BY Divyani Sharma
January 2022 Film Preview
“The 355” is finally making its way to cinemas. Long delayed due to COVID-19, the star-studded spy movie kicks off 2022 right. Featuring Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Lupita...
January 2022 Television Preview
As we welcome 2022 and make plans for the upcoming months, we have new shows to match our moods, grab our attention, and guide us through the first 31 days of the year. The TV premieres this month...
Comfortable in Her Own Skin: VOD, Web Series, and Podcast Picks
The burden to live up to social expectations is omnipresent. As such, the struggle to be free of modern society’s demands — from unattainable body standards propagated through social...
December 2021 Television Preview
2021 promises to go out with a bang, with a gamut of festive television releases adding warmth to this chilly season. The TV offerings this month are full of holiday cheer, extending from sitcoms to...
Costume Designer to Watch: Vera Chow of “The Walking Dead” and “Boogie”
Born in Texas and raised in British Hong Kong, Vera Chow never quite found herself at ease with her surroundings. Made to feel like a misfit during her schooling in Hong Kong, Chow admits in a talk...
December 2021 Film Preview
The New Year is just around the corner, but there’s plenty to look forward to before we ring in 2022. Besides holiday-themed content, December will also mark the release of an Oscar-nominated...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Nahid Persson – “Be My Voice”
Nahid Persson is an award-winning documentary filmmaker based in Sweden. She was born in Iran and took political asylum in Sweden as a result of her political activism during and after the 1979...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Sara Terry – “A Decent Home”
Sara Terry is a documentary filmmaker. Her first documentary “Fambul Tok,” about an unprecedented grassroots forgiveness program in Sierra Leone, was supported by Sundance and Chicken and...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Constance Marks – “Grandpa Was an Emperor”
Constance Marks is a director, producer, and award-winning independent documentary filmmaker. She is the founder and president of Constance Marks Productions, Inc., a documentary production company...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Maria Speth – “Mr. Bachmann and His Class”
Maria Speth is a writer, director, and producer of feature films and documentaries. Her debut feature “The Days Between” premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2001,...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Alysa Nahmias – “Krimes”
Alysa Nahmias is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of the Los Angeles-based production company AJNA. Her work has been shown at festivals and exhibitions worldwide, including the Venice...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Neasa Ní Chianáín – “Young Plato”
Neasa Ní Chianáin is a documentary filmmaker whose credits include “Frank Ned & Busy Lizzie,” “Fairytale of Kathmandu,” and “The Stranger,” which screened at...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Erin Bernhardt and Din Blankenship – “Refuge”
Erin Bernhardt is an independent filmmaker. She has won two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, and numerous film festival awards. Her first independent feature documentary, “Imba Means Sing,” aired...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Kavery Kaul – “The Bengali”
Kavery Kaul is a filmmaker and the founder of riverfilms. She was born in India and is based in the U.S. Her works have been featured at DOC NYC, Telluride, London, Rotterdam and Sydney Festivals,...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Yunhong Pu – “Go Through the Dark”
Yunhong Pu is a director, editor, cinematographer, and producer based in New York City. Born and raised in China, she received her MFA in Social Documentary Film from SVA in 2019. “Go Through...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Vera Krichevskaya – “F@ck This Job”
Vera Krichevskaya is a Russian filmmaker. She is the co-founder of TV Dozhd (TV Rain), which is the only independent private TV channel in Russia. She is an award-winning television director and has...
DOC NYC 2021 Women Directors: Meet Alexandra Dalsbaek – “We Are Russia”
Alexandra Dalsbaek is a French-Russian filmmaker based in Moscow. Previously a freelance journalist, she made her documentary feature debut with “Cinderella Syndrome,” which premiered in...
November 2021 Television Preview
Even though the end of 2021 is near, it is just the beginning for shows premiering this November. This month offers us a range of programs, from comedies to intense dramas, to keep our attention as...
November 2021 Film Preview
November promises to ring in the festive season with fervor and fanfare, with a list of highly anticipated releases hitting theaters and streaming platforms. The dynamic offerings this month include...
Indigeneity in All Its Complexity: Web Series and Podcast Picks
Representation of Indigenous people in mainstream media is undergoing a tectonic shift, from being perceived through the dominant lens of white settler society, which mostly oversimplifies and...
NewFest 2021 Women Directors: Meet Cristiane Oliveira – “The First Death of Joana”
Cristiane Oliveira is a Brazilian writer and director. Her debut feature, “Nalu on The Border” (“Mulher do Pai”), premiered internationally at the Berlinale 2017 and has...
Tackling Trauma: Crowdfunding Picks
Rarely does a day pass when the life of a woman is not affected by the haunting of the trinity — that of assault, abuse, and trauma. No matter which rung of the social ladder one stands at, the...
October 2021 Film Preview
With the arrival of autumn comes chilling, thrilling, and captivating new releases in theaters and on streaming sites. From drama and documentary to edgy horror, this month offers plenty of variety...
October 2021 Television Preview
From narratives of independent women striving to find a foothold for themselves to coming-of-age narratives, fall TV has much to offer. Kicking off the month is Molly Smith Metzler’s “Maid”...
TIFF 2021 Women Directors: Meet Nathalie Biancheri – “Wolf”
Nathalie Biancheri is an Italian writer and director based in Dublin. Her short films have won awards at several international festivals such as SXSW, Edinburgh, Galway, Rhode Island Flickers Fest,...
TIFF 2021 Women Directors: Meet Haya Waseem – “Quickening”
Haya Waseem is a Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker. An alumna of the Director’s Lab program at Norman Jewison’s Canadian Film Centre, Weseem began her career as a documentary editor. Her short films...
TIFF 2021 Women Directors: Meet Kate Dolan – “You Are Not My Mother”
Kate Dolan is an Irish writer and director. She wrote and directed “Little Doll,” a short film that premiered at the Berlinale in 2016. Dolan’s next short film, “Catcalls,”...
TIFF 2021 Women Directors: Meet Mounia Akl – “Costa Brava, Lebanon”
Mounia Akl was born in Lebanon. She completed an MFA in directing at Columbia University. Her directorial credits include the shorts “Beirut, I Love You (I Love You...
TIFF 2021 Women Directors: Meet Shasha Nakhai – “Scarborough”
Shasha Nakhai is a Filipina-Canadian filmmaker. Her directorial projects include documentary shorts “Thirty Eight Minutes,” “18 Roses,” “Paruparo,” “The...
TIFF 2021 Women Directors: Meet Ruth Paxton – “A Banquet”
Ruth Paxton is a Scottish filmmaker and writer. Her short film “Paris/Sexy,” a grim tragedy about a young caregiver and her brain-damaged father, premiered at the 64th Edinburgh...
TIFF 2021 Women Directors: Meet Ana Lazarevic – “The Game”
Ana Lazarevic is a writer and director born in Belgrade, Serbia. She holds an MFA in Film from Columbia University. Her short film “The Runner” premiered at the New York Film Festival....
TIFF 2021 Women Directors: Meet Neus Ballús – “The Odd-Job Men”
Neus Ballús is a Catalan film director and scriptwriter. Her first film, “The Plague,” premiered at Berlinale Forum and was nominated for the European Film Awards, LUX Prize, and Goya...
Animator to Watch: Angela Stempel of “Pen15’s” Animated Special “Jacuzzi”
Animator Angela Stempel is making her mark in the film and TV by bringing the drawing board to life. Originally a student of International Relations, Stempel’s route to the animation circuit...
September 2021 Television Preview
It’s that time of the year again, where new shows premiere on every network and we’re reunited with some of our favorites as their new seasons begin. We’re seeing some exciting releases by and...
September 2021 Film Preview
From a modern-day revamp of a classic fairytale to a comedy about unabashed suburban women who become Robin Hoods of their community, along with an array of socially conscious documentaries and...
Under the Radar: “Women of My Billion” Examines India’s Long-Standing Gender-Based Social Injustices
How does one deal with the anger and frustration propelled by news of violent social injustices rampant in one’s country? If you’re Srishti Bakshi, you walk it off. Walk the entire length of...
August 2021 Television Preview
Summer television will go out with a bang this August, with releases ranging from a star-studded miniseries set at a health-and-wellness resort to an Emmy nominee’s animated return. This...
August 2021 Film Preview
A history-making Sundance winner and a biopic about the Queen of Soul are among the most anticipated titles hitting theaters this August. Kicking off this month’s releases is “Pray...