ALL POSTS
‘Borgen’ Is Back
I have been a huge fan of Borgen since the moment I started watching it. It has become a huge success and won the BAFTA last weekend for International TV show. Season two starts this Sunday, June 3...
Book Excerpt: The Twitter Diaries by Georgie Thompson & Imogen Lloyd Webber
Media personalities Georgie Thompson, one of the faces of Sky Sports out of England, and Imogen Lloyd Webber (yes, she is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s daughter), an MSNBC commentator, have teamed up to...
Interview with Pink Ribbons Director Lea Pool and Producer Ravida Din
This is a repost of an interview with the director Lea Pool and producer Ravida Din of the terrific and anger producing documentary Pink Ribbons that was conducted shortly after last fall’s...
Silver Docs 2012: The Women
The 10th edition of AFI Silver Docs Festival will take place in Washington DC from June 18–24. It will open with Ramona Diaz’ crowd pleaser DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’: EVERYMAN’S JOURNEY. If you...
Trailer Watch: Les Miserables
Not woman centric but the trailer features Anne Hathaway singing I Dreamed a Dream. This looks really great. Opens December 7. h/t The Playlist
Guest Post: One Woman’s View of Composing In/Out of Hollywood
Writing a blog for a website called Women & Hollywood presents an interesting opportunity for this film composer who dwells primarily in the world of independent documentaries. While not really...
Guest Post: One Woman’s View of Composing In/Out of Hollywood
Writing a blog for a website called Women & Hollywood presents an interesting opportunity for this film composer who dwells primarily in the world of independent documentaries. While not...
Cannes Wrap-Up: Festival President Admits They Need to Work Harder to Include Women Directors
Cannes wrapped up this weekend with Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke winning the Palme d’Or for Amour. He also won the Palme d’Or in 2009 for the last film he had in the festival,...
Trailer Watch: Fast Girls
Just in time for the Olympics here come Fast Girls. Could this be a new Bend it Like Beckham? Opens in the UK on June 15.
Women’s Films Opening — May 25
Films About Women Now Playing Girl in Progress — directed by Patricia Riggen Where Do We Go Now? — written and directed by Nadine Labaki The Perfect Family — directed by Anne...
Viola Davis Gets Honorary Degree from Providence College
Viola Davis received an honorary doctorate degree from Providence College. She also gave the commencement address. Great lines: Your authentic self is constantly trapped under the weight of the most...
Stockholm International Film Festival Special Focus on Women Directors
Last year we reported on the creation of the Stockholm Film Fund Feature Film Award which gives a female director over $700,000 towards her film. Using the lack of women directors in competition as...
Nicole Kidman Hits Cannes With Two Films
I continue to be impressed with Nicole Kidman because the woman does not take the easy road in terms of her parts. She arrived in Cannes with two very different films — Lee Daniels’ The...
Gender Watch: The Firing of Community’s Dan Harmon
I have been watching with interest all week the press regarding the firing of Dan Harmon the creator and showrunner of Community after three seasons. The whole incident would have passed without a...
A Look at Prometheus
I am as intrigued as the next person about Prometheus. Ridley Scott of Alien and Thelma and Louise back directing sci-fi written by one of the dudes that created Lost. And Noomi Rapace — the...
Cross Post: Women Writing Pilots — Nice Work if You Can Get It
Last week the networks announced the pilots they are picking up to series from among the ninety or so that were produced this year for ABC, CBS, CW, FOX and NBC. Certainly the relative success that...
Natalie Portman to Team Up with Lynne Ramsay for Western
Natalie Portman was one of the people who was most excited about Patty Jenkins getting the gig to direct Thor 2. When that fell through one could imagine that she might still be interested in...
See Jennifer Garner in Serena
This is the first short from WIGS a new You Tube channel created by Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes) and Rodrigo Garcia (Albert Nobbs). Here’s the description: WIGS is an innovative new YouTube...
Sexism Watch: Comment from Critic in Cannes
Here’s how Financial Times critic Nigel Andrews ended a recent piece on Cannes Film Festival On screen, at least, there is great work by women in this festival. So pay no regard to the...
Cannes 2012: News Update
Here’s some movie news picked up from the trades coming out of Cannes Saoirse Ronan will star in Testament of Youth, which Calendar Girls co-writer Juliette Towhidi adapted from the 1933 Vera...
Quote of the Day
From Katie Couric during her University of Virginia Commencement address: Some said I lacked gravitas, which I’ve since decided is Latin for testicles… Awesome. Couric helps to send off 6,400...
Lightning in a Bottle? Teaming Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy
Could this be the successor to Bridesmaids? Sandra Bullock is returning to comedy (remember how good Miss Congeniality was?) this time teaming up with Bridesmaids breakout star Melissa McCarthy for...
Jane Lynch Gives The Commencement Address at Smith: Yes, And
One moment from the speech: You will have many opportunities to embrace what the world has for you. I can’t wait to see the ways in which you say “AND.” Remember that Smith Woman entitlement I...
Cannes 2012: Sexism Watch Continues
One of the things I am proud of regarding the work many people have done to raise awareness about the lack of opportunities for female directors is how we were able to interrupt the narrative which...
Julie Taymor Speaks Out
Julie Taymor has not been able to speak out since she was removed as director of Spiderman over a year ago. The legal documents have been speaking for her. But it looks like she is finally trying to...
Cross-Post — Cannes: Festival Opens in a Boys Own Adventure
There are rumbles around the world about the lack of women directors in the official competition. Dr. Lisa French adds an Australian perspective. The `Festival de Cannes` opened with the usual...
Cannes Watch: Woman With a Camera
Here’s a video that interviews women about the lack of women directors in Cannes. It is created by Donna Don. Here’s why she made it: To draw attention to the appalling low number of female...
Cannes Trailer Watch: The Sapphires
The film premiered to wild applause in Cannes. The Weinstein Company has already snapped this Australian film up. It opens in Australia in August. The rest of the world TBD. Here’s the description...
Cross-Post: Cannes 2012: The Stories Aren’t By Women but They’re About Women
It’s hard not to notice sexism when it is everywhere. After dealing with a person named Chris for three years trying to find lodging in Cannes I was stunned to find out that Chris was a woman....
Kristen Wiig Says Goodbye to SNL After Seven Years
She can now be a full time moviestar. NBC.com Video Widget
Women’s Films Opening — May 18, 2012
Recommendations for the week: Hysteria directed by Tanya Wexler and Polisse by Maiwenn. Films About Women Opening This Weekend Virginia Virginia stars Jennifer Connelly in the title role as a...
Sign the Petition! Where Are the Women Directors?
It’s been very interesting to watch the opening of the Cannes Film Festival. In light of the fact that there are no women directors in competition and the great work of La Barbe, at the opening...
Hysteria — Directed by Tanya Wexler, co-written by Jonah Lisa Dyer
Here is a repost of the review of the review I wrote after I saw the film at the Toronto Film Festival. The film opens in the US today. One of the most vivid memories I have of my college learning...
Trailer Watch: Won’t Back Down
This is my kind of movie. It stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, and Holly Hunter. Look for it in Theatres September 28. Yahoo! Video Player
Interview with Tanya Wexler — Director of Hysteria
Hysteria first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and it recently screened at Tribeca. It opens in the US tomorrow, Friday, May 18. Women and Hollywood: This movie feels very contemporary in...
Good Lord — Please Leave These Women Alone
In the last couple days I have seen several disturbing stories about two actresses being harrassed for their post partum appearances. Both Bryce Dallas Howard and Aishwarya Rai have given birth in...
Cannes Watch: Why We Need Films Directed By Women AND Films About Women
Cannes is kicking off right now. I’ve spent the last two days putting together a petition that will be sent to the festival about the lack of female directors in competition. You can sign the...
Cannes Watch: The First Female Saudia Arabian Director Hits Cannes
Haifaa Al Mansour may not be able to drive in her country but she seems to have accomplished something no other woman — or man — has done in Saudia Arabia — directing the first...
Females Grossly Underrepresented and Misrepresented in Top Grossing Films of 2011
New stats are out from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film. This time the research takes a look at the amount of female characters onscreen in the top grossing 100 films...
Cannes Film Festival Slammed By Feminist Group La Barbe For Excluding Women Directors
The French feminist group La Barbe which was started several years ago in response to the sexist media treatment of Segolene Royal in her race against Nicholas Sarkozy, has taken on one of the most...
Julie Delpy and Her Love/Hate Relationship with Hollywood
Julie Delpy is no a shrinking violet. She has many awesome opinions about how Hollywood treats women, which could be one of the reasons why, according to her, she has been fired by every agency...
New TV Shows Created by Women for 2012–2013
It’s that tme of the year again. When your favorite shows get cancelled, and shows that you have no idea why they exist get renewed again for another year. For renewals, one piece of good news is...
Women’s Films Opening — May 11, 2012
Where Do We Go Now? — written and directed by Nadine Labaki Where Do We Go Now? is about how the women in a Lebanese village come together across religious differences to make peace in their...
Guest Post: What It Feels Like for a Girl
I really never thought I’d hear a sentence like this in 2012: “I can see making a coming-of-age story about a boy. But when it’s a girl… it’s just creepy.” And yet, that’s what a...
Interview with Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell — Directors of Small, Beautifully Moving Parts
Women and Hollywood: How was it directing a movie together? How did you divide the work? Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell: In short, it was a very satisfying experience. We found that two brains...
Repost: Interview with Nadine Labaki — Writer and Director of Where Do We Go Now?
Here’s the repost of the interview I did with Nadine Labaki in September at the Toronto Film Festival. The film opens in the US today. Women and Hollywood: Congratulations. I read your film is...
Trailer Watch: Forbidden Voices — Directed by Barbara Miller
An incredibly moving story of three women bloggers fighting to keep telling the truth. As First Lady Michelle Obama says: “courage can actually be contagious.” This film opened in Switzerland...
Jessica Chastain Passes on a Part in Iron Man 3
When the news surfaced last week that Jessica Chastain was circling a part in Iron Man 3 I was a bit surprised. I just doesn’t seem to be her type of film. She does not scream big Hollywood action...
First Feature on Hollywood Legend Mary Pickford to Go Into Production Next Year
It’s always good news when a woman whose contributions to our culture have receded from contemporary knowledge gets brought back into mainstream culture. Producers Julie Pacino and Jennifer DeLia...
Hollywood Feminist Couple of the Day: Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs
The singing and acting couple (did you know they met while performing in the original company of Rent?) have started A Broader Way Foundation which created a camp for girls focusing on the creative...
Tribeca Watch: Speaking With Writer/Director Jenny Deller and Producer Kristin Fairweather of Future Weather
I didn’t get to see many Tribeca Fest films in the theatre this year due to my travel schedule at the beginning of the festival, but I was so glad to be able to catch the film and post screening...