Weekly Update for January 5: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

In Between — Written and Directed by Maysaloun Hamoud

“In Between” captures the daily duality of three young Palestinian women (Mouna Hawa, Sana Jammelieh, and Shaden Kanboura) in Tel Aviv, caught between hometown tradition and big city abandon, and the price they must pay for a lifestyle that seems obvious to many: the freedom to work, party, fuck, and choose. (Press materials)

Molly’s Game (Opens in Wide Release)

“Molly’s Game”: Michael Gibson/STX Films

The true story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), an Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans, and finally, unbeknown to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba), who learned there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led people to believe. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Blame — Written and Directed by Quinn Shephard (Also Available on VOD)

It’s the start of a new year at a small suburban high school. Abigail (writer-director Quinn Shephard) is an outcast who seeks solace in the worlds of the characters she reads about, much to the amusement of her manipulative classmate, Melissa (Nadia Alexander). When an intriguing new drama teacher (Chris Messina) casts Abigail over Melissa in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” Abigail’s confidence blooms, and soon her relationship with Jeremy begins to move beyond just fantasy. Melissa, fueled by vengeful jealousy, begins to spiral out of control and concocts a plot against Abigail. This triggers a chain of events that will come to affect everyone around them. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Quinn Shephard.

Insidious: The Last Key

Parapsychologist Dr. Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) faces her most fearsome and personal haunting yet — in her own family home. (Press materials)

Project Eden — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Ashlee Jensen

Aided by an ex-military officer, a young woman becomes an unwitting fugitive after discovering that her son’s catatonic state may be at the heart of a global conspiracy. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

Pitch Perfect 3 — Directed by Trish Sie; Co-Written by Kay Cannon
In the Fade
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Permanent — Written and Directed by Colette Burson
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
Big Sonia (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Leah Warshawski
On the Beach at Night Alone
Thelma
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Lady Bird — Written and Directed by Greta Gerwig
A Bad Moms Christmas
Novitiate — Written and Directed by Margaret Betts
Jane (Documentary)
The Florida Project
Victoria & Abdul

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

In the Land of Pomegranates (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Hava Kohav Beller (Opens in NY)

“In the Land of Pomegranates” is a suspenseful, multi-layered documentary about a group of young people who were born into a violent and insidious ongoing war. They are young Palestinians and Israelis invited to Germany to join a retreat called “Vacation From War,” where they live under the same roof and face each other every day. Interwoven into this intense footage, adding context, the film also follows other embattled lives in the Occupied Territories and Israel: a mother and her four children living in the shadow of the wall abutting Gaza; an imprisoned Palestinian and the subsequent path he’s taken; an Israeli survivor of a suicide bombing; and a daring Palestinian mother whose son’s life is saved by an Israeli doctor. They are all caught in the duality of the pomegranate: will they embrace rebirth and each other’s humanity, or will they pull the pin on the grenade? (Press materials)

The Strange Ones — Co-Directed by Lauren Wolkstein (Also Available on DirecTV)

Mysterious events surround two travelers (Alex Pettyfer and James Freedson-Jackson) as they make their way across a remote American landscape. On the surface all seems normal, but what appears to be a simple vacation soon gives way to a dark and complex web of secrets. (Press materials)

Goldbuster — Directed by Sandra Kwan Yue Ng

A quirky internet star, a pair of retired gangsters, and the black sheep of a prolific family of herbalists are a few of the oddball tenants that call the dilapidated apartments of Humble Grove home. Fearful of being locked out by a ruthless property developer with his eye on the building, they’ve stayed inside for years. So, when supernatural incidents befall them all on one night, instead of running, they turn to flamboyant ghost hunter Golden Ling to perform a most unusual exorcism. (Press materials)

Almost Paris — Directed by Domenica Cameron-Scorsese (Opens January 9) (Also Available on VOD)

In the wake of the mortgage lending crisis, a former banker (Wally Marzano-Lesnevich) has to return home in order to get back on his feet. “Almost Paris” is a story of resilience and redemption where one can rise up, collaborate, and give back to those he loves in ways that are priceless. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Domenica Cameron-Scorsese.

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Killing for Love (Documentary) — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Karin Steinberger (Also Available on VOD)
The Party — Written and Directed by Sally Potter (UK)
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

None.

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

The Post — Co-Written by Liz Hannah (Limited Release; Opens in Wide Release January 12)
The Greatest Showman — Co-Written by Jenny Bicks
The Man Who Invented Christmas — Written by Susan Coyne
Let There Be Light — Co-Written by Sam Sorbo
Kingsman: The Golden Circle — Co-Written by Jane Goldman

TV Premieres This Week

The Chi — Created by Lena Waithe (Premieres January 7 on Showtime)

On Chicago’s south side, an average day finds kids prepping for school as their parents head off to work, young adults trying to make a living, and the elders keeping an eye on things from their front porches. But in this tough neighborhood, real dangers threaten daily to squelch dreams, and the simplest decisions can have life or death consequences. “The Chi” is a timely coming-of-age drama series centered on a group of residents who become linked by coincidence but bonded by the need for connection and redemption. (Press materials)

Mother, May I Dance With Mary Jane’s Fist?: A Lifetone Original Movie for Adult Swim (Comedy Special) — Written by Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Artemis Pebdani (Premieres January 7 on Adult Swim)

Aspiring ballerina Mary Jane Stevens (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) moves to a new town with her emotionally abusive mother (Artemis Pebdani) in hopes of escaping her physically abusive father (Jimmi Simpson). But the abusive abuse doesn’t stop there. She begins taking dance classes with the sensually abusive Delice Svensson (also Pebdani) and finds herself dancing for her life! Will she fall victim to life’s thrusting fists, or will the abusee become the abuser? Based on Ellis and Pebdani’s play. (Press materials)

Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story (Documentary Special) (Premieres January 11 on ABC)

Figure skater Tonya Harding opens up about her life now, her childhood, and her past, discussing the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan that dominated headlines for weeks and the alleged tumultuous relationships she had with both her mother, LaVona “Sandy” Golden, and her now ex-husband Jeff Gillooly. The special features rarely seen video of Harding as a child and interviews with television news anchor Connie Chung, whose interview with Harding during the 1994 Olympics was cut short when she walked out; Christine Brennan, USA Today sports columnist and ABC commentator; Dody Teachman, Harding’s former and current coach; Norman Frink, the former district attorney who prosecuted Harding and Gillooly; Matt Harkins and Viviana Olen, curators of THNK1994, the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan museum; Sandra Luckow, director of “Hard Edges,” the 1986 documentary on Harding; People magazine’s Kate Coyne; sports broadcaster Ann Schatz; and “I, Tonya” actors Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, and Sebastian Stan. (Press materials)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

Bitch — Written and Directed by Marianna Palka (DVD, January 9)
Dalida — Written and Directed by Lisa Azuelos (DVD, January 9)
Dare to Be Wild — Written and Directed by Vivienne De Courcy (VOD, January 9)
Dina (Documentary) (VOD/DVD, January 9)
Friend Request (VOD/DVD, January 9)
Hollow in the Land (DVD, January 9)
My Little Pony: The Movie — Co-Written by Meghan McCarthy and Rita Hsiao (VOD/DVD, January 9)
Nails (DVD, January 9)
So B. It (DVD, January 9)
The Tiger Hunter — Co-Written and Directed by Lena Khan (VOD/DVD, January 9)
Trafficked (VOD, January 11)

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