BY Women and Hollywood
The Invisible War: New Poster
Haunting- Film Premieres at Sundance. Here’s the trailer. I love the tag line. The battle ground is your barracks. These are women dedicating themselves to serving the US and they are being raped...
Women and Hollywood Joins the National Domestic Workers Alliance #BeTheHelp Campaign
I have always believed that culture can help make change. I believe that you can use film and TV to move people about issues — if you do it right. The smart folks with the National Domestic...
Participate in Live Q and A with Angelina Jolie Tonight at 8pm EST
After visiting the President last night to talk about “preventing mass atrocities and combating sexual violence against women” Angelina Jolie is doing a live q and a to talk about In the Land of...
Trivializing Rape is Not OK
Here we go again. Another Hollywood star — or in this case former star, 78-year-old Kim Novak took out a full page ad in Variety equating the use of the score for Vertigo in The Artist...
How Will the New Documentary Rules Affect Women Filmmakers?
When I read the NY Times story earlier this week about the proposed changes for films to qualify for a documentary Academy Award nomination, I wondered how these new rules would affect films by and...
Hollywood is So Racist That Even George Lucas Can’t Get a Movie Made
George Lucas is rolling out his new film Red Tails about the Tuskegee Airmen and he went on The Daily Show to talk about how hard it was to get the film made. He didn’t mince words when talking...
New Interesting Poster for The Iron Lady
I like this one.
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award Winners
EDA ANNUAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS Best Film: The Artist Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius — The Artist Best Screenplay, Original: Midnight in Paris — Woody Allen Best Screenplay, Adapted:...
Sundance Trailer Watch: Middle of Nowhere — Written and Directed by Ava Duvernay
I am so impressed by this woman and how she is making movies about African American women on her terms. I really liked her first film, I Will Follow. We will try and cover this at Sundance, but here...
The Athena Film Festival Awardees and Lineup
Most of you dear loyal readers and friends know that I am the artistic director of the Athena Film Festival at Barnard College. It is something very near and dear to my heart and keeps me quite busy...
Melissa McCarthy News
A couple of things to talk about on the Melissa McCarthy front. First- She ain’t doing a Bridesmaids sequel without Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. Ms. McCarthy was clearly pissed when word...
The DGA Nominees — Need I Say More?
Directors Guild Feature Film Nominees Include Michel Hazanavicius for ‘The Artist’ (Hollywood Reporter)
Trailer Watch: Girl in Progress Directed by Patricia Riggen
I really liked Ms. Riggen’s previous film, La Misma Luna. This could be a big breakthrough role for Eva Mendes taking her to a new place. Yahoo! Video Player Will open April 27.
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: George Clooney
…It was my first time to create a character from beginning to end. I’ve always just shown up and, whatever my lines are, I just do it, like almost robotic in a way. But this is the first time I...
Is Dawn Hudson in Trouble at the Academy?
It seems that today is the day about stories about women executives under fire. Late Friday afternoon a news alert rolled out from the LA Times with a story about some troubles with Dawn Hudson who...
The Failed Experiment — The Departure of Disney Marketing Chief MT Carney
Disney tried to shake up it’s marketing a year and a half ago when they brought in NY marketer MT (Marie Therese) Carney, a woman with absolutely no experience marketing films. They wanted to...
Guest Post: Critics Are from Mars, Actresses from Venus
Critics! Can’t live with them, can act without them. Why won’t critics accept raw emotion that’s honestly and accurately depicted? Why do they applaud nudity and fake sexual intercourse, but...
Sexist Advertisement of the Day: Dr. Pepper 10
Seriously- this is one of the most sexist ads I have seen. It’s not new but I just got wind of it. I will never buy Dr. Pepper again. h/t Rebecca Feferman
Diablo Cody, Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig Get Nominated for WGA Awards
It seems that women’s orginal work is being recognized this year by the WGA with two out of the five slots for original screenplay taken by women. Diablo Cody was nominated for Young Adult and...
Behind the Scenes: Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher Arrives at 10 Downing Street
It’s kind of cool to hear about the creation of this scene. As Meryl Streep says: “ Margaret Thatcher really did break ground because she showed a woman could be a leader.” The film opens in...
Lame Idea of the Day — Making a Bridesmaids Sequel Without the Lead Bridesmaid
The Hollywood Reporter released a story yesterday saying that Universal was planning on moving ahead with a Bridemaids sequel but that star/co-writer Kristen Wiig as well as co-writer Annie Mumolo...
Swedish Director Lisa Aschan Returns $730,000 Grant
When is the last time you heard of a filmmaker giving money back? Well it has happened. Swedish director Lisa Aschan has turned down a $730,000 grant she was awarded based on the success of her...
Trailer Watch: New Trailer for Haywire
It’s been a while since I saw this and I forgot how much I like it. Film opens January 20.
Four Women Producers Included in List for PGA’s Top Honor — Kathleen Kennedy Nominated for Two Awards
The Producer’s Guild of America announced their nominees for top awards yesterday and four women are included on the list for the top honor which is the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer Of The Year Award...
2012 Berlinale Rolls Out the Panorama Section With Five Films Directed by Women
The program for the 2012 Berlinale is rolling out. 20 international films have been announced for inclusion in the Panorama section. Five are directed by women. Keeping count that is just 20%. They...
Maiwenn Included on Best Director List for France’s Lumiere Awards
When I was in Paris in October you could not escape the posters for Maiwenn’s Polisse which premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. The film was made for about $7 million and it has already...
Trailer Watch: The Return Directed by Liza Johnson
I’ve been wating for this one since it premiered at the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes. It will open in limited release on Feb 10 and on VOD Feb. 28. Linda Cardellini plays a soldier returning...
Meryl Streep to be Feted at Berlin Film Festival
Some good news for Meryl Streep and The Iron Lady. First, the box office for the film which opened December 30 was terrific. It grossed $280,409 in four theatres (in NY and LA) for an amazing total...
Cross-Post: 20 Years of Black Lesbian Cinema Before Pariah
Dee Rees’ debut film, Pariah, has rightfully been celebrated for its tender coming-out and coming-of-age story of a shy yet sexually curious 17-year-old African-American girl, Alike (Adepero...
The Year That Was
Happy new year everyone. Thanks so much for the great support over the last year. As we start the new year, I thought it would be interesting to look at the narratives that dominated the...
The Iron Lady
As a person who cares about women’s leadership, The Iron Lady should be a no-brainer. A film with an AMAZING tour-de-force performance by Meryl Streep playing a woman who was the longest serving...
Interview with Phyllida Lloyd — director of The Iron Lady
Women and Hollywood: This is a very different biopic of a leader because it is of a female leader. What about this films makes it different in terms of leadership? Phyllida Lloyd: First of all...
Crazy Funny Remix of We Need To Talk About Kevin
done by Russell Bates
Rooney Mara to Cover EW
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo hasn’t opened at the level that Sony would have liked, just $27 million in 6 days of release, (see Thompson on Hollywood analysis of what went wrong) but it goes...
Hester Street Directed by Joan Micklin Silver Among Films Added to National Film Registry
Each year 25 films are added by the Library of Congress to the National Film Registry. This year included in the list is the ground breaking film Hester Street directed by Joan Micklin Silver....
Interview with Abi Morgan — writer of The Iron Lady
I was lucky enough to meet the multi-talented Abi Morgan who has had an amazingly successful year with The Hour, Shame and The Iron Lady on the day after the premiere of The Iron Lady in NYC. Women...
Meryl Streep Feted at the Kennedy Center Honors
Here are Meryl’s friends and colleagues celebrating her work.
Pariah — written and directed by Dee Rees
Most of this review was written after screening the film at the Toronto Film Festival. It has been augmented. The movie is just so good. Well written, well acted, emotional, devastating and...
Interview with Dee Rees — Writer and Director of Pariah
Pariah opens in limited release tomorrow. I was able to catch it and the Toronto Film Festival. Here is my conversation with writer/director Dee Rees. Women and Hollywood: Why did you start the...
Last Chance for Discounted Tickets for the Athena Film Festival
Prices go up as of January 1. The Athena Film Festival will take place from February 9–12, 2012 at Barnard College in NYC. We will be announcing the lineup and awardees on January 10. Single...
In My Humble Opinion- The Best Female Directed Films of 2011
It goes without saying that women made all kinds of films this year. But the reality is that most made indie films. Only a couple made studio films. And the numbers of women directing films is still...
Interview with Adepero Oduye star of Pariah
This is the week when Pariah starts to roll out and I can’t say emphatically enough that when this film comes to your town, you must see it. I was able to speak with the star of the film Adepero...
From the Mouth of Babes
via jezebel Go Riley!
In the Land of Blood and Honey — Written and Directed by Angelina Jolie
A couple of months ago the description of Angelina Jolie’s writing and directing debut was that it was a love story set in the time of the Bosnian war. I walked out of the film realizing that no...
Twilight’s Melissa Rosenberg Becomes Highest Grossing Female Screenwriter
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Melissa Rosenberg, the writer of all five Twilight movies has now surpassed Linda Woolverton as the top grossing female screenwriter with her films grossing a...
Rita Moreno — An 80 Year Old Dynamo
She’s won an Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy. She’s Fran’s mom on Happily Divorced, has her own one woman show, is celebrating 50 years of West Side Story and just turned 80. Here’s your...
Teaser Trailer: Game Change on HBO
Judd Apatow on Funny Women and Flukes
Judd Apatow now knows that making a great movie targeted at women is a way to make money. You get the women and you get the men. Even though he looks prescient, he admits that he was making a movie...
Women’s Film Critics Circle Award Winners
I love the diversity of categories. But where is the best woman director? UPDATE- the best womena director is the director of the best movie by women. I think we name the women because people need...
We Need to Talk About Kevin Gets Five Nominations from the London Critics Film Circle
This film is clearly being better recevied overseas as a full body of work than it is here in the US. Here, Tilda Swinton has gathered some nominations and could be on her way to an Academy Award...
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Watching the bleak, intense, colorless, vibrant, taut thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo made me elated and sad at the same time. Elated because FINALLY here is a movie with an amazing female...