BY Cody Corrall
Hannah Olson Discusses Family, History, Consent, and Her Directorial Debut “Baby God”
Hannah Olson has series produced PBS’ “Finding Your Roots” for the past two seasons. Prior to that, she produced a number of films for PBS including “American Experience”...
DOC NYC 2020 Women Directors: Meet Lauren DeFilippo and Katherine Gorringe – “Red Heaven”
Katherine Gorringe is a documentary director and editor whose work has been featured at numerous festivals including SXSW, CPH:DOX, and Lunafest. Her most recent editing work includes the...
Venice 2020 Women Directors: Meet Celine Held – “Topside”
Celine Held is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker. She works as a co-writer and director with her partner Logan George. Their work as a team has premiered in competition at SXSW, Sundance Film Festival, and...
July 2020 Film Preview
This July offers many new films by and about women to discover on VOD and streaming platforms, and — as some films make their tentative return to cinemas — in movie theaters,...
Writer to Watch: Amanda Idoko of “Central Park” and “Breaking News in Yuba County”
Before Amanda Idoko was in writers rooms, she was on a pre-med track at Cornell with aspirations to be a doctor. Halfway through her college career, she changed her major to theater arts, forging a...
Future and Fantasy: VOD and Web Series Picks
Women filmmakers are redefining what intimacy and relationships may look like in the future — not through making tired critiques of dating apps, but rather by offering expansive interpretations...
Human Rights Watch Film Fest 2020 Women Directors: Meet Erika Cohn – “Belly of the Beast”
Erika Cohn is a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning director and producer. Most recently she completed “The Judge,” a Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated film about the first woman judge...
Human Rights Watch Film Fest 2020 Women Directors: Meet Shalini Kantayya – “Coded Bias”
Shalini Kantayya directed the season finale episode for the National Geographic television series “Breakthrough,” a series profiling trailblazing scientists transforming the future. Her debut...
Human Rights Watch Film Fest 2020 Women Directors: Meet Juliana Fanjul – “Radio Silence”
Juliana Fanjul received a BA in Visual Communication and attended the documentary department at EICTV (International Cinema and TV School of San Antonio de las Banos). She received a Masters in...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Elizabeth D. Costa – “Bangla Surf Girls”
An alumna of the IDFA academy and former participant in the Chicken and Egg Accelerator Lab, Elizabeth D. Costa has over eight years of experience working on media projects as producer, director,...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Pippa Ehrlich – “My Octopus Teacher”
Pippa Ehrlich is a natural history filmmaker and award-winning environmental journalist, specializing in the field of marine science and conservation. Ehrlich has worked with some of the world’s...
Composer to Watch: Tamar-kali of “Shirley,” “The Assistant,” and “Mudbound”
Tamar-kali did not plan on becoming a film composer, but she has quickly become a standout voice in the industry. The Brooklyn-based musician was a figure of the Afropunk movement in the 1990s, and...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Andrea Testa – “Mother-Child”
Andrea Testa is an Argentinian-born filmmaker. She made her feature documentary debut with 2016’s “Pibe Chorro.” Her 2016 feature film “The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis,” co-directed...
June 2020 Film Preview
From hard-hitting documentaries to coming-of-age dramedies, there are a bevy of films by and about women hitting VOD and streaming platforms in June. Among the pics opening the month are Josephine...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Elizabeth St. Philip – “9/11 Kids”
Elizabeth St. Philip is a senior producer at CTV where she has traveled the globe covering a host of stories for both national news and the investigative show “W5.” She has a deep...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Nathalie Bibeau – “The Walrus and the Whistleblower”
Nathalie Bibeau is a director and producer of international award-winning productions. She began her career at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, producing documentary projects such as “8th...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Cecilia Aldarondo – “Landfall”
Cecilia Aldarondo is a documentary director and producer from the Puerto Rican diaspora who makes films at the intersection of poetry and politics. Her work has been supported by ITVS, HBO, A&E,...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Suzanne Crocker – “First We Eat”
Suzanne Crocker’s first feature, “POV” documentary “All the Time in the World,” won 22 festival awards from around the world including nine audience choice awards, four...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Lulu Wei – “There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace”
Lulu Wei is a Toronto based filmmaker and cinematographer whose work explores themes of urbanization and cultural identity. Wei’s short films and installations have been screened and exhibited...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Ali Weinstein – “#BLESSED”
Ali Weinstein is a documentary director and producer based in Toronto. Her directorial debut “Mermaids,” about a group of women who strongly identify with the powerful aquatic archetype,...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Tamara Mariam Dawit – “Finding Sally”
Tamara Mariam Dawit is an Ethiopian-Canadian filmmaker based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where she runs the production company GobezMedia. Dawit also manages the Creative Producers Training Program...
Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Yoruba Richen – “The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show”
Yoruba Richen is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been featured on PBS, New York Times Op Doc, Frontline Digital, New York Magazine’s The Cut, The Atlantic, and Field of...
Tribeca 2020 Women Directors: Meet Anna Kerrigan – “Cowboys”
Anna Kerrigan is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker with a background in independent film, digital storytelling, and theater. “Hot Seat,” which she wrote and directed, premiered at Sundance in...
Unconventional Self-Discovery: VOD and Web Series Picks
Understanding yourself rarely comes easy. Finding out who you are — from which labels you prefer to use, to your relationship to sexuality, and your bodily autonomy — takes time, and discoveries...
Tribeca 2020 Women Directors: Meet Kristine Stolakis – “Pray Away”
Kristine Stolakis is a director whose films explore power, politics, and prejudice — and the way they unfold in real people’s lives. Stolakis’ directorial debut, “The Typist,”...
Tribeca 2020 Women Directors: Meet Brea Grant – “12 Hour Shift”
Brea Grant is a multi-hyphenate from Texas best known for acting in “Heroes” and “Dexter” and for writing and directing the apocalyptic feature “Best Friends...
Editor to Watch: Carla Gutierrez of “RBG” and “Chavela”
Film editing is a behemoth of a task, especially when it comes to documentaries. Sifting through decades of archival footage, juxtaposing them with recent interviews in a way that makes an impact,...
Ripple Effects: VOD and Web Series Picks
Sometimes one decision can change your life forever; whether it be simply saying yes or no, deciding to go out or stay in, or making a more substantial, life-altering choice. These short films and...
April 2020 Film Preview
Women-centric and -helmed film will not be slowing down in April; the month is set to be filled with interesting and varied projects hitting VOD and streaming platforms, ranging from dread-inducing...
Cinematographer to Watch: Katelin Arizmendi of “Swallow” and “Cam”
It’s incredibly difficult to balance the visual aesthetics of fantasy and reality in a film — but cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi seems to have perfected the craft, making it her signature...
Modern Horrors: VOD and Web Series Picks
Fear is a powerful force. Whether we realize it or not, the things that scare us often guide how we move through the world. As a genre, horror aims to tap into our universal fears and challenge them...
March 2020 Film Preview
From live-action remakes to festival darlings and intimate documentaries, there are plenty of films by and about women to support in March. Kicking things off is Kelly Reichardt’s much anticipated...
Under the Radar: “We Are the Radical Monarchs” Champions Young Activists
These aren’t your average Girl Scouts — they’re the Radical Monarchs. “We Are the Radical Monarchs,” a doc from director Linda Goldstein Knowlton, follows the first troop of...
Navigating an Ever-Changing World: VOD and Web Series Picks
Whether we like it or not, technology has changed the world we live in. Our communication has gotten faster, but maybe less personal. And the ways we understand ourselves and the people around us...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Channing Godfrey Peoples – “Miss Juneteenth”
Channing Godfrey Peoples is an MFA graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and one of Filmmaker magazine’s 2018 “25 new faces of independent film.” She wrote two episodes of “Queen...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Zoé Wittock – “Jumbo”
Originally hailing from Belgium, Zoé Wittock grew up travelling the world. She attended the International Film School of Paris. Her shorts include “A demi-mot,” “Still,” and...
February 2020 Film Preview
From Sundance pics to blockbusters, there are a variety of films made by or about women to check out this February. Starting off the month is the highly anticipated “Birds of Prey (And the...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Cristina Costantini – “Mucho Mucho Amor”
Cristina Costantini’s first feature documentary, “Science Fair,” won audience awards at both the Sundance and SXSW Film Festivals in 2018, as well as an Emmy and Critics’ Choice...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Verónica Chen – “High Tide”
Verónica Chen was born in Buenos Aires and raised in Texas. Her films have screened at festivals such as Venice, Sundance, and San Sebastián, among others. Her films include “Smokers...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Liz Garbus – “Lost Girls”
Liz Garbus is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker whose film “What Happened, Miss Simone?” opened the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, received a Peabody Award, and was nominated for an...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Zeina Durra – “Luxor”
Zeina Durra’s directorial debut, “The Imperialists Are Still Alive!,” premiered in US Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2010. A British born of...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Amanda Kernell – “Charter”
Amanda Kernell has made several award-winning short films as a writer and director. “Sami Blood,” her feature film debut, premiered at the 2016 Venice Film Festival and won the Europa...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Eleanor Wilson – “Save Yourselves!”
Eleanor Wilson is a writer, director, and producer from Adelaide, Australia. Her award-winning short films have played at festivals throughout the world, with her first, “Possum,” winning...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Fernanda Valadez – “Identifying Features”
Director and producer Fernanda Valadez’s short “400 Maletas” was nominated for a Silver Ariel and a finalist for a Student Academy Award. She produced Astrid Rondero’s...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Radha Blank – “The 40-Year-Old Version”
Radha Blank is performer, writer, and director. A Helen Merrill Award recipient, Blank’s acclaimed play “Seed” was deemed “fresh, lively…and poetic” by the Huffington...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Kitty Green – “The Assistant”
Kitty Green is an award-winning Australian filmmaker. Her debut documentary feature, “Ukraine Is Not a Brothel,” explored a provocative feminist movement in Ukraine. After making its...