ALL POSTS
UCLA Launches 14-Film Dorothy Arzner Retrospective
It’s impossible to overstate Dorothy Arzner’s importance as a feminist and film pioneer. She was the first female contract director in Hollywood, the first female member of the DGA, the widely...
Weekly Update for July 31: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Jenny’s Wedding — Written and Directed by Mary Agnes Donoghue When Jenny Farell (Katherine Heigl) decides to marry the love of her life, Kitty (Alexis...
Trailer Watch: Things Go Awry Between a Bodyguard and His Client in Alice Winocour’s ‘Maryland’
Trailer Watch: True Adulthood Threatens Taissa Farmiga’s Relationship in Hannah Fidell’s ‘6 Years’
Writer-director Hannah Fidell made a splash at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival with “A Teacher,” a dark portrait of a twentysomething teacher desperate to continue her affair with a teenage boy....
Lupita Nyong’o to Star in Danai Gurira Play About Liberian Women Held Captive During Civil War
Lupita Nyong’o is headed to the stage. The Oscar-winning actress will make her New York stage debut in playwright Danai Gurira’s “Eclipsed,” about a quartet of women held captive by rebels...
Seeking Our Story: Directing the Summer Blockbuster: Mimi Leder’s DEEP IMPACT
Seeking Our Story iscelebrating the summer with Mimi Leder’s blockbuster “Deep Impact.” Leder (b. 1952) grew up in New York City witha mother, Etyl Leder, who played classical piano, and a...
CW to Make ‘Little Women’ Adaptation That Sounds Absolutely Nothing Like ‘Little Women’
Here’s your head-scratcher of the day: The CW will adapt “Little Women” as a “gritty” and “hyper-stylized” dystopian survivalist tale that sounds nothing at all like Louisa May...
Trailer Watch: Brie Larson Flees Her Kidnapper With Her Young Son in ‘Room’
A teaser trailer for “Room,” Brie Larson’s first starring vehicle since “Short Term 12,” now has a teaser trailer. An adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s best-seller, “Room” finds a young...
Embracing the Female Gaze
WhenI started writing Women and Hollywood almost eight years ago, the two thingsthat shaped my feminist consciousness were Molly Haskell’s “From Reverence to Rape: TheTreatment of Women in the...
With ‘Another Period,’ Comedy Central Is Officially All About the Ladies
University of Chicago to Celebrate Agnes Varda With Events and Week-Long Residency
After debuting a new short for Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales series at this year’s Venice Film Festival (September 2–12), Agnes Varda will head to the University of Chicago for a week-long...
Trailer Watch: Panic and Dust Swirl in Patricia Riggen’s Chilean Mining Drama ‘The 33’
August 2015 Film Preview
Get ready: August will see the releases of a number of female-driven narratives. Furiosa may have driven out of the box office into the sunset — meaning “Mad Max: Fury Road” is now on...
Venice Film Fest Lineup Released: Only 10% of Films in Competition Helmed by Women Directors
Yesterday we reported that the main jury of this year’s Venice Film Festival will be comprised of six men and three women (Elizabeth Banks, Diane Kruger and Lynne Ramsay). The official lineup for...
Athena List 2016 Seeking Submissions of Scripts with Women in Leadership Roles
The Athena Film Festival team is seeking scripts for the 2016 edition of the Athena List. An integral part of the festival’s celebration of women and leadership, the Athena List is an annual...
Chloe King to Adapt Erotic Thriller ‘The Girl in 6E,’ About Agoraphobic “Web-Cam Girl”
Chloe King has been tapped to bring the best-selling erotic thriller “The Girl in 6E” to the big screen. Written by A.R. Torre (the open pen name of Alessandra Torre), the novel is about an...
Paula Pell and Michelle Lawler Developing HBO Comedy About Former Olympic Figure Skater
Emmy-winning “SNL” writer Paula Pell and her frequent collaborator Michelle Lawler are developing a HBO comedy. The untitled series will center on a disgraced Olympic figure skater who returns...
Tig Notaro to Team Up With Diablo Cody on Semi-Autobiographical Amazon Pilot
After being the subject of a Netflix documentary and releasing her own HBO stand-up special (out August 22), Tig Notaro will star in an Amazon series based in part on her (recently turbulent) life....
Diane Keaton Books Her First-Ever Series Regular TV Gig in HBO-Produced ‘The Young Pope’
Diane Keaton’s films have grossed over a billion dollars at the box office. Now it’s time to see what kind of ratings the “Annie Hall” actress can draw on the small screen. Keaton will star...
TIFF 2015 Announces Just 7 Women-Directed Films in Its First Round of Lineup Selections
The Toronto International Film Festival made public its first batch of films for its 2015 lineup this morning. Forty-nine films made the cut, but only a disappointing seven (about 14%) were directed...
Sex-Trafficking Survivors, Pauline Kael and Boxers in Burqas: July 2015’s Crowdfunding Projects
Women have plenty to fight for, and in our picks for this week’s women-centric crowdfunding projects, we see women in battle — for freedom, against sex trafficking, for their right to know...
Trailer Watch: Marcia Gay Harden Gets Her Groove Back in ‘After Words’
‘Le Dep’ Director Sonia Bonspille Boileau on the Need for Better Representations of Indigenous Women
Two Canadian First Nation women — a director from theKanesatake Mohawk tribe and an actress from the Uashat mak Mani-Utenam community — teamed up recently to make one of the first-ever...
Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone Get Pilot Deal for TV Land Sitcom About Their Groundlings Friends
“Every time a friend succeeds,” wrote Gore Vidal, “I die a little.” Hopefully this isn’t how Melissa McCarthy’s former Groundlings pals feel in the face of her recent globe-conquering...
Venice Film Fest Adds Elizabeth Banks, Diane Kruger and Lynne Ramsay to Main Jury
Elizabeth Banks, Diane Kruger and “We Need to Talk About Kevin” director Lynne Ramsay will comprise the three women on the nine-person main jury at this year’s Venice International Film...
2015 Awards Season Preview: Meryl vs. Sandra vs. Cate vs. Julianne vs. Jessica?
Sandra Bullock’s “Our Brand is Crisis,” a drama about US political strategists scheming to re-elect an unpopular Bolivian president, has just been added to the awards season calendar with a...
Two Powerhouse Female Producers Behind ‘Doctor Who’ Launch Production Company
“Doctor Who” showrunner Steven Moffat bristled when asked about the likelihood of a female Doctor just a few short weeks ago at Comic Con 2015, but today brings good news for two women who’ve...
Trailer Watch: Elisabeth Moss Terrifies as A Woman on the Verge in ‘Queen of Earth’
The newly released trailer for the psychological thriller “Queen of Earth” promises to show Elisabeth Moss “as you’ve never seen her before.” The retro-looking spot for the...
Netflix to Launch Live-Action Tween Series about Science-Skilled Spy Girls
Children’s programming is a major if under-discussed part of Netflix’s plan for streaming domination. At least 70 kids’ shows were viewed by 2 million subscribers last year, revealed the...
Director Marielle Heller Protests NC-17 Rating for ‘The Diary of a Teenage Girl’ in the UK
After receiving the British equivalent of a NC-17 rating from an all-male ratings board, the team behind “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” is speaking out against the perceived double standards at...
Trailer Watch: Memories of Abuse Resurface in Macy Gray’s ‘Where Children Play’
“Dear White People” actress Teyonah Parris plays a woman who returns to her hometown for the first time in a decade in writer-director Leila Djansi’s “Where Children Play.” Bell has spent...
Weekly Update for July 24: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Unexpected — Directed by Kris Swanberg; Written by Megan Mercier and Kris Swanberg Rarely do we see stories about pregnancy represented onscreen. Rarer...
San Sebastian Film Fest Lineup Revealed: No Spanish Women Directors in Competition Section
A total of zero features directed by women will screen in the Spanish-nationality competition section of the 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival this September. The Spanish nationality lineup for...
‘Top of the Lake’ Season 2 Moves to Australia; Jane Campion and Elisabeth Moss to Return
One of the best and most feminist mystery series is moving to Australia for its sophomore year. “Top of the Lake” will follow Detective Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss) from her home country of...
Filmmaker Mag Names 25 New Faces of Independent Film; Pippa Bianco and 10 Other Women Featured
Filmmaker Magazine has released its annual list identifying the “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” and nearly half of the featured up-and-comers are women. Previous honorees include Lena...
Guest Post: Why You Should Consider Embracing the Punk Rock Ethos by Editing Your Doc Yourself
Jessica Yu. Ondi Timoner. Naomi Kawase. What do these names all have in common? Yes, they’re all successful female documentarians. But theyhave something else in common. Something you may not...
The Groundbreaking Gyno-Humor of Amazon’s Realistic Rom Com ‘Catastrophe’
“Catastrophe,” the Amazon sitcom by Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney about a bi-continental couple dealing with an accidental pregnancy resulting from a casual hookup, has been called “the best...
Reese Witherspoon to Receive American Cinematheque Award as Actress and Producer
Reese Witherspoon’s contributions to cinema as an actress and a producer will be recognized with an American Cinematheque Award. The honor is annually bestowed on “an extraordinary artist in...
Angelina Jolie to Direct Netflix Film About Female Cambodian Human Rights Activist
Angelina Jolie has announced her fifth narrative feature since 2011’s “In the Land of Blood and Honey.” The actress-turned-filmmaker will direct a Netflix drama based on Cambodian human...
Kris Swanberg Talks ‘Unexpected’: Female Collabs and Complicated Female Protagonists
Rarely do we see stories about pregnancy represented onscreen. Rarer still are depictions where mothers-to-be have seriously conflicted feelings about the imminent arrival of their bundles of...
Agnès Varda’s New ‘Women’s Tales’ Short to Debut at Venice Film Fest
Agnes Varda and Alice Rohrwacher’s short films for Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales series will have their world festival premiere at the 2015 Venice Film Festival. Varda’s “Les 3 Boutons” and...
Ingrid Bergman’s Life and Work to Be Celebrated By BAMcinématek, MoMA and New Documentary (VIDEO)
Late summer and fall are shaping up to be a great time for fans of legendary actress Ingrid Bergman. If the Swedish icon were alive today, she would be celebrating her one hundredth birthday this...
Amy Poehler to Star as NBA Coach in Comedy for Universal
Amy Poehler will star as a rising basketball coach asked to lead an NBA team in an untitled comedy from Universal. Poehler will also produce the film. The comedienne’s character has a real-life...
Trailer Watch: Katniss Goes to War in Full First Trailer for ‘Mockingjay — Part 2’
After dropping teasers like candy for weeks, Lionsgate has finally released a two-and-a-half minute trailer for the final chapter of Katniss Everdeen’s epic journey, “The Hunger Games:...
“Mad If I Don’t, Mad If I Do”: Amandla Stenberg and Nicki Minaj’s Uphill Battle to Be Heard
If you work hard to keep all things Kardashian out of your mind, you may have missed the recent online kerfuffle between Kylie Jenner and “Hunger Games” actress Amandla Stenberg. Last week,...
Trailer Watch: Ellen Page and Julianne Moore Fight for Love in ‘Freeheld’
The long-gestating feature film “Freeheld,” starring Ellen Page and Julianne Moore, has released its first trailer. The movie chronicles the real-life love story between New Jersey police...
Trailer Watch: An Indian-American Guy Searches for Love via Traditional Matchmaking in ‘Meet the Patels’ Doc
New Female-Led Horror Comedy from ‘Good Wife’ Creators Will Blend ‘The Strain’ With ‘The West Wing’
Mysteries abound whether “The Good Wife’s” upcoming seventh season will be its last, but one thing’s for sure: its creators will be busy developing another show. CBS has ordered to series...
Trailer Watch: FBI Trainee Is Accused of Terrorist Attack in New ABC Drama ‘Quantico’
Protecting her country has always been Alex Parrish’s (Priyanka Chopra) dream — which is why she could never have predicted the day when she’d find herself accused of “the most...
BBC Lists Top 100 American Films of All Time; Only 3 Female Directors Make the Cut
The BBC has compiled a list of the 100 greatest American films ever made. The list spans decades and genres, but what 98% of the listed movies have in common is that they’re directed by men. Only...
Melissa Rosenberg and Liz Friedman Board Patricia Cornwell Movie Adaptation
Author Patricia Cornwell’s Dr. Kay Scarpetta has had a difficult time making the transition from page to screen. But two recently hired writers may speed up the forensic pathologist’s leap to...