BY Women and Hollywood
Final List for Foreign Films Being Submitted for Oscar Consideration
63 films have made it onto the list to be considered for the 2012 Academy Awards. There was only one added since we last tracked about three weeks ago. That means a total of 10 films are directed by...
Interview with Ami Canaan Mann — Director of the Texas Killing Fields
The Texas Killing Fields opens in the US tomorrow fresh off its debut at the Venice Film Festival. It tells the true story of the investigation of women who have gone missing in Texas. Ami Canaan...
The Top 50 TV Showrunners: The Women
The Hollywood Reporter has compiled a list of the top 50 showrunners in comedy and drama. There are a total of 15 women on the list. 6 in comedy and 10 in dramas. Several women are responsible for...
Trailer Watch: Albert Nobbs
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Jury Awards from Romania International Film Festival
Last Sunday concluded the Romania Film Festival in Bucharest where I was a jury member. There were two different sections — CineBlackSea and Women in Cinema. We gave out awards for best overall...
Trailer Watch: The Other F Word — Directed by Andrea Blaugrund Nevins
Nora Ephron Gets a New Project
Nora Ephron has been brought in by Sony, the studio that released Julie & Julia to write and direct the adaptation of the mini-series Lost in Austen. Here’s a short description of the...
Australian Producers of My Tehran for Sale Release Statement
Folks- this is not going away and I will do my best to keep this alive until Marzieh Vafamehr and others held in Iran are released. Yesterday, I wrote that the lead actress of My Tehran for Sale...
Guest Post: Women War & Peace: Bosnian Women Testify for Change By Pamela Hogan
For eight years as a founding producer of PBS’s award-winning international documentary series WIDE ANGLE, I made it my mission to expand coverage of under-reported global women’s issues. I’m...
Women Comedy Creators Soar This Season on TV
Something is happening on TV and we need to acknowledge it. First, all the new shows that are breaking out this season are comedies. That hasn’t happened for a long time. Second, those comedies...
Star of My Tehran for Sale to Receive 90 Lashes and One Year in Jail
Marzieh Vafamehr the star of My Tehran for Sale which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2009 has received a sentence of 90 lashes and one year in jail for being in the film. She was sentenced...
Women’s Rights Advocates Win Nobel Peace Prize
What amazing news. I am beyond inspired and excited. Three women — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman — — were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their non-violent...
Trailer Watch: My Week With Marilyn
This is a great trailer. Makes me really want to see the film.
Your Political Views and the Movies You See
The Hollywood Reporter had a poll commissioned about how political views affect people’s filmgoing habits. The results are interesting and basically say that you political views do make a...
Trailer Watch: Young Adult Written by Diablo Cody
Here’s the latest film from Diablo Cody starring Charlize Theron. Theron plays a woman who just is so full of herself that she goes back to her home town to “recue” her high school flame from...
The Highest Paid Women in Entertainment — 2011
Another Forbes list. This time women in entertainment. Oprah Winfrey tops the list at $290 million for the time between May 2010 and May 2011. Second on the list is Lady Gaga with $90 million. The...
Let the Games Begin — Teaser Trailer for The Hunger Games
I admit it. I am totally obsessed with these books. I am in the middle of the third one and find them a much easier and engaging read than Twilight. I am excited about this new films series and am in...
Emma Watson — Progressive Quote but Regressive Picture
Emma Watson stars in the upcoming My Week with Marilyn and just did an interview for the cover of UK Elle. In the interview (the full interview is not yet available online) she talks about her...
Johnny Depp Inserts Foot in Mouth in Vanity Fair Interview
Johnny Depp is the highest paid actor hauling in piles of cash to make crappy movies about being on a pirate ship in the caribbean and then making pretty unwatchable films based on Hunter S. Thompson...
Sarah Jessica Parker Unplugged
Here’s SJP talking with Bravo’s Andy Cohen at an NBCU “Power of the Purse” breakfast. https://medium.com/media/4d27489cc07caf17804240a953eb5868/href Sarah Jessica Parker Talks Modern...
New International Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trailer
Looks like this is from Australia. It’s 2 minutes, longer than the teaser and shorter than the 4 minute version. There is less Lisbeth in this one.
Greetings from Bucharest
Hey folks. I’m here in Bucharest, Romania on the jury of the Romania International Film Festival. I am part of a jury of two competitions — one is films from the Black Sea Region, and one is...
Great Movie Title: The Kicking Queen
The NY Times has a great story about high school senior Brianna Amat from Pinckney Community High School in Michigan. This would be a great movie (probably a TV movie like on Lifetime) because it has...
Trailer Watch: The Lady
The Lady, a biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi was one of the films I liked in Toronto even though it was too long. It’s going to get a US release and there is now a full trailer available. Even if you...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Jon Hamm
He might play a lout on Mad Men (when the hell is that show coming back on the air?) but he sure is not one in real life. The cast of Mad Men hosted a benefit for the Rape Treatment Center in LA and...
Women in Film 2011 Finishing Grants
For the 26th year, Women in Film (in LA) has announced several grants to help projects get through that last hurdle towards the finish line. The fund is supported by Netflix (so I guess I like them...
Melissa McCarthy Hosts SNL
I’m traveling abroad so I can’t access some of the clips that look so great, but I will put in links to sites that you can access in case you missed the show. From posts on the blogosphere it...
On the Road
I am heading to Bucharest, Romania to be on the jury of the Romania International Film Festival. Will check in with reports from there.
Guest Post: 10 Things I Have Learned Having Our Film CONNECTED In Theaters by Tiffany Shlain
1. CUTTING YOUR OWN TRAILERDon’t try this. Very dangerous. When you are running at full speed to complete your film on your way to your premiere, don’t fool yourself that you have the perspective...
A Snow White Who Kicks Ass
Here is a cool shot of Kristen Stewart from Snow White and the Huntsman. She looks like she is ready to kick some serious butt. New ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ pics: Kristen Stewart’s on a...
The Bridesmaids Effect
Can one successful film about women really change Hollywood’s mind about women? Could it be that Bridesmaids is really the movie to usher in a new era of change where the films that came before...
Roman Polanski In Our Faces Again
I don’t know why I feel obsessed by this story, but I am. In some ways I feel it is my feminist duty to remind people every time this guy gets the adoring press he always does that he is...
Melissa McCarthy Covers The Hollywood Reporter
This brings a very big smile to my face. Fresh off her Emmy win, McCarthy will host SNL this weekend. This is really her moment. But it’s not like it will be downhill for her. I think she is still...
Interview with Agnieszka Holland — Director of In Darkness
I was able to interview the Academy Award winning director (Europa Europa) Agnieszka Holland in Toronto at the debut of her new film about the Holocaust, In Darkness. In Darkness is Poland’s entry...
Guest Post: Retro-sexism: What’s the Allure? by Emilie Spiegel and Sarah Bloodsworth
This fall’s crop of new TV series includes The Playboy Club and Pan Am, two shows set in 1960s, both centering on young women doing “glamorous” jobs and allegedly redefining what it meant to be...
Check out a Scene from Butter
Film will be released on October 21 https://medium.com/media/e0e72930738a8cfa77aa1f7d385ff052/href
Why Being Visible Matters
Who knew aside from folks on the inner world of documentary film that Ken Burns had an equal partner on his most recent epic documentary series? Not me. But it seems that he has a female partner...
Book Excerpt: Where Have All the Girl Bands Gone by Courtney E. Smith
In junior high I joined the school band because I wanted to play the drums. I had several years of piano lessons under my belt, which made me qualified to play instruments like the marimba or...
Trailer Watch: Joyful Noise
Film Will Open in January https://medium.com/media/4d27489cc07caf17804240a953eb5868/href
First Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Magazine Cover
Here’s David Fincher’s take on Lisbeth: There were discussions early on where people were like, She’s a superhero!’ And you go, ‘No, she’s not. Superheroes live in a world of good and...
Pink Ribbons, Inc. — Directed by Léa Pool
Next week starts the annual pinkification of cancer — breast cancer awareness month. Now I don’t want to take anything away from any woman who is figuring out a way to fight and survive this...
Variety’s Women’s Impact Report — 2011
Variety had a luncheon last week where they honored over 30 women for their impact on the business and included two pieces on how Sweden and Norway are working on getting more women directors (they...
Shonda Rhimes Is Still at the Top of Her Game
I know that at times Grey’s Anatomy seems like a tortured soap opera. But I also know that I would take that soap opera any day over some of the other crap on TV, and that is because Shonda Rhimes...
Trailer Watch: One for the Money
Opens next January. She gave up Grey’s Anatomy for this.
Moneyball Producer Rachael Horovitz: A Lesson in Perseverance
In 2009, after years of work and days before production was scheduled to begin, the plug was pulled on Moneyball which at that time was supposed to be directed by Steven Soderbergh and to star Brad...
Patty Jenkins in Talk to Direct Thor 2
Even if this doesn’t come to pass, the fact that a woman, a director like Patty Jenkins who is best known for directing the shit out of Charlize Theron in Monster and for directing the pilot of The...
Women, War and Peace Debuts on PBS October 11
This week in NY was the annual opening of the UN General Assembly where heads of states make their speeches. Seeing all these dudes stand up at the podium while the world is a total mess one thing is...
New Poster for The Iron Lady Debuts
Things are getting interesting. Check out this poster that launched on Yahoo yesterday.
Good News: Many Films Directed by Women are Being Submitted for Academy Awards for Foreign Films
Something good is going on this year and I’ve been watching it for the last couple of weeks. The news is that many countries have submitted films directed by women for Academy Award consideration...
Hot Trailer: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Now this is more like what I was expecting. Mara actually looks and sounds quite good as Lisbeth. Thoughts?
Toronto Review: Hysteria
One of the most vivid memories I have of my college learning experience is a class I took on Women in American History. I remember reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Kate...