BY Joseph Allen
Unheard & Unseen: Crowdfunding Picks
Thousands of women’s stories are ignored or simply go untold — a huge problem that is addressed in this round of crowdfunding picks. These stories are diverse, yet they’re united by their...
July 2017 Film Preview
“Girls Trip” As “Wonder Woman” becomes the highest-grossing live action film directed by a woman, July promises to bring even more interesting, powerful women to the big...
LAFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Leena Pendharkar — “20 Weeks”
Leena Pendharkar is an award-winning writer and director working in film, television, and new media. Her first feature film, “Raspberry Magic,” about a young girl’s connection to nature,...
LAFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Whitney Cummings — “The Female Brain”
Whitney Cummings is a Los Angeles-based comedian, actor, writer, producer, and director. Best known for creating and starring in the NBC series “Whitney,” she also co-created and co-wrote the...
LAFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Julia Meltzer — “Dalya’s Other Country”
Julia Meltzer is an award-winning filmmaker and the founder and director of Clockshop, an arts organization. She previously directed the feature film, “The Light in Her Eyes,” which broadcast on...
LAFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Elizabeth Rohrbaugh— “Becks”
Elizabeth Rohrbaugh is writer and director based in NYC. Her documentary, “The Perfect Victim,” was on the PBS series “America Reframed” after premiering at the Hot Springs International...
Human Rights Watch FF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Cristina Herrera Borquez— “No Dress Code Required”
Cristina Herrera Borquez is a Mexican film director whose first documentary short film “The Minutemen Project” (2006) received recognition for Outstanding Artistic Endeavo” at the 6th...
Human Rights Watch FF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Katia Maguire and April Hayes — “Home Truth”
Katia Maguire is a director and producer of documentary films. She recently produced two projects for PBS, a film about the lives of three witnesses to the US-Mexico “war on drugs,” and a series...
Rising Up: June’s VOD and Web Series Picks
“I Am Jane Doe” The release of “Wonder Woman” has Women and Hollywood reflecting on women who aren’t afraid to take charge of their situations. This month’s VOD and web series picks...
Fighting to Be Heard: Crowdfunding Picks
Even as women fight for their own spaces in Hollywood, it’s important to remember the kinds of stories about women that are typically told. Many of Hollywood’s female-centered stories focus on...
Cannes 2017 Women Directors: Meet Chloé Zhao — “The Rider”
Chloé Zhao is an award-winning director and producer. Her first feature-length doc, 2015’s “Songs My Brother Taught Me,” was nominated for the Golden Camera Award at Cannes, the Grand Jury...
Cannes 2017 Women Directors: Meet Léa Mysius — “Ava”
Léa Mysius has directed three award-winning short films selected for a number of festivals: “Cadavre exquis,” “Les Oiseaux-tonnerre,” selected for the Cannes Cinéfondation award, and...
Hot Docs 2017 Women Directors: Meet Marie Clements— “The Road Forward”
Marie Clements (Métis/Dene) is an award-winning writer, director, and producer of film, television, radio, new media, and live performance. Her work as a filmmaker includes the 2015 docudrama...
Hot Docs 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kalina Bertin — “Manic”
“Manic” is Kalina Bertin’s first feature. It will premiere at the 2017 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on April 30. W&H: Describe the film for us in your...
Hot Docs 2017 Women Directors: Meet Stacey Tenenbaum — “Shiners”
Stacey Tenenbaum is an award-winning creative producer and director who started her career in factual television 18 years ago. In 2014 Tenenbaum founded H2L Productions, a Montreal-based boutique...
May 2017 Film Preview
“Snatched” Women directors are set to dominate screens this May. Everything from luxurious Paris vacations to time travel to narratives about grief and regret are represented in this month’s...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Ellen Goldfarb— “Dare to be Different”
Ellen Goldfarb has produced and directed many projects. “Dare to Be Different” is her first feature film. “Dare to Be Different” will premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Perri Peltz — “Warning: This Drug May Kill You”
Perri Peltz is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, and public health advocate whose latest film is the HBO documentary “Risky Drinking.” Peltz’s previous directing credits include...
Women on the Verge: Crowdfunding Picks
“Beast” Everyone has moments of desperation, moments when you are sure nothing in life will ever be quite right again. The women at the center of this months crowdfunding picks bring these...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Julia Solomonoff — “Nobody’s Watching”
Julia Solomonoff is an Argentine director based in New York City. As both a director and producer, she has played a key role in the revitalization of Latin American cinema and her films have been...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Anna Chai and Nari Kye — “WASTED! The Story of Food Waste”
Anna Chai is an Emmy Award-winning director and producer known for her work on the James Beard Award-winning series “The Mind of a Chef” and “The Layover.” Nari Kye is an Emmy Award-winning...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Smriti Mundhra and Sarita Khurana— “A Suitable Girl”
Smriti Mundhra has been working in the film and television industry for over ten years. With partner Ben Rekhi, she produced “Bomb the System,” a 2004 Independent Spirit Award nominee for Best...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Sandy Chronopoulos — “House of Z”
Sandy Chronopoulos is a documentary filmmaker and television producer living in Toronto, Canada. “House of Z” is her feature directorial debut. She is the Supervising Producer of Lifestyle &...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Lana Wilson — “The Departure”
Lana Wilson is an Emmy-winning filmmaker based in New York. Her first film, “After Tiller,” co-directed by Martha Shane, went inside the lives of the four most-targeted abortion providers in...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Josephine Decker — “Flames”
Josephine Decker is an actor, writer, and director best known for “Collective Unconscious” and “Thou Wast Mild and Lovely.” In 2008, Decker co-directed a documentary on bisexuality called...
Character First: April VOD and Web Series Picks
“Reckless Juliets” These days at the box office, it seems that size matters. Whether it’s the latest Marvel film, or even the female-centric “Beauty and the Beast,” movies often mean big...
Shared Experience: Crowdfunding Picks
“The Last Partera” International Women’s Day gave women around the country an opportunity to unite for a common purpose and demonstrate their value. Similarly, this round of crowdfunding picks...
Toxic Masculinity in “Beauty and the Beast”
“Beauty and the Beast” is doing huge numbers at the box office. Its first weekend in theaters proved — yet again — that women can more than hold their own at the box office. The...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Jessica M. Thompson— “The Light of the Moon”
Jessica M. Thompson is an Emmy-nominated Australian filmmaker who lives in New York City. She’s made several award-winning short films alongside Carlo Velayo, including “Hike,” “Percepio,”...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Meet Ana Asensio — “Most Beautiful Island”
Ana Asensio is an actress, writer, and director from Spain. “Most Beautiful Island” is her feature directorial debut. Asensio has also appeared in “Planta 25” and “Zenith.” “Most...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Meet Katherine Fairfax Wright — “Behind the Curtain: Todrick Hall”
Katherine Fairfax Wright is the director, editor, and cinematographer of “Call Me Kuchu,” the story of the last year in the life of the first openly gay man in Uganda. Wright produced...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Meet Renée Felice Smith— “The Relationtrip”
A New York native, Renée Felice Smith moved cross country for her role on CBS’ hit, “NCIS: Los Angeles.” Smith starred in and produced “Baby,” a short film that went to SXSW in 2015. She...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Meet Magdalena Zyzak— “A Critically Endangered Species”
Magdalena Zyzak’s first feature film was “Redland,” a wilderness drama which was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. In 2013, she produced a second feature film directed by Asiel...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Reeder— “Signature Move”
Jennifer Reeder constructs personal fiction films about relationships, trauma, and coping. Her award-winning narratives borrow from a range of forms including after school specials, amateur music...
SXSW 2017 Women Directors: Meet Julia Halperin — “La Barracuda”
Julia Halperin previously produced, co-directed, and edited “Now, Forager,” which had its world premiere in 2012 at International Film Festival Rotterdam and its North American Premiere at New...
March 2017 Film Preview
“Beauty and the Beast” Spring is in the air, and with it comes many promising women-led films. This March brings several big-budget women-centric releases to screens, including a beloved...
Moving Forward: Crowdfunding Picks
“La Barracuda” This month’s crowdfunding projects are about women moving forward in their lives, usually in the wake of tragedy. Each of these projects, from a documentary examining immigration...
Protesting Pressure: February VOD and Web Series Picks
“The Watermelon Woman” Whether they’re romantic comedies, suspenseful thrillers, or spoofs, each one of this month’s VOD and web series picks gives us a look at how women handle societal...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Barbara Kopple — “This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous”
Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award winning filmmaker. A director and producer of narrative films and documentaries, her two most recent projects are the documentaries “Miss Sharon...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Brea — “Unrest”
Jennifer Brea is a filmmaker, writer, and data wrangler. She earned her AB in Politics from Princeton University, and is a TED Fellow. Prior, she was a freelance journalist in China and East and...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Catherine Bainbridge— “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the…
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Catherine Bainbridge— “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” Catherine Bainbridge is a writer, producer, and director, and the co-founder of Rezolution...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Catherine Bainbridge— “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World…
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Catherine Bainbridge— “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” Catherine Bainbridge is a writer, producer,...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Rory Kennedy— “Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton”
An Academy Award nominated, Primetime Emmy Award winning director and producer, Rory Kennedy’s work deals with some of the world’s most pressing issues — poverty, political corruption,...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Laura Dunn — “Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry”
Laura Dunn’s first feature documentary, “The Unforeseen,” executive produced by Robert Redford and Terrence Malick, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and was released theatrically and...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Neasa Ní Chianáin — “In Loco Parentis”
Neasa Ní Chianáin started directing in 2001 with television documentaries. Her previous credits include the award-winning “Frank Ned & Busy Lizzie,” which won the Best Feature award at The...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Susan Froemke— “Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman”
Susan Froemke is a four-time Emmy winner and non-fiction filmmaker with over thirty films to her credit, including Academy Award-nominated HBO documentary film “Lalee’s Kin,” “Grey...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kyoko Miyake — “Tokyo Idols”
Born in Japan, Kyoko Miyake studied history at Tokyo University and then moved to Britain to research the history of witchcraft at Oxford. Her film “Brakeless” won a Peabody Award after airing...