BY Women and Hollywood
Trailer Watch: The Imperialists Are Still Alive! — Written and Directed by Zenia Durra
Films Opens on April 15 and will also be on VOD
2011 Cannes Poster: Faye Dunaway Circa 1970 With Just a Head and Legs
This is what it says on the official Cannes website about the poster: This photo of Faye Dunaway was taken by Jerry Schatzberg in 1970. Model of sophistication and timeless elegance, it is an...
Joe Wright Sticks it to Zack Snyder
Joe Wright the director best known for British period dramas like Atonement and Pride and Prejudice opens his first action film Hanna starring Saorise Ronan as a teen assassin this Friday. He...
Ms. Bossypants Writes a Book
Tina Fey’s new book Bossypants comes out this week and it’s generally well liked with a couple of caveats. The consensus is that it isn’t exactly a memoir but that’s ok since it is still a...
Penelope Cruz Gets Star on Walk of Fame
She’s getting ready to star in the big budget Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp and now she’s joined the Hollywood Walk of Fame Club.
Peabody Award Winners
The 70th annual Peabody Awards were announced last week. The Peabody’s represent excellence in electronic media for the year 2010. From the website: “The Peabodys, the oldest awards in...
Circumstance — Written and Directed by Maryam Keshavarz Closes New Directors/New Films
This evening Maryam Keshavarz’ Sundance award winning film will close the New Directors/New Film series in NYC. I spoke with Maryam this week and the full interview will be available when the film...
Circumstance – Written and Directed by Maryam Keshavarz Closes New Directors/New Films
This evening Maryam Keshavarz’ Sundance award winning film will close the New Directors/New Film series in NYC. I spoke with Maryam this week and the full interview will be available when the...
Women Films at the Theatre This Weekend — April 1, 2011
Women’s Films Now PlayingMiral — written by Rula Jebreal Potiche Sucker Punch Desert Flower — written and directed by Sherry Hormann Cracks — directed by Jordan Scott, co-written...
In a Better World — directed by Susanne Bier
We spend so much time talking about how men are hired to direct women’s stories (because men are hired to direct more movies in general) but much less time taking about how women have a much harder...
A Moment of Self Promotion
What a way to wake up on a crappy, snowy, rainy April 1st. I sure hope this isn’t an April Fool’s Day joke, but I just got named to The Times of London’s 100 Greatest Arts Tweeters. The story...
Interview With Susanne Bier — Oscar Winning Director of In a Better World
WAH: Congratulations on the Oscar. What did it feel like? That moment? SB: You know one of those few moments in one’s life when everything comes to a standstill? This was a moment like that. And I...
Preview for The Killing
This show is created by Veena Sud who did Cold Case and it is based on a Danish show. The show stars Mireille Enos (Big Love) and the pilot was directed by Patty Jenkins who directed Charlize Theron...
The Help at Cinema Con
As usual, it’s going to be a quiet summer for women centric films from the studios. The big studio film that will target the female demographic is The Help. Dreamworks brought in several members of...
Melissa Rosenberg to Write and Produce Earthseed
Melissa Rosenberg the writer who wrote all five of the Twilight screenplays has been tapped by Paramount to write the script for Earthseed the first of what I’m sure the studio hopes is a trilogy....
Mr. Dodd Goes to Las Vegas
Chris Dodd, former Senator from Connecticut, took over as Hollywood’s chief lobbyist as the head of the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) about 10 days ago. Keep in mind that the former...
The Power of Film — UK Film Council Report
As the UK’s Film Council sadly goes out of business this week, but before they departed they produced a comprehensive report on diversity and stereotypes with lots of information to digest. The...
Reese Witherspoon Drops Out of Brave
This film is still making news. First they get rid of Brenda Chapman who was first female to direct a Pixar movie. The EW story says she will have co-directing credit. now, they lost Reese...
Jennifer Garner Gets Her Own Franchise
I have always thought that films missed the boat by not figuring out how to get Jennifer Garner a character like the one she played in Alias. I know that Elektra was supposed to be it, but the film...
Trailer Watch: Slaying the Dragon Reloaded: Asian Women in Hollywood and Beyond
Description from the you tube page: “Slaying the Dragon Reloaded: Asian Women in Hollywood and Beyond” is a 30-minute video documentary that examines visual representations of Asian women made...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Vera Farmiga
I want to be invited to Vera Farmiga’s house when she does one of the burnings described in this piece from The Guardian. It seems that Farmiga burns the scripts she gets that she doesn’t like...
Real World and Film World Collide
Today is the release of the DVD of Made in Dagenham. Why people didn’t go to see this film when it was released last fall I will never understand. It was good, fun and about something...
Trailer Watch: Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer
Opens on June 10. Film is written by Kathy Waugh and Megan McDonald Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer
Guest Post: A Chat With Rebecca Zlotowski, director of Belle Epine by Kylie Boltin
Belle Epine is a strikingly intimate portrait of a seventeen year-old girl, Prudence (played by Léa Seydoux) that captures her transition from cocooned youth towards a premature adulthood following...
Hot Docs: The Women
Hot Docs is one of the best and biggest documentary film festivals. This year’s festival takes place in Toronto from April 28-May 8. The Special Presentation section (their most high profile...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union has become one of the few celebrity voices speaking out on behalf of the Congressional campaign to defund Planned Parenthood. No matter what you believe about abortion, 97% of what...
Women at the Box Office This Weekend — March 25
Women Centric Films OpeningMiral — written by Rula JebrealPotiche: reviewSucker Punch: What the Hell is Abbie Cornish Doing in Sucker PunchWomen Directed Films OpeningMy...
Potiche — Review
You know you are in for a treat when the first image of a film is Catherine Deneuve doing a light jog through the countryside, and Potiche does not let you down. It’s a comedy of manners set in the...
What the Hell is Abbie Cornish Doing in Sucker Punch?
I must say that I found the film Sucker Punch to be very confusing. I had no idea what it was about except that it was clear that young women were in peril, stuck in a mental institution or brothel....
Rashida Jones Writes Film So She Can Have Decent Role
Women directors have long been writing their own material in order to give them opportunities to direct. Now women actors are taking up the pen in order to get themselves decent roles...
Debra Martin Chase to Produce Sparkle Remake at Sony
Producer Debra Martin Chase has teamed up with The Game showrunners and creators Mara Brock Akil and her husband Salim Akil to produce a remake of the 1976 film Sparkle which originally starred Irene...
Trailer Alert: Last Night Directed by Massy Tadjedin
Elizabeth Taylor — A True Hollywood Legend
In the world of icons in Hollywood Elizabeth Taylor stands on her own. It seems that everything that endures in Hollywood she did first. She got treated for alcoholism and drug addiction and spoke...
Fey on Gay
Must watch piece from the GLAAD Awards this weekend where Tina got an award.
Winter’s Bone Q and A
Here’s the Q and A from the Athena Film Festival with Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini and moderated by IndieWIRE’s Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. People are asking some great questions.
Jodie Foster and The Beaver
Last week Jodie Foster flew into Austin, Texas from Paris set of Gods of Carnage directed by Roman Polanski (don’t get me started) to attend the premiere of The Beaver, her latest directing...
International Women’s Film Festival in Germany Announces Lineup
The International Women’s Film Festival in Dortmund Germany has announced the eight films that will be in competition for International Feature Film Competition for Women Directors. The Oscar...
Trailer Watch: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Interview With Daphne Pinkerson, Director, Triangle: Remembering The Fire
Tonight, at 9pm EST, HBO will premiere a new doc Triangle: Remembering the Fire in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Fire which killed 146 people mostly all young immigrant women...
First Look: Sexed Up Wonder Woman
Here’s the first picture of Adrianne Palicki as the crime fighting Wonder Woman. The costume looks like a Halloween costume. A little too much for me.
Guest Post: Tales From a First-Time Director at the Oscars by Sara Nesson
The last time you heard from me (which was also the first) was after the Oscar Nominees Luncheon when I got to revel in my new friendship with Geoffrey Rush. Now, two weeks post Academy Awards, I am...
Interview with Doris Yeung, Director of Motherland
Motherland played Outfest in 2009. The film tells the story of the price of the American dream. It opens this weekend for a run in NYC at the Quad Cinema. Doris will be at the Quad Cinema for a Q and...
A Distribution Success Story: I Will Follow — Written and Directed by Ava DuVernay
I started seeing information about I Will Follow a little over a week ago on twitter. People were sending me tweets about the opening and then they forwarded a very positive review from Roger Ebert....
Guest Post: Desert Flower Review by Melissa Silvestri
Desert Flower is a deeply emotional drama (with light comedic moments) that tells the true story of Waris Dirie, a Somali woman who had undergone female genital mutilation at 3 years old, escaped her...
New Bridesmaids Trailer
This looks even better than the first one.
Interview with Sherry Hormann, Director of Desert Flower
Desert Flower opens this Friday in NY and LA. It stars Liya Kebede as Waris Dirie, a woman who escaped from Somalia and became a top fashion model and UN spokeswoman against female genital...
Drew Barrymore Gets New Directing Gig
I am so glad to read that Drew Barrymore has signed on to direct a new film. BUT I am none too pleased that this could be a redo of He’s Just Not That Into You (which was dreadful). Barrymore and...
Guest Post: No Line for the Ladies Room… But That’s Actually Awesome by Emily Dell
The porcelain is pristine in the ladies room at GDC — the Game Developer Conference, the largest conference of digital game designers in the world, held recently in San Francisco. At first it...
Tribeca Film Festival — Lineup Part 2
The Tribeca Film Festival announced the lineups for the Spotlight, CinemaMania Section and Special screenings yesterday. The CinemaMania section has eight films and none are directed by women....
Spend St. Patrick’s Day at This is Ireland in Los Angeles
One of the areas where women are lacking in visibility is in the area of conducting and composing. This Thursday, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day composer and conductor Eimear Noone has put together...
Sucker Punch Meets The Disney Princesses
I have no idea whether Sucker Punch will be worthy, but the the it definitely spices up the bland Disney Princesses h/t Movieline