BY Rachel Montpelier
Human Rights Watch Film Fest Announces Digital UK Lineup, 78% of Titles Are Women-Directed
In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the 2020 Human Rights Watch Film Festival — like so many other fests, events, and releases — is moving online. The festival will be hosting several...
Emma Straub Developing Her Novel “All Adults Here” for TV, Will Write and EP with Sarah Heyward
Emma Straub’s latest novel, “All Adults Here,” was released only a few days ago, but it’s already being developed for the screen. The author is set to pen and exec produce a...
Trailer Watch: Martha Kehoe & Joan Tosoni Honor Gordon Lightfoot in “If You Could Read My Mind”
A music icon’s life and work are celebrated in “Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind.” Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni’s doc sees the titular folk-rock singer-songwriter,...
Reveca Torres and Colette Ghunim Selected for Inaugural Hulu/Kartemquin Accelerator Program
Reveca Torres’ “Tres Fridas” and Colette Ghunim’s “Traces of Home” are the two projects that have been chosen for the inaugural Hulu/Kartemquin Accelerator....
Apply Now: Field of Vision and Topic Studios’ Documentary Freelancer Relief Fund
If you’re a freelancer in the documentary field and have been struggling due to the coronavirus crisis, Field of Vision and Topic Studios may be able to help. The orgs have partnered to create...
Numa Perrier Developing Erotic Thriller Series “Toxic” for Macro Television Studios
Numa Perrier will follow up “Jezebel,” her portrait of a cam girl, with a thriller series about a couple who connect primarily via titillation. Deadline reports the actress and filmmaker...
Pick of the Day: “Becoming”
“Becoming” is not a hard-hitting, warts-and-all look at former First Lady Michelle Obama — Nadia Hallgren’s Netflix doc is produced by the Obamas’ Higher Ground...
New Prod Company Focusing on Young Queer Women Launches, Options “Amelia Westlake Was Never Here”
Up and coming UK producers Loran Dunn, Sorcha Bacon, and Savannah James-Bayly have launched their own production company, Teen Club, focusing on stories about young queer women. According to Screen...
Pick of the Day: “Saint Frances”
Motherhood — the prospect of motherhood, too, really — is complex. (Duh.) We still don’t talk about that often enough. Women who generally dislike kids can be wonderful mothers. Women who enjoy...
Rory Kennedy and Rachel Dretzin Both Working on Docs About Boeing 737 Max Disasters
Rory Kennedy and Rachel Dretzin will both be investigating the Boeing 737 Max crashes that took place in October 2018 and March 2019 in upcoming projects. Each filmmaker is working on her own...
A “Borgen” Netflix Revival Is On the Way
After seven years off the air, “Borgen” is coming back. The drama about Denmark’s first female prime minister will get a fourth season on Netflix, Deadline reports. The streamer is...
Teaser Watch: A Night Out Becomes a Nightmare in Michaela Coel’s “I May Destroy You”
“How’d you smash your phone?” a friend asks Arabella Essiuedu in the teaser for “I May Destroy You.” This question makes Arabella (Michaela Coel) freeze in her tracks....
Jenji Kohan and “Orange Is the New Black” Team Line Up Social Distancing Anthology at Netflix
The COVID-19 crisis has halted production on most film and television projects for the foreseeable future — but Jenji Kohan and her fellow “Orange Is the New Black” production team...
Trailer Watch: The “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” Takes on the Reverend Again in Interactive Special
The audience will choose Kimmy Schmidt’s (Ellie Kemper) next adventure in Netflix’s upcoming interactive special, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. The Reverend.”...
Pick of the Day: “Vida”
Women and Hollywood has temporarily suspended our recommendations newsletter. We’ll be sharing some of the week’s highlights in TV, VOD, and streaming via blog posts. I can’t tell you why...
Trailer Watch: Comedians Pay Tribute to Their Moms in “Call Your Mother”
“You think you got your sense of humor all by yourself? Uh-uh, you know where that comes from,” Tig Notaro says in the trailer for “Call Your Mother.” The documentary special...
Pick of the Day: “To the Stars”
Women and Hollywood has temporarily suspended our recommendations newsletter. We’ll be sharing some of the week’s highlights in TV, VOD, and streaming via blog posts. When we spoke to Martha...
Connie Britton Developing HBO Max Docuseries Based on Rebecca Traister’s “All the Single Ladies”
Connie Britton and her producing partner, Elyse Klaits, are bringing a project about the role, treatment, and influence of unmarried women in the U.S to HBO Max. The Hollywood Reporter confirms they...
Pick of the Day: “Marcy Learns Something New”
Women and Hollywood has temporarily suspended our recommendations newsletter. We’ll be sharing some of the week’s highlights in TV, VOD, and streaming via blog posts. In “Marcy Learns...
IFC Films to Support Reopening Cinemas with Indie Theater Revival Project
When independent movie theaters begin reopening in the coming months, IFC Films will be there to give them a boost. A press release has announced the distributor will support partnering cinemas with...
Bernardine Evaristo, Hilary Mantel, and More Shortlisted for Women’s Prize for Fiction
Bernardine Evaristo’s Booker Prize-winning “Girl, Woman, Other” and Hilary Mantel’s conclusion to her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, “The Mirror & the Light,” are...
Paula Vogel and Daryl Roth Launch New Play Commission at Vineyard Theatre
Frequent collaborators Paula Vogel and Daryl Roth are teaming up yet again — this time to support established playwrights. The respective Pulitzer Prize-winning “How I Learned To Drive”...
Trailer Watch: Nancy Kelly’s Feminist Western “Thousand Pieces of Gold” Gets a 4K Restoration
In honor of its new 4K restoration, “Thousand Pieces of Gold,” Nancy Kelly’s 1990 feminist Western, is coming to virtual theaters. According to a press release, the Rosalind...
SeriesFest Announces Women Writing Comp Winner, Second Shondaland Women Directing Mentorship, & More
The sixth edition of SeriesFest, a non-profit org and festival championing episodic storytelling, has confirmed several programs dedicated to gender parity and inclusivity. In addition to announcing...
Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s Julia Child Doc Acquired by Sony Pictures Classics
Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s Julia Child documentary has found a home. The worldwide rights to “Julia” (working title), excluding domestic television, have been acquired by Sony...
Trailer Watch: Women of Color Are Pushing American Politics Forward in “And She Could Be Next”
“People aspiring to be leaders in this country, they need to go through women of color because we’re making our voices known,” a character in “And She Could Be Next”...
Halina Dyrschka Gives a Brilliant Unknown Artist Her Due with “Beyond the Visible – Hilma af Klint”
Halina Dyrschka is a director and producer. After studying acting, classical singing, and film production, she founded the company Ambrosia Film. The first film she directed, the short...
Pick of the Day: “Selah and The Spades”
Women and Hollywood has temporarily suspended our recommendations newsletter. We’ll be sharing some of the week’s highlights in TV, VOD, and streaming via blog posts. Meet your new favorite...
Trailer Watch: Cyntoia Brown Fights for Justice and Freedom in Netflix Doc “Murder to Mercy”
In 2004, 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown was sentenced to life in prison for murder. In self-defense, she shot a 43-year-old man who solicited her for sex, and was tried as an adult. It was clearly a major...
Sam Taylor-Johnson to Direct TV Adaptation of Pulitzer-Winning Novel “Middlesex”
Jeffrey Eugenides’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about immigration, the American Dream, family, genetics, and gender identity may finally be coming to the screen. According to Variety, Paramount...
Lorena Bobbitt to Tell Her Story in “Ripped from the Headlines” Lifetime Feature
With its next “Ripped from the Headlines” feature, Lifetime is giving Lorena Bobbitt the opportunity to tell her own story. On Memorial Day, May 25, the network is airing TV movie...
Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Introduces $250K Grant Initiative for Arts Orgs Dedicated to Women & POC
Ava DuVernay’s non-profit foundation ARRAY Alliance, part of her media company and arts collective ARRAY, has set up a $250,000 funding initiative for arts organizations and individuals...
Submit Now: The Corona Short Film Festival
A new opportunity has arisen “for film professionals and film enthusiasts who have already rewatched all the favorite series and movies, read all the books on the shelf, and played online games...
Katia Lewkowicz’s “Ballsy Girl” Heading to Amazon Prime in France
Amazon Prime Video has acquired its first French film. Per Cineuropa, the streaming platform has picked up Katia Lewkowicz’s “Ballsy Girl,” a comedy that was originally supposed to...
Pick of the Day: “Killing Eve”
Women and Hollywood has temporarily suspended our recommendations newsletter. We’ll be sharing some of the week’s highlights in TV, VOD, and streaming via blog posts. I love a lot about...
Exec Tara Duncan Inks Deal with Hulu, Lines Up Adaptation of “The Other Black Girl”
Former Netflix executive Tara Duncan is going into business with Hulu. Deadline confirms the “She’s Gotta Have It” exec producer has signed an overall deal with the streamer —...
Trailer Watch: Beanie Feldstein Adopts a New Persona in Coky Giedroyc’s “How to Build a Girl”
Wolverhampton, 1993. Sixteen-year-old Johanna (Beanie Feldstein) is sick of her life. She wants to get out of her family’s house, she wants excitement, she wants to have sex, and she wants a...
Drama Series About Trans Activist Abby Stein in Development
Abby Stein’s journey is on its way to the small screen. According to Variety, production and financing company Fugitive has acquired the international distribution rights to “Abby,”...
Trailer Watch: A Hollywood Icon’s Life & Death Are Revisited in “Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind”
Natalie Wood drowned during a weekend boat trip in 1981, when she was 43. The iconic actress’ death has always been shrouded in mystery: How did she end up overboard? Were the yacht’s...
Submit Now: 2020 IFP Week Project Forum
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) is now taking submissions for select categories of the 2020 IFP Week Project Forum. According to a press release, the org is accepting submissions to the...
Film Rights to “Divegent” Author Veronica Roth’s New Book Picked Up by Picturestart
Veronica Roth’s latest book was just published today, April 7, and its film rights have already found a home. The Hollywood Reporter confirms Picturestart (“Unpregnant”) has...
“Misbehaviour” Will Soon Be Available on VOD in the UK
“Misbehaviour” opened in UK theaters just before cinemas were closed due to COVID-19. Following its opening weekend, “all cinemas in the country were shuttered,” Deadline...
Apply Now: Barbican Cinema’s Inaugural Emerging Film Curators Lab
London’s Barbican Cinema will be closed until June 30 due to the coronavirus, but that isn’t stopping the arts venue from supporting up-and-coming film curators. The Barbican is launching...
Film Adaptation of Wallis Simpson Biography “The American Duchess” in the Works
Wallis Simpson and her course-of-history-changing marriage to King Edward VIII have been explored in projects such as “The Crown” and “W.E.” Now her tale — which is...
Trailer Watch: Police and Protestors Navigate Systems of Sexual Abuse in “La Jauría”
Amazon’s first locally-produced original series in Chile takes on sexual abusers and the systems that protect them. Showrun by Lucía Puenzo (“The German Doctor”), “La Jauría” (“The...
Relief Funds Set Up for Women Artists Over 40, Doc Community, and Indie Theaters
The coronavirus crisis has been devastating for artists, documentary filmmakers, and those working at independent cinemas — i.e. professionals who don’t tend to have a lot of extra money...
Ingrid Veninger Teams with Women Directors Around the World for Short Film Anthology Project
COVID-19 is not preventing “Porcupine Lake” director Ingrid Veninger from making art — or from supporting fellow female filmmakers. According to a press release, Veninger is...
Trailer Watch: Secrets, Games, and Sex Abound in Hulu’s “Normal People” Adaptation
Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal) are really into each other. But they are very different people from very different worlds. She’s a rich girl from a cold, isolated family,...
Trailer Watch: Things Are Nuts in “The Good Fight” Season 4
“I never used to swear, so when I do that, it has added meaning,” Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) declares in “The Good Fight’s” Season 4 trailer. “And this...
Trailer Watch: Queen Latifah Investigates a Murder in Quibi’s “When the Streetlights Go On”
“Most people aren’t aware of the exact moment when they lose their innocence. It usually happens slowly, but, for me, it was all at once,” says Charlie (Chosen Jacobs), the narrator...
New “Insecure” Mobile Game Will Tie In with Season 4
We’re about to get even more Issa, Molly, Kelli, and Tiffany in our lives. A press release has confirmed that a new “Insecure” mobile game is on it ways, and will tie in to the HBO...