BY Women and Hollywood
29% of Films at SF Film Festival Women-Directed; Mira Nair To Receive Prestigious Award at the Fest
About 29% of the films in the lineup for the 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival are directed by women. Of the 173 films showing at the festival, 50 are directed by women. As previously...
Trailer Watch: Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart Fight Crime in ‘Electra Woman & Dyna Girl’
There’s new superheroes in town — ones who talk about kegels and eat slushies. A trailer has arrived for the film reboot of the children’s show “Electra Woman & Dyna Girl.” YouTube...
April 2016 Film Preview
There are plenty of opportunities to catch a female-centric and/or women-directed film in April. The month kicks off with “God’s Not Dead 2,” starring Melissa Joan Hart. The former teen witch...
Sundance Selects Acquires Nicole Garcia Period Drama Starring Marion Cotillard
Sundance Selects has acquired the U.S. rights to Nicole Garcia’s period drama “From the Land of the Moon.” Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard stars in the film, which is based on Milena...
2015 Vida Count: WOC, LGBTQ and Women with Disabilities Underrepresented in Publications
The 2015 VIDA Count was released Wednesday and though the figures demonstrate small gains overall, the picture looks different for women of color, LGBTQ women and women with disabilities. VIDA dubbed...
Julia Roberts to Produce and Star in Adaptation of ‘Fool Me Once’
Julia Roberts is set to star in the film adaptation of best-selling author Harlan Coben’s new novel “Fool Me Once.” Roberts will also produce the film with her partners at Red Om, Lisa Roberts...
Male Directors Outnumber Female Directors 5 to 1 in Spain
A recent report from CIMA, the Spanish Association for Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media Professionals, found that women directors of narrative features were outnumbered by male directors...
Naomi Watts in Talks to Star in ‘The Glass Castle’ Alongside Brie Larson
Naomi Watts is in negotiations to star in “The Glass Castle” alongside Oscar-winner Brie Larson. Watts would play Larson’s eccentric mother in the much anticipated big-screen adaptation of...
Sofia Coppola to Remake ‘The Beguiled,’ Kidman, Dunst and Fanning in Talks to Star
Sofia Coppola will reportedly write and direct a star-studded remake of “The Beguiled,” a 1971 drama starring Clint Eastwood. Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning are in talks to star....
Guest Post: My Peek Under the Niqab — A Muslim Filmmaker’s Journey Breaking Her Own Stereotypes
In 2009, I quit my job as Gulf Correspondent for The Washington Post and decided to pursue filmmaking full-time. I had become a journalist to tell realistic stories about the Arab world, having...
Marilynne Robinson To Receive Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction
Marilynne Robinson will receive this year’s Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. The annual prize honors “an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished not only for...
‘Jane the Virgin’ Star Gina Rodriguez to Receive CinemaCon Female Star of Tomorrow Award
Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriguez is about to add yet another award to her rapidly expanding collection: The “Jane the Virgin” star has been named as the 2016 recipient of the CinemaCon Female...
Emerging Pictures to Release Valerie Weiss’ Bipolar Drama ‘A Light Beneath Their Feet’
Emerging Pictures will release “A Light Beneath Their Feet,” a coming-of-age drama helmed by Valerie Weiss (“Losing Control”) and written by Moira McMahon (“Private Practice”). The film...
Emmanuelle Bercot on Portraying the Juvenile Justice System in Cannes 2015 Opener ‘Standing Tall’
Multi-hyphenate Emmanuelle Bercot is one of the few French film talents able to seamlessly shift between acting, directing and writing. Much of her work has debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, from...
BAMcinématek To Present Tribute to Chantal Akerman
BAMcinématek has announced it will present a tribute to filmmaker Chantal Akerman called Chantal Akerman: Images Between the Images. Akerman’s career began in the 1960s when she told intimate,...
Rita Moreno to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Gasparilla Film Festival
The Gasparilla Film Festival has announced that Rita Moreno will be bestowed with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The fest will run from March 30 through April 3 and celebrates its 10th anniversary...
Announcing New Weekly Feature: Women Filmmaker Wednesdays
Women and Hollywood is always looking for engaging ways to celebrate women in the film industry and we’re incredibly excited to announce the launch of a brand new social media campaign. Because...
Casting Call Creators on Their Viral Video That Exposes Sexist Industry Practices
There’s no denying that women have faced sexism in the entertainment industry since its inception, but actresses in particular have it especially tough as a result of ridiculous standards of...
Emily Schwend Wins Prestigious Yale Theater Prize, Both Runners-Up Are Women
Playwright Emily Schwend has won the 2016 Yale Drama Series prize for her play “Utility,” a family drama set in Texas. Schwend will receive $10,000, publication by Yale University Press and a...
Why Imaginary Deaths Matter To Real-World Queer Women
While real-life terrors continue to abound for LGBT people, the question often arises why we should care about anything that happens in the make-believe world of entertainment. Who cares, the...
Women at the Box Office: Wonder Woman Wins the Weekend
“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” may have broken records this weekend, but it was Wonder Woman who stole the show. The DC Comics action-packed superhero film wherein the Dark Knight of...
How Women of the Studio Era Took Control in ‘Independent Stardom’ Excerpt
First and foremost, I was motivated to write “Independent Stardom” by the talented women who are the subjects of my book, the female stars of Classic Hollywood in the 1930s. From a young age, I...
Weekly Update for March 25: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 — Written by Nia Vardalos Written by Academy Award-nominee Nia Vardalos, who stars alongside the entire returning cast of...
Women and POC Survive The Apocalypse: March 2016’s VOD and Web Series Picks
This month’s web series and VOD picks show the incredible range of content that women are contributing to the entertainment industry through alternative routes. For fans of dystopian series such...
Julia Roberts Will Produce and Star in Film Adaptation of ‘Wife 22’
Julia Roberts is reportedly attached to produce and star in an adaptation of best-selling author Melanie Gideon’s novel “Wife 22.” Gideon previously wrote three YA novels and a memoir....
Guest Post: Women of the West Offer New Perspectives on the American Stage
From John Wayne movies to the plays of Sam Shepard, the story of the American West has always been presented as a distinctly male experience. Cowboys and Indians, outlaws and frontiersman, ranchers...
WGA Report Shows Little Progress For Women and Minority Writers
Yesterday the Writers Guild of America released a diversity report that sadly shows how little progress has been made for women and minority writers in film and TV. The report, titled “Renaissance...
Seeking Our Story: Personal Filmmaking with Allison Anders’ ‘Gas Food Lodging’
Allison Anders (b. 1954) began life in rural Kentucky. By age four her father abandoned the family and her mother packed up her five daughters to move to Los Angeles. After enduring abuse from a...
Listen: Women and Hollywood Podcast #26 — ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ Star and Writer Nia Vardalos
In 2002, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” opened on 108 screens, and thanks to major word-of-mouth buzz, went on to earn a domestic gross of $241 million. The film was made for $5 million. Fourteen...
Amandla Stenberg To Star in Black Lives Matter-Inspired ‘The Hate U Give’
“Hunger Games” alum Amandla Stenberg will star in the film adaptation of “The Hate U Give,” an upcoming YA novel inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. HarperCollins’ Balzer &...
Trailer Watch: Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt Leave ‘Nothing Left Unsaid’
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper has made a name for himself outside of his famous Vanderbilt family, but now his relationship with his socialite mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, is being explored in Liz...
Lake Bell To Write, Direct, Produce and Star in ‘What’s the Point?’
In a world… where female filmmakers can thrive, Lake Bell will emerge victorious. Bell will write, direct, produce and star in “What’s the Point? (And Other Fair Questions About Marriage).”...
Viola Davis and Debra Martin Chase to Produce Legal Drama About County Prosecutor Kym Worthy
TNT is reportedly developing a legal drama from “How to Get Away with Murder” star Viola Davis. The Emmy-winning actress is executive producing “Conviction” alongside Debra Martin Chase...
Smile, Baby: How ‘The Catch’ Does Mireille Enos Wrong
I have a simple litmus test for female-centric shows and movies that almost never steers me wrong. It sounds petty, but it’s very revealing: Does the main character wear impractical footwear in...
Trailer Watch: ‘Love & Friendship’ Re-Teams ‘Disco’ Darlings Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny
Maybe this will be like “Last Days of Disco” but with corsets and manners?Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale have teamed up again with their “Disco” director Whit Stillman for “Love &...
20 Films By Women We Hope to See at Cannes
The Cannes Film Festival has been notoriously unkind to women. Between enforcing a ludicrous rule prohibiting women from wearing flats on the red carpet, to its usually low number of female...
Zoe Kravitz Takes a Stand For Inclusivity in Hollywood
Remember when Zoe Kravitz was denied an audition for a minor role in “The Dark Knight Rises” because casting wasn’t “going urban”? That’s just one egregious example of Hollywood...
Gina Prince-Bythewood To Direct and Co-Write ‘An Untamed State,’ Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood is re-teaming with her leading lady from 2014’s “Beyond the Lights” to bring Roxane Gay’s debut novel to the big screen. Prince-Bythewood will direct...
Trailer Watch: Diane Kruger Murders Her Husband and Hits the Road in Fabienne Berthaud’s ‘Sky’
Babies don’t save marriages, and in “Sky,” a vacation can’t either. A trailer has arrived for writer-director Fabienne Berthaud’s latest film. The drama centers on a French couple who...
Valérie Donzelli Will Preside Over Critics’ Week Jury at Cannes
French director and actress Valérie Donzelli will preside over the Critics’ Week jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Donzelli’s own film, the autobiographical “Declaration of War,”...
Trailer Watch: Bridget Has Baby Daddy Drama in ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’
Carey Mulligan in Negotiations to Star in New Dee Rees Drama
“Suffragette” star Carey Mulligan is in negotiations to take the lead in another period drama. The Oscar nominee is circling Dee Rees’s indie film “Mudbound,” set in post-World War II...
Emma Stone Will Play Rosemary Kennedy in ‘Letters From Rosemary’
Emma Stone has reportedly signed on to star in Black List script “Letters From Rosemary.” The story follows the life of Rose Marie “Rosemary” Kennedy, the eldest sister of President John F....
Gwendoline Christie Joins Elisabeth Moss for Season 2 of Jane Campion’s ‘Top of the Lake’
The force is strong with “Game of Thrones” star Gwendoline Christie — and “Top of the Lake” fans. Hot off her big screen success with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Christie will...
Ava DuVernay Will Write and Direct HBO’s ‘The Battle of Versailles’
“Selma” director and Array (formerly AFFRM) founder Ava DuVernay will co-write and direct HBO’s “The Battle of Versailles.” While the project may sound like a war epic, the film is...
Tribeca Film Festival Announces Tribeca Talks Lineup with Daring Women Summit
The Tribeca Film Festival has released the lineup for its Tribeca Talks series. The festival will run from April 13–24 this year. New to this year’s festival are Tribeca Talks: Storytellers,...
Agunda Okeyo Announces ‘Sisters of Comedy’ Series at Caroline’s
Writer, filmmaker and activist Agunda Okeyo has announced a new monthly production called “Sisters of Comedy,” which will begin at Caroline’s on Broadway on April 7. The inaugural evening will...
Trailer Watch: Sharon and Rob Are Hilarious Parents in ‘Catastrophe’ Season 2
“What’s going on with you crazy bitches?” This is how Sharon (Sharon Horgan, “The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret”) greets a mommy group at the playground in a preview for...
New Doc About Joan Rivers to Air on PBS
A new documentary about Joan Rivers is set to premiere on New York’s PBS WNET Thirteen. The late comedian was the subject of Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern’s 2010 critically acclaimed doc...
Record-Breaking Boxer Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields’ Life Rights Nabbed for Feature Film
It’s about time we had a female “Rocky,” and who better to base such a film on than an actual record-breaking female boxer? Universal and Michael De Luca Productions are teaming together to...
Naomi Watts and Jessica Lange to Star in New Gia Coppola Film
Naomi Watts and Jessica Lange are teaming up to star in Gia Coppola’s “The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll.” The indie drama is based on Jean Nathan’s 2004 nonfiction book of the same...