BY Rachel Montpelier
“Beauty and the Beast” Wins U.S. and Global Box Office and Smashes Records
Turns out Belle’s life is anything but provincial. The Emma Watson-led “Beauty and the Beast” opened huge this past weekend, earning $170 million in North America and $350 million globally. If...
Film About Olympian Swimmer and Syrian Refugee Yusra Mardini in the Works
In 2015, Yusra Mardini and her sister Sara saved themselves and the fellow refugees on their dinghy by jumping into the freezing Aegean Sea and swimming the boat to safety. The Mardini sisters had...
Weekly Update for March 17: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Beauty and the Beast” Films About Women Opening This Week Beauty and the Beast Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” a live-action retelling of the studio’s animated classic, refashions...
Screen Australia Announces Gender Matters Mentorship Program Recipients
Eight women have been selected for a commercial directing mentorship, Screen Australia announced. As part of the Australian Directors’ Guild’s (ADG) Gender Matters initiative, these eight...
Apply Now for the Producers Guild’s Power of Diversity Master Workshop
The deadline for the Producers Guild of America’s (PGA) 14th annual Power of Diversity Master Workshop has been extended, the PGA announced in a press release. Applications will now be accepted...
Women Directors Dominate Nominations for German Film Awards
Maren Ade’s “Toni Erdmann” is the film to beat at the Lolas, Germany’s equivalent to the Academy Awards. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the daughter-father comedy garnered six...
Ana Asensio’s “Most Beautiful Island” Wins Top Prize at SXSW
Ana Asensio’s “Most Beautiful Island” has been named the winner of SXSW’s Grand Jury Award in the narrative feature competition, The Hollywood Reporter writes. Asensio’s film, which she...
Film About Hillary Clinton During Her 1969 Gap Year Announced
A new film about Hillary Clinton — Hillary Rodham, actually — is on its way. According to TheWrap, Magdalena Zyzak and Zachary Cotler have finished “When I’m a Moth,” about the gap...
Sarasota Film Festival to Open and Close with Women-Directed Films
This year’s Sarasota Film Festival will feature women-directed films on Opening and Closing Night. According to a press statement from the festival, Rory Kennedy’s “Take Every Wave: The Life...
Australia Introduces Two New Initiatives to Support Women Filmmakers
Similar to Canada’s news last week, Australia has unveiled two new initiatives striving for gender parity in filmmaking. Screen Australia introduced Doco180 for documentary filmmakers, and the...
Trailer Watch: It’s the Same Old Selina in the New Season of “Veep”
You can take Selina Meyer out of the White House, but you can’t take the White House out of Selina Meyer. And thank god for that. In the opening moments of the full trailer for “Veep’s” new...
Trailer Watch: Jane Jacobs Saves the Neighborhood in “Citizen Jane”
If you need reassurance that one person’s voice can make a difference in the world — really, who doesn’t need that right now? — then “Citizen Jane: Battle for the City” probably...
Women in Sports Doc “Tomboy” Premieres on CSN Tonight
There aren’t many mainstream conversations about women in professional sports, especially during non-Olympics years. Luckily, that drought will break tonight thanks to “Tomboy: Elevating the...
Enter Your Short Film to the Audience Awards’ Women’s Film Challenge
Attention, female filmmakers: Have you finished a short narrative film or documentary? Or is there a portion of your feature-length film or doc that you’re ready to share? If so, you should enter...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Meet Ovidie— “Pornocracy”
Ovidie is an author and film director. Her explicitly feminist films like “Pulsion” and “Le baiser” depict an ethical and realistic take on sexuality. Today Ovidie is a journalist, blogger,...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Meet Mónica Álvarez Franco — “The Cloud Forest”
After studying AV Media in Mexico and receiving a Master’s Degree in Creative Documentary in Madrid, Spain, Mónica Álvarez Franco wrote and directed several short documentaries. Her short...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Meet Ceylan Özgün Özçelik — “Inflame”
Born in Turkey, Ceylan Özgün Özçelik is a writer, director, producer, and editor. Özçelik produced, wrote, and hosted “En Heyecanlı Yeri,” a TV show about cinema that aired for almost 10...
Trailer Watch: Welcome to the Sanctuary of “Harlots”
Charlotte Wells (Jessica Brown Findlay, “Downton Abbey”) argues that love doesn’t exist for harlots in the trailer for the upcoming Hulu series. Love may be lacking, but sex, betrayal, power,...
Canadian Film Industry Launches Two New Gender Parity Initiatives
Leading by example yet again, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and the National Film Board of Canada both announced new initiatives to support women in the entertainment industry. The...
Weekly Update for March 10: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Personal Shopper” Films About Women Opening This Week Personal Shopper Olivier Assayas, the internationally-acclaimed director of “Clouds of Sils Maria” and “Summer Hours,” returns with...
Monumental Pictures Developing Movie About Roe v. Wade
With the demagogue-in-chief doing everything in his power to outlaw legal abortion, the public — and the elderly white men who are able to legislatively control women’s bodies — needs...
Teaser Watch: Elisabeth Moss’ Story Is Our Story in “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Some of the images in the latest “Handmaid’s Tale” teaser are shockingly familiar. Tagged “Her Story is Our Story,” the clip features glimpses of a protest — not unlike the Women’s...
Jill Soloway Producing Women’s Rodeo Drama for Amazon
Jill Soloway is teaming up with Amazon again. The “Transparent” creator will produce a limited series about a women’s rodeo alongside Andrea Sperling for Amazon’s streaming platform,...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kasia Rosłaniec— “Satan Said Dance”
Director and screenwriter Kasia Rosłaniec hails from Poland and studied at Warsaw Film School, where she completed the short film “Mall Girls” in 2006 as her thesis. “Mall Girls” received...
Playwright Clare Barron Wins Blackburn Prize for “Dance Nation”
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for women playwrights has been awarded to Clare Barron, The New York Times reports. Barron, who is also an actress, won $25,000 and a signed print by Willem de...
BFI Hosts F-Rated IMDb Hackathon to Highlight Women’s Representation in Film
Now this is a ratings system we can get behind. Originally created by Bath Film Festival director Holly Tarquini, an F-Rating indicates whether a film is directed by a woman, written by a woman, or...
Charlene Fisk and Carrie Schrader’s Golf Doc “The Founders” Finds Distribution
Not many stories have been told about women golfers which — considering the numbers on women’s representation in Hollywood, and women in sports in particular — is pretty much par for...
BBC One and HBO to Produce Sally Wainwright’s Anne Lister Series
Netflix made Sally Wainwright’s “Happy Valley” accessible to U.S. audiences, and it looks like HBO will do the same with the writer’s new show, “Shibden Hall.” According to Deadline, the...
Rebecca Thomas to Direct Adaptation of Cheryl Della Pietra’s “Gonzo Girl”
Rebecca Thomas just booked her next gig. The “Electrick Children” director is bringing Cheryl Della Pietra’s semi-autobiographical novel “Gonzo Girl” to the big screen, Deadline writes....
Trailer Watch: First Lady Kate del Castillo Is “Ingobernable”
“If you think you’ve seen me fight, you haven’t seen anything yet,” First Lady Emilia Urquiza (Kate del Castillo) vows in the trailer for Netflix’s “Ingobernable.” We’re inclined to...
Weekly Update for March 3: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Before I Fall” Films About Women Opening This Week Before I Fall — Directed by Ry-Russo Young; Written by Maria Maggenti What if you had only one day to change absolutely everything?...
Watch: Dr. Stacy Smith Gives TED Talk on Women’s Invisibility in Film
In her talk for TEDWomen 2016, Dr. Stacy L. Smith emphasizes how movies are much more than entertainment. “We can also be transported through storytelling [in film],” she observes....
Trailer Watch: “Grace and Frankie” Navigate the Sex Toy Business in Season 3
Grace Hanson (Jane Fonda) and Frankie Bergstein (Lily Tomlin) have come a long way since the beginning of “Grace and Frankie.” The two began their journey with mutual dislike, forced to spend...
Emma Watson Made Belle More Feminist in Live-Action “Beauty and the Beast”
“I know what [Belle] meant to me as a young girl,” Emma Watson says in the new featurette for the upcoming live-action “Beauty and the Beast.” “When you love something that much, you...
Quote of the Day: Julie Delpy on Why There Is No Female Counterpart to Kubrick
Opportunity is everything, to paraphrase Viola Davis’ 2015 Emmy speech. Based on MovieMaker’s interview with Julie Delpy, we’d say the “Lolo” director agrees. Speaking about her...
Actress Varalaxmi Sarathkumar Speaks Out About the Casting Couch
“Needs to be said,” South Indian actress Varalaxmi Sarathkumar tweeted last week. Her post included a screenshot letter, in which she revealed her experience with sexual harassment in the Indian...
“Big Bang Theory’s” Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch Latest Actresses to Fight for Equal Pay
You would like to think that the most popular comedy series on TV — with a high profile and no shortage of cash — would have make equal pay a priority. But that doesn’t seem to be the...
Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Takes Over Twitter in Honor of Women’s History Month
Thanks to Ava DuVernay, March is coming in like a lion — and we mean that in the best possible way. DuVernay’s film distribution collective, ARRAY, is celebrating Women’s History Month...
“Catastrophe’s” Ashley Jensen Will Star in New Series from BBC One & Acorn
Fran, “Catastrophe’s” ambitious and immaculately-coiffed scene-stealer, would be so pleased. Ashley Jensen, who portrays Fran, is set to star in the six-part series “Love, Lies &...
Rose Garnett Is the New Director of BBC Films
Film4’s Rose Garnett is headed to the British Broadcasting Company. The Hollywood Reporter writes that, per director of BBC content Charlotte Moore’s announcement today, Garnett is the new...
“Divines” Wins Big at the César Awards
Accepting the César Award for Best Actress for her performance in “Elle,” Isabelle Huppert told the ceremony’s crowd, “I’m good every year, but this year you finally noticed!” According...
Alankrita Shrivastava on the Censorship of Her Film “Lipstick Under My Burkha”
Alankrita Shrivastava’s “Lipstick Under My Burkha” is an award-winning film about women reclaiming their freedom through small acts of resistance. Unfortunately, as Deadline details, India’s...
Only One of the 41 Drama Pilots This Season Is Directed By a Woman
So much for television being a haven for women. A report from Deadline finds that “Las Reinas,” starring Sonia Braga, is the only drama project helmed by a woman this pilot season. Liz...
Only One of the 41 Drama Pilots This Season Is Directed By a Woman
We’re just as upset as you, Dr. Bailey (Chandra Wilson, frequent “Grey’s Anatomy” director): ABCSo much for television being a haven for women. A report from Deadline finds that “Las...
Lauren Graham to Return to TV in “Linda From HR” & “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Lorelai Gilmore. Sarah Braverman. Linda from HR. That’s right, Lauren Graham might have just booked her next iconic role. Deadline writes that the “Gilmore Girls” and “Parenthood” star is...
“The Coldest City” Starring Charlize Theron Gets New Name and Release Date
The Charlize Theron vehicle “The Coldest City,” based on the graphic novel by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart, has a release date and a new title. According to Deadline, the upcoming Cold War...
Laura Karpman and Gail Collins to Bring the “Battle of the Sexes” to the Opera
Billie Jean King: Lynn Gilbert/Wikimedia Commons When you think about it, the opera is the perfect place to tell “the Battle of the Sexes” story. The historic tennis match between Billie Jean...
Teaser Watch: Even the Ex-Prez Isn’t Immune to the Gender Pay Gap in “Veep”
“Veep” used to present a heightened version of our political climate. Now our political climate seems like a caricature of “Veep.” So, obviously, we couldn’t be happier to see Selina Meyer...
2017 Diversity Report: Women and Minorities Still Woefully Underrepresented in Hollywood
“Television is looking up; it’s moving in the right direction,” Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA told the Los Angeles Times. “Film,...
Study: Number of Women Protagonists in Top 100 Films Climbed to 29% in 2016
This should brighten up your Tuesday a bit: Women made up 29 percent of the protagonists of the 100 top grossing films in 2016. According to the latest “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World”...
Women Execs Have Limited Role in Hollywood Greenlight Process
The good news: the process for greenlighting a movie is relatively democratic, with most studios considering multiple perspectives via committee. The bad news: the women on those committees rarely...