Weekly Update for February 27: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

The Hunting Ground (doc) (Women and Hollywood’s Pick of the Week)

“The Hunting Ground” is an extraordinarily powerful and searing look at the epidemic of sexual assault on campuses across this country. College is supposed to be the first step towards adulthood for young women, a safe space where they can learn to develop as a person. But it turns out, according to filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering (“The Invisible War”), that colleges are a predatory hunting ground for sexual assaulters. At every turn, these young women are dismissed by the institutions that are supposed to protect them. Schools are worried more about money from alumni and big sports programs than the actual students on campus who are there to learn.

The heroines of the film, Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, were both sexually assaulted as students and have started going around the country talking to other survivors, instructing them on how to use Title IX to push schools to punish the assaulters. The villains of the film are the college and university presidents who ignore this epidemic on their campuses in favor of the bottom line. I don’t know how they sleep at night. The film also has the first interview with the woman who was sexually assaulted by Jameis Winston, the football player who will most likely be drafted #1 in the upcoming NFL draft. The fact that he is going to get millions of dollars and will be treated like a king makes my head want to explode.

Sexual assault against women is an epidemic. Hopefully this movie will jumpstart a conversation that is most needed and get these women the justice they seek in the courts and at the schools. (Melissa Silverstein)

Ana Maria in Novela Land — Directed and Co-Written by Georgina Garcia Riedel

“Ana Maria in Novela Land” is the fun-filled story of how one super fan, Ana Maria, switches places with her favorite telenovela star, Ariana Tomosa. Starring Edy Ganem (Devious Maids), in a breakout, dual role as both Ana Maria and Ariana Tomosa, the film centers around Ana Maria, a typical 20-something who is living life on her own terms but frustrating her family and friends all the while doing so. As she journeys inside a world of seemingly limitless opportunities in “Novela Land,” things get heated during a love affair with a wealthy businessman and his younger, sexy son. Meanwhile, Ariana is forced to deal with the harsh realities of living in Los Angeles with an over-protective but loving family. As each of these women navigate their new lives, they come to the realization that love and true faith in themselves is all they really needed to have the life they dreamed of. (Press materials)

Maps to the Stars

Meet the Weiss family, who are making their way in Hollywood rife with money, fame, envy, and relentless hauntings. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) is a famed TV self-help therapist with an A-list celebrity clientele. Meanwhile, Cristina Weiss (Olivia Williams) has her work cut out managing the career of their disaffected child-star son, Benjie (Evan Bird), a fresh graduate of rehab at age 13. Yet unbeknownst to them, another member of the Weiss family has arrived in town — mysteriously scarred and tormented Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), just released from a psych ward and ready to start again. She soon works her way into a friendship with a limo driver (Robert Pattinson) and becomes personal assistant to unraveling actress Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore), who is beset by the ghost of her legendary mother, Clarice (Sarah Gadon). But Agatha is on a quest for redemption — and even in this realm of the artificial, and the unearthly, she’s determined to find it, no matter what it takes. (Press materials)

Bluebird

When Lesley, the local school bus driver, (Amy Morton) becomes distracted during her end–of–day inspection, she fails to notice a sleeping boy in the back of the bus. What happens next shatters the tranquility of her small logging town, proving that even the slightest actions have enormous consequences.

Stricken by an overwhelming sense of guilt, Lesley’s fragility is further tested by her husband (John Slattery) — a local logger preoccupied by the imminent closing of the town paper mill–and the boy’s mother Marla (Louisa Krause), a disaffected young woman looking to take advantage of a delicate situation. (Press materials)

Farewell to Hollywood (doc) — Co-Directed and Co-Written by Regina Nicholson

A terminally ill teenager’s wish leads to a deep, loving and controversial relationship with a 55-year-old filmmaker. As her life nears its end, Reggie risks everything to fight for the life, art and love she chooses. (Press materials)

Everly (available on VOD & opening in NYC only)

An intense action thriller about a down-on-her-luck woman (Salma Hayek) who is forced to fend off waves of assassins sent by her ex, a dangerous mob boss, while trying to save her estranged mother and daughter. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

The DUFF

Drunktown’s Finest — Directed and Written by Sydney Freeland

My Way (doc) — Co-Directed by Dominique Mollee

Fifty Shades of Grey — Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson; Written by Kelly Marcel

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Ronit Elkabetz

Butterfly Girl (doc) — Directed by Cary Bell

Jupiter Ascending

The Price of Honor (doc) — Co-Directed by Neena Nejad; Written by Leah Welch

Girlhood — Written and Directed by Celine Sciamma

Gloria — Written by Sabina Berman

The Boy Next Door — Written by Barbara Curry

Cake

Still Alice

Annie — Co-Written by Aline Brosh McKenna

Two Days, One Night

Big Eyes

Wild

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1

Gone Girl

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn (VOD & theatrical) — Written and Directed by Liv Corfixen

In the tradition of “Hearts of Darkness,” director Liv Corfixen reveals an impossibly personal portrait of her husband, auteur Nicolas Winding Refn, as he struggles to complete the controversial and polarizing “Only God Forgives.” (Press Materials)

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

McFarland, USA — Directed by Niki Caro; Co-Written by Bettina Gilois

Approaching the Elephant (doc) — Directed by Amanda Rose Wilder

Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine (doc) — Written and Directed by Michele Josue

The Voices — Directed by Marjane Satrapi

Above and Beyond (doc) — Directed by Roberta Grossman

Selma — Directed by Ava DuVernay

Unbroken — Directed by Angelina Jolie

Citizenfour (doc) — Directed by Laura Poitras

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

Strange Magic — Co-Written by Irene Mecchi

Spare Parts — Written by Elissa Matsueda