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

Films About Women Opening This Week

The Zookeeper’s Wife — Directed by Niki Caro; Written by Angela Workman

The real-life story of one working wife and mother who became a hero to hundreds during World War II. In 1939 Poland, Antonina Żabińska (Jessica Chastain) and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh), have the Warsaw Zoo flourishing under his stewardship and her care. When their country is invaded by the Germans, Jan and Antonina are stunned and forced to report to the Reich’s newly appointed chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl). To fight back on their own terms, the Żabińskis covertly begin working with the Resistance and put into action plans to save lives out of what has become the Warsaw Ghetto, with Antonina putting herself and even her children at great risk. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Niki Caro.

Find tickets and screening info here.

Carrie Pilby — Directed by Susan Johnson; Written by Kara Holden (Opens in NY, LA, D.C. and Chicago) (Available on VOD April 4)

Carrie Pilby (Bel Powley) is a genius who graduated Harvard at 18. Convinced that the world is populated by oversexed hypocrites, she has a hard time making sense of life as it relates to morality, relationships, sex, and leaving her apartment. In an effort to coax Carrie out of her shell, her psychiatrist (Nathan Lane), makes a deceptively simple checklist of goals for her to achieve between Thanksgiving and the year’s end. Each goal brings Carrie closer to the understanding that humans, like books, can’t be judged by their covers. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Susan Johnson

Ghost in the Shell

In the near future, Major (Scarlett Johansson) is the first of her kind — a human saved from a terrible crash, who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world’s most dangerous criminals. When terrorism reaches a new level that includes the ability to hack into people’s minds and control them, Major is uniquely qualified to stop it. As she prepares to face a new enemy, Major discovers that she has been lied to: her life was not saved, it was stolen. She will stop at nothing to recover her past, find out who did this to her, and stop them before they do it to others. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here

The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Also Available on DirecTV)

A deeply atmospheric and terrifying new horror film, “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” centers on Kat (Kiernan Shipka) and Rose (Lucy Boynton), two girls who are left alone at their prep school, Bramford, over winter break when their parents mysteriously fail to pick them up. While the girls experience increasingly strange and creepy occurrences at the isolated school, we cross cut to another story — that of Joan (Emma Roberts), a troubled young woman on the road, who, for unknown reasons, is determined to get to Bramford as fast as she can. As Joan gets closer to the school, Kat becomes plagued by progressively intense and horrifying visions, with Rose doing her best to help her new friend as she slips further and further into the grasp of an unseen evil force. (Press materials)

Despite the Falling Show — Written and Directed by Shamin Sarif (U.S. Premiere) (Also Available on VOD)

Moscow, 1959: Katya (Rebecca Ferguson) is young, beautiful — and a spy for the Americans. When she begins spying on Alexander (Sam Reid), an idealistic Communist politician, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with him. Her choice between love and duty leads to a nail-biting conclusion that Alexander can only unravel decades later in 1990s New York. His journey back to the snowbound streets of Moscow uncovers a love triangle and betrayals from those he trusted most. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s Interview with Shamin Sarif.

Find screening info here.

All This Panic (Documentary) — Directed by Jenny Gage

“All This Panic” takes an intimate look at the interior lives of a group of teenage girls as they come of age in Brooklyn. A potent mix of vivid portraiture and vérité, we follow the girls as they navigate the ephemeral and fleeting transition between childhood and adulthood. Shot over a three-year period in a lush and cinematic style, “All This Panic” is a meditation on the mysterious, often painful, yet ultimately exhilarating period of a teen’s life. In a world where, as one teen remarks, “they want to see us, but they don’t want to hear us,” this film is comprised entirely of young women speaking to their own experiences. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Jenny Gage.

Girl Unbound (Documentary) — Directed by Erin Heidenreich (Opens April 6)

In Waziristan, “one of the most dangerous places on earth,” Maria Toorpakai defies the Taliban — disguising herself as a boy, so she can play sports freely. But when she becomes a rising star, her true identity is revealed, bringing constant death threats on her and her family. Undeterred, they continue to rebel for their freedom. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Erin Heidenreich.

Here Alone (Also Available on VOD)

Deep in New York’s upstate wilderness, Ann (Lucy Walters), a young woman in her late 20s, struggles to survive after a mysterious epidemic decimates society. On the constant brink of starvation, Ann leads an isolated and regimented life. Haunted by memories of her past, she also battles the current bloodthirsty threat that lurks just outside of the forest’s borders. When her food stores run dangerously low Ann must make the desperate journey into a nearby town to forage for any remaining food. During one of these raids, a chance encounter brings Olivia (Gina Piersanti), a teenage girl, and her injured stepfather, Chris (Adam David Thompson), into Ann’s life and regimen of survival. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

God Knows Where I Am (Documentary) (Opens in NY; Opens in LA April 7)

The body of a homeless woman is found in an abandoned New Hampshire farmhouse. Beside the body lies a diary that documents a journey of starvation and the loss of sanity, but told with poignancy, beauty, humor, and spirituality. For nearly four months, Linda Bishop, a prisoner of her own mind, survived on apples and rain water, waiting for God to save her, during one of the coldest winters on record. As her story unfolds from different perspectives, including her own, we learn about our systemic failure to protect those who cannot protect themselves. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Naam Shabana

A spinoff of the 2015 film “Baby,” “Naam Shabana” provides the backstory of intelligence agent Shabana (Tapsee Pannu), and chronicles how she becomes a spy. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

Prevenge — Written and Directed Alice Lowe
I, Olga Hepnarová
The Levelling — Written and Directed by Hope Dickson Leach (Opens in LA and other cities)
Dig Two Graves (Also Available on VOD)
From a House on Willow Street — Co-Written by Catherine Blackman (Also Available on VOD)
Peelers — Written by Lisa DeVita (Also Available on VOD)
Beauty and the Beast
A Woman, a Part — Written and Directed by Elisabeth Subrin
Personal Shopper
Raw — Written and Directed by Julia Ducournau
The Dark Below
The Ottoman Lieutenant
The Women’s Balcony — Written by Shlomit Nechama
Before I Fall — Directed by Ry-Russo Young; Written by Maria Maggenti
The Last Word
Table 19
XX (Anthology) — Directed by Roxanne Benjamin, Sofia Carrillo, Karyn Kusama, Annie Clark (St. Vincent), and Jovanka Vuckovic; Co-Written by Roxanne Benjamin and Jovanka Vuckovic (Also Available on VOD)
Sophie and the Rising Sun — Written and Directed by Maggie Greenwald (Also Available on VOD)
Lovesong — Co-Written and Directed by So Yong Kim
Everybody Loves Somebody — Written and Directed by Catalina Aguilar Mastretta
Rings
The Lure — Directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
20th Century Women
Hidden Figures — Co-Written by Allison Schroeder
Toni Erdmann — Written and Directed by Maren Ade
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Julieta
Jackie
Moana — Co-Written by Pamela Ribon
Elle
The Eagle Huntress

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

David Lynch: The Art Life (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Olivia Neergaard-Holm

David Lynch takes us on an intimate journey through the formative years of his life. From his idyllic upbringing in small town America to the dark streets of Philadelphia, we follow Lynch as he traces the events that have helped to shape one of cinema’s most enigmatic directors. “David Lynch: The Art Life” infuses Lynch’s own art, music, and early films, shining a light into the dark corners of his unique world, and giving audiences a better understanding of the man and the artist. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Olivia Neergaard-Holm.

For Here or to Go? — Directed by Rucha Humnabadkar

Young Silicon Valley software engineer Vivek Pandit (Ali Fazal) is poised to become a key hire at a promising healthcare startup, but when they realize his work visa has less than a year remaining, the offer disappears. Having learned the hard way about the flaws in his “it’s just paperwork” mentality, Vivek battles forces beyond his control to get his visa extended, whether at his existing company or a new job. Along the way, his eyes are opened to the similar struggles of his own roommates and those around him. American in mind and Indian at heart, this is a contemporary story of ambition and ambivalence fueled by one’s immigration status that characterizes the dilemma of modern cultural displacement. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

The Prison — Written and Directed by Na Hyun

After a fatal accident, Yu-gon (Rae-won Kim), a former police inspector, is sentenced to hard time in a prison he once helped fill. Once inside, he discovers the entire penitentiary is no longer controlled by the guards, but by a vicious crime syndicate that breaks out at night, using their prison sentences as the perfect alibi to commit intricate heists. Looking for revenge against the system that placed him inside, Yu-gon joins the syndicate… but with every man out for himself, how long can the perfect crime last? (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Cezanne and I — Written and Directed by Danièle Thompson

“Cezanne and I” traces the parallel paths of the lives, careers, and passionate friendship of post-impressionist painter Paul Cézanne (Guillaume Gallienne) and novelist Emile Zola (Guillaume Canet). The two boys grew up in Aix-en-Provence. Emile was fatherless and poor. Paul came from a wealthy family. As young men, dreaming of glory and beautiful women, they left the south to conquer the art scene in Paris. Soon Emile had it all, success, money, and the perfect wife, and embraced the very bourgeoisie he mocked in his books. Meanwhile, Cezanne rejected the Parisian scene to focus only on his work, ignored by his peers and the establishment. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Karl Marx City (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Petra Epperlein
Bluebeard — Written and Directed by Soo-youn Lee
Tickling Giants (Documentary) — Directed by Sara Taksler
Uncertain (Documentary) — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Anna Sandilands (Also Available on VOD)
Viceroy’s House — Directed by Gurinder Chadha; Co-Written by Moira Buffini (UK)
Jasper Jones — Directed by Rachel Perkins (Australia)
The Last Laugh (Documentary) — Directed by Ferne Pearlstein
A United Kingdom — Directed by Amma Asante

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

None.

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

Phillauri — Written by Anvita Dutt
Beautiful Devils — Written by Jennifer Majka (UK)
My Life as a Zucchini — Written by Céline Sciamma
A Dog’s Purpose — Written by Cathryn Michon
The Red Turtle — Co-written by Pascale Ferran
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them — Written by J.K. Rowling

TV Premieres This Week

Abortion: Stories Women Tell (Documentary) — Directed by Tracy Droz Tragos (Premieres April 3 on HBO)

In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade recognized the right of every woman in the United States to have an abortion. Since 2011, over half the states in the nation have significantly restricted access to abortions. In 2016, abortion remains one of the most divisive issues in America, especially in Missouri, where only one abortion clinic remains open, patients and their doctors must navigate a 72-hour waiting period, and each year sees more restrictions. Awarding-winning director and Missouri native Tracy Droz Tragos sheds new light on the contentious issue with a focus not on the debate, but rather on the women themselves — those struggling with unplanned pregnancies, the providers who show up at clinics to give medical care, as well as the activists on both sides of the issue hoping to sway decisions and lives. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Tracy Droz Tragos.

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

Lavender (DVD, April 1)
The Bounce Back — Co-Written by Staci Robinson (DVD, April 4)
Newtown (Documentary) — Directed by Kim A. Snyder (DVD, April 4)
Office Christmas Party — Co-Written by Laura Solon (DVD, April 4)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (DVD, April 4)
We Don’t Belong Here (VOD/DVD, April 4)

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