks to everyone for their great hospitality.  Check out the picture from the weekend here.  (Thanks to Ken Leija for his photos)

Here are some of the women I met and their work:

Say My Name- a look at women in the hip-hop world.  Director Nirit Peled

$9.99- animator Shira Derman

Barbara Hammer- a legend

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo- director Jessica Oreck

Cold Souls- Production Designer Beth Mickle

Sunshine- director Karen Skloss

Older Than America- director Georgina Lightning

American Casino- director Leslie Cockburn

I’m traveling today to the Citizen Jane Film Festival so no blogging today.  Here’s an interview I did with the Columbia Daily Tribune in Columbia, MO in anticipation of the Citizen Jane Film Festival this weekend.

Melissa Silverstein of Brooklyn, N.Y., has the type of articulate, informed voice the Citizen Jane Film Festival is becoming known for bringing to Columbia. Her well-regarded blog at womenandhollywood.com exists to highlight issues facing women in film, TV and other areas of popular culture. Silverstein has written for a variety of publications, including Huffington Post, Alternet, Ms. magazine and More magazine; additionally, she has been an online marketing consultant on films targeted at women and serves on the advisory board of the Women’s Media Center. She will participate in “Women Behind the Camera: A Conversation with the Women of CJFF09,” taking place at noon Saturday at Ragtag Cinema. In this Q&A conducted by e-mail, Silverstein comments on the underrepresentation of women in film and how events such as Citizen Jane can help.

Tribune: How did you first hear about Citizen Jane? What will be the nature of your involvement in this year’s festival?

Silverstein: I believe I read about the festival online and then asked Polina (Malikin) to do a guest post on my site because I was impressed with what they were doing.

Tribune: From what you’ve observed, how much of the underrepresentation of women in the film industry is because of structural impediments wrapped up in the way the industry has historically been run? How much is carried over from broader, more wide-ranging cultural issues?

Silverstein: That’s a pretty big question. As an outsider, movie lover and a feminist, to me it looks like the town is sexist and is fueled by male egos, but I have to say I am really proud of the women who have made it in the business because they will make things easier for the next generation. That being said, I love movies and TV of all different types and like most other people want to see different kinds of movies made by different kinds of people, both men and women. That shouldn’t be too much to ask.

Read full interview here

I’m very excited that I am going to be a guest this weekend in Columbia, MO at the Citizen Jane Film Festival. I’ve never been a guest a film festival before and I am very honored to be participating.

Here a brief description of the festival which is held on the campus on Stephens College:

The Citizen Jane Film Festival brings together a diversity of makers who are working with media in a variety of ways – from documentary shorts to handmade film to feature narratives to performance art and installation. The festival will be an opportunity for artists working in different genres and modes to have conversations and share resources.

I will be doing a workshop talking about my blog and issues related to women and hollywood, and will also be moderating a panel with all the different guests – Women Behind the Camera: A Conversation with the Women of CJFF09 on Saturday at noon.  Here is the full program.

If you are in the area come check it out.  I think they will be recording my workshop so hopefully I will be able to post it on the blog.

Next weekend, October 23-25, is The Baltimore Women’s Film Festival.  The festival screens shorts, features, documentaries, animations and music videos created by women. Many filmmakers will be in town to discuss their work during the festival.

Half of proceeds go to support breast cancer patients at the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Center.

If you are in Baltimore you should go and support this festival.

Scene from Courtney Cox's Film, Monday Before Thanksgiving

LunaFest is a traveling film festival comprised of shorts by, for and about women.  100 percent of all the proceeds go to charities.  It is sponsored by Luna Bars.

They kick off the festival tonight in San Francisco.  Check out the list of locations to see if it will be in your neighborhood.

Here are the list of films that will be screening:

A SUMMER RAIN / 16.5 minutes
A young Israeli immigrant struggles with her transition to American life.
Director: Ela Thier, New York, NY

ROZ (AND JOSHUA) / 3 minutes
Separated from her son, Roz lives for the time when they will reunite permanently.
Director: Charlene Music, Palo Alto, CA

PLASTIC / 7.5 minutes
A young woman redefines her self-image moments before a first date.
Director: Sandy Widyanata, Bondi Beach, Australia

DIY: EMANCIPATION 101 / 1 minute
A playful animation about women and bicycling.
Director: Lynn Robinson, Lyndeborough, NH

MONDAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING / 19 minutes
Through a chance encounter, a single woman learns that the life she lives is exactly what she wants.
Director: Courteney Cox, West Hollywood, CA

THE KINDA SUTRA / 8.5 minutes
How are babies made?
Director: Jessica Yu, Santa Monica, CA

A VIDA POLITICA / 3 minutes
A Brazilian hairstylist explains how beauty can be a form of activism.
Director: Kat Mansoor, Brighton, England

THE MCCOMBIE WAY / 6.5 minutes
Words of wisdom from a mystic in the middle of the Mojave Desert.
Director: Kristina & Nick Higgins, Los Angeles, CA

OMELETTE / 7 minutes
A mother battles with the challenges of inflation.
Director: Nadejda Koseva, Sofia, Bulgaria

ANJALI / 14.5 minutes
When Anjali becomes witness to her father’s betrayal, she must decide if she will share her secret
and risk devastating her family.
Director: Maya Anand, New York, NY

LunaFest

Last year Slumdog Millionaire took the audience award — the top award — at Toronto and we all know what happened to the film.  It blew up big and went on to win best picture.  And that movie didn’t even have Oprah shilling for it.

Precious — the film based on the novel Push by Sapphire won the top award at Toronto making it the first film in history to win the audience awards at both Sundance and Toronto.

Director Lee Daniels was already off at the next festival but sent a message:

I made this film for every person out there who ever looked in the mirror, and felt unsure about the person looking back at them. This is not an art film for a select few. This is a movie for everyone that can relate to. This film is for all precious girls, and for everyone who has a little precious on the inside.

Does this now make it the top contender for best picture?

Leanne Pooley’s doc The Topp Twins about a lesbian New Zealand country and western singing group beat out Michael Moore for top honors.  The film has yet to find a US distributor.

This is so special. I’ve been making documentaries for like twenty years. And usually they’re dark, and that is often the world that a documentary filmmaker moves in. But this is a film about joy and laughter and love. It’s just so special to be able to bring a film like that to audiences like yours.

Ruba Nadda’s Cairo Time starring Patricia Clarkson won best Canadian feature.

Precious Tops Toronto Winner (IndieWire)

Sapphire

I met Michele Landsberg last March at WAM in Cambridge and we have been corresponding (mostly tweeting) since then.  She is a long time feminist activist and writer based in Toronto, and was kind enough to write a report from the Toronto Film Festival on some of the films and experiences not making the international headlines.

Sapphire was on stage in the middle of Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto on Saturday. The square is devoted this week to free films, readings and events tied to the Toronto International Film Festival, which takes over the whole centre city for 10 days every September. (Drew Barrymore and her cast did  a demo of roller-skating, for example, and The Topp twins, yodeling New Zealand lesbians, were scheduled to appear). Sapphire’s reading  from her tough novel, Push —  the film version, Precious, got its debut here as one of the gala presentations, ushered in by a beaming, emotional Oprah —provided me with a true Toronto mirthquake.  Picture the audience: Perched on a couple of hundreds folding chairs were weary shoppers just passing by, bewildered Asian tourists, suburbanites with sun-hats and backpacks determined to “do” the Festival and a smattering of passionately attentive black women.

Precious, as you know, is an abused  teenager in Harlem. Sapphire reads her dialogue as she confronts a hated teacher, rolling  out the Harlem-inflected epithets with crisp emphasis. “White bitch!  Cuntbucket!”

It’s fan heaven here, with more than 300 films and hundreds of stars strutting the red carpets, crowding the best restaurants and often stopping for streeter photographs and interviews in the middle of gaping crowds.

For the first time ever, about 20 per cent of the 300 movies are directed by women. Ticket triage was easy this year: I went through the hefty, telephone-book size program guide and checked off every film directed by a woman, then narrowed it down to select only those that might never get general North American distribution. The industry, distributors and deal-makers flock like seagulls feasting on an incoming tide, but to me it often seems as though they swoop in only on the trash fish.

Will any of them light on My Queen Karo, a beautifully lyrical feature directed by Belgian Dorothee van den Berghe?  The co-director of the Festival, Cameron Bailey, came to the screening to introduce the film personally, praising it for telling a story through a young girl’s point of view — a rarity, but not here this year, where at least three or four other features are about a girl’s coming of age. In My Queen Karo, the protagonist is a wonderfully unaffected, dark-eyed girl of 11, just beginning to develop, scrambling up as the daughter of radical parents in a squat in ‘70s Amsterdam. Their utopian collective life begins to break down as their leader, Karo’s father, insists on his right to have other lovers. My guess is that the scenes of  children and adults swimming naked together,  not to mention the adults performing group sex while their kids watch, will have this sensitive and thought-provoking movie shunned in North America.

Drawing attention at the festival is Google Baby, a determinedly non-judgmental Israeli documentary about the international baby-making trade. Director Zippi Brand Frank follows a gay couple in Israel who have a daughter created with the help of an ovum bought in the U.S. One of the couple, Doron, gets the idea of starting a business to provide cheaper babies to his yearning gay friends. The camera follows him matter-of-factly as he arranges baby deals on his cell phone, lugs tanks of frozen sperm in a carry-on suitcase to the U.S., and travels to Gujarat, India, where he finds a clinic run by a brilliant Indian woman doctor who provides a stable of surrogate mothers, ready to be implanted with imported frozen embryos. The Gujarat scenes are genuinely stunning, both revelatory and morally complex.

More in a day or two: I want to write about Blessed, a superb Australian film by Ana Kokkinos about mothers and children. And I have tickets to three more films by women, including Fish Tank, the much anticipated new film by Andrea Arnold of the U.K.

If you are in the SF area…

The MadCat Women’s International Film Festival is the longest running experimental women’s film festival in the United States. Known for it’s inventive programming that highlights avant-garde works, lush experimental films, documentaries, animation, and essay films, MadCat sets itself apartfrom other women’s film festivals by highlighting films that challenge the use of sound and image and explore notions of visual storytelling. The Festival seeks innovation and eschews work solely about traditional women’s issues.
When:  September 16 in San Francisco.
Where:  El Rio, 3158 Mission Street at Precita Street

The September 16th special screening represents an exciting sneak peak of just some of the films that will be featured at this year’s Festival. El Rio is a kick off of sorts for the 13th Annual MadCat Women’s International Touring Festival. New this year, MadCat will make the entire Festival line-up to universities, art houses, museums and microcinema’s across the country.

The program at El Rio includes 3D film with live music, world premieres by Kerry Laitala and Samara Halperin, a 16mm anamorphic film, an homage to Coney Island, live music by Silian Rail and Tartufi — all under the stars.

“These filmmakers push the boundaries of storytelling and dazzle the eyes with their amazing use of the media,” says Curator and Executive Director Ariella Ben-Dov.

MOVIES UNDER THE STARS

Special El Rio screening of the 13th Annual MadCat Women’s International Film Festival

Doors open 630 pm and movies start 8:30 pm Rain or Shine
Tickets at the door in CASH $8-$20 Sliding scale
3158 Mission Street at Precita (must be 21 or over)
Live music by Tartufi and Silian Rail

MadCat Highlights
Astroland – Samara Halperin
pre-demolition, non-narrative celebration of Coney Island’s Astroland. Music by Stormy Knight.

The Horses, They Came – Harriette Yahr
A film about the destructive nature of obsession.

Seattle Solstice – Caryn Cline
Mapping a Seattle landscape as the year turns, this film is an optical print of original hand-made frames. Featuring hydrangea, geranium, nandina, camillia, oregano, vinca, snapdragon, cyclemen, violet, linden, clematis, linaria, birch bark and daphne.

1 to 8 – Amy Schwartz
A series of 30-second sequences, all based on the same original frames of super 8mm film and re-worked on the optical printer using different rhythms and methods. A play on light and color.

Lively Lovely (and the rest) – Eve Gordon
Playful with an anacronistic slant, Lively, Lovely is a modern take on musical cinema of the 1930’s. Following a disembodied pair of legs through a Busby Berkley-esque dance routine, it at one time both objectifies the female form and celebrates its grace. Sewing machine holes dart and dive through the stopmotion mid-air dancing legs.

Woodward’s Garden – Katherin McGinnis
Combining old and new 3D images, Woodward’s Gardens explores the site of a 19th century amusement park – “the Central Park of the West” – now home to a drug rehab facility, web porn studio, and upscale restaurants. Historic stereographs, many by Carleton Watkins and Edward Muybridge, are intertwined with new 3D images and an soundtrack recreating the 1890’s ambiance.

Spectrology – Kerry Laitala
In 1646, Kircher published Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, on the subject of the display of images on a screen using an apparatus similar to the magic lantern  as developed by Christian Huygens. Using this apparatus as a tool to enchant, spellbind and spook, Paul de Philipsthal, Robertson and other conjurors dazzled spectators with their unique bag of 18th Century tricks, raising up the spirits of recently deceased and reminding the viewer of the “fate that awaits us all”.  Spectrology calls upon conjurors of the past and their secret repertoire of magical devices to simulate a modern rendition of the phantasmagoria. The medium of cinema is harnessed to entice the viewer and ruminate on the mesmerizing presence of various illusions made anew.

Motion Studies – Fernanda D’Agostino
Taking images video footage from actual motion studies D’Agostino manipulates the images with digital effects creating a stunning piece with an eye-popping color palette. At times this footage is like a moving abstract painting, at other times the motions of the bird’s flight becomes more explicit — mesmerizing either way.

Cobra Mist – Emily Richardson
Cobra Mist explores the relationship between the landscape of Orford Ness and the traces of its unusual military history, particularly the experiments in radar and the extraordinary architecture of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. The place has a sinister atmosphere, which the architecture itself begins to reveal and the sense of foreboding is accentuated through
the film’s soundtrack.

About the Festival
Founded in 1996, MadCat is the longest running women’s film festival in San Francisco and the only avant-garde women’s film festival in the United States. With more than 1,000 submissions to choose from MadCat has culled choice works from around the globe. Submissions hailed from: Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Russia,
Siberia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, and others. As always, MadCat champions work by female directors who explore notions of visual storytelling, and aims to entice audiences with out of the ordinary pairings of films and videos.

MadCat Women’s International Film Festival

(All info from press release)

The Toronto Film Festival kicked off this week and there are some very special and excellent films about young women that are getting a lot of notice.  It seems that young women coming of age has emerged as one of the themes of the festival.  The great thing is that all the films look so cool and are getting great notices.

Here’s what Cameron Bailey the festival’s co-director said to IndieWire last week:

“There’s been some really great films about the coming of age of young women,” he said. “It began probably at Sundance with films like ‘An Education’ and ‘Precious’ – two very different approaches to that turf – and then at Cannes in films like ‘Fish Tank.’  With ‘Cracks’ and ‘Tanner Hall’ – two new films that Toronto has – we see [those themes] picked up again.  It’s sometimes with women directors, and sometimes with men, but in every case you’re seeing a kind of new approach to the coming-of-age story. The coming-of-age story of a young man is kind of a staple in the movies, but I think we’re seeing filmmakers pay more attention to how young women come of age and what they’re going through.”

As he says- the coming of age for young men is so common and finally we are starting to pay attention to young women. FINALLY.

Even more important is that the conversation about both Precious and An Education are just beginning as they both get ready to roll out.  I am also going to throw Bright Star in here as a woman’s coming of age story.  Even though it’s basically a love story the growth of Fanny in the relationship and what she has to endure and live with after the death of her beloved is one of those life changing moments.  All three films are potential Oscar bait so I for one am psyched for these films and themes to be a part of our cultural conversation.

The Toronto Film Festival has added more films including Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria in The Young Victoria as the closing night film. (description from indiewire)

Set between 1836, the year before her ascension, to 1840, the year she married Prince Albert, “The Young Victoria” presents a contrasting image of the woman whose image is widely held as an elderly widow dressed in black. According to a TIFF description, in addition to being a love story and family drama, the film explores the idea of instant celebrity – one minute Victoria is living under virtual house arrest, the next she is the most famous woman in the world.

Here are some other films that focus on women or are women directed: (descriptions from Indiewire)

Cairo Time by Ruba Nadda, Canada/Ireland, World Premiere
Juliette (Patricia Clarkson), a magazine editor, arrives in Cairo to meet her husband Mark (Tom McCamus), a UN official in Gaza. When he is unavoidably delayed, Mark sends his friend and former security officer Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to show her around the city. As she gets used to the customs and rhythm of life in Cairo, Juliette finds herself falling not only for the city’s charms, but for Tareq as well.

Chloe by Atom Egoyan, France/Canada, World Premiere
Catherine (Julianne Moore), a successful doctor, suspects her husband David (Liam Neeson), a handsome music professor, is cheating on her. To lay her suspicions and fears to rest, she hires an irresistible young woman, Chloe (Amanda Seyfried), to test David’s fidelity. Chloe’s torrid tales of her encounters with David lead Catherine on a journey of sexual and sensual re-discovery. But by opening the door to temptation, she puts her family in great danger.

Cooking with Stella by Dilip Mehta, Canada, World Premiere
A warmhearted social satire about a Canadian diplomat (Lisa Ray) and her chef husband Michael (Don McKellar) who are posted to New Delhi. Upon arrival they inherit a household of Indian servants headed by the charming, totally inspiring – and wily – cook, Stella (Seema Biswas). When Stella agrees to become Michael’s cooking guru, to teach him traditional Indian dishes, little does he know that she’s cooking up a scheme of her own.

Agora
Alejandro Amenabar, Spain North American Premiere
In the fourth century, while Egypt was under the Roman Empire, violent religious upheaval in the streets of Alexandria spills over into the city’s famous library. Trapped inside its walls, the brilliant astronomer Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) and her disciples fight to save the wisdom of the ancient world. Among the group are the two men competing for Hypatia’s heart: the witty, privileged Orestes and Davus, Hypatia’s young slave, who is torn between his secret love for her and the freedom he knows can be his if he chooses to join the unstoppable surge of the Christians.

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits
Don Roos, USA World Premiere
Emilia Woolf (Natalie Portman) is a Harvard law school graduate and a newlywed, having just married Jack, her high-powered New York lawyer boss (Scott Cohen). Her life takes an unexpected turn when the couple loses their newborn daughter. Emilia struggles through her grief to connect with her precocious new stepson William (Charlie Tahan), overcome a rift in her relationship with her father caused by his infidelity, and cope with the constant interferences of Jack’s angry, jealous ex-wife (Lisa Kudrow). An adaptation of an Ayelet Waldman novel, this tearful and terrific tale by writer-director Don Roos proves that even with a pursuit like love, nothing is impossible.

Mother and Child
Rodrigo Garcia, USA World Premiere
This moving drama follows the story of three women (Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Kerry Washington) and the power of the unbreakable bond between mother and child. From writer-director Rodrigo Garcia (Nine Lives), executive producer Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel) and producers Lisa Falcone and Julie Lynn, the film also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Shareeka Epps, Cherry Jones and S. Epatha Merkerson.

The Waiting City
Claire McCarthy, Australia World Premiere
An outwardly happy Australian couple (Radha Mitchell, Joel Edgerton) journey to Kolkata, India to collect their adopted baby, but on arrival finds that the arrangements at the agency have yet to be finalized. They have no option but to wait in this place that, to them, is chaotic and foreign. But as the intoxicating mystic powers of the Indian city pull them each in separate and unexpected directions, the vulnerability of their marriage begins to reveal itself.

and for the YUCK factor (please tell me why women are drawn to make films about misogynist creeps.)

Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel by Brigitte Berman, Canada, World Premiere
An intimate look at the outspoken, flamboyant founder of the Playboy empire. With humour and insight, the film captures Hefner’s fierce battles with the government, the religious right and militant feminists. Rare footage and compelling interviews with a remarkable who’s who of 20th Century American pop culture, present a brilliant and entertaining snapshot of the life of an extraordinary man and the controversies that surrounded him.

The NYFF released the lineup for its 47th edition earlier this week.  Of the 29 films listed on its main slate only 4 (actually 3 and a half) are directed by women.  Unacceptable.  The list of women directed and women centric films is below.

The dates of the festival are September 25-October 11.

Women Directed (All summaries form the NYFF site)

Bluebeard / La Barbe Bleue
Catherine Breillat, France, 2009, 78m
Two sisters reading Charles Perrault’s 17th century tale of perhaps the first “serial killer” becomes a meditation on the enduring fascination with a character who has served as inspiration for countless novels, plays and films.

Everyone Else / Alle Anderen
Maren Ade, Germany, 2009, 119m
The ups and downs, joys and jealousies, frustrations and fulfillments of a young couple on a summer holiday provides the premise for this brilliant meditation on modern coupling.

Sweetgrass
Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, USA, 2009, 105m
This breathtaking chronicle follows an ever-surprising group of modern-day cowboys as they lead an enormous herd of sheep up and then down the slopes of the Beartooth Mountains in Montana on their way to market.

White Material
Claire Denis, France, 2009, 100m
A handful of Europeans try to make sense of-and survive-the chaos happening all around them in an African country torn apart by civil war.

About Women

CENTERPIECE
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Lee Daniels, USA, 2009; 109m
Precious is sixteen and living a miserable life. But she uses all the emotional energy she possesses to turn her life around. Director Lee Daniel’s audacious tale features unforgettable performances by Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe. A Lionsgate release.

Hadewijch
Bruno Dumont, France, 2009, 105m
A young woman searches for an absolute experience of faith-and in the process grows increasingly distant from the world around her.

Mother/ Maedo
Bong Joon-ho, South Korea, 2009, 128m
Convinced that her son has been wrongly accused of murder, a widow throws herself body and soul into proving his innocence. Kim Hye-ja in the title role gives perhaps the performance of the year.

New York Film Festival

Abigail Tarttelin attended Comic-Con with Schrodinger’s Girl a film she is in.  Women & Hollywood asked her to write up her impressions of the offerings that we will be seeing on our TV screens this season.

Hello Women and Hollywood Readers,

This is Abigail Tarttelin, I’m an English actress just returned from Comic-Con 2009, after screening Schrodinger’s Girl, a sci-fi action adventure with three strong female lead characters, in the Official Selection of Comic-con’s Independent Film Festival. I was introduced to science fiction during the making of this film, and since then have been trying to reconcile where the genre sits with its portrayal of women.

Elizabeth Mitchell

Sci-fi and comic portrayal of women is a two-edged sword – on the one hand, science fiction has given birth to some of film’s strongest female characters: Ripley from Alien; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Princess Leia and Queen Amidala from Star Wars; Starbuck from the Battlestar Galactica remake; most of Joss Whedon’s work (!), but then on the other hand, exploitation is rife and women are often scantily clad with emphasis on the “hot body”, and often relegated to victim roles.

In terms of film and television on offer for the female-friendly audience at Comic-Con, it was a mixed bag, but there were a few standouts to watch for. Preview night at Comic-Con showcased three pilots of shows to air later in the year including V, a remake of the 1983 two part mini-series, and this was a definite hit for women, with the leader of the Alien race, originally John, now the enigmatic Anna, played by Morena Baccarin. Even more positive is that the heroine of the piece is FBI agent and leader of the Los Angeles resistance cell, Erica Evans, played by Lost actress Elizabeth Mitchell, whose son is tempted into joining the Alien “nazi-youth” by his attraction to a young ‘visitor’.  Erica plays the part well, and comes across as strong and intelligent, and while also portraying a mother and lover, she is not relegated to representing solely these roles.

Human Target, based on the comic book by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino, employs Tricia Helfer (Number Six in Battlestar Galactica) as the client that lead character Christopher Chance must save, and Vampire Diaries, the third pilot to screen on the Wednesday, stars Nina Dobrev as Elena, a human girl whose soul is the subject of two warring vampire brothers’ desires. The show could go two ways, as both vampire brothers happen to be cute so perhaps might steal the limelight away from Elena, but it does smack to me more of Buffy The Vampire Slayer so perhaps we’ll see a strong female character stick her neck out and refuse to be the victim. The show is based on the books but will be ‘tweaked’ for television, so feel free to read ahead and learn the story, but perhaps don’t get too comfortable with the specifics, as I’m sure the shows creators will want to surprise us.

The standout show this season for women, however, will be ABC’s Eastwick, starring Lindsay Price, Rebecca Romijn and Jamie Ray Newman. The pilot screening was incredibly well received, and all three actresses do a stand-up job, in three roles where the women are empowered or/and in the process of empowerment. The show is a re-imagining of the book and film The Witches of Eastwick for a modern audience, so hopefully won’t go down the semi-misogynistic route the book took, where the three witches give their female friend cancer when the subject of their desires marries her, then leave town with their ideal men. It doesn’t feel from the pilot like it will.

The show is exec produced by Maggie Friedman (Spellbound, Related) and directed by David Nutter (Roswell, Dark Angel, The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), who stated that “What was most important was to make this a show about everyday people, make it as accessible as possible to people, make it a show about female empowerment, as well as relationships between women, and how they can deal with these abilities.” Sounds good. The show airs this fall, Wednesdays at 10pm ET/PT.