Weekly Update May 31: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Weekend

Hannah Arendt – Directed by Margarethe von Trotta

Hannah Arendt was a complicated woman and director Margarethe von Trotta has made a complicated film to fit her subject. Arendt caused the ire of many when she coined the term the “banality of evil” after observing Adolf Eichmann at his trial in Israel after World War Two. Ms. Arendt, played by the superb actress Barbara Sukowa who has a long history with the director, is a female character not seen frequently on screen. She is a thinker, an intellectual, a debater, a fighter. These are virtues that don’t necessarily come off easily on camera but in this film they do. Thinking was her job, and she was one of the best. This is an important portrait of an important woman. Read an interview with Margarethe von Trotta and Barbara Sukowa.

American Mary – Written and Directed by Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska

The story follows medical student, Mary Mason, as she becomes increasingly broke and disenchanted with the surgical world she once admired. The allure of easy money sends Mary into the world of underground surgeries which ends up leaving more marks on her than her so called ‘freakish’ clientele. (From IMDB)

The East – Co-Written by Brit Marling

An operative for an elite private intelligence firm finds her priorities changing dramatically after she is tasked with infiltrating an anarchist group known for executing covert attacks upon major corporations. (IMDB)

Shadow Dancer

Shadow Dancer takes us back to the early 1990s and the continuing battle between the IRA and the British government. A young mother whose family business is the IRA gets arrested in an attempted bombing and she is forced to choose between going to jail and informing on her family and friends. The film follows the complications and implications of the life of an informer and shows the lengths both sides will go to in an attempt to win this war. Andrea Riseborough continues to impress as the young mother Collette McVeigh, and Clive Owen plays her handler from MI5.

Films By and About Women Released on Demand

Crazy Kind of Love – Written by Karen McCullah Lutz, Directed by Sarah Siegel-Magness

While re-evaluating her life, a mother relies on her stoner son and his awkward brother to keep life interesting. When an unlikely romance blossoms between the youngest son and the girl next door, she realizes the key to her happiness can be found where she least expects it. (from the press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

Fill The Void – Written and Directed by Rama Burshstein

Black Rock – Directed by Katie Aselton

Frances Ha – Co-Written by Greta Gerwig

The English Teacher – Co-Written by Stacy Chariton

Augustine – Directed by Alice Winocour

Venus and Serena – Directed by Maiken Baird and Michelle Major (doc)

Stories We Tell – Directed by Sarah Polley (doc)

Kiss of the Damned – Written and Directed by Xan Cassavetes

What Maisie Knew – Co-Written by Nancy Doyne

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