BY Rachel Montpelier
Melina Matsoukas’ “Queen & Slim” Will Open AFI FEST 2019
Melina Matsoukas is returning to the American Film Institute (AFI). According to a press release, the AFI alumna’s feature directorial debut, “Queen & Slim,” will make its world...
Venice 2019 Women Directors: Meet Shahad Ameen – “Scales”
Writer-director Shahad Ameen was born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Her short films include 2009’s “Our Own Musical” and 2011’s “Leila’s Window.” The...
Latina Characters Missing from 70 of 2018’s Top 100 Films, Study Finds
New research from Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative — in partnership with the National Association of Latino Independent Producers and Wise Entertainment — has...
Venice 2019 Women Directors: Meet Gitanjali Rao – “Bombay Rose”
A self-taught animator and filmmaker, Gitanjali Rao emerged into the international stage with her animated short “Printed Rainbow,” which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2006....
Weekly Update for August 23: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Vita & Virginia – Directed by Chanya Button; Written by Chanya Button and Eileen Atkins (Available on VOD August 30) Set amidst the bohemian high society of 1920s...
Screen Australia’s Gender Matters Program Surpasses Parity Target, Sets New Goal
In December 2015 Australian state film fund Screen Australia unveiled Gender Matters, an initiative encouraging greater gender representation in film and TV. As part of the program, women would...
Teaser Watch: Midge and Susie Hit the Road in Season 3 of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is taking her act on the road in Season 3. A new teaser for Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Emmy-winning comedy just dropped. Stand-up comedian Midge Maisel...
Weekly Update for August 16: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Where’d You Go, Bernadette – Written by Holly Gent, Richard Linklater, and Vince Palmo Based on the beloved novel by Maria Semple, “Where’d You Go, Bernadette”...
Margaret Nagle Will Write Cathy Schulman and TriStar TV’s “Alpha Girls” Adaptation
In summer 2017 producer Cathy Schulman and her Welle Entertainment company acquired the rights to Julian Guthrie’s “Alpha Girls,” a nonfiction book about the overlooked female pioneers of...
“Blow the Man Down” Acquired by Amazon Studios Ahead of TIFF Premiere
The 2019 Toronto International Film Festival is still a few weeks away, but one of its titles has already found a home. According to a press release, Amazon Studios has snagged the worldwide rights...
SXSW Winner “Saint Frances” Goes to Oscilloscope
Oscilloscope Laboratories has landed U.S. rights to “Saint Frances,” which won the Audience Award for narrative feature and a special jury prize for breakthrough voice at SXSW this year....
Crystal Moselle & Lesley Arfin’s “Skate Kitchen”-Inspired Comedy Receives Series Order at HBO
An all-girl skateboarding crew is coming to HBO. The Hollywood Reporter confirms the network ordered Crystal Moselle and Lesley Arfin’s “Betty,” inspired by the former’s 2018...
Phoebe Waller-Bridge Writing a Feature Film with Plans to Direct
Phoebe Waller-Bridge won’t be breaking the fourth wall on her next project — she’ll be stepping behind it. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the “Fleabag”...
Women and Hollywood’s Picks of the Week for August 15
Picks of the Week offers Women and Hollywood’s recommendations — women-driven and women-made movies, series, VOD releases, and more — and tells you why they are worth your time and...
Trailer Watch: The Holidays Are Rough on Emilia Clarke in “Last Christmas”
“Father bloody Christmas, get me out of here,” Emilia Clarke says in the trailer for “Last Christmas.” It’s unclear whether her character, Kate, wants to escape the...
TIFF 2019 Adds More Galas and Special Presentations, Reveals World Cinema Lineup
The Toronto Film Fest has announced the lineups for more programs — including Contemporary World Cinema, Masters, and Wavelengths — and added additional titles to its Gala Presentations...
Trailer Watch: Sasheer Zamata Spends “The Weekend” with Her Ex and His New Girlfriend
Zadie (Sasheer Zamata, “SNL”) is in for a trying weekend. She’s spending it at a bed and breakfast with her ex (Tone Bell, “Disjointed”) and his new girlfriend, Margo...
Apply Now: The 2020-21 AFI Directing Workshop for Women
The AFI Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) is now accepting applications for its 2020-21 program. Open to women and nonbinary directors with at least three years of professional experience, DWW...
Comedian Rose Matafeo Is Getting Her Own HBO Max/BBC Three Show
HBO Max, WarnerMedia’s forthcoming streaming service, has lined up yet another woman-driven project. According to a press release, it has commissioned “Starstruck,” from comedian Rose...
Leslie Jones Lines Up Netflix Comedy Special
Leslie Jones has another stand-up special on the way. Netflix has announced the “Saturday Night Live” star will debut a one-hour comedy set on the streamer next year. A comedian, actress,...
TIFF 2019 Announces Discovery Titles and Docs, Ellen Page and Barbara Kopple Among Directors
Ellen Page, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Barbara Kopple are just a few of the directors who will be screening films at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF 2019 has unveiled the...
FX Reports Encouraging Writing and Directing Stats at TCA
According to Chairman John Landgraf, the writers of FX’s 2019-2020 season are 25 percent white women, 20 percent women of color, and 16 percent men of color, while the directors are 28 percent...
Kay Oyegun Adapting Tomi Adeyemi’s “Children of Blood and Bone” for Lucasfilm
The big-screen adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling debut novel, “Children of Blood and Bone,” is likely to be Lucasfilm’s first non-“Star Wars,”...
Sarah Gavron’s Latest to Open TIFF’s Platform Program, Lineup Is 40% Women-Directed
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced the lineup for its Platform section, a juried program spotlighting trailblazing directors from around the world. “Rocks,” from...
Monica Lewinsky Producing “American Crime Story’s” Take on Clinton Impeachment
It’s official: after a couple years of fits and starts, “American Crime Story” will indeed tackle the Clinton impeachment trial. Monica Lewinsky is producing Season 3 of Ryan...
New York Film Festival’s 2019 Main Slate Is 21 Percent Women-Directed
Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) has unveiled the Main Slate for the 57th New York Film Festival (NYFF). Twenty-nine films will screen in the section, and six of them are directed by women, or about 21...
Elizabeth Acevedo Adapting Her Bestseller “With the Fire on High” for the Big Screen
Elizabeth Acevedo is an author, slam poet, and the first woman of color to win the Carnegie Medal children’s book award — and now she’ll be adding “screenwriter” to her...
Anthology Series About Women of the Civil Rights Movement Being Developed at ABC
The women of the civil rights movement will take center stage in a new ABC anthology series. Written by Marissa Jo Cerar (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), the project, tentatively titled...
Release Dates Set for “Sister Aimee” and Patricia Marcoccia’s Jordan Peterson Doc
Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann’s Sundance pic “Sister Aimee” and Patricia Marcoccia’s portrait of conservative academic/YouTuber Jordan Peterson have nabbed distribution and...
Emma Watson and Time’s Up UK Announce Workplace Harassment Hotline
Emma Watson has teamed up with Time’s Up UK to create a free legal advice hotline for women in England and Wales experiencing workplace sexual harassment. According to Mashable, this is the...
Quote of the Day: Angelina Jolie Praises “Wicked” Women
“Wicked” — like “bitch,” “slut,” “difficult,” “shrill,” “emotional,” or “nasty” — is a word that is...
“She’s Gotta Have It’s” Radha Blank Making Her Feature Directorial Debut, Lena Waithe Producing
Playwright and “She’s Gotta Have It” writer-producer Radha Blank is making her first film. According to Variety, she is writing, directing, and toplining “The 40-Year-Old...
Trailer Watch: “Katy Keene” & Her Friends Pursue Their Dreams in The CW’s “Riverdale” Spinoff
“I feel like I’m ready to be Lacy’s newest personal shopper,” Katy Keene (Lucy Hale) announces in the trailer for her eponymous CW show, a spinoff of hit...
“Fleabag” Dominates TCA Awards
You know that feeling when you’re the only show to take home multiple prizes at the annual TCA Awards? Phoebe Waller-Bridge sure does. Her beloved dark comedy, “Fleabag,” was the...
TV Adaptation of Madeline Miller’s “Circe” Ordered to Series at HBO Max
Circe will soon be casting a spell on television audiences. “Circe,” Madeline Miller’s bestseller about the famed Greek goddess and witch, is being adapted as an eight-episode drama...
Trailer Watch: An Act of Self-Defense Turns a Couple into Folk Heroes in “Queen & Slim”
One Tinder date ends up changing two people — and the world — forever in the latest trailer for “Queen & Slim.” After going out to dinner, Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith,...
Women Directed Over Half of San Sebastian’s 2019 New Directors Lineup
Spain’s San Sebastian International Film Festival signed the Gender Parity Pledge last year and — if its 2019 New Directors lineup is any indication — is taking its commitment to...
The Black List Introduces New List Amplifying Stories By and About Latinx Community
Every year The Black List spotlights Hollywood’s top unproduced scripts — and now it will be doing the same with screenplays telling Latinx stories. Per IndieWire, The Black List has...
“Trinkets” Returning for Season 2, Hires Sarah Goldfinger as Showrunner
Netflix will return to Shoplifters Anonymous next year. The streamer has announced that “Trinkets,” the YA series about three very different young women who bond at a kleptomania group,...
Weekly Update for July 26: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Share – Written and Directed by Pippa Bianco (Premieres July 27 on HBO) “Share,” written and directed by Pippa Bianco, feels in some ways like a horror...
Jessica Rothe Will Star in Sharon Horgan’s HBO Max Comedy “Delilah”
Sharon Horgan’s latest TV project, “Delilah,” will see “Happy Death Day” star Jessica Rothe playing a woman caught in the midst of some serious personal and familial...
Jennifer Lopez Will Topline, Produce, and Possibly Direct STXfilms’ “The Godmother”
In September’s “Hustlers,” Jennifer Lopez will play a stripper who, along with her co-workers, robs her Wall Street bro customers. Now there’s word the multi-hyphenate will...
Naima Ramos-Chapman Directing Lena Waithe Pilot “How To Make Love To A Black Woman”
“Random Acts of Flyness” writer-director Naima Ramos-Chapman will helm Lena Waithe and Cathy Kisakye’s Showtime pilot “How To Make Love To A Black Woman (Who May Be Working...
“Surviving Jeffrey Epstein” Docuseries & “Surviving R. Kelly” Follow-Up in Dev at Lifetime
Lifetime’s groundbreaking, Emmy-nominated docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly” provided survivors of the singer’s sexual abuse a prominent platform in which to share their stories...
Feminist Artist Judy Chicago to Receive First Retrospective in 2020
One of the most influential artists of the ’70s-era Feminist Art Movement is finally getting her own retrospective. Per ARTnews, Judy Chicago announced she will be receiving her first-ever...
Marvel Drops New Details About “Black Widow,” Chloé Zhao’s “The Eternals,” & More at SDCC
Are you a fan of Marvel movies but wish they included more women, on-screen and off? Well, good news has come out of San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). Marvel Studios prez Kevin Feige revealed new details...
Weekly Update for July 19: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Varda by Agnès (Documentary) – Written and Directed by Agnès Varda (Opens in the UK) Whether in front of the camera or behind it, Agnès Varda was a visual...
Study: Just 14% of Past Decade’s Sci-Fi and Superhero Films Featured Solo Female Leads
Last year a study from Women’s Media Center (WMC) and BBC America concluded that female representation in superhero and sci-fi stories can have an empowering effect on girls in the real world. This...
Denise Di Novi & Nina Tassler Developing Showtime Series Based on Joyce Carol Oates Novel
The next project from Denise Di Novi and Nina Tassler’s PatMa will be a Showtime series adapted from Joyce Carol Oates’ 2017 novel “A Book of American Martyrs.” Per The...
Locarno 2019: Women-Directed Films Comprise 28% of Main Lineup
The Locarno International Film Festival has revealed its 2019 program. According to Screen Daily, 10 women-directed pics — including the previously-announced opener, Ginevra Elkann’s...
Weekly Update for July 12: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Farewell – Written and Directed by Lulu Wang “The Farewell” solidifies Awkwafina as a multi-faceted actress. The “Crazy Rich Asians”...