BY Melissa Silverstein
Celebrating Nine Years of Women and Hollywood
Nine years ago this September (I never remember the exact date) I started a website on blogger called Women and Hollywood. I culled links about women in the entertainment industry, started going to...
Listen: Podcast with “The Dressmaker” Director Jocelyn Moorhouse and Producer Sue Maslin
Women and Hollywood spoke with the women behind “The Dressmaker,” a dark comedy starring Kate Winslet as a sophisticated couturier who returns to her middle-of-nowhere hometown to reconcile with...
TIFF 2016: Isabelle Huppert Seen Through the Male and Female Gaze
Here at TIFF there are three movies starring the amazing Isabelle Huppert, who seems to get better and better as she ages. I saw two of them — Mia Hansen-Love’s “Things to Come” and Paul...
New Research Shows Gender Equality in Hollywood is Stalled
Credit: MDSC Initiative We spend every day at Women and Hollywood educating, advocating, and agitating for gender equality in Hollywood and the global film industry. We know that while there has been...
Listen: Podcast with Clea DuVall, Writer, Director, and Star of “The Intervention”
Women and Hollywood spoke with Clea DuVall, writer, director, and star of “The Intervention.” DuVall has been acting on screen for 20 years, with credits including “Veep,” “American Horror...
The Taint on “The Birth of a Nation”
This past Friday, the public learned (at least the public that was paying attention on a steamy August Friday) that Nate Parker, the most recent Sundance Institute Vanguard winner, and writer and...
Ava Duvernay Will Be First African American Woman to Helm $100 Million Film
Yesterday a list of CA tax credits was announced. On that list was Disney’s Ava Duvernay-helmed film “A Wrinkle in Time.” Why that is of note is that this marks the first time CA tax...
Women and Hollywood Goes Down Under
Melissa Silverstein and Rachel Ward Even before Women and Hollywood was a glimmer in my eye, I had an affinity for Australian women directors. I find it very interesting that most of the seminal...
Listen: Podcast with “Equity” Director Meera Menon
Women and Hollywood recently had the chance to talk with director Meera Menon about her trailblazing new film. “Equity” tells the story of the women of Wall Street — the powerful female...
Catherine Corsini on Pioneering Lesbian Feminists and “Summertime”
In “Summertime,” Catherine Corsini gives us a love story about two women in Paris and the French countryside at the dawn of the feminist movement in the early 1970s. These women are forging a...
Renee Zellweger and Why It’s Still Not Ok to Talk About Women’s Faces and Bodies
Here’s a thought: how about we, as members of the media, cease to write about, comment on, or judge how Hollywood actresses age, look, or present themselves? A marvel of an idea right? That idea...
The Academy Remakes the World for Women Directors
We have to take our victories. Granted, there is still so much to do, but yesterday was a monumental step forward. In case you haven’t heard, The Academy, which has come under incredible scrutiny...
Listen: Podcast with “Our Kind of Traitor” Director Susanna White
Women and Hollywood recently spoke with British director Susanna White about “Our Kind of Traitor,” her upcoming spy thriller starring Ewan McGregor, Naomie Harris (“Spectre”), Stellan...
5,000 Women Descend on Washington D.C. to Discuss the #StateofWomen
Yesterday, I was one of the masses (and I mean masses) of women, and a couple of men in the audience for the United State of Women conference, sponsored by The White House. I was blown away by...
Listen: Podcast With Emily Best, CEO and Founder of Seed&Spark
Women and Hollywood spoke with Emily Best, the CEO and Founder of Seed&Spark, about the exciting new steps for the platform. It is going to bring audiences to the content creators....
Elizabeth Banks and Directing While Mothering
First things first, I am not a mom. Nor am I a director. But I have spoken with many moms who are directors and many directors who aren't moms. Second, this discussion is inherently sexist...
Correcting the Record on Wonder Woman Comment
Last week at the Cannes Film Festival on a Women in Motion panel, I said that Patty Jenkins, the director of the upcoming “Wonder Woman” film, is the first female director to have a $100 million...
Why Sony Needs to Stop Freaking Out About the Trolls Attacking“Ghostbusters”
The New York Times published a piece yesterday detailing how Sony was excited that the “Ghostbusters” cast was going to be on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” this week to promote the film, which...
Cannes and Women: Part One
Julia Roberts barefoot at Cannes: Wochit Entertainment/ YouTube It’s day six at the Cannes Film Festival and all three of the Competition films directed by women have premiered. Both Andrea...
Cannes 2016 Part 1: On the Ground at this Wack Job of a Festival
It’s really hard to describe Cannes. They screen the crème de la crème of films (according to the fest, anyway) but they also have a market with lowbrow fare like “Dudes and Dragons.” It is...
An Update on the EEOC Investigation Into Discrimination Against Women Directors
This week marks the first anniversary of the ACLU sending its landmark letter to the EEOC formally requesting that they look into the systemic discrimination against women directors in Hollywood. We...
Women Directors at Cannes 2016 #SeeHerNow
The Cannes Film Festival kicks off this week with the unfortunate choice of a Woody Allen film in the opening slot. As we continuously note, Cannes, like so many other top tier festivals, continues...
Directors UK Research: “Systemic Bias Against Women Directors”
In one week most of the worldwide film industry will be in Cannes celebrating the “best in cinema.” There will be monumental press attention paid to these movies and these directors. While we...