Weekly Update for March 23: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

Unsane

Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy) relocates from Boston to Pennsylvania to escape the man who’s been stalking her for the last two years. While consulting with a therapist, Valentini unwittingly signs in for a voluntary 24-hour commitment to the Highland Creek Behavioral Center. Her stay at the facility soon gets extended when doctors and nurses begin to question her sanity. Sawyer now believes that one of the staffers is her stalker — and she’ll do whatever it takes to stay alive and fight her way out. (Press materials)

Find screening info and tickets here.

Beauty and the Dogs — Written and Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania (Opens in NY and LA)

When Mariam (Mariam Al Ferjani), a young Tunisian woman, is raped by police officers after leaving a party, she is propelled into a harrowing night in which she must fight for her rights even though justice lies on the side of her tormentors. (Press materials)

I Kill Giants (Also Available on VOD)

Young Barbara (Madison Wolfe) escapes the realities of life by retreating into a fantasy world to fight evil giants. With help from a new friend, and a school counselor, Barbara soon learns to face her fears, and battle the giants that pose a threat to her. (Press materials)

Find screening info and tickets here.

Midnight Sun

Seventeen-year-old Katie Price (Bella Thorne) has been sheltered at home since childhood with a rare genetic condition, a life-threatening sensitivity to sunlight. Having only her father (Rob Riggle) for company, Katie’s world opens up after dark when she ventures outside to play her guitar. One night, her dreams come true when she’s noticed and asked out by her longtime crush, Charlie (Patrick Schwarzenegger), whom she’s secretly watched from her bedroom window for years. As they embark on nightly summer excursions, Katie’s risk to sunlight grows, and she’s presented with the gut-wrenching dilemma of whether she can live a normal life with her newfound soul mate. (Press materials)

Find screening info and tickets here.

Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist (Documentary) — Directed by Lorna Tucker (Opens in the UK)

Since igniting the punk movement with ex-partner and Sex Pistols’ manager Malcolm McLaren, Dame Vivienne Westwood has been redefining British fashion for over 40 years, and is responsible for creating many of the most distinctive looks of our time. The film blends archive, beautifully crafted reconstruction, and insightful interviews with Vivienne’s fascinating network of collaborators, guiding us on her journey from a childhood in post-war Derbyshire to the runways of Paris and Milan. This is an intimate and poignant homage to one of the true cultural icons of our time, as she fights to maintain her brand’s integrity, her principles, and her legacy in a business driven by consumerism, profit, and global expansion. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Lorna Tucker.

I Got Life! — Co-Written and Directed by Blandine Lenoir (Opens in the UK)

Single, out of work, and feeling sidelined, soon-to-be grandma Aurore (Agnès Jaoui) is dreading growing old. When she bumps into an old flame — the gorgeous Dr. Totoche (Thibault de Montalembert) — despite the odd hot flash, Aurore starts to feel sexy again, and decides to embrace middle aged life. She takes a new job, has laughs with friends, and finds romance in the arms of an unsuitable lover. And when a chance school reunion brings Aurore and Totoche back together, with it arrives a new hope that life really can begin at 50. (Press materials)

Madame — Co-Written and Directed by Amanda Sthers (Also Available on VOD)

Adding a little spice to a waning marriage, Anne and Bob (Toni Collette and Harvey Keitel), a wealthy and well-connected American couple, move into a manor house in romantic Paris. While preparing a particularly luxurious dinner for sophisticated international friends, the hostess discovers there are 13 guests. Panic-stricken, Anne insists her loyal maid Maria (Rossy de Palma) disguise herself as a mysterious Spanish noblewoman to even out the numbers. But a little too much wine and some playful chat lead Maria to accidentally endear herself to a dandy British art broker. Their budding romance will have Anne chasing her maid around Paris, and plotting to destroy this most unexpected and joyous love affair. (Press materials)

Layla M. — Co-Written and Directed by Mijke de Jong (Available on Netflix)

In response to the repeated bigotry she faces, a Muslim teen in Amsterdam tries to find a sense of belonging in the world of fundamentalist Islam. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Mijke de Jong.

Roxanne Roxanne (Available on Netflix)

In the early 1980s, the most feared battle MC in Queens, New York was a fierce teenage girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders. At the age of 14, Lolita “Roxanne Shanté” Gooden (Chanté Adams) was well on her way to becoming a hip-hop legend as she hustled to provide for her family while defending herself from the dangers of the streets of the Queensbridge Projects. (Press materials)

Elis — Co-Written by Vera Egito

The life of Elis Regina, undoubtedly the greatest Brazilian singer of all time, is told in this biopic film with energetic and pulsating rhythm. (Press materials)

Hichki

Naina Mathur (Rani Mukerji) is an aspiring teacher who suffers from Tourette Syndrome. After several interviews and numerous rejections, she lands her dream job as a full-time teacher in one of the most elite schools in the city. However, she soon realizes that the class she has been assigned comprises of defiant and impish students who can’t seem to keep out of trouble. Despite a few initial hiccups, Naina must do whatever she can to ensure that her students realize their true potential, and defy all the odds against them. (Press materials)

Pyewacket (Also Available on VOD)

A frustrated, angst-ridden teenage girl awakens something in the woods when she naively performs an occult ritual to evoke a witch to kill her mother. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

“Tomb Raider”: Ilzek Kitshoff/Warner Bros.

Tomb Raider — Co-Written by Geneva Robertson-Dworet
Mary Magdalene — Written by Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett (UK)
Furlough — Directed by Laurie Collyer (Also Available on VOD)
Allure (Also Available on VOD)
No Light and No Land Anywhere — Written and Directed by Amber Sealey
The Happys
Apocalypsis
A Wrinkle in Time — Directed by Ava DuVernay; Written by Jennifer Lee
Thoroughbreds
Meditation Park — Written and Directed by Mina Shum (Canada) (Also Available on Netflix)
Claire’s Camera
Girls vs Gangsters — Co-Written and Directed by Chun-Chun Wong
Red Sparrow
Oh Lucy! — Written and Directed by Atsuko Hirayanagi
Annihilation
Dark River — Written and Directed by Clio Barnard (UK)
Finding Your Feet — Co-Written by Meg Leonard (UK)
November
The Silent Child (Short) — Written by Rachel Shenton
Heroin(e) (Short Documentary) — Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon
Traffic Stop (Short Documentary) — Directed by Kate Davis
Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405 (Short Documentary)
La Boda de Valentina — Co-Written by Issa López
Double Lover
Tehran Taboo
Winchester
A Fantastic Woman
Mary and the Witch’s Flower — Co-Written by Riko Sakaguchi
The Post — Co-Written by Liz Hannah
Vazante — Co-Written and Directed by Daniela Thomas
In the Fade
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
In Between — Written and Directed by Maysaloun Hamoud
I, Tonya
The Shape of Water — Co-Written by Vanessa Taylor
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Alexandra Dean
The Breadwinner — Directed by Nora Twomey; Written by Anita Doron and Deborah Ellis
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Lady Bird — Written and Directed by Greta Gerwig
Jane (Documentary)
The Florida Project

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

Backyard Wilderness — Co-Directed by Susan Todd; Co-Written by Susan Todd and Wendy MacKeigan

Spanning a seasonal year around a suburban home, “Backyard Wilderness” displays a stunning array of unique wildlife images and behavior — all captured by cameras mounted inside dens and nests, and moving along the forest floor and pond bottom, to reveal its inhabitants in rare and breathtaking intimacy. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Paradox — Written and Directed by Daryl Hannah (Available on Netflix)

A group of outlaws search for a mountain treasure and experience the supernatural powers of a full moon. (Press materials)

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Keep the Change — Written and Directed by Rachel Israel
In the Land of Pomegranates (Documentary) — Directed by Hava Kohav Beller
Dear Dictator — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Lisa Addario (Also Available on VOD)
Our Blood Is Wine (Documentary) — Directed by Emily Railsback
Itzhak (Documentary) — Directed by Alison Chernick
The Party — Written and Directed by Sally Potter
Western — Written and Directed by Valeska Grisebach
Negative Space (Short Animation) — Co-Directed by Ru Kuwahata
Watu Wote: All of Us (Short) — Directed by Katja Benrath; Written by Julia Drache
Edith + Eddie (Short Documentary) — Directed by Laura Checkoway
Forever My Girl — Written and Directed by Bethany Ashton Wolf
Faces Places (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Agnès Varda

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

Pacific Rim Uprising — Co-Written by Kira Snyder and Emily Carmichael

The rebellious Jake Pentecost (John Boyega), is a once-promising Jaeger pilot whose legendary father gave his life to secure humanity’s victory against the monstrous “Kaiju.” Jake has since abandoned his training only to become caught up in a criminal underworld. But when an even more unstoppable threat is unleashed to tear through our cities, and bring the world to its knees, he is given one last chance to live up to his father’s legacy by his estranged sister, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), who is leading a brave new generation of pilots that have grown up in the shadow of war. As they seek justice for the fallen, their only hope is to unite together in a global uprising against the forces of extinction. (Press materials)

Find screening info and tickets here.

Ismael’s Ghosts — Co-Written by Léa Mysius and Julie Peyr

When a filmmaker named Ismael (Mathieu Amalric) is tormented by the ghosts of past lovers Carlotta (Marion Cotillard) and Sylvia (Charlotte Gainsbourg), he abandons his latest film shoot to live as a recluse in his family home in Roubaix, Northern France. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

A Bag of Marbles — Co-Written by Alexandra Geismar

Paris, 1941: Joseph and Maurice (Dorian Le Clech and Batyste Fleurial) are the sons of Roman, the local barber. At 10 and 12, the boys have so little understanding of the persecution of Jews that Joseph thinks nothing of swapping his yellow star for a bag of marbles. Despite their naiveté, Roman (Patrick Bruel) knows that their best chance to escape the Nazi roundup is to flee on their own to Vichy, France, where their older brothers Albert and Henri have found safe haven. Always one false move from tragedy, these tenacious urchins survive on courage, ingenuity, and more than a bit of cunning as they make their precarious way through France hoping to reunite with their family. More than anything, it’s their brotherly bond that gets them through their ordeals. (Press materials)

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

Love, Simon — Co-Written by Elizabeth Berger
The Leisure Seeker — Co-Written by Francesca Archibugi
The 15:17 to Paris — Written by Dorothy Blyskal
Before We Vanish — Co-Written by Sachiko Tanaka
The Insult — Co-Written by Joëlle Touma
The Greatest Showman — Co-Written by Jenny Bicks

TV Premieres This Week

Alexa & Katie — Created by Heather Wordham (Premieres March 23 on Netflix)

“Alexa & Katie” is a funny and heartwarming show about two best friends eagerly anticipating the start of their freshman year of high school. Despite the fact that Alexa (Paris Berelc) is undergoing cancer treatment, her outgoing personality and enthusiasm for life never falter, especially with her loyal, quirky, and awkwardly adorable best friend Katie (Isabel May) by her side. At times they’re left feeling like outsiders, during a period when what seems to matter most is fitting in. (Press materials)

Requiem (Miniseries) — Directed by Mahalia Belo (Premieres March 23 on Netflix)

A young woman investigates the historic disappearance of a girl from a small Welsh village, unraveling her own identity in the process. (Press materials)

The Mechanism — Co-Created by Elena Soarez (Premieres March 23 on Netflix)

A fictionalized crime drama inspired by real events in Brazil that propelled the biggest corruption scandal of all time. “The Mechanism” explores how a small group of dogged investigators comes to discover the inner workings of a monstrous corruption scheme and the impact their pursuit has on everyone involved — including themselves. (Press materials)

Roseanne — Created by Roseanne Barr; Co-Executive Produced by Roseanne Barr, Sara Gilbert, and Whitney Cummings (Premieres March 27 on ABC)

This revival of the ’90s sitcom will reunite the entire original “Roseanne” cast: Roseanne Barr (Roseanne), John Goodman (Dan), Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Laurie Metcalf (Jackie), Michael Fishman (D.J.), and Lecy Goranson (Becky). (Press materials)

Splitting Up Together — Created by Emily Kapnek (Premieres March 27 on ABC)

Lena (Jenna Fischer) and Martin (Oliver Hudson) were once madly in love. But, like many marriages, time and circumstance eventually took their toll, and they decide that everyone’s lives would be better if they got a divorce. Facing a daunting real estate market, the couple decide not to sell their house and to “Bird Nest” instead. The “on-duty” parent will live in the house while the “off-duty” parent will live in the detached garage. As Lena begins to dip her toes into the dating waters, Martin begins to see his own culpability in his marriage falling apart. (Press materials)

Siren — Created by Emily Whitesell (Premieres March 29 on Freeform)

In the mermaid-obsessed sea town of Bristol Cove, everyone’s lives will change when actual mermaids come ashore, which soon causes a war. (Press materials)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

Cursed — Written and Directed by Britt Kynde (Vimeo, March 25)
The Competition — Written by Kelsey Tucker (DVD, March 27)
Molly’s Game (VOD, March 27)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (DVD, March 27)

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