BY Laura Berger
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Ruth Beckermann — “The Dreamed Ones”
Ruth Beckermann was born in Vienna. She studied journalism and art history in Vienna, Tel Aviv, and New York. She has contributed as a journalist to several Austrian and Swiss magazines. In 1978 she...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Margaret Salmon — “Eglatine”
Margaret Salmon was born in New York and studied photography at The School of Visual Arts and the Royal College of Art. She lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. She creates filmic portraits which...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Fiona Tan — “Ascent”
Fiona Tan is an artist who works primarily in film and photography. Tan represented The Netherlands in the 2009 Venice Biennale. Her work can be found in numerous international art collections...
Trailer Watch: BFFs Get in Over Their Heads in Cannes Winner “Divines”
Atrailer has been released for “Divines,” Houda Benyamina’s coming-of-age drama that won the hearts of critics and audiences at Cannes earlier this year. When asked by a teacher what she...
Hamptons Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Meet Jessie Auritt — “Supergirl”
Jessie Auritt is an award-winning documentary filmmaker based in New York City. Her short film, “The Birdman,” screened at festivals around the country and won the Slamdance Grand Jury Prize for...
“Inside Out” Screenwriter to Make Directorial Debut with Disney’s “Gigantic”
Meg LeFauve’s profile continues to rise. The in-demand screenwriter has signed on to make her directorial debut. She’ll co-helm Disney Animation’s “Gigantic,” a retelling of “Jack and...
Women Creators Missing from Adult Swim Programming
Adult Swim is known for offering viewers alternative, unconventional content, but the network famed for cutting-edge programming is seriously behind the times when it comes to hiring women. BuzzFeed...
Angelina Jolie in Talks to Play History-Making Military Star
Oscar winner Angelina Jolie is eyeing her return to the big screen. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she is in early talks to topline “Shoot Like a Girl,” Tristar’s adaptation of an...
NYC Invests $5 Million Towards Tackling Gender Inequality in Film and TV Industry
New York City is a Mecca of entertainment. The iconic city serves as the setting for countless film, TV, and theater classics. Now the city is tackling a major absence in many of these works: women....
Submissions for the 2017 Bentonville Film Festival Open Soon
The third annual Bentonville Film Festival will soon be accepting submissions. The fest, co-founded by Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis, is scheduled to take place in Bentonville, Arkansas May...
Weekly Update for September 30: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“American Honey” Films About Women Opening This Week American Honey — Written and Directed by Andrea Arnold Star (Sasha Lane), an adolescent girl from a troubled home, runs away with a...
Amma Asante’s “A United Kingdom” Acquired by Fox Searchlight
After kicking off negotiations at TIFF earlier in the month, Fox Searchlight Pictures has acquired the North American rights to Amma Asante’s “A United Kingdom,” a press release confirmed. The...
NYFF 2016 Highlights: Ava DuVernay, Annette Bening, and More
“13th” The 54th annual New York Film Festival opens with a bang today. One of our most anticipated titles of the year, never mind this particular fest, holds the honor of kicking off the...
Felicity Huffman Signs on to New ABC Series from “Black-ish” Creator
Felicity Huffman is joining forces with the brains behind “Black-ish.” She has signed on to star in a new family comedy from “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris. ABC nabbed the single-camera...
Fox 2000 Snags Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson Comedy
Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson are a dream team, and now we’re one step closer to seeing the actresses together on the big screen. Fox 2000 has snagged the rights to an untitled film penned by...
Dawn Porter to Be Honored at DOC NYC Film Fest
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter will be honored at this year’s DOC NYC Film Festival, Realscreen reports. Porter will receive the Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary...
Vivica A. Fox Makes History, Will Play U.S. President in Sci-Fi Film
Vivica A. Fox is stepping into the Oval Office. The “Empire” actress will play the President of the United States in “Crossbreed,” a science fiction film from Jaguar Motion Pictures. The...
“The Daily Show’s” Jessica Williams Takes on First Starring Role
Former “Daily Show” correspondent Jessica Williams has landed her first starring role. She’ll re-team with director Jim Strouse for an untitled feature film, taking on a role that was written...
Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson Team Up for Comedy About a Late-Night Host
Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson are joining forces. The actresses have signed on to star in an untitled movie centered on a late night talk show host, Variety reports. Kaling penned the script and...
“Guardians of the Galaxy” Writer Nicole Perlman Signs on to Amazon’s “True Skin”
Nicole Perlman has landed another major gig. The “Guardians of the Galaxy” co-writer will pen “True Skin,” a new sci-fi drama series from Amazon Studios. The project originated as a short...
Jordan Chooses Mai Masri’s “3000 Nights” as its Oscar Pick
The film “3000 Nights” has been selected as Jordan’s candidate for the foreign-language category at the 2017 Oscars, The Hollywood Reporter writes. The drama marks documentarian Mai Masri’s...
Amandla Stenberg to Star in Jennifer Yuh Nelson’s Live-Action Directorial Debut
“Hunger Games” actress Amandla Stenberg’s star continues to rise. Stenberg has snagged the lead role in “Darkest Minds,” Fox’s adaptation of Alexandra Bracken’s dystopian YA trilogy,...
Script Based on Female Soldier in Revolutionary War Acquired by Amy Pascal
A spec script based on the true story of a female solider who fought in the Revolutionary War just scored a major deal. Amy Pascal’s Pascal Pictures has acquired Christopher Cosmos’ “American...
Jane Pauley to Anchor CBS’s “Sunday Morning”
Your Sunday morning is about to get a female-friendly makeover. Jane Pauley will replace Charles Osgood as the anchor of CBS’s “Sunday Morning,” The New York Times reports. Osgood is retiring....
Freeform and Comedian Iliza Shlesinger Are Developing a Late-Night Show
Comedian Iliza Shlesinger may be entering another male-dominated field: late-night television. Freeform is developing a late-night series with Shlesinger as host, Variety reports. According to...
Weekly Update for September 23: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Queen of Katwe” Films About Women Opening This Week Queen of Katwe — Directed by Mira Nair For ten-year-old Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga) and her family, life in the impoverished slum...
“Generation Startup” Directors on Pushing Boundaries and Starting Companies
“Generation Startup” directors Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser shared their thoughts on starting their own companies, why it’s important for young people to pursue their business dreams,...
Elite Zexer’s “Sand Storm” is Israel’s Oscar Pick
Another women-directed feature is joining the Oscar race. Israel has chosen to submit “Sand Storm” to represent the country in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2017 Academy Awards,...
Quote of the Day: “Selma” Star David Oyelowo On How He Supports Women Directors
“Selma” breakout David Oyelowo sat down with Variety to discuss his two upcoming projects, the chess underdog story “Queen of Katwe” and the interracial romance “A United Kingdom.” Both...
Rosemary Myers on Exploring the Dark Heart of the Teenage Mind in “Girl Asleep”
Rosemary Myers is the Artistic Director of Windmill Theatre, an award-winning national performing arts company based in Adelaide, South Australia. Her directing credits for Windmill include the...
Sophie Goodhart on Guilt, Shame, and What Inspired “My Blind Brother”
Sophie Goodhart began her career in news and documentaries for UK television. “My Blind Brother” originated as a short. The short version of the film screened in competition at Cannes in 2003,...
Trailer Watch: “Newtown” Doc Examines the Aftermath of Sandy Hook Tragedy
“I don’t think that any of us that were in there feel like anyone needs to know specifically what we saw,” says an interviewee in a newly released trailer for Kim A. Snyder’s “Newtown.”...
Open Road Acquires Reese Witherspoon Comedy Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer
Open Road Pictures has picked up the North American rights to “Home Again,” Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s directorial debut, Variety reports. The romantic comedy stars Reese Witherspoon. The story,...
Greece Submits Athina Rachel Tsangari’s “Chevalier” to the Oscars
The buddy comedy from hell may land a nomination at the Academy Awards. Greece’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film for the 2017 Oscars will be Athina Rachel Tsangari’s “Chevalier,”...
Two Women Directors Shortlisted for UK’s Biggest Film Bursary
The BFI and IWC Schaffhausen have revealed the shortlist of writers and/or directors competing for the inaugural IWC Filmmaker Bursary Award in Association with the BFI, and two of the four...
Jenny Lumet Pens Pilot about Hate Crimes for CBS, Katie Couric Producing
“Rachel Getting Married” screenwriter Jenny Lumet has secured a put pilot commitment from CBS for her new drama about hate crimes, Deadline reports. The untitled character-based procedural...
“Better Things” Renewed for Season 2
“Better Things” is coming back for a second season, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. FX has renewed the comedy after airing only two episodes of the series. The show was created by...
Amanda Plummer Receives Oldenburg Fest’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Three-time Emmy-winner Amanda Plummer has received the Oldenburg International Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The actress accepted the honor on Friday September 16 at the German indie...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Kristina Kumrić — “Half A Man”
Kristina Kumrić has helmed several short fiction and documentary films. Her short documentary “Welcome to Igrane” won a special jury prize at the Vukovar Film Festival, and her short doc “i...
Women-Directed Films Dominate EFA Debut Film Nominees
Women directors are often shut out of awards conversations, nevermind nominations, but in a refreshing change of pace, female-directed films dominate the nominees for the European Film Awards’...
Karyn Kusama Books New Directing Job
Karyn Kusama has signed on to helm “Breed,” an upcoming horror film for Fox with a terrifying fertility-related premise. The project is based on a 2012 Chase Novak novel of the...
TIFF 2016 Deals: “The Bad Batch” and “Paris Can Wait” Find Homes
The Toronto International Film Festival wrapped up September 18, but the 41st edition of the fest continues to be a source of exciting film news. Both Ana Lily Amirpour’s follow-up to “A Girl...
Andrea Savage Comedy Series Picked Up
“Episodes’” actress Andrea Savage has scored her own TV series. Cable network truTV has given a series order to “I’m Sorry,” a half-hour comedy Savage created and stars in. According to...
Pam Fryman Directs Her 500th Episode of TV
Pam Fryman is in the midst of directing her 500th episode of television. According to Deadline, Fryman now ranks among the directors with the highest number of small-screen credits to their name....
2016 Emmys Roundup: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sarah Paulson, Jill Soloway, and More
Sarah Paulson: ABC Last night’s Emmy’s ceremony was a wonderfully refreshing change of pace from #OscarsSoWhite and #OscarsSoMale. Julia Louis-Dreyfus made history at the 68th installment of the...
Trailer Watch: Rebecca Hall Mesmerizes as a Depressed Newscaster in “Christine”
Christine is an on-air reporter who is “always on the lookout for a positive human interest story.” Her boss has another approach to the news: “If it bleeds, it leads.” This tension is one...
New Tool Can Count Female Characters Onscreen
You’ve probably noticed that TV series and films feature a disproportionate number of male characters. The dearth of women onscreen has been proven by study after study. Those studies, and the...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Alanis Obomsawin — “We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice”
Alanis Obomsawin’s directing credits include “70 Years of Resistance,” “Rocks at Whiskey Trench,” “Is the Crown at War with Us?,” “Hi-Ho Mistahey!,” and “Trick or Treaty?” In...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Kelly Fremon Craig — “The Edge of Seventeen”
Kelly Fremon Craig started out writing sketch comedy and spoken word poetry in college, then landed an internship in the film division of Immortal Entertainment, where she read her first film script...
Sofia Vergara is TV’s Highest-Paid Actress
For the fifth year in a row, Sofia Vergara has been named the highest-paid actress in television. The “Modern Family” star took home nearly $43 million excluding management fees and taxes, Time...
TIFF 2016 Deals: Films Starring Anne Hathaway, Cynthia Nixon, and More
A number of outlets are describing the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival as an unusually quiet and conservative year when it comes to film deals. Fortunately, not all movies are having...