Weekly Update for March 2: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

Red Sparrow

When she suffers a career-ending injury, Dominika (Jennifer Lawrence) and her mother are facing a bleak and uncertain future. That is why she finds herself manipulated into becoming the newest recruit for Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people like her to use their bodies and minds as weapons. After enduring the perverse and sadistic training process, she emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow the program has ever produced. Dominika must now reconcile the person she was with the power she now commands, with her own life and everyone she cares about at risk, including an American CIA agent who tries to convince her he is the only person she can trust. (Press materials)

Find screening info and tickets here.

Oh Lucy! — Written and Directed by Atsuko Hirayanagi (Opens in NY and LA)

Setsuko (Shinobu Terajima) is a single, emotionally unfulfilled woman, seemingly stuck with a drab, meaningless life in Tokyo. At least until she’s convinced by her niece, Mika (Shioli Kutsuna), to enroll in an unorthodox English class that requires her to wear a blonde wig and take on an American alter ego named “Lucy.” This new identity awakens something dormant in Setsuko, and she quickly develops romantic feelings for her American instructor, John (Josh Hartnett). When John suddenly disappears from class and Setsuko learns that he and her niece were secretly dating, Setsuko enlists the help of her sister, Ayako (Kaori Momoi), and the pair fly halfway across the world to the outskirts of Southern California in search of the runaway couple. In a brave new world of tattoo parlors and seedy motels, family ties and past lives are tested as Setsuko struggles to preserve the dream and promise of Lucy. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Atsuko Hirayanagi.

Find screening info here.

Dance Academy: The Movie — Written by Samantha Strauss

Former ballet student Tara Webster (Xenia Goodwin) was destined to become one of the top dancers of her generation before a devastating injury crippled her career. Over the last 18 months she has tried to embrace life as a university student but cannot get over her dream of dancing professionally. In her quest to defy the odds in a near impossible comeback, Tara leaves her life and love behind in Sydney and travels to New York. But as the rejections pile up, and Tara tears herself apart trying to fit the unrelenting ballet mould, she must learn to find — and trust — her own voice before she loses everything that truly matters in the pursuit of a dream. (Press materials)

Souvenir (Opens in NY; Opens in LA March 16)

Liliane (Isabelle Huppert) lives a modest and monotonous life. By day, she works in a pâté factory, and by night she sits on the couch and watches TV. One day, a new worker named Jean (Kévin Azaïs) arrives. The two form a platonic relationship but Jean grows increasingly convinced that he recognizes Liliane from a European singing contest he saw as a child. Eventually, Jean convinces Liliane to confront her past. “Souvenir” is a beautiful portrayal of a friendship between two people from different generations, who come together to make a life-changing comeback. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Don’t Talk to Irene (Also Available on VOD)

When Irene (Michelle McLeod) — the “fattest girl in high school” — gets suspended, she must endure two weeks of community service at a retirement home. Following her passion for cheerleading, she secretly signs up the senior residents to audition for a dance-themed reality show to prove that you don’t need to be physically “perfect” to be perfectly awesome. (Press materials)

The Lullaby — Written by Tarryn-Tanille Prinsloo (Also Available on VOD)

Chloe (Reine Swart) is overwhelmed by the birth of her first child. The incessant crying of her baby, and the growing sense of guilt and paranoia send her into depression. With a heightened urge to protect her son, Chloe sees danger in every situation. She starts to hear voices and the humming of a childhood lullaby, and sees flashes of a strange entity around her child. Is she haunted by evil or is it just the baby blues? (Press materials)

Gnome Alone — Co-Written by Zina Zaflow

When Chloe (Becky G) discovers that her new home’s garden gnomes are not what they seem, she must decide between the pursuit of a desired high school life and taking up the fight against the Troggs. (Press materials)

Ladies First (Short Documentary) (Available on Netflix March 8)

“Ladies First” tells the inspirational story of Deepika Kumari who, as a girl born on the roadside to abject poverty in rural India, went in search of food, stumbled upon archery, andwithin four years became the number one archer in the world. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

Annihilation
Half Magic — Written and Directed by Heather Graham (Also Available on VOD)
Dark River — Written and Directed by Clio Barnard (UK)
Hannah
Finding Your Feet — Co-Written by Meg Leonard (UK)
Broken Ceiling
Curvature (Also Available on VOD)
November
The Boy Downstairs — Written and Directed by Sophie Brooks
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)
The Female Brain — Directed by Whitney Cummings; Co-Written by Whitney Cummings and Louann Brizendine (Also Available on VOD)
La Boda de Valentina — Co-Written by Issa López
Double Lover
Tehran Taboo
Winchester
A Fantastic Woman
Please Stand By
Mary and the Witch’s Flower — Co-Written by Riko Sakaguchi
Ridge Runners
The Post — Co-Written by Liz Hannah
Proud Mary
Vazante — Co-Written and Directed by Daniela Thomas
Pitch Perfect 3 — Directed by Trish Sie; Co-Written by Kay Cannon
In the Fade
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Insidious: The Last Key
In Between — Written and Directed by Maysaloun Hamoud
Molly’s Game
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

Werewolf — Written and Directed by Ashley McKenzie (Currently Playing)

Blaise (Andrew Gillis) and Nessa (Bhreagh MacNeil) are outcast methadone users in their small town. Each day they push a rusty lawnmower door-to-door begging to cut grass. Nessa plots an escape, while Blaise lingers closer to collapse. Tethered to one another, their getaway dreams are kept on a suffocatingly short leash. (Press materials)

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

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
Loving Vincent — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Dorota Kobiela

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

Eat Me — Written by Jacqueline Wright (Available on VOD March 6)

Over the course of one torturous night, a suicidal woman and the violent home intruder that saved her life test the limits of human endurance and the boundaries of forgiveness. (Press materials)

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

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

Flint Town (Docuseries) — Co-Directed by Jessica Dimmock (Premieres March 2 on Netflix)

Over a two-year period, filmmakers embedded with cops in Flint, Michigan reveal a department grappling with volatile issues in untenable conditions. (Press materials)

Girls Incarcerated (Docuseries) (Premieres March 2 on Netflix)

Fights, friendships, dating, rules. Teenage life is full of drama. But behind bars, the stakes are so much higher. (Press materials)

Malena Pichot: Estupidez Compleja (Comedy Special) (Premieres March 2 on Netflix)

An Argentine comedian espouses the values of feminism, speaking on topics like sex, language, abortion, and why it’s OK to let a man buy you dinner. (Press materials)

Natalia Valdebenito: El Especial (Comedy Special) (Premieres March 2 on Netflix)

A Chilean comedian fuses activism with irreverence for a stand-up set filled with jokes about misogyny, reproductive rights, and respecting women. (Press materials)

Personal Space — Co-Created by Dana Luery Shaw (Premieres March 2 on Amazon)

A sci-fi dramedy that takes place in an alternate timeline where the American space program has been decades ahead of actual history. Generation ship Overture was launched on a very long journey in the early ’90s to a distant star. The crew serves in 25-year shifts, with each shift passing the torch to the one after. Astronauts aboard the ship have no idea their therapy sessions are being broadcast on Earth as a reality show. (Press materials)

Cleopatra (Documentary Miniseries) (Premieres March 5 on Smithsonian Channel)

From nearly the time she was born, Cleopatra had to fight for the throne and for her life. She was raised in the palace of one of history’s most ruthless royal families and had to use every skill in her arsenal — her brains, her charm, and her body — in order to survive. She would seduce the world’s greatest leaders, form powerful alliances, and cement her place in history. This is the story of the real Cleopatra, told through lavish reconstructions and testimony from the world’s leading historians. (Press materials)

Life Sentence — Co-Created by Erin Cardillo (Premieres March 7 on The CW)

Stella (Lucy Hale) has spent the last eight years living like she was dying (because she was). Just like the “manic pixie dream girl” heroines in her favorite sappy cancer movies, Stella traveled the world, faced her darkest fears, and found true love on a whirlwind trip to Paris. But when Stella finds out that her cancer has been cured, she is suddenly forced to face the long-term consequences of the “live in the moment” decisions she made, including marrying a total stranger. And if that’s not enough, she also finds out that her “perfect family” isn’t so perfect after all. Turns out, because she was dying, everyone in her life hid their problems from her. But, now that she’s well, all bets are off. (Press materials)

Youth & Consequences (Premieres March 7 on YouTube Red)

“Youth & Consequences” is an exciting update to the high school genre, being billed as a woke version of “Mean Girls” that boldly tackles hot-button issues like feminism, gender identity, and the seemingly life-or-death stakes of adolescence — with all the qualities of a binge-able comedy: makeovers, make-outs and clique wars. The series follows Farrah Cutney (Anna Akana) — the girl everyone wishes they were in school: a master of her domain, queen of “spin,” and the resident “fixer” — at the center of a rumor storm that she can no longer control. (Press materials)

Champions — Co-Created by Mindy Kaling (Premieres March 8 on NBC)

Vince (Anders Holm) — a washed-up high school baseball star who reluctantly gave up his dreams to take over the family gym in Brooklyn — lives with his sweet, naive younger brother, Matthew (Andy Favreau), and is on the verge of secretly selling the gym and moving to Florida when his high school fling, Priya (Mindy Kaling), unexpectedly drops off their 15-year-old son, Michael (J.J. Totah), on his doorstep. (Press materials)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

Sensitivity Training — Written and Directed by Melissa Finell (VOD/DVD, Available Now)
Bieber Generation (Documentary) — Directed by Jennifer Van Gessel (VOD, March 6)
The Breadwinner — Directed by Nora Twomey; Written by Anita Doron and Deborah Ellis (VOD/DVD, March 6)
Faces Places (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Agnès Varda (VOD/DVD, March 6)
Lady Bird — Written and Directed by Greta Gerwig (DVD, March 6)
The Man Who Invented Christmas — Written by Susan Coyne (VOD/DVD, March 6)
Novitiate — Written and Directed by Margaret Betts (VOD/DVD, March 6)
Scorched Earth (DVD, March 6)

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