BY Gabriela Rico
Home Away from Home: VOD and Web Series Picks
Home is the place you’re meant to feel most comfortable. For many people, it’s with their families, their belongings, and their own space. But that isn’t always possible, particularly for those...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Mary McGuckian – “A Girl from Mogadishu”
Mary McGuckian is an Irish writer, director, and producer known for her collaborative approach to working with actors. She has worked on 12 films, including “The Price of Desire,” “The Bridge...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ásthildur Kjartansdóttir – “The Deposit”
Ásthildur Kjartansdóttir is a director, writer, and producer. Her films have screened at film festivals around the world. Two of her documentaries were nominated for Best Documentary by the...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Susanne Heinrich – “Aren’t You Happy?”
Susanne Heinrich is a German filmmaker and author. She published four books between the ages of 19 and 25 and was nominated for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Following her first short film,...
Laugh It Off: Crowdfunding Picks
Comedy has long been a vehicle to talk about the issues plaguing society. From projects like podcast-turned-HBO series “2 Dope Queens” to favorites like “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,”...
Under the Radar: “A Woman’s Work” Tackles Gendered Notions of Labor
How many hours of practice does it take to become an NFL cheerleader? In Lacy Fields’ case, approximately 10,560 over 18 years. Yet after she finally accomplished that feat, joining the Oakland...
June 2019 Film Preview
The summer movie season is kicking off with dozens of films helmed by and centered on women. From Sundance pics to mega blockbusters, June promises to be a month chock-full of exciting...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Alice Furtado – “Sick, Sick, Sick”
Alice Furtado is a Brazilian filmmaker and editor. She worked as an editor on Eduardo Williams’“El auge del humano,” and Tiago Mata Machado’s “Os sonâmbulos.” She directed the short film...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sofía Quirós – “Ceniza Negra”
Sofía Quirós is a director and writer. Her short film “Selva” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Critic’s Week in 2017. Since then, it has screened in more than 40 cities around the world...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Shahrbanoo Sadat – “The Orphanage”
Shahrbanoo Sadat is an Afghan writer and director based in Kabul. Her first feature film, “Wolf and Sheep,” was developed with the Cannes Cinéfondation Residence in 2010. Twenty years old at the...
Embracing the Surreal: Crowdfunding Picks
Surrealism allows the mundane and the exotic to coexist, woven together in a way that creates a new reality unbound by the limitations of our world. It represents a potent force for creativity and...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Pachi Bustos – “Haydee and the Flying Fish”
Pachi Bustos is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. She has worked as a director, writer, and researcher for prestigious Chilean television programs and nationally and internationally renowned...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Jola Dylewska – “Marek Edelman… and There Was Love in the Ghetto”
Jola Dylewska is a Polish writer, director, and cinematographer. She has worked as a cinematographer on over 25 projects. She won Best Cinematography at the 2012 Polish Film Awards for her work on...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Marcela Arteaga – “The Guardian of Memory”
Marcela Arteaga is a Mexican writer and director. Her 2003 documentary “Remembrance” was screened at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Festival des Films du Monde, and Hot Docs,...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Bora Kim – “House of Hummingbird”
Bora Kim is a Korean filmmaker with an MFA in film directing from Columbia. Her debut feature, “House of Hummingbird,” won the Grand Prix for Best Feature Film at the 69th Berlin International...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sherry Hormann – “A Regular Woman”
Sherry Hormann is a German-American writer and director. Her directorial debut, “Silent Shadow,” won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Direction, the Film Award in Silver for Outstanding...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Karen Stokkendal Poulsen – “On the Inside of a Military Dictatorship”
Karen Stokkendal Poulsen is a writer and director with a background in foreign affairs and political science. Her 2014 documentary “The Agreement” was nominated for Best Nordic Documentary at the...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni – “Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind”
Martha Kehoe is a writer, producer, and director who has worked on and created award-winning documentaries, series, and specials in multiple genres. Her early career focused on music, as she...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Lara Jean Gallagher – “Clementine”
Lara Jean Gallagher is a writer and director. Her shorts and music videos have screened at SXSW, Palm Springs Shortfest, Mill Valley, Portland International, DC Shorts, as well as online via...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Michela Occhipinti – “Flesh Out”
Michela Occhipinti is an Italian director and producer. She traveled throughout South America to film and produce “Viva la Pepa! (Give Us Back the Constitution)” in 2003 and later filmed a “Sei...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Marwa Zein – “Khartoum Offside”
Marwa Zein is a Sudanese film director and producer. Her graduation project, “A game,” was an official selection of more than 30 international festivals worldwide and was translated into five...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Tasha Hubbard – “nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up”
Dr. Tasha Hubbard is a writer, filmmaker, and associate professor at the University of Alberta. Her first solo writing/directing project, “Two Worlds Colliding,” premiered at imagineNATIVE in...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy – “Blow the Man Down”
Wesleyan University graduates Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy met on a film set in Coney Island. They immediately bonded over a shared love of character-driven stories and juicy filmmaking...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin – “Scheme Birds”
Ellen Fiske is a director, writer, and producer. She directed the award-winning short films “Keep Me Safe” and “Lone Dads,” both set in Scotland. She is currently co-directing another...
Under the Radar: Ash Mayfair’s “The Third Wife” Explores a Complicated Coming of Age
In the opening scenes of “The Third Wife,” May (Nguyen Phuong Tra My), a 14-year-old girl, arrives at the Ninh Binh estate in rural Vietnam to be wed to a much older man. As the film’s title...
Managing Motherhood: Crowdfunding Picks
Even as more and more women opt out of having children, the pressure to pursue motherhood remains consistent. Those women who do choose to have kids must grapple with the reality of balancing their...
Lost in Transition: April’s VOD and Web Series Picks
Though change is an expected and necessary aspect of life, it can often be difficult to embrace and perhaps even harder to initiate. Transitions in jobs and relationships can stir up insecurities and...
Full Frame 2019 Women Directors: Meet Tania Hernández Velasco – “Titixe”
Tania Hernández Velasco is a Mexican film director, producer, and editor. Her short films have screened at several international film festivals, including ZagrebDox and San Sebastian International...
Full Frame 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sahra Mani – “A Thousand Girls Like Me”
Sahra Mani is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, university lecturer, and founder of Afghanistan Documentary House. Her films include “Kaloo School” and “Beyond the Burka.” “A...
April 2019 Film Preview
After an exciting Women’s History Month, complete with the groundbreaking release of Marvel’s first superheroine film, April will continue the momentum with a slew of women-centric and...
SXSW 2019 Women Directors: Meet Brett Story – “The Hottest August”
Brett Story is an award-winning nonfiction filmmaker. Her 2016 feature documentary “The Prison in Twelve Landscapes” won the Special Jury Prize at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary...
SXSW 2019 Women Directors: Meet Pollyanna McIntosh – “Darlin'”
Pollyanna McIntosh is an actress, writer, and director. Her acting credits include “The Walking Dead” and “The Last Tycoon.” “Darlin’” is her directorial debut. “Darlin’”...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Julie Smith Clem – “It Started As A Joke”
Julie Smith Clem is the co-founder of Pretty Good Friends, a comedy production company. She’s produced shows for Comedy Central and Science Channel, co-created the Peabody Award-winning video...
SXSW 2019 Women Directors: Meet Waad Al-Kateab – “For Sama”
Waad Al-Kateab is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. She became a citizen journalist in 2011, after protests broke out across Syria against the Assad regime, and in January 2016 she...
SXSW 2019 Women Directors: Meet Jenifer McShane – “Ernie & Joe”
Jenifer McShane is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her credits include “A Leap of Faith” and “Mothers of Bedford.” “Ernie & Joe” will premiere at the 2019 SXSW Film...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Marlén Viñayo – “Cachada: The Opportunity”
Marlén Viñayo is a TV and film director, producer, and documentary screenwriter based in El Salvador. She has worked for PBS Frontline, BBC News, and CCTV Americas Now, among others. In...
Focusing on Family: Crowdfunding Picks
The family unit is one of the foundational aspects of our society, so it’s no surprise that familial relationships are constantly explored in movies, books, and television. In some cases, family...
SXSW 2019 Women Directors: Meet Linda Goldstein Knowlton – “We Are The Radical Monarchs”
Linda Goldstein Knowlton is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker working in documentary and scripted feature films as well as television. She executive produced “Dream, Girl” and “Whale Rider.”...
SXSW 2019 Women Directors: Meet Chelsea Hernandez – “Building the American Dream”
Chelsea Hernandez is a Mexican-American filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. She is an eight-time Emmy winning director, producer, and editor for her work on the PBS documentary series “Arts in...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Rebecca Stern – “Well Groomed”
Rebecca Stern is a director, writer, and producer. She started out in documentary filmmaking as the production coordinator of the Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary “Cartel...
SXSW 2019 Women Directors: Meet Emily Ting – “Go Back to China”
Emily Ting is a film writer, director, and producer. Her first narrative feature, “Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong,” premiered at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival, and was later screened at over...
SXSW 2019 Women Directors: Meet Numa Perrier – “Jezebel”
Numa Perrier is an actress, writer, producer, and director. She is the co-founder of Black&Sexy TV, a production company and streaming platform for television and film projects created by Black...
SXSW 2019 Women Directors: Meet the Team Behind “Vai”
Becs Arahanga’s 2016 short film, “Laundry,” screened at the New Zealand International Film Festival. She recently completed filming on her next project, “Hinekura.” Amberley Jo...
SXSW 2019 Women Directors: Meet Magdalena Zyzak – “The Wall of Mexico”
Magdalena Zyzak is a writer, producer, and director. She co-wrote and produced “Redland,” which was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. In 2016, she teamed up with Zachary Cotler to direct...
Reshaping Spaces Together: VOD and Web Series Picks
There have long been discussions surrounding the spaces women can safely and comfortably occupy in society. The rise of the Time’s Up movement, for example, has emphasized workplaces as spaces rife...
Under the Radar: Susanne Heinrich’s “Aren’t You Happy?” Creates a New Feminist Archetype
“Aren’t You Happy?” credits its protagonist only as “the melancholic girl” (Marie Rathscheck), a woman with ever-changing hairstyles that suspiciously resemble those of old Hollywood...
From Dialogue to Action: Crowdfunding Picks
The question of turning dialogue into action is not a new one, particularly in an age where the internet allows millions of people around the world to participate in conversations about issues such...
February 2019 Film Preview
From rom-coms to slashers to dramas, moviegoers have plenty of options when it comes to films made by and about women this February. The month kicks off with the February 1 release of Catherine...
Sundance 2019 Women Directors: Meet Cristina Gallego – “Birds of Passage”
Cristina Gallego is a producer, editor, and director. Through her production company Ciudad Lunar she produced “La Sombra del Caminante,” “The Wind Journeys,” and “Embrace of the...
Sundance 2019 Women Directors: Meet Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann – “Sister Aimee”
Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann are a married writing and directing duo. Their short films “The Mink Catcher” and “Canary” were screened at Telluride, SXSW, Palm Springs Shortsfest, and...
Sundance 2019 Women Directors: Meet Gurinder Chadha – “Blinded by the Light”
Gurinder Chadha’s award-winning films have earned over $300 million at the international box office. Her film credits include “Bhaji on the Beach,” “Bend It Like Beckham,” and...