BY Sarah Greenleaf
July 2022 Film Preview
The Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade is a brutal reminder that the rights of freedom and bodily autonomy are never truly won and that the fight for basic human rights remains ongoing....
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Erika Alexander – “The Big Payback”
Erika Alexander is known for her acting roles in “Living Single” — garnering two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress and Comedy Series — “Get Out,”...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Sarah Elizabeth Mintz – “Good Girl Jane”
Sarah Elizabeth Mintz is a writer-director working in New York and Los Angeles. She received her BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she completed her thesis film...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Irene Taylor – “Leave No Trace”
Irene Taylor is a Peabody and Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated director and producer whose documentaries have shown theatrically, at film festivals, and on television worldwide. Her most recent film,...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Maya Forbes – “The Good House”
Maya Forbes made her directorial debut with “Infinitely Polar Bear” (2014) which she also wrote. She was a writer on HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show” and has since...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Becky Hutner – “Fashion Reimagined”
Becky Hutner is a Toronto-born filmmaker living in coastal England. Her filmmaking journey includes five years in London creating short-form work in the fashion and culture space for DUCK...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Johanna Hamilton and Yoruba Richen – “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks”
Johanna Hamilton is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her previous work includes “1971″, which chronicled the break-in at an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania that revealed the...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Cynthia Lowen – “Battleground”
Cynthia Lowen is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and award-winning writer whose work uses the power of story to catalyze meaningful change, confronting timely social issues from bullying to online...
Coming of Age at Any Age: Crowdfunding Picks
Sometimes it feels like we are always coming of age with each new stage of life. We come of age as young people, sure, but we come of age again when our circumstances change and when we change...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady – “Endangered”
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady are the directors of the Academy Award-nominated “Jesus Camp,” Peabody Award winners “The Boys of Baraka” and “12th & Delaware,”...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Natalia Sinelnikova – “We Might As Well Be Dead”
Natalia Sinelnikova is a writer and director based in Berlin. Her short film “Weeping Willows” was screened at various international festivals. In 2016, she was a member of the Debut Film...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Signe Baumane – “My Love Affair with Marriage”
Signe Baumane is a Latvian-born, Brooklyn-based independent filmmaker, artist, writer, and animator. She has made 17 award-winning animated shorts but is best known for her first animated feature,...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Shirin Neshat – “Land of Dreams”
Shirin Neshat is an Iranian artist and filmmaker living in New York. She works in photography, video installation, and film. Neshat has held numerous exhibitions internationally, most recently at the...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Pratibha Parmar – “My Name Is Andrea”
Pratibha Parmar is an award-winning British writer, director, and producer. Pratibha has worked across multiple genres – feature documentaries, short dramas, music videos, a narrative feature, and...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Tiexiera and Camilla Hall – “Subject”
Jennifer Tiexiera is an award-winning documentary director, producer, and editor. She directed “P.S. Burn This Letter Please,” was a writer on “17 Blocks,” and produced and...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Anna Jadowska – “Woman on the Roof”
Anna Jadowska’s feature “Touch Me” screened at the Berlinale and won Poland’s Grand Independent Cinema Prize. Her short “Corridor” was selected as part of...
Costumes and Drama: Podcast and Web Series Picks
Costume dramas come in and out of style in the culture at large, but they’re always in style in my heart. This week’s picks are all series created by artists, filmmakers, and critics who...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Mali Elfman – “Next Exit”
Mali Elfman is a writer, director, and BAFTA-nominated producer who began her career with her micro-budget feature film “Do Not Disturb.” Since then she’s produced numerous films...
June 2022 Television Preview
Summer is finally here. For some, this means days on the beach or sunning by the pool, but for others, it means watching everything you can get your eyeballs on in the comfort of your air-conditioned...
Cannes 2022 Women Directors: Meet Romane Gueret & Lise Akoka – “The Worst Ones” (“Les Pires”)
Romane Gueret studied cinema at the Sorbonne and took her first steps toward directing as an assistant director, casting assistant, and camerawoman. A trained actress, Lise Akoka discovered, in the...
Cannes 2022 Women Directors: Meet Emily Atef – “More Than Ever” (“Plus Que Jamais”)
Emily Atef is a French-Iranian director born in Berlin. Her first feature film, “Molly’s Way,” won the Best Screenplay Award at the Munich Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize at...
Composer to Watch: Aiko Fukushima of “Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles”
Not everyone can trace their career back to the town of their birth, but Aiko Fukushima’s origin story starts in the Japanese town where Yamaha, Kawaii, and Suzuki were all produced. “I started...
Hot Docs 2022 Women Directors: Meet Laura Ángel Córdoba – “Ernesto, Gracias”
Laura Ángel Córdoba was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and migrated to Costa Rica. She has participated in over 30 documentary projects focusing on a wide variety of topics in Costa Rica, Panama,...
Hot Docs 2022 Women Directors: Meet Patty Ivins Specht – “Deconstructing Karen”
Patty Ivins Specht is an Emmy award winning producer, director, and writer who has made several documentaries about womanhood, including “Hungry,” “Mean Girls: Mind Games,”...
Hot Docs 2022 Women Directors: Meet Bogna Kowalczyk – “Boylesque”
Bogna Kowalczyk currently works as a creative art director, director, and animator at Warsaw Production. Since 2009 she has been directing animated films and music videos and has supported dozens of...
Hot Docs 2022 Women Directors: Meet Pilar Moreno & Ana Endara – “For Your Peace of Mind, Make Your Own Museum”
Pilar Moreno is a visual artist from Spain and based in Panama, whose art projects address social and political issues. Her previous credits include documentaries “Reinas” — which...
Hot Docs 2022 Women Directors: Meet Phyllis Ellis – “Category: Woman”
Phyllis Ellis is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, actor, and producer who has worked in Europe, Asia, Africa, India, and the U.S. for the past 35 years. Nominated for the 2021 International Emmys and...
Hot Docs 2022 Women Directors: Meet Laura Faerman and Marina Weis – “The Wind Blows the Border”
Laura Faerman has been working as a documentarist, researcher, and curator for the past 20 years. In 2014 Faerman worked as an audiovisual researcher at the Indigenous National Truth Commission,...
Hot Docs 2022 Women Directors: Meet Noura Kevorkian – “Batata”
Noura Kevorkian is a Syrian-Lebanese filmmaker who made her filmmaking debut with her first short documentary ” Veils Uncovered” (Official Competition, Amsterdam IDFA) about lingerie and...
Hot Docs 2022 Women Directors: Meet Olha Zhurba – “Outside”
Olha Zhurba is a Ukrainian filmmaker whose first short fiction film ,”Dad’s Sneakers,” premiered in the short competition at Locarno Film Festival 2021 and won Best Ukrainian Short...
Hot Docs 2022 Women Directors: Meet Jasmín Mara López – “Silent Beauty”
Jasmín Mara López is a journalist, audio producer, and documentary filmmaker living between Los Angeles and New Orleans. Born in the U.S. with familial roots in México, her childhood was affected...
Queer Women Creators Represent: Crowdfunding Picks
As anti-LGTBQIA+ attacks ramp up all over the country, it is more important than ever to pay attention to what LGBTQ people are saying in our own words. As the freedom to discuss the very existence...
April 2022 Television Preview
Though the most notable holiday of April is one that celebrates pranks, which are definitely not enjoyed by all, this month’s television premieres offer something for everyone. If you, like so...
April 2022 Film Preview
As we slip into springtime in the Northern Hemisphere, we witness the world around us transforming. It’s a time of metamorphosis, and April’s film slate is full of titles engaging with...
Under the Radar: The Films of María Novaro
María Novaro is a Mexican filmmaker whose work focuses on the lives of women and children with humor, insight, and gorgeous visuals. Though well-known in Mexico, where Novaro began making films in...
SXSW 2022 Women Directors: Meet Zara Katz and Lisa Riordan Seville – “A Woman on the Outside”
Zara Katz is currently Photography Director at NBC News Digital and has worked for editorial outlets including The New York Times, Time magazine, and The New Yorker. She was senior photo producer on...
SXSW 2022 Women Directors: Meet Julie Cohen and Betsy West – “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down”
Julie Cohen and Betsy West are Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-winning filmmakers who directed and produced the theatrical documentary “RBG.” Their film “Julia” was released...
SXSW 2022 Women Directors: Meet Gretchen Stoeltje – “Shouting Down Midnight”
A Texas-based filmmaker, director Gretchen Stoeltje makes independent documentaries centering on women’s experiences. “Venom in a Jar, a Kiss From the Queen,” explores the role of...
SXSW 2022 Women Directors: Meet Rosa Ruth Boesten – “Master of Light”
Born in Utrecht and based in Amsterdam, Rosa Ruth Boesten, made her first documentary about her grandmother, a single mother and struggling artist who made textile art. She studied directing of...
An Opinion of Our Own: Web Series Picks
In a media landscape that can feel impossible to get a handle on, with new releases daily across numerous platforms, the role of the critic has never been more vital for individual viewers. When...
SXSW 2022 Women Directors: Meet Linda Goldstein Knowlton – “Split At The Root”
Linda Goldstein Knowlton is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, working in documentary, scripted feature films, and television. Her award-winning documentary “We Are The Radical Monarchs” ...
SXSW 2022 Women Directors: Meet Vanessa Winter – “Deadstream”
Vanessa Winter is a Utah-based writer and director. Practical creature FX with absurd twists are the hallmarks of her and her collaborator and husband Joseph Winter’s viral horror shorts for...
SXSW 2022 Women Directors: Meet Linda Yellen – “Chantilly Bridge”
Linda Yellen is an Emmy Award-winning director, writer, and producer. She has made over 27 productions for film and television, with premieres at Cannes, Sundance, and Toronto film festivals. Among...
SXSW 2022 Women Directors: Meet Daresha Kyi – “Mama Bears”
Daresha Kyi is an Emmy Award-winning director who also writes and produces film and television in Spanish and English. She made her feature doc directorial debut with “Chavela,” a...
March 2022 Film Preview
Women’s History Month is chock-full of suspenseful thrillers and dark dramas featuring characters either seeking truth from others or harboring deep secrets of their own. We’ll be welcoming...
Composer to Watch: Hildur Guðnadóttir of “Joker” and “Chernobyl”
It may seem counterintuitive for an Oscar winner to be under the radar but, like many composers not named John or Hans, Hildur Guðnadóttir is not yet a household name. Film is, in many ways, still...
Relationships That Deserve Screen Time: Crowdfunding Picks
One of the things that independent cinema does best is tell stories of relationships found outside of the dominant culture. The mainstream tends to focus on romantic relationships between men and...
February 2022 Film Preview
February brings a slate of films about and made by women centered on the theme of love, in all its follies. Kicking off the month is Oscar hopeful “The Worst Person in the World”...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Stephanie Allynne and Tig Notaro – “Am I Ok?”
Tig Notaro is an Emmy- and Grammy-nominated stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actor. Her credits include “Army of the Dead” and “Star Trek: Discovery.” She...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Abigail Disney and Kathleen Hughes – “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales”
Abigail Disney is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, activist, and co-founder of Fork Films, a nonfiction media production company which produces the podcast “All Ears.” She is the...
Sundance 2022 Women Directors: Meet Shalini Kantayya – “TikTok, Boom.”
Shalini Kantayya is a filmmaker whose film “Coded Bias” premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and is now streaming on Netflix. The film won a Social Impact Media Award for Best...