BY Women and Hollywood
Trailer Watch: Stories We Tell – Directed by Sarah Polley
Actress and now very talented director, Sarah Polley has a new documentary that premiered last fall in Toronto. Stories We Tell received a good deal of critical praise as it made its way around...
Hot Docs and Full Frame Announce 2013 Line Ups: The Women
Last week, the 2013 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival announced their special presentations line up. The festival runs from April 25-May 5 in Toronto. They are set to announce...
Tribeca Film Festival Announces Lineup Pt. 2: Women Writers
We previously focused on women-directed films in the Tribeca Film Festival lineup. There are also a huge number of women-written or co-written scripts at the festival, so we wanted to highlight their...
Watch This: The Bling Ring Teaser Trailer – Directed by Sofia Coppola
The teaser trailer for Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring has finally dropped. The film, based on true events, follows a group of teens obsesses by celebrity and the power it has in our culture who...
Women In Film 2013 Finishing Fund Taking Applications
Applications are now being accepted for Women In Film’s 2013 Finishing Fund grants. Each winning project will receive up to $15,000 in cash — in-kind and consultation grants. All...
Girl Rising – A Film Showing the Importance of Girls’ Education
Girl Rising, a film by director Richard E. Robbins, focuses on the stories of 9 girls from 9 different countries each showing the power of education and the strength of the human spirit. Each story...
Weekly Update March 8: Women-Centric, Directed, Written Movies Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend Electrick Children – Written and Directed by Rebecca Thomas Rachel is a rambunctious teenager from a fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah. On...
Interview With Ramona S. Diaz Director of Don’t Stop Believin
Don’t Stop Believin‘ is a terrific crowd pleasing documentary of the rags to riches story of Arnel Pineda who took over as the lead singer of the rock band Journey after he was spotted on...
Trailer Watch: Frances Ha – Co-Written by and Starring Greta Gerwig
Check out the trailer for Frances Ha starring (and co-written by) Greta Gerwig and directed by Noah Baumbach. The film is about a young woman living in New York who is an aspiring...
Tribeca Film Festival Announces 2013 Lineup: Women Directors
This year’s Tribeca Film Festival announcement is fantastic for both films directed by women and written by. The festival, in its 12th year, will be hosted in locations around New York City...
Happy International Women’s Day 2013
This year for International Women’s Day I will be in Denver attending the Voices Film Festival. I will be doing a variety of events including a salon to discuss In Her Voice: Women...
Ashley Judd Speaks About Women’s Rights in D.C.
As we reported last year, rumors have been swirling about Ashley Judd running for senate against Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. While Judd still won’t confirm rumors, she spoke at George...
Guest Post: Fusion Film Festival at NYU Looks Back on the State of Gender Equality in the Film Industry on its Tenth Anniversary
As was widely reported this year in the “Exploring the Barriers and Opportunities for Independent Filmmakers” study that was presented at the Sundance Film Festival, 2013 is a record year for...
Trailer Watch: What Maisie Knew Co-Written by Nancy Doyne
Based on the acclaimed Henry James novella, What Maisie Knew focuses on a young girl, Maisie (Onata Aprile) who is caught in between the bitter divorce of her parents (Julianne Moore and Steve...
The Happy Girl vs. The Cool Girl: Why People Don’t Like Anne Hathaway
People, especially women, really don’t like Anne Hathaway. This isn’t something that just started since Hathaway won her Oscar for Les Miserables last week–it’s been long...
Guest Post: DGA Women Directors Foment a Rebellion
This past Saturday, March 2, 2013, became an historic day as the DGA Women’s Steering Committee hosted the DGA Women of Action Summit in LA bringing together 150 female American directors for a...
Interview With Kristi Jacobson And Lori Silverbush, Directors of A Place At The Table
A Place At the Table is a riveting new documentary by Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush that illustrates the mounting hunger crisis in the U.S. The film is not only one of the most gripping...
Trailer Watch: Eden – Directed by Megan Griffiths
Eden, directed by Megan Griffiths, is based on the true-story of Chong Kim in the 90s, who was kidnapped at 18 and held as a sex slave for two years. It shows how human trafficking happens not only...
Quvenzhane Wallis is All of Our Daughters
I thought I was done with all the Oscar postscripts but there is still have one more thing to write about. I am going to take a mulligan on not getting to this sooner, but I was off last week,...
Holland Taylor Takes on Ann Richards on Broadway
Holland Taylor, who TV audiences will know well from Two and a Half Men, is taking on a new role–Ann Richards, the legendary governor of Texas. Taylor will star as Richards in Ann, which she...
VIDA, Women in Literary Arts Releases 2012 VIDA Count
This morning VIDA released their 2012 count of the treatment of women in literature over the last year and the results vary widly. Amy King, on behalf of VIDA was curious to see if the numbers...
One Week Out- A Last Look at the 2013 Oscars
I left town the morning after the Oscars on a much needed vacation. While I wasn’t writing last week (and a big thanks goes out to Women and Hollywood writer Kerensa Cadenas for taking...
Bonnie Franklin TV’s Feminist Single Mom Dies at 69
One Day at a Time was a show that helped define what was going on for women in the 1970s. It debuted in 1975 (and ran until 1984) and showed something no other show did at that time; it showed...
Trailer Watch: New Trailer for The Host – Starring Saoirse Ronan
Based on Stephenie Meyer’s non-Twilight novel, The Host follows Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) whose body is taken over by invading aliens (led by Diane Kruger). Instead of succumbing to the alien...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Mike White – Creator/Writer of Enlightened
Enlightened is hands down the best show that you aren’t watching. It follows Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern), a former corporate executive who post-nervous breakdown goes to a holistic rehab...
Weekly Update March 1: Women-Centric, Directed, Written Movies Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend Stoker – Starring Mia Wasikowska and Nicole Kidman Director Park Chan-Wook’s first English language film (fitting in well with his revenge trilogy...
6 of WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays Written by Women
Another list and with that another sad feeling about women being underrepresented in film. This time around it’s the Writers Guild of America’s 101 Greatest Screenplays. The list has many...
Senate Drops Zero Dark Thirty Investigation
A day after the Academy Awards and the essential shut out of Zero Dark Thirty (except for an award for Sound Editing), the Senate Intelligence Committee announced that they were dropping the...
Krysten Ritter, Margo Martindale and Melanie Lynskey Nab New Pilots
Some of our favorite underappreciated actresses have been cast in pilots for the upcoming Fall TV season. The hilarious Krysten Ritter of the dearly departed Apartment 23 has been cast as the lead in...
Women In Film International Committee Co-Sponsors Tri-City Showcase of Films by Cuban Women
The Women In Film International Committee, the Cuban Women Filmmakers Mediatheque, the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematograficos (ICAIC) and the American Cinematheque are taking on a...
SXSW Watch: Improvement Club – Directed by Dayna Hanson
This year Women and Hollywood will be at SXSW. One of the films we are excited to catch is Dayna Hanson’s Improvement Club which is competing in Narrative. Hanson wrote, directed and stars in...
Trailer Watch: Hunky Dory – Starring Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver stars in Hunky Dory as a Viv, a high school drama teacher in 1970s South Wales. Viv wants to engage her bored teenage students and decides to put on an extremely unique musical that...
Oscar Commentary Round Up
With everything surrounding this year’s Oscars there has been a wealth of really great commentary out there. Martha Lauzen for The Wrap gets it spot on in her article: What did the latest...
Interview with Dyllan McGee – Executive Producer of MAKERS: Women Who Make America
Women and Hollywood: What made you come up with the idea for this massive undertaking? Dyllan McGee: As a filmmaker who had covered many historical events and figures (The Kennedys, Lincoln,...
Women-Directed Films Announced for 42nd New Directors/New Films Series
The 42nd New Directors/New Films has announced their lineup. Co-hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art the series takes place from March 20-31. Here are the women...
Melissa McCarthy Wins the Box Office Again
After Melissa McCarthy’s latest movie, Identity Thief, opened to a $36.6 million weekend and currently holds the biggest film opening of 2013, it slipped last weekend to number two. But...
Middle of Nowhere and The Invisible War Win at Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards were also held this weekend. Some of our favorite films of the past year, Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere and The Invisible War were recognized. Here are the...
Women Deserved Better at the 2013 Oscars
With Seth McFarlane hosting the Oscars, we here at Women and Hollywood weren’t expecting much. But the sexist, racist, homophobic and completely unfunny spree that McFarlane hosted was even...
Lake Bell’s In A World Gets Post-Sundance Pick Up
Lake Bell’s directorial debut In A World finally got a post-Sundance pick up by Roadside Attractions and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. This was one of our favorite movies at...
Women-Centric Film News Round Up
Here’s some recent women-centric film news that we wanted to make sure didn't get pased by: ‘Pitch Perfect’ Helmer Jason Moore In Tune With Tina Fey For Uni Comedy ‘The...
Emily Spivey Signs Deal with 20th Century Fox TV
Emily Spivey has signed a two year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television. Spivey recently left the NBC sitcom, Up All Night, which she created. The ongoing mess, of Up All Night continues...
Trailer Watch: Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey – Directed by Ramona S. Diaz
Ramona S. Diaz's documentary Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey follows the story of Arnel Pineda, a Filipino man who through being discovered on YouTube became the new lead...
Weekly Update February 22: Women-Centric, Directed, Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Currently Playing Beautiful Creatures Lore – Directed by Cate Shortland Side Effects Mama Zero Dark Thirty – Directed by Kathryn Bigelow Rust and...
Bloomberg Story On Why Women in Hollywood Can’t Get Financing
Yesterday, Bloomberg published a great article 'Why Women in Hollywood Can't Get Film Financing?' by Lauren Sandler. Sandler discusses the dismal statistics, the research out of Sundance...
Highlighting the Women Nominated for 2013 Academy Awards
We predict the winners this weekend will be a bunch of dudes since that's mostly who is nominated. But we wanted to make sure you knew all the names of the women who are nominated...
How the Case of Zero Dark Thirty Reflects on Hollywood’s Treatment of Women
I was a happy person a couple of months ago. I walked out of seeing Zero Dark Thirty very much liking the film, but also sighing a bit in relief that Kathryn Bigelow had hit another one out of...
Barbara Hall Joining Homeland as Co-Executive Producer
Homeland showrunner Alex Gansa has picked the woman (hopefully she won't be the only woman) to replace Meredith Stiehm who last year was the lone woman writer on staff. Stiehm left to work on...
Trailer Watch: Ginger & Rosa – Directed by Sally Potter
Here's the latest trailer of Ginger & Rosa from Sally Potter. It premiered in Toronto last September and has played the festival circuit last year to good reviews. The film focuses on the...
Trailer Watch: Nine for IX
This totally made my day. As a big women's sports fan here are NINE short films about women's sports directed by women. Executive producer Robin Roberts (who returned to Good Morning America...
Watch This: Nina Simone Singing “To Be Free”
Legacy Records, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, is celebrating Nina Simone as their February 2013 Artist of the Month in honor of Black History Month and Simone's 80th...
Cross Post: This Is What Directors Look Like (Or at Least 9% of Them)
I attended the launch of Melissa Silverstein's book, In Her Voice: Women Directors Talking at the Athena Film Festival at Barnard College. This is a collection of interviews with over-40 female...