March is Women’s History Month! There are lots of ways to celebrate — learning about important women in history, honoring your favorite women leaders and artists, and, of course, supporting women-made and women-centric films.
On March 8, International Women’s Day, Marvel Studios will debut “Captain Marvel,” the franchise’s first female-led — and woman-helmed — superhero film. Oscar-winner Brie Larson takes on the titular role and Anna Boden directs with Ryan Fleck. Other decorated actresses have films premiering on March 8 as well: Julianne Moore’s “Gloria Bell” and Alfre Woodard’s “Juanita” follow the self-discoveries of two single, middle-aged mothers as they reinvent their lives.
March releases also include several juicy dramatic vehicles for some of the most talented actresses currently working in Hollywood. “Greta” (March 1) stars Isabelle Huppert as a lonely, eccentric piano teacher with treacherous secrets. “The Aftermath” (March 15) stars Keira Knightley as the wife of a British colonel who becomes entangled in a forbidden romance in postwar Germany. Carol Morley’s “Out of Blue” (March 22) stars Patricia Clarkson as an unconventional New Orleans cop investigating the murder of a renowned astrophysicist.
March 29 marks the release of writer-director Julia Hart’s “Fast Color.” Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a woman with superhuman abilities, “Fast Color” is a sci-fi thriller that centers around Black women, addiction, and family. The film — Athena Film Fest 2019’s opener — has already been garnering plenty of buzz with Variety commenting that “Fast Color” “hits its themes about empowerment hard, especially the idea that if mankind ever knew what women could truly do, the planet would implode.”
Here are all of the women-centric, women-directed, and women-written films premiering this March. All descriptions are from press materials unless otherwise noted.
March 1
“Greta”
“Greta”
A sweet, naïve young woman trying to make it on her own in New York City, Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz) doesn’t think twice about returning the handbag she finds on the subway to its rightful owner. That owner is Greta (Isabelle Huppert), an eccentric French piano teacher with a love for classical music and an aching loneliness. Having recently lost her mother, Frances quickly grows closer to widowed Greta. The two become fast friends — but Greta’s maternal charms begin to dissolve and grow increasingly disturbing as Frances discovers that nothing in Greta’s life is what it seems.
“Woman at War” (Opens in NY and LA)
“Woman at War”
Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) is a cheery middle-aged choir director by day who has a second life as a fierce but anonymous eco-terrorist. Traversing the Icelandic countryside, she wields a potent bow and arrow to bring down power lines in a one-woman crusade against heavy industry. As Halla’s campaign intensifies and the authorities threaten to close in, she’s confronted with a personal dilemma that could derail her mission.
“The Sower” – Directed by Marine Francen; Written by Marine Francen, Jacqueline Surchat, and Jacques Fieschi
“The Sower”
In 1851, France’s autocratic President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte has ordered the arrest of all the men of a remote mountain farming village following a Republican uprising. The women spend years in total isolation, forced to tend the crops themselves. Some women have lost their husbands; others, like the shy but inwardly strong Violette (Pauline Burlet), suddenly have no chance of experiencing physical love or motherhood. The women take an oath: if a man comes, they will share him as a lover. When a mysterious and handsome stranger arrives, he ignites passions and jealousies that threaten to destroy the tight-knit community.
“Mapplethorpe” – Directed by Ondi Timoner; Written by Ondi Timoner and Mikko Alanne
Robert Mapplethorpe’s portraits, images of calla lilies, and chronicles of New York City’s underground BDSM scene remain touchstones of 20th-century photography even now, nearly three decades after his death from complications of HIV/AIDS in 1989. “Mapplethorpe” revisits the titular photographer’s legacy, beginning at the moment just before he takes up residence in the Chelsea Hotel. There, Mapplethorpe (Matt Smith, “The Crown”) begins to amass a portfolio of images and, at the same time, to explore his formerly suppressed attraction to men. But Mapplethorpe’s relentless ambition threatens to tear apart the relationships he cherishes the most. From the early ’70s until his untimely death at age 42, the film explores the intersection of his art and his sexuality, his struggle for mainstream recognition, and, looming above it all, the specter of the emerging AIDS crisis.
“This Magnificent Cake!” – Written and Directed by Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels (Opens in LA)
“This Magnificent Cake!”
“This Magnificent Cake!” is a work of stop-motion animation exploring the bitter milieu of Belgium-occupied Congo. In the late 19th century, keen to compete with other European imperial powers on the continent, King Leopold II of Belgium proclaimed, “I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake.” The subsequent occupation of the Congo would come to attract a contingent of servants, merchants, and miscellaneous bourgeois driven by everything from insatiable greed to existential fear. From the intimate stories of these characters — many of whom pass through a luxury hotel in the middle of the jungle — emerges a greater narrative concerning the imperialist mentality.
“Level 16” – Written and Directed by Danishka Esterhazy (Also Available on VOD)
Sixteen-year-old Vivien (Katie Douglas) is trapped in The Vestalis Academy, a prison-like boarding school, keeping to herself and sticking her neck out for no one. Until she is reunited with Sophia (Celina Martin), the former friend who betrayed her. Together the girls embark on a dangerous search to uncover the horrifying truth behind their imprisonment. Soon running for their lives, the girls must save themselves or die trying.
“Saint Judy” (Opens in Select Cities; Opens in Wider Release May 8)
“Saint Judy”
“Saint Judy” tells the inspirational true story of immigration attorney Judy Wood (Michelle Monaghan) and her fight that changed American asylum law forever. In her first case, Judy represents a woman forced to flee her home country after being persecuted by the Taliban for opening a school for girls. While juggling her life as a single mother, Judy fights tenacious battles in and out of court, not only saving her client’s life, but changing the Law of Asylum in the United States. This case has saved the lives of thousands of other persecuted women around the world. Like “Erin Brockovich,” “Saint Judy” tells the story of a remarkable woman who overcame tremendous odds, and reminds us how one person can change the world.
“Pretty Broken” – Written by Jill Remensnyder (Also Available on VOD)
“Pretty Broken” tells the story of Lindsey Lou (Jillian Clare), an unemployed college drop-out on the verge of divorce who finds herself couch surfing at her childhood home while her family grieves the death of her father. As the family tries to put the past behind them, Lindsey fights to keep his memory alive before her mother, Caroline Lou (Stacy Edwards), replaces him with a younger man, Jerry Carlyle (Tyler Christopher).
“Furie”
“Furie”
“Furie” follows Hai Phuong (Veronica Ngo), a gangster who retired from the life of crime after the birth of her daughter. Despite lying low in the countryside, she can’t seem to escape her violent past when her daughter is kidnapped right before her eyes. Hai Phuong is forced back into the life she swore she would leave behind and will stop at nothing to get her daughter back from the infamous organ-trafficking ring.
“The Hole in the Ground” (Also Available on VOD)
Trying to escape her broken past, Sarah O’Neill (Seána Kerslake) is building a new life on the fringes of a backwood rural town with her young son Chris (James Quinn Markey). A terrifying encounter with a mysterious neighbour shatters her fragile security, throwing Sarah into a spiraling nightmare of paranoia and mistrust, as she tries to uncover if the disturbing changes in her little boy are connected to an ominous sinkhole buried deep in the forest that borders their home.
“What Lies Ahead”
When two young women (Rumer Willis, Emma Dumont) embark on a road trip from Georgia to New York, an unseen peril emerges that grows stronger with each passing mile.
“Virginia Minnesota” (Opens in LA)
Two young women, torn apart by a childhood tragedy, unexpectedly reunite and embark on an illuminating 24-hour journey, where they unlock memories of long-forgotten innocence and what it means to truly believe.
“Cliffs of Freedom” – Written by Marianne Metropoulos, Van Ling, and Kevin Bernhardt
Inspired by historical events, “Cliffs of Freedom” is a timeless and romantic story of bravery and faith between a Greek village girl (Tania Raymonde) and a Turkish Ottoman Colonel (Jan Uddin) during the dawn of the Greek War for Independence in the 1820s.
“River’s Edge” – Written by Misaki Setoyama (Available on Netflix)
A group of high school students experience the brutal front of urban isolation after a corpse washes up from the river.
March 8
“Captain Marvel” – Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck; Written by Anna Boden, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Jac Schaeffer, and Ryan Fleck
“Captain Marvel”
“Captain Marvel” follows Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) as she becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races. Set in the 1990s, the film is an all-new adventure from a previously unseen period in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Time for Ilhan” (Documentary) – Directed by Norah Shapiro (Also Available on VOD)
Ilhan Omar, a young, hijab-wearing mother of three, takes on two formidable opponents in a highly contested race for a seat in the Minnesota State Legislature. Up against a 43-year incumbent, Ilhan is the “outsider” — a Muslim, refugee, woman of color — who seeks to challenge the party’s status quo while simultaneously defying lingering gender norms within her own Muslim community. A fresh and timely take on the classic American Dream, “Time for Ilhan” offers an inspiring, stereotype-busting portrait of one of America’s brightest new political stars, at the start of her meteoric ascent from political newcomer to becoming one of the first Muslim women in the U.S. Congress.
“Gloria Bell”
“Gloria Bell”
Gloria (Julianne Moore) is a free-spirited divorcée who spends her days at a straight-laced office job and her nights on the dance floor, joyfully letting loose at clubs around Los Angeles. After meeting Arnold (John Turturro) on a night out, she finds herself thrust into an unexpected new romance, filled with both the joys of budding love and the complications of dating, identity, and family.
“Juanita” (Available on Netflix)
“Juanita”
Fed up with her deadbeat grown kids and marginal urban existence, Juanita (Alfre Woodard) takes a Greyhound bus to Paper Moon, Montana, where she reinvents herself and finds her mojo.
“Ferrante Fever” (Documentary) – Written by Laura Buffoni and Giacomo Durzi (Opens in NY)
Filmed between Italy and the United States, “Ferrante Fever” is born from the same passion that devours the readers of Elena Ferrante, the “faceless writer” whose novels have sold more than five million copies worldwide. The film is not looking to uncover the truth behind the pseudonym. Instead, it hopes to discover the secret to her success, the nature of the fever that conquered the world over the course of 12 years. Exceptional witnesses like Hillary Clinton, Roberto Saviano, and Jonathan Franzen provide answers, but so do the writer’s own words, and the places and the protagonists in her novels.
“I’m Not Here” – Directed by Michelle Schumacher; Written by Michelle Schumacher and Tony Cummings
Steve (J.K. Simmons) is haunted by his past as every object in his home, every sound he hears reminds him of a specific event in his life. Steve connects the events of his life to discover how he ended up alone and broken. As he relives each significant memory, he understands the generational issues that have held him captive like his father before him. Can he move past the pain and forgive his trespassers, and more importantly, forgive himself?
March 13
“Starfish” (Opens in NY)
Aubrey (Virginia Gardner) is a young woman suffering from the death of a close friend. When a mysterious signal from an unknown dimension summons the end of days, its appears as if only Aubrey is left on earth. Trapped in the apartment of her recently deceased best friend, the only clue she has is a single cassette left behind after her friends death, labeled: “THIS MIXTAPE WILL SAVE THE WORLD.” Thrust into a mystery orchestrated by her friend and stricken with grief, Aubrey begins to piece the clues together, uncovering a series of tapes all with pieces of the mystery signal. Along the way, progress is impeded when monstrous creatures begin to overrun the world and enclose in on her. Aubrey is forced to fight off the encroaching creatures and move beyond her own crippling grief in order to find the remaining tapes. But will completing the signal save the world?
“Tale of Tales” – Written by Lyudmila Petrushevskaya and Yuri Norstein (One Week Only in NY)
An adorable wolf, a minotaur, a cat, and a fish populate a small boy’s world in which soldiers leave for war, never to return, and a baby suckles at his mother’s breast. Snow falls on apple trees as 20 million Russians disappear…
March 15
“Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase” – Directed by Katt Shea; Written by Nina Fiore and John Herrera
“Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase”
After the death of his wife, Carson Drew decides to leave Chicago behind and make a fresh start with his daughter in River Heights. But for 16-year-old Nancy Drew (Sophia Lillis), life in a small town is mighty dull. She longs for excitement, adventure, and the chance to make a difference. Nancy gets that opportunity when she is asked to help solve the ghostly activity at the Twin Elms mansion. Can she help explain the creaking footsteps, exploding lightbulbs, and the ominous creature? Is it the handiwork of high-school bully Derek Barnes? Or is it possible that the ghost of original owner Malcolm Colfax is back for revenge? Recruiting her best friends George and Bess, along with local “mean girl” Helen, Nancy Drew is on the case!
“The Mustang” – Directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre; Written by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Mona Fastvold, and Brock Norman Brock
Roman (Matthias Schoenaerts), a convict in a rural Nevada prison who struggles to escape his violent past, is required to participate in an “outdoor maintenance” program as part of his state-mandated social rehabilitation. Spotted by a no-nonsense veteran trainer (Bruce Dern) and helped by an outgoing fellow inmate and trick rider (Jason Mitchell), Roman is accepted into the selective wild horse training section of the program, where he finds his own humanity in gentling an especially unbreakable mustang.
“The Aftermath” – Written by Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel
“The Aftermath”
Set in postwar Germany in 1946, “The Aftermath” follows Rachael Morgan (Keira Knightley), who arrives in the ruins of Hamburg in the bitter winter to be reunited with her husband, Lewis (Jason Clarke), a British colonel charged with rebuilding the shattered city. But as they set off for their new home, Rachael is stunned to discover that Lewis has made an unexpected decision: They will be sharing the grand house with its previous owners, a German widower (Alexander Skarsgård) and his troubled daughter. In this charged atmosphere, enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal.
“Five Feet Apart” – Written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis
Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) is every bit a 17-year-old: she’s attached to her laptop and loves her best friends. But unlike most teenagers, she spends much of her time living in a hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries, and self-control — all of which is put to the test when she meets an impossibly charming fellow cystic fibrosis patient named Will Newman (Cole Sprouse).
“Captive State” – Written by Erica Beeney and Rupert Wyatt
Set in a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after an occupation by an extra-terrestrial force, “Captive State” is a sci-fi thriller that explores the lives on both sides of the conflict — the collaborators and dissidents. The film uses a grounded sci-fi setting to shine light on the modern surveillance state and the threats to civil liberties and the role of dissent within an authoritarian society.
“Knife+Heart”
Paris, summer 1979. Anne (Vanessa Paradis) produces third-rate gay porn. After her editor and lover Lois (Kate Moran) leaves her, she tries to win her back by shooting her most ambitious film yet with her trusted, flaming sidekick Archibald (Nicolas Maury). But one of her actors is brutally murdered and Anne gets caught up in a strange investigation that turns her life upside-down.
“Wonder Park”
“Wonder” Park tells the story of a magnificent amusement park where the imagination of a wildly creative girl named June (Brianna Denski) comes alive. One magical day, June is running through the woods to find her way home where she discovers an old roller coaster car and climbs inside. She suddenly finds herself in Wonderland, an amusement park she had created in her mind and put aside. All of her rides and characters are brought to life but are falling into disarray without her. Now, with the help of her fun and lovable park characters, June will have to put the wonder back in Wonderland before it is lost forever.
“Faith, Hope & Love”
Faith (Peta Murgatroyd), a recent divorcee, enters a dance contest to save her dance studio, where she meets Jimmy (Robert Krantz) and starts rediscovering her faith and dreams.
March 20
“Buddy” (Documentary) – Written and Directed by Heddy Honigmann (Opens in NY)
Heddy Honigmann turns her unerring eye to the relationship between dogs and people. Forget the ubiquitous “emotional support dog,” everyone’s favorite companion. These six pooches – Mister, Kaiko, Utah, Missy, Kay, and Makker – do amazing things: they open and close drawers, turn their mistress over in bed, remove paper from the computer printer, push a syringe into flesh, put on a woman’s socks, and pull up her blanket. They soothe a veteran suffering from PTSD and a severely autistic child. With characteristic reserves of warmth and humor, Honigmann gives the dogs equal face time — and what faces!
March 22
“Out of Blue” – Written and Directed by Carol Morley (Also Available on VOD)
“Out of Blue”
The hunt for a killer draws a detective into an even larger mystery: the nature of the universe itself. Mike Hoolihan (Patricia Clarkson) is an unconventional New Orleans cop investigating the murder of renowned astrophysicist Jennifer Rockwell (Mamie Gummer), a black hole expert found shot to death in her observatory. As Mike tumbles down the rabbit hole of the disturbing, labyrinthine case, she finds herself grappling with increasingly existential questions of quantum mechanics, parallel universes, and exploding stars — cosmic secrets that may hold the key to unraveling the crime, while throwing into doubt her very understanding of reality.
“Roll Red Roll” (Documentary) – Directed by Nancy Schwartzman (Opens in NY)
“Roll Red Roll”
“Roll Red Roll” goes beyond the headlines to explore the notorious Steubenville, Ohio, sexual assault case where members of a small town’s high school football team sexually assaulted a teenage girl. A true-crime thriller that uncovers the social media-fueled “boys will be boys” culture at the root of high school sexual assault in America, “Roll Red Roll” unearths the complex motivations of both perpetrators and bystanders. It also looks unflinchingly at the role adults played in enabling the culture.
“The Dirt” – Written by Amanda Adelson, Rich Wilkes, and Tom Kapinos (Available on Netflix)
Based on the bestselling autobiography from Mötley Crüe, “The Dirt” is an unflinching tale of success and excess as four misfits rise from the streets of Hollywood to the heights of international fame.
March 27
“Working Woman” – Directed by Michal Aviad; Written by Michal Aviad, Sharon Azulay Eyal, and Michal Vinik (Opens in NY; Opens April 12 in LA)
“Working Woman”
Orna, (Liron Ben Shlush) is the mother of three young children with a husband struggling to start his own restaurant. To help support her family, Orna returns to the workplace, landing a job with a former army superior, Benny (Menashe Noy), who is now a successful real estate developer. While Orna embraces her new position and tries to balance its demands with her home life, she begins to experience escalating sexual harassment from her boss. Her rapid rise through the ranks and her increasing financial success seem to parallel a pattern of predatory behavior which ultimately brings her career and marital relationship to the brink.
March 29
“Fast Color” – Directed by Julia Hart; Written by Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz
Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is forced to go on the run when her superhuman abilities are discovered. Years after having abandoned her family, the only place she has left to hide is home.
“Slut in a Good Way” – Directed by Sophie Lorain; Written by Catherine Léger
“Slut in a Good Way”
One tipsy evening, Charlotte (Marguerite Bouchard), the recently heartbroken, Megan (Romane Denis), the anti-love anarchist, and Aube (Rose Adam), the shy romantic, stumble into the Toy Depot. Charmed by the male employees, the girls fill out a job application and quickly become part of the Toy Depot gang. Charlotte has found the guys to be particularly helpful in getting over her heartbreak, to say the least. But has she taken it too far? The film explores teenage girls’ desires, the blurred lines between sex and friendship, and the unfair double standard imposed upon girls. It is a story of desire, self-censorship, and self-assertion.
“Diane” (Opens in NY and LA) (Also Available on VOD)
For Diane (Mary Kay Place), everyone else comes first. Generous but with little patience for self-pity, she spends her days checking in on sick friends, volunteering at her local soup kitchen, and trying valiantly to save her troubled, drug-addicted adult son (Jake Lacy) from himself. But beneath her relentless routine of self-sacrifice, Diane is fighting a desperate internal battle, haunted by a past she can’t forget and which threatens to tear her increasingly chaotic world apart.
“In Reality” – Directed by Ann Lupo; Written by Ann Lupo, Esteban Pedraza, and Aaron Pryka (Opens in LA) (Available on VOD April 2)
Despite boasting rich friendships and a creative job, young filmmaker Ann (Ann Lupo) is consumed by the fantasy of finding true love. Just when she thinks she’s found it, she is friend-zoned and the disappointment of rejection shoots her down a deep rabbit hole of unrequited love. Looking for a way to climb out, Ann picks up a camera and sets her sights inward. She confronts multiple characters within her conscious, from a maniacal game show host to a glamorous cabaret performer, that guide her through her investigation of the relationship and her own neuroses. Blending docu-style interview with comedy, drama, and hyperbolic fantasies, Ann creates an elaborate, eccentric world that manages to be as intensely relatable as it is one of a kind.
“A Vigilante” – Written and Directed by Sarah Daggar-Nickson (Also Available on VOD)
“A Vigilante”
A once abused woman, Sadie (Olivia Wilde), devotes herself to ridding victims of their domestic abusers while hunting down the husband she must kill to truly be free. “A Vigilante” is a thriller inspired by the strength and bravery of real domestic abuse survivors and the incredible obstacles to safety they face.
“The Chaperone”
In the early 1920s, a Kansas woman (Elizabeth McGovern) finds her life forever changed when she accompanies a young dancer (Haley Lu Richardson) on her fame-seeking journey to New York City.
