BY Women and Hollywood
Geena Davis Institute and Women in Film/TV to Launch Global Symposium on Gender at London Film Fest
The Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media is taking their research global. The institute, founded by the Academy Award-winning gender-equality advocate, is teaming up with the BFI London Film...
Trailer Watch: Abigail Breslin Takes Down Predatory Teenage Boys in ‘Final Girl’
A group of repulsively misogynistic teenage boys get more than they bargained for when they try to victimize a skilled assassin in “Final Girl.” The thriller stars Abigail Breslin (“Ender’s...
Trailer Watch: Amy Schumer Answers “What’s Your Number?” in New ‘Trainwreck’ Spot
In less than a month, Amy Schumer’s “Trainwreck” will make its long-awaited debut in theaters. Now an extended TV spot for the raunchy rom com has arrived with some new footage to help tide us...
Watch: John Oliver Stands Up for Women Online on ‘Last Week Tonight’
‘Runoff’ Director Kimberly Levin on Shooting on a Working Farm and Collecting Cow and Hog Sounds
Kimberly Levin makes her feature directorial debut with “Runoff,” a drama about a desperate woman forced to make choices when she isn’t even sure what the right thing to do would be. The...
Denise Di Novi Takes Over WB Thriller “Unforgettable” as Director
Superstar producer Denise Di Novi (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love.,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Heathers” — what a resumé) will...
Watch: Women Directors Speak Out Against Sexism, Fight Against Hollywood’s Past and Present
Quote of the Day: Julie Taymor on Why Awards Matter for Women
Julie Taymor, the first woman to win a Tony for directing a musical, recently spoke out about the invaluable effect that women winning awards can have. When The Stage asked Taymor if female...
2015 Kilroys List Spotlights 53 Works by Women and Trans Playwrights Deserving Production
Last year, The Kilroys — a self-described “gang of playwrights and producers in LA who are done talking about gender parity and are taking action” — launched a list of 46 plays by...
Women Win Majority of Awards at Provincetown Film Fest: Coixet, Green, Bianco and More
Women directors won big at this year’s Provincetown International Film Festival, taking home five of the eight prizes awarded. Isabel Coixet’s “Learning to Drive” landed the HBO Audience...
‘King’s Speech’ Producers Developing Biopic About “Florence of Arabia” Lady Hester Stanhope
On the heels of Nicole Kidman’s “Queen of the Desert,” Werner Herzog’s film about archaeologist, diplomat, and writer Gertrude Bell, comes the announcement of another biopic about a...
Zoe Saldana: Male Stars Get Private Jets and Yachts as Perks, Female Stars Can’t Get Child Care
Zoe Saldana recently broadened the ongoing conversation about Hollywood’s pay gap in a new interview with USA Today. While male stars are routinely treated to over-the-top extravagances, the...
6 of Top 10 Movies This Weekend Feature Female Protagonists
Pixar’s brilliant “Inside Out” opened at #2 this weekend with a $91 million domestic (and $132 million worldwide) haul at the box office. But the big story isn’t that “Inside Out” is...
Weekly Update for June 19: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Inside Out (Pick of the Week) Pixar’s latest film is nothing short of brilliant. Taking place within the colorful labyrinth of an 11-year-old girl’s brain,...
Trailer Watch: Charlize Theron Goes to ‘Dark Places’ in the Latest Gillian Flynn Adaptation
“I’m sad for you, little girl. You’re just as imprisoned as I am,” says prisoner Ben (Corey Stoll, “House of Cards”) to his grown-up baby sister Libby (Charlize Theron) in the trailer...
NY Asian Film Fest Lineup: Emerging Women Directors, Focus on Korean Female Filmmakers
The New York Asian Film Festival, now in its 14th year, has released the complete lineup for its 2015 edition, which will take place from June 26 — July 11 in NYC. In addition to featuring a...
Trailer Watch: Emily Blunt Heads into a Drug War-Ravaged Juarez in ‘Sicario’
After co-starring in the action-thrillers “Looper” and “Edge of Tomorrow,” Emily Blunt finally leads one of her own in the borderlands-set “Sicario.” Blunt’s tough but...
Women in Animation Offers Dismal Stats on Current State of Affairs, Proposes Paths toward Progress
Film and television aimed at families and children routinely underrepresent girls and women. According to the Geena Davis Institute, movies and TV shows for those demos feature on average three male...
Trailer Watch: Be Inspired by Malala Yousafzai All Over Again in ‘He Named Me Malala’ Doc
Trailer Watch: Lily Tomlin is a ‘Grandma’ Who Knows When To Say “Screw You”
“I need some help, Grandma.” Thankfully for someone in Sage’s (Julia Garner, “The Americans”) particular situation, her Grandma (Lily Tomlin) is just the kind of woman the young woman...
‘Prime Suspect’ Prequel to Air on ITV With Original Creator Lynda La Plante at the Helm
“Prime Suspect,” the British crime series that made Helen Mirren a household name and unflinchingly explored institutional sexism within the police ranks, is returning to TV. But don’t expect...
2015 LA Film Fest: Women Directors Win World Fiction Award, Audience Awards and More
Female filmmakers left a major impression on juries and audiences at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival. We were already impressed by the number of women-directed projects selected to screen at the...
Acting, Writing, Directing: Regina Taylor on What Motivates Her
This past year, whileappearing on USA Network’s “Dig” as Ambassador Riddell, I’ve beenre-mounting a play, “stop.reset.,” that I first wrote and directed for the Signature Theatre Company...
Why This Season of ‘Game of Thrones’ Will Be My Last
Spoilers for the show’s finale follow. I really thought I had said all I had to say about “Game of Thrones,” which concluded on Sunday with a finale that killed off one of the few likable...
‘Power Rangers’ Actress Amy Jo Johnson to Make Directorial Debut With Fatherhood Comedy
Amy Jo Johnson, who’ll always be affectionately remembered as the Pink Power Ranger by a certain generation of fans, will make her feature directorial debut with the indie comedy “The Space...
1700 People Have Signed the ACLU Petition. Have You?
Less than a month ago, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) launched a petition with the hopes of gaining more support and momentum in the struggle to end the industry’s gender-biased hiring...
Jennifer Lawrence to Receive Bigger Paycheck Than Chris Pratt for ‘Passengers’
Jennifer Lawrence is finally getting the paycheck she deserves. The Oscar-winning actress and action star will be paid $20 million — plus 30 percent of the film’s profits after it breaks...
Highlights from Ava DuVernay, Nicole Kidman, Jill Soloway at WIF’s 2015 Crystal + Lucy Awards
Feminist film history, lost opportunities with Jane Campion, calls for solidarity and revolution — the winners of Women in Film’s 2015 Crystal + Lucy Awards used their time at the podium to...
Watch: Helen Mirren Calls Hollywood’s Ageist Double Standards “F*cking Outrageous”
Remember earlier this year when Russell Crowe suggested that older actresses who complain about not getting work are the ones delusionally seeking ingenue-type roles? He insisted that Helen Mirren...
New and Noteworthy VOD Films and Webseries: May 2015: Soul Singers and Sex Workers
The turbulent stories of two iconic black musicians rise to the top of this month’s VOD picks, albeit in different forms. “Bessie,” the HBO biopic starring Queen Latifah, earned rave reviews...
Listen: Melissa Silverstein, Nicole Kidman, Others Discuss Gender Inequality in Hollywood on NPR
“That a movie with a female protagonist can be a big hit is no surprise, but for those who want to see more gender parity in Hollywood, the opportunities for women to make and star in blockbusters...
Change the Conversation at the Inaugural Hedgebrook Screenwriters Residency in Washington State
If you’re a screenwriter interested in receiving mentorship from industry vets and the chance to collaborate with other female scribes, take note: The Hedgebrook Screenwriters Lab is accepting...
Sexism in Theatre Infographic: Women Fill 9% of Sound Jobs, Underrepresented in Most Design Fields
In our Spring 2015 theatre preview, Shoshana Greenberg wrote that “Broadwaycan be a disheartening place for women. Too few are represented as writers anddirectors, and women’s stories don’t...
Winona Ryder to Star in Supernatural Netflix Series
Nineties icon Winona Ryder, long overdue for a career resuscitation, is heading to TV. Specifically, to Netflix. Ryder, who seemed poised for a comeback after 2010’s “Black Swan” but hasn’t...
‘Maleficent’ Sequel to Bring Back Original Screenwriter Linda Woolverton
Linda Woolverton, the screenwriter behind many of Disney’s biggest feminist hits (“Maleficent,” Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” “Beauty and the Beast”), has signed on to pen...
Crosspost: In Hollywood’s King’s Guard, Women Directors Are All Brienne of Tarth
The following is cross-posted from Lexi Alexander’s blog with permission of the author. It has been slightly edited from the original. “All my life, men like you’ve sneered at me, and all my...
LAFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Lyn Goldfarb — ‘Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race’
Lyn Goldfarb is an Academy Award-nominated andaward-winning filmmaker specializing in historical and social-issuedocumentaries for PBS and major cable. Her series and documentaries include “The...
LAFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Kaitlin McLaughlin — ‘Pocha (Manifest Destiny)’
Kaitlin McLaughlin is an award-winning writer/director. Her debut feature, “Pocha (Manifest Destiny),” will premiere at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival. She wrote and co-directed the indie...
Trailer Watch: Nicole Kidman Plays Real-Life Adventuress and Diplomat in ‘Queen of the Desert’
Englishwoman Gertrude Bell made the most of her unmarried existence by becoming a renowned archaeologist, explorer, writer, traveler, cartographer, spy and political officer in the late 1800s and...
LAFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Åse Svenheim Drivenes — ‘Maiko: Dancing Child’
Åse Svenheim Drivenes is a Norwegian-born filmmaker who made herdirectorial debut with the documentary “Our Man in Kirkenes” (2010), which screened on NRK (Norway’s BBC) and YLE (Finland’s...
June 2015’s Noteworthy Women-Centric Crowdfunding Projects: ‘Sweetening the Pill,’ ‘Creased,’ ‘Faith’
A little help can go a long way when it comes to crowdfunding campaigns, and we’re here to spread the word about a few notable film projects trying to get their financial footing. While these...
Natalie Portman Insisted on Woman Director for Ruth Bader Ginsburg Biopic
Ruth Bader Ginsburg shed some light on the upcoming biopic about her in an interview with her former clerk, California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu, this past Saturday. Starring Natalie...
Mindy Kaling Warns Against Idolizing Her TV Character, Hints at What to Expect in Season 4
Mindy Kaling isn’t shying away from serving as a role model to girls and women, but that doesn’t mean she wants her character on “The Mindy Project,” Dr. Mindy Lahiri, to be considered an...
Weekly Update for June 12: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Madame Bovary — Directed and Co-Written by Sophie Barthes (Also available on VOD) Set in Normandy, France, this is the classic story of Emma Bovary (Mia...
LAFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Chai Vasarhelyi — ‘Incorruptible’
Elizabeth “Chai” Vasarhelyi’sfilms as a director include “Meru,” winner of the Audience Award for US Documentary at Sundance 2015; “Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love”...
Elizabeth Banks in Negotiations to Direct YA Dystopia Fantasy ‘Red Queen’
After becoming the first-time director with the highest opening weekend ever (“Pitch Perfect 2”), Elizabeth Banks should be in a promising place to negotiate her next project. Banks is making...
LAFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Renee Tajima-Peña — ‘No Más Bebés’
Renee Tajima-Peña is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker whose directing credits include “Calavera Highway,” a road movie influenced by the novelist Juan Rulfo, about her husband Armando...
How LA Film Festival Achieved Diversity by “Looking for People Who Are Seeing the World Differently”
The 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival features one of the most diverse programming slates among major festivals, with 40% of features directed by women and almost 30% helmed by filmmakers of color (not...
Stowe Story Labs, Tangerine Entertainment Launch New Fellowship for Women Writers, Directors, Producers
Stowe Story Labs, a nonprofit that brings together emerging screenwriters, filmmakers and creative producers from around the world with industry mentors, is currently accepting applications for its...
LAFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Anna Axster — ‘A Country Called Home’
As a writer, director and producer, Anna Axster has been making films and music videos for more than 10 years, many of which have screened in festivals around the world and been viewed more than...
Trailer Watch: Katherine Heigl Rediscovers Music and Love in Ami Canaan Mann’s ‘Jackie & Ryan’
The trailer for writer-director Ami Canaan Mann’s “Jackie & Ryan” begins with the two titular characters locking eyes for the first time. Ryan (Ben Barnes) is busking, and Jackie...