Weekly Update for June 17: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

Finding Dory

“Finding Dory” reunites the friendly-but-forgetful blue tang fish (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) with her loved ones, and everyone learns a few things about the true meaning of family along the way. The all-new big-screen adventure dives into theaters in 2016, taking moviegoers back to the extraordinary underwater world from the original film. (Press materials)

Parched — Written and Directed by Leena Yadav (Opens in LA, NY, and San Jose)

In a remote desert community of North West India widowed Rani (Tannishtha Chatterjee), her vivacious best friend Lajjo (Radhika Apte), and the erotic dancer Bijli (Surveen Chawla) unapologetically talk about men, sex, and life as they struggle under the oppressive rules of their traditional village ways. But when Rani is tasked to find a teenage bride for her entitled fifteen-year-old son, they begin to question this status quo that favors men, sends child brides to abusive husbands, and ostracizes women for being educated and opinionated. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Leena Yadav.

Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story) — Written and Directed by Eva Husson

George (Marilyn Lima), a pretty teen girl, falls in love with Alex (Finnegan Oldfield). To get his attention, she initiates a game with their friends, discovering, testing, and pushing the limits of their sexuality. When the nature of their activities is revealed, each of them deals with the scandal in radically different ways. Faced with the implosion of their value systems, they move on by reassessing their priorities: finding love and their real desires. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Eva Husson.

No Stranger Than Love (Also available on VOD)

When Lucy (Alison Brie) tells a married Clint (Colin Hanks) that she loves him, he falls into a mysterious hole that suddenly appears in the middle of her living room. As Lucy desperately tries to save Clint, his bookie Rydell (Justin Chatwin) appears, looking to settle Clint’s gambling debt. Now Lucy must distract Rydell, the town, and Clint’s wife from finding out about her affair and the hole, while trying to hold herself together in the process. (Press materials)

Janey Makes a Play (Documentary)

“Janey Makes a Play” is a documentary film that follows a captivating ninety-year-old woman as she rallies her small town to create a theater production about the Great Depression amidst the real erosion of the town’s local economy. Janey has spent her life in the theater, committing the past decade to writing and directing original plays for Rio Vista, California, a picturesque small town on the Sacramento River Delta. Her community non-profit troupe, called No Small Thing Productions, has produced 17of Janey’s original handwritten plays. Janey continually battles inconsistent rehearsal attendance, people moving away or quitting, actors memorizing their lines last-minute, and sets that are not completely assembled. If they don’t sell tickets for their performance, the troupe will not have enough money to continue to exist. Transported into rural America, we witness the challenges of pulling off a high-caliber production with an eccentric cast of characters. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

Diary of a Chambermaid — Co-Written by Hélène Zimmer
Call Her Applebroog (Documentary) — Directed by Beth B
The Witness (Documentary)
Honeyglue
Creedmoria — Written and Directed by Alicia Slimmer
The Fits — Written and Directed by Anna Rose Holmer
Me Before You — Directed by Thea Sharrock; Written by Jojo Moyes
Alice Through the Looking Glass — Written by Linda Woolverton
Princess — Written and Directed by Tali Shalom Ezer (Also available on VOD)
Presenting Princess Shaw (Documentary) (Also available on VOD)
To Life (À La Vie) (Also available on VOD)
Ma ma
Maggie’s Plan — Written and Directed by Rebecca Miller
Sunset Song
Love & Friendship
Dark Horse (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Louise Osmond
Mother’s Day — Co-Written by Anya Kochoff and Lily Hollander
The Huntsman: Winter’s War
Eva Hesse (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Marcie Begleiter
The Meddler — Written and Directed by Lorene Scafaria
The Boss — Co-Written by Melissa McCarthy
God’s Not Dead 2
Hello, My Name is Doris — Co-Written by Laura Terruso
10 Cloverfield Lane
Eye in the Sky
Miracles From Heaven — Directed by Patricia Riggen
Zootopia

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

NUTS! (Documentary) — Directed by Penny Lane (Opens in NY June 22)

“NUTS!” is a feature length documentary directed by Penny Lane about Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, an eccentric genius who built an empire in Depression-era America with a goat testicle impotence cure and a million watt radio station. Using animated reenactments, interviews, archival footage, and a hilariously unreliable narrator, “NUTS!” traces Brinkley’s rise from poverty and obscurity to the heights of celebrity, wealth, and influence in Depression-era America. Along the way, he transplants tens of thousands of goat testicles; amasses an enormous fortune; is (sort of) elected Governor of Kansas; builds the world’s most powerful radio station; invents junk mail, the infomercial, the sound-truck, and Border Radio; hosts some epic parties; and annoys the heck out of the establishment, until finally his audacious actions force the federal government to create regulations to stop him. How he does it, and what happens when it all comes crashing down, is the story of “NUTS!” (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Penny Lane.

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Careful What You Wish For — Directed by Elizabeth Allen (Also available on VOD)
“Germans & Jews” (Documentary) — Directed by Janina Quint
Gurukulam (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Jillian Elizabeth
Chevalier — Co-Written and Directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari
Weiner (Documentary) — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Elyse Steinberg
Unlocking the Cage (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Chris Hegedus
Money Monster — Directed by Jodie Foster
A Beautiful Planet (Documentary) — Directed by Toni Myers
The Invitation — Directed by Karyn Kusama (Also available on VOD)
Kung Fu Panda 3 — Co-Directed by Jennifer Yuh

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

None

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

The President — Co-Written by Marziyeh Meshkiny
High-Rise — Written by Amy Jump
Barbershop: The Next Cut — Co-Written by Tracy Oliver
Meet the Blacks — Co-Written by Nicole DeMasi

TV Premieres This Week

The Amber Rose Show (Talk Show) (Series Premieres June 17 on VH1)

Feminist, author, actor, and entrepreneur, “Muva Rose” as she’s known to her [more than] 18 million social media followers, will conduct candid interviews with industry experts and lead provocative, entertaining, and unfiltered conversations with guests about pop culture, parenting, relationships, friendships, race, and entrepreneurship. (Press materials)

Orange is the New Black — Created by Jenji Kohan (Season 4 Premieres June 17 on Netflix)

The fourth season of “Orange is the New Black” takes on some very topical issues as Litchfield comes to terms with its new corporate owner. It’s an interesting move for the show, which, in its early seasons, came under criticism, including from prisoners themselves, for being a far cry from the real experience of most female inmates. (Sara Stewart, Women and Hollywood)

Read Women and Hollywood’s review of “Orange is the New Black” Season 4.

Mother, May I Sleep with Danger? (Movie) — Directed by Melanie Aitkenhead; Written by Amber Coney (Premieres June 18 on Lifetime)

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the cult classic, “Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?,” Lifetime and Sony Pictures Television team up with James Franco to remake the classic TV movie. The retelling stars Franco and reunites Tori Spelling and Ivan Sergei from the original film and also features Leila George, Emily Meade, and Nick Eversman. With a story by Franco, this updated classic features a vampire love story that brings a whole new meaning to “sleeping with danger.” (Press materials)

Odd Mom Out — Created by Jill Kargman (Season 2 Premieres June 20 on Bravo)

The sophomore season of “Odd Mom Out” is also one of big change for the Webers as Jill (Jill Kargman) decides to return to her fashion magazine job, and it doesn’t go exactly as she had hoped with some conflict with her former boss/enemy. Back at the penthouse, Andy (Andy Buckley) has taken some time off from work to take care of the kids, which will also have its own set of challenges. Brooke (Abby Elliott) and Lex (Sean Kleier) will deal with the fallout of his affair in their own unique ways (she milks his start-up money to start an elegant accessories line, he has a new zen outlook after experiencing Burning Man and wants to win her back). (Press materials)

Trapped (Documentary) — Directed by Dawn Porter (June 20 on PBC)

U.S. abortion clinics are fighting to survive. Since 2010, hundreds of laws regulating abortion clinics have been passed by conservative state legislatures, particularly in the south. These restrictions, known as TRAP laws (or Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers) are spreading across America.

Faced with increased costs of compliance and the alarming fear of violence from protestors, the stakes for the women and men on the frontlines couldn’t be any higher. As the battle heads to the U.S. Supreme Court, “Trapped” follows the struggles of the clinic workers and lawyers fighting to keep abortion safe and legal for millions of American women, many of them poor and uninsured. (Press materials)

Listen to Women and Hollywood’s Podcast with Dawn Porter.

Raised by Wolves — Created by Caitlin Moran and Caroline Moran (Series Premieres June 20 on Acorn TV)

Written by bestselling author Caitlin Moran with her sister Caroline, this comedy is a hilarious modern-day reimagining of the Morans’ real childhood on a Wolverhampton council estate. (Press materials)

Greenleaf (Series Premieres June 21 on OWN)

“Greenleaf” centers on the journey of estranged daughter and disillusioned preacher Grace Greenleaf (Merle Dandridge) who has returned home after 20 years on the occasion of the mysterious death of her sister, Faith. As she reenters the world of Calvary Fellowship World Ministries, the Memphis megachurch run by her powerful parents Bishop James Greenleaf (Keith David) and Lady Mae Greenleaf (Lynn Whitfield), it becomes evident that things are not as virtuous as they seem and that the family’s outward display of faith hides sin and misdeeds. (Press materials)

American Gothic — Created by Corinne Brinkerhoff (Series Premieres June 22 on CBS)

“American Gothic” centers on a prominent Boston family reeling in the wake of the chilling discovery that someone in their midst is linked to an infamous string of murders. As shocking secrets from the past and present are revealed, their mounting suspicion and paranoia that one of them is a killer threatens to tear the family apart. (Press materials)

Queen of the South (Series Premieres June 23 on USA Network)

“Queen of the South” tells the powerful story of Teresa Mendoza (Alice Braga), a woman who is forced to run and seek refuge in America after her drug-dealing boyfriend is unexpectedly murdered in Mexico. In the process, she teams up with an unlikely figure from her past to bring down the leader of the very drug trafficking ring that has her on the run. (Press materials)

Thirteen — Created by Marnie Dickens (Series Premieres June 23 on BBC America)

BBC America’s new original limited series, “Thirteen,” follows Ivy Moxam (Jodie Comer) on the day she escapes from the cellar that has been her prison for the last 13 years. It’s the day she’ll return to her home, to her family, to her life — but that reunion is only the beginning. The Moxam family had given up all hope before their loved one was suddenly thrust back into their lives, and now they struggle to put the pieces back together. As leads run cold, the police begin to suspect Ivy isn’t telling them the whole truth. As she fights to retain her sanity, doubts about her begin to form — the anomalies of her statement, the errors, and her outright lies. What really happened in that cellar? Where is her kidnapper? Can Ivy really be trusted? Everyone wants to untangle the mystery that is Ivy Moxam, but when narrators are unreliable, truths are withheld, and when everyone has an agenda, it is no easy task. (Press materials)

To contact Women and Hollywood, email melissa@womenandhollywood.com