Weekly Update for September 9: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

As I Open My Eyes — Directed by Leyla Bouzid; Written by Leyla Bouzid and Marie-Sophie Chambon (Opens in NY; Opens in LA September 30)

Tradition butts up against progress in Leyla Bouzid’s debut feature “As I Open My Eyes,” a musically charged French-Tunisian film that follows a young woman (Baya Medhaffar) in a band as she navigates familial, cultural, and social ideals in the build up to the Jasmine Revolution in Tunis. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Leyla Bouzid.

Find screening info here.

Cameraperson (Documentary) — Directed by Kirsten Johnson (Opens in NY; Opens in LA September 23)

Cinematographer Kirsten Johnson is the woman who shot “Two Towns of Jasper,” “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” “The Oath,” and “Happy Valley,” among many others. With “Cameraperson” she presents an extraordinary and deeply poetic documentary of her own, which investigates what it means to film and be filmed. (Sundance Film Festival)

Find screening info here.

Author: The JT LeRoy Story (Documentary)

On January 9, 2006, The New York Times sent shockwaves through the literary world when it unmasked “it boy” wunderkind JT LeRoy, whose tough prose about a sordid childhood had captivated icons and luminaries internationally. It turned out LeRoy didn’t actually exist. He was the creative expression of 40-year-old San Francisco phone-sex operator turned housewife, Laura Albert. “Author: The JT LeRoy Story” takes us down the infinitely fascinating rabbit hole of how Laura Albert breathed not only words, but life, into her avatar for a decade. As she recounts this astonishing odyssey, Albert also reveals the intricate web spun by irrepressible creative forces within her. Her extended and layered JT LeRoy performance still infuriates many; but, according to Albert, channeling her brilliant fiction through another identity was the only possible path to self-expression. (Press materials)

The People Garden — Directed by Nadia Litz (Also Available on VOD)

Sweetpea (Dree Hemingway) flies to Japan to break up with her rockstar boyfriend (François Arnaud). When she arrives, her boyfriend has disappeared, and was last seen shooting a music video with a ’90s sex symbol (Pamela Anderson) in a Japanese forest that harbors a dark secret. Sweetpea sets out to solve the mystery of Jamie’s disappearance, not knowing that the forest is most famous as a destination for suicide. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

White Girl — Written and Directed by Elizabeth Wood (Opens in NY and LA; Opens nationwide September 16)
Yoga Hosers
Antibirth (Opens in NY and LA) (Also Available on VOD)
Morgan
Naam Hai Akira
Sister Cities — Written by Colette Freedman (Opens in NY and LA) (Premieres September 17 on Lifetime)
Fatima
Remember the Goal
Mia Madre — Co-Written by Valia Santella
A Tale of Love and Darkness — Written and Directed by Natalie Portman
Ixcanul
Florence Foster Jenkins
My King (Mon Roi) — Co-Written and Directed by Maïwenn (Opens in LA)
Equity — Directed by Meera Menon; Written by Amy Fox
Bad Moms
Miss Sharon Jones! (Documentary) — Directed by Barbara Kopple
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie — Directed by Mandie Fletcher; Written by Jennifer Saunders
Summertime — Directed by Catherine Corsini; Written by Catherine Corsini and Laurette Polmanss
Lights Out
Nerve — Written by Jessica Sharzer
Ghostbusters — Co-Written by Katie Dippold
Our Little Sister
The Innocents — Directed by Anne Fontaine; Co-Written by Anne Fontaine, Sabrina B. Karine, and Alice Vial
Finding Dory
Alice Through the Looking Glass — Written by Linda Woolverton
Maggie’s Plan — Written and Directed by Rebecca Miller
Dark Horse (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Louise Osmond

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

Ithaca — Directed by Meg Ryan (Also Available on VOD)

When his older brother (Jack Quaid) leaves to fight in WWII, 14-year-old Homer Macauley (Alex Neustaedter) takes on a job as a bicycle telegraph messenger to provide for his widowed mother (Meg Ryan) and his siblings (Christine Nelson and Spencer Howell). Homer delivers messages of love, hope, pain, and death to the good people of Ithaca, but soon must grapple with a message that will change him forever. (Press materials)

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

The Intervention — Written and Directed by Clea DuVall
When Two Worlds Collide (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Heidi Brandenburg
Our Kind of Traitor — Directed by Susanna White

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

London Road — Written by Alecky Blythe

Based on true events that occurred in 2006, when the town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. The residents of London Road had struggled for years with frequent soliciting and curb-crawling on their street. When a local resident was charged, and then convicted, of the murders, the community grappled with what it meant to be at the epicenter of this tragedy. Using their own words set to an innovative musical score, “London Road” tells a moving story of ordinary people coming together during the darkest of experiences. (Press materials)

Come What May — Co-Written by Laure Irrmann

May 1940: German forces roll into France. Led by their reluctant mayor (Olivier Gourmet), the inhabitants of a small Northern French village are forced to flee along with millions of others throughout the country. The villagers take with them a German child whose father (August Diehl) opposed the Nazi regime and has been jailed for lying about his nationality. The father escapes into the fog of war in search of his son, accompanied by a Scottish soldier (Matthew Rhys) who is trying to get back to England. (Press materials)

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

Nine Lives — Co-Written by Gwyn Lurie
The Infiltrator — Written by Ellen Brown Furman
The BFG — Written by Melissa Mathison

TV Premieres This Week

One Mississippi — Created by Tig Notaro and Diablo Cody (Series Premieres September 9 on Amazon)

“One Mississippi” is a dark comedy inspired by comedian Tig Notaro’s life. Tig returns to her hometown in Mississippi, where she contends with the death of her mother and her own mortality as she embarks on a painful yet hilarious journey that unearths uncomfortable truths about her family and herself. (Press materials)

Girl in the Box (TV Movie) (Premieres September 10 on Lifetime)

Based on a true story, “Girl in the Box” is a dark psychological drama. In May 1977, 22-year-old Colleen Stan (Addison Timlin) was kidnapped by a young married couple, Cameron and Janice Hooker (Zane Holtz and Zelda Williams). For the next seven years, they kept her imprisoned for up to 23 hours a day in a coffin-sized box hidden beneath their bed. When not incarcerated, Colleen became part of a strange new life as a live-in slave, family child-minder, and victim of Cameron’s bizarre and extreme S&M fantasies. (Press materials)

Colleen Stan: The Girl in the Box (Documentary Special) (Premieres September 10 on Lifetime)

Following the premiere of “Girl in the Box,” the two-part special “Colleen Stan: The Girl in the Box,” which documents the real-life story of Colleen Stan, will air. Featuring news footage and interviews from Stan and police officials, this docu-special takes viewers through Stan’s journey to a new life. (Press materials)

Indian Summers — Co-Executive Produced by Elaine Pyke and Rebecca Eaton (Season 2 PremieresSeptember 11 on PBS)

Set in a subtropical paradise during the twilight era of the British Empire, “Indian Summers” explores the collision of the ruling class English with their Indian subjects, and the intricate game of power, politics, and passion that ensues. Julie Walters stars as Cynthia Coffin, the glamorous doyenne of an English social club. Told from both the English and Indian perspectives, the drama unfolds as illicit agreements, romance, and revolution abound. Though the English socialites are having the time of their lives in Simla, the local Indians are starting to call for national independence, a path which is quickly rendering the world’s greatest empire helpless. (Press materials)

On Women and Hollywood This Week

Weekly Reads from Around the Internet

Why Chandra on “The Night Of” Deserved Way Better by Jen Chaney
Comedian Franchesca Ramsey breaks down why digital media is so important for creators of color by Victoria M. Massie
Sex and the Child Star: How Mara Wilson Navigated the Adult World of Hollywood by Mara Wilson
Ava DuVernay on Directing “Queen Sugar,” Properly Lighting Actors of Color, and Why She Used to Be More Brave by Matt Zoller Seitz

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