Few of South by Southwest 2015’s highest-profile films will be directed by women.
The Austin festival, which will take place on March 13–21, will showcase only two narrative features in competition directed by women (Hannah Fidell’s 6 Years and Alison Bagnall’s Funny Bunny) out of total of 10. The documentary feature competition scene is only a little better, with 3 out of 10 titles helmed by female directors (Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli’s Frame by Frame, Samatha Futerman’s co-directed Twinsters, and Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti’s A Woman Like Me).
This means that, overall, 5 out of 20, or 25%, of the films in competition are directed by women.
On a brighter note, there’s still plenty to look forward to in Austin. The festival will include a “works in progress” showing of one of our most eagerly awaited films of the year, Trainwreck, which Amy Schumer penned and stars in. Fellow funny lady Melissa McCarthy will be in attendance for the gala premiere of Spy, her latest venture with writer-director Paul Feig, who previously directed her in The Heat and Bridesmaids (and will pair up with McCarthy for a fourth time for the Ghostbusters reboot).
Other screenings of women-directed include Jamie Babbit’s Fresno, Shannon Sun-Higginson’s GTFO: Get The F% Out, Laura Gabbert’s City of Gold, Jessica Edwards’ Mavis!, and Lina Mannheimer’s The Ceremony. The Episodics screening section will include TBS’s Angie Tribeca, starring Rashida Jones and co-created by Nancy Carell.
Keynote speakers for the festival include Ava DuVernay (Selma) and Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees).
Here is the trailer for Mavis!, the first documentary to focus on Mavis Staples, whose music helped propel the civil rights movement.
[via Variety]
