Weekly Update March 29: Women-Centric, Directed, Written Movies Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Weekend

The Host

From Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight Saga) comes “The Host,” a love story set in the future, where earth is occupied by a species who erase the minds of their human hosts, leaving their bodies intact. Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) is one of the last surviving humans who fight back, risking her life for the people she cares about most — Jared (Max Irons), Ian, (Jake Abel), her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt) — proving that love can conquer all. (From the press materials)

Violeta Went to Heaven

This is the extraordinary story of the poet and folk singer Violeta Parra, whose songs have become hymns for Chileans and Latin Americans alike. Director Andres Wood traces the intensity and explosive vitality of her life, from humble origins to international fame, her defense of indigenous cultures, and devotion to her art. (Athena Film Festival)

Mental

Mental tells the quirky, comedic and often inspiring story of the The Moochmore girls who are certain they all suffer from some kind of undiagnosed neurotic mental issue – because after all, if they’re not crazy then that means they are just are unpopular. Their mother Shirley — unable to cope with her energetic daughters and unsupportive, philandering politician husband, Barry — lives in a fantastical world of the Family Von Trapp and the songs of The Sound of Music keep her belief that she has the ideal family alive. When her delusions lead her to believe her husband has won Wheel of Fortune and proceeds to buy a houseful of new furniture, he can take no more and commits his wife to a mental hospital. An absentee father all of these years, he finds himself alone with 5 teenage girls he barely knows. Desperate, he impulsively picks up Shaz (Toni Collette), an eccentric hitchhiker, who becomes the girls’ nanny and transforms their lives with her unconventional beliefs. Shaz is charismatic, hot tempered, inspiring, and completely nuts. However, she proves to be exactly what the Moochmore family needs. (From the press materials)

The Revolutionary Optimists – Directed by Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen

The Revolutionary Optimists draws us into the world of two 11-year olds with no access to clean drinking water, a girl forced to labor inside a brick kiln, and a teenage dancer on the precipice of choosing child marriage to escape from her abusive family. From these fragile lives, lawyer turned change-agent Amlan Ganguly mines the strength and vision to build a most unlikely revolution. The film follows Ganguly and 4 children from Kolkata’s poorest slums on an intimate journey through their adolescence. Together they fight seemingly insurmountable odds to build a better future for themselves and their community, challenging the notion that marginalization is written into their destiny. (From the press materials)

Blancanieves

Blancanieves, a retelling of “Snow White,” is a visually stunning film that also serves as a throwback to black and white silent film. Set in 1920s Seville, Carmen (the gorgeous Macarena Garcia) is the daughter of a hugely famous bull fighter who is married to the horrifying evil stepmother Encarna (a deliciously, hilariously evil Maribel Verdu) who dictates his entire life. Carmen escapes and joins a troop of bullfighting dwarves and her own bullfighting heritage begins to get her notice and fame. When Encarna hears the news, she goes to search for Carmen.

Films About Women Currently Playing

Admission – Written by Karen Croner

Eden – Co-Written and Directed by Megan Griffiths

The Sapphires

Hunky Dory

Ginger and Rosa – Written and Directed by Sally Potter

If I Were You – Written and Directed by Joan Carr-Wiggin

The Girl

The Call

Spring Breakers

Girl Rising

Beyond the Hills