BY Women and Hollywood
Mia Hansen-Løve, Jasmila Žbanić Among Finalists for German Women’s Film Festival Competition
The International Women’s Film Festival in Dortmund/Cologne has announced the eight finalists vying for the €15,000 RWE Film Award. The filmmakers in competition — all women directors...
33% of Contenders for San Francisco Festival’s Golden Gate Awards Directed by Women
Six women-directed films — three narrative, three nonfiction — will compete for the San Francisco International Film Festival’s Golden Gate Awards this year. The total of 18 films...
Kirsten Schaffer Appointed New Executive Director of Women In Film, Los Angeles
Kirsten Schaffer has been named the next Executive Director of Women In Film, Los Angeles. Schaffer previously served as Executive Director of Outfest, the prominent LGBT media arts organization....
Christine Vachon at SXSW: “TV Has Already Left [Film] in the Dust” in Terms of Roles for Actresses
Legendary indie producer Christine Vachon celebrated the 20th anniversary of her production company Killer Films — now known as Killer Content — with a keynote at this year’s SXSW....
Amy Schumer at SXSW: “I Wanna Get [‘Feminism’] Tattooed on My Cl*t”
“I wanna get [the word ‘feminism’] tattooed on my cl*t,” Amy Schumer announced recently at SXSW, where she’s debuting the comedy “Trainwreck.” The raunchy rom com marks Schumer’s...
Joan Didion’s Essay ‘Goodbye to All That’ Optioned for Screen Adaptation
Call it the Joan-aissance. After appearing in a viral ad for the French fashion house Céline, literary icon Joan Didion is back in the news for having one of her best-known essays optioned for a...
Meera Menon to Direct Female-Driven Wall Street Drama ‘Equity’
“Farah Goes Bang” director Meera Menon has found her next project. Broad Street Pictures has chosen Menon to helm “Equity,” which the production company bills as the first female-driven...
Director/Choreographer Kathleen Marshall on Her Process, Female Mentors, and Developing New Musicals
Cross-posted with permission from The Interval. Let’s go put on a Broadway show! We can do it! Okay, this is some hubris on our part, but also the effect that listening to someone talk both...
Talking Women’s Issues and the Intersection of Feminism and Film in Kolkata, India
It is a very exciting time to be in India. The country is having a national conversation about gendered violence. There are not only the very heated debates about “India’s Daughter,” but new...
Director Rose Troche Honored with the 2015 Outfest Fusion Achievement Award
Writer-director-producer Rose Troche was recognized with the 2015 Outfest Achievement Award at an event for the LGBT film festival on Saturday, March 14, at the Egyptian Theater. Troche’s...
‘Suffragette,’ Starring Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep, to be Released by Focus Features
Director Sarah Gavron’s “Suffragette” will be distributed in North America by Focus Features this fall. The British film focuses on the early-twentieth-century battle to win the vote for UK...
Trailer Watch: Looking for a Death Partner in Jessica Hausner’s ‘Amour Fou’
The trailer for Austrian writer-director Jessica Hausner’s “Amour Fou’” begins with a conversation between a younger woman and an older man about what can and cannot be chosen in life, with...
Quote of the Day: Paul Feig on Women Directors and Sexist Reactions to All-Female ‘Ghostbusters’
Paul Feig isn’t mincing words when it comes to sexism in Hollywood and beyond. While doing press at SXSW for “Spy,” his third collaboration with Melissa McCarthy, which premiered at the...
Rihanna Becomes Subject of Documentary “Character Study,” First Black Spokeswoman for Dior
Rihanna’s world domination continues. Two weeks before the release of “Home,” in which the “Diamonds” singer voices a resourceful teenager who befriends a banished alien, Rihanna...
America Ferrera Returns to TV in NBC’s Single-Cam Comedy ‘Superstore’
America Ferrera’s finally back! The Emmy and Golden Globe winner has signed on to her first TV series since “Ugly Betty” wrapped up its four-season run in 2010. Ferrera will star in and...
Trailer Watch: Zoe Saldana Doesn’t Regret Marrying a Manic-Depressive Man in ‘Infinitely Polar Bear’
https://movies.yahoo.com/video/infinitely-polar-bear-trailer-163000047.html?format=embed
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Jessica Edwards — ‘Mavis!’
Jessica Edwards has a broad background in the film industry as a director, producer and publicist. Her short film “Seltzer Works” screened at SXSW and many other festivals before airing on PBS....
Quote of the Day: Shonda Rhimes: “I Make TV Look Like the World Looks”
“I really hate the word ‘diversity,’” announced Shonda Rhimes at the Human Rights Campaign Gala this past Saturday. The “Scandal” creator and “How to Get Away With Murder” producer...
Ava DuVernay’s SXSW Keynote: “I Have Had the F*cking Most Awesome Year”
“I’ve had the fucking most awesome year,” Ava DuVernay admitted in her keynote speech at this year’s SXSW festival. “I can’t even describe it.” The “Selma” director displayed...
Guest Post: Why I Started a Festival Dedicated to Socially Relevant Films
March 16 is a bittersweet day for me. This year, the day marks the 11th anniversary of the violent death of mydear cousin, actress/producer Vanya Exerjian. But it’s also the launch date of the...
Trailer Watch: Queen Latifah Sings Through Her Suffering in Dee Rees’ ‘Bessie’ Smith HBO Biopic
HBO has released a teaser trailer for “Bessie,” the upcoming biopic of Bessie Smith from writer-director Dee Rees (“Pariah”). “It’s a long road, but I’m gonna find the end,” sings...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Katie Cokinos — ‘I Dream Too Much’
Katie Cokinos has a history of supporting independent film, starting in Texas, where she was an administrator for SWAMP and Managing Director of the Austin Film Society. She’s made five short...
Netflix Picks Up Hannah Fidell’s ‘6 Years’
One day after its world premiere at SXSW 2015, Hannah Fidell’s improvised coming-of-age romance “6 Years” has been purchased by Netflix. The film stars Taissa Farmiga and Ben Rosenfeld as a...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti — ‘A Woman Like Me’
Alex Sichel (Writer, Director) directed the feature “All Over Me”, released by New Line, which UCLA’s Journal of Cinema and Media Studies named one of the top films by women directors. All...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Director Phie Ambo & Producer Malene Flindt Pedersen — ‘Good Things Await’
PhieAmbo directed the film “Mechanical Love,” which was in the Joris Ivenscompetition in 2007. It has screened at 15 film festivals and won two first prizes. In 2005 she directed the film...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli — ‘Frame by Frame’
AlexandriaBombach is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who lives on the road. The founder of Red Reel, Bombach is known to sell all her belongings to tell a story shebelieves in. Mo Scarpelli is a...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Betzabé García — ‘Kings of Nowhere (Los Reyes Del Pueblo Que No Existe)’
Betzabé García’s first feature documentary film, “Kings of Nowhere,” was thewinner of the Program of Promotion of Projects, the Cultural Joint Ventures ofthe National Fund for Culture and...
India’s Daughter: Can a Movie Change a Country’s Attitude Towards Women?
As I sit on this flight to India to participate in the American Film Showcase program, I can’tstop thinking about the documentary “India’s Daughter.” The filmmade headlines across the world...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Zuzanna Solakiewicz — ’15 Corners of the World’
Zuzanna Solakiewicz graduated from the University of Warsaw before going on to study directing at the Sam Spiegel Film & TV School in Jerusalem. She has completed an internship at the Lodz Film...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Anna Sofie Hartmann — ‘Limbo’
Anna Sofie Hartmann was born in Denmark. She studied for a year at the European Film College in Aarhus. After moving to Berlin, she worked at the Studio Olafur Eliasson. In 2008 she began studying...
Weekly Update for March 13: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This WeekCinderella — Co-Written by Aline Brosh McKenna After her father unexpectedly dies, young Ella (Lily James) finds herself at the mercy of her cruel stepmother...
Trailer Watch: ‘Iris’ Makes Fashion Fun Again
“I didn’t give a damn about going to the party or being at the party, it was getting dressed for the party — and there’s truth and poetry in that,” says fashion icon Iris Apfel, the...
Sarah Silverman’s ‘I Smile Back’ and Two Other Female-Centric Films Land Distribution
Three female-centric dramas are heading to the big screen. “I Smile Back,” which stars Sarah Silverman as a self-destructive wife and mother, will be distributed by Broad Green Pictures....
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Hannah Fidell — ‘6 Years’
Hannah Fidellwrote and directed the feature film “A Teacher,” which premiered at Sundance 2013and went on to play such festivals as SXSW, where she won the Chicken & EggAward. In 2012, her...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Samantha Futerman — ‘Twinsters’
Samantha Futerman is a Korean American adoptee from New Jersey. She attended the Professional Performing Arts School in New York City and graduated from Boston University in 2009 with a BFA in...
Audra McDonald Returns to Broadway in Meta-Musical ‘Shuffle Along’
Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald will head back to Broadway in a new musical in 2016. McDonald will star as stage performer Lottie Gee in a production that looks back at musical-theater history,...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Lina Mannheimer — ‘The Ceremony’
After obtaining a degree in film and art history from the University of Nebrija in Madrid, Lina Mannheimer embarked on a Master’s of Science program at the Stockholm School of Economics. She also...
Guest Post: Making a Magical Realist Film About a Boy Who Smells Like Rotting Fish
There are countless films with unique ideas and storylines, but I believe my firstfeature film, “Treading Water,” is the only one about a boy who smells like fish. This idea caught my attention...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Olivia Wyatt — ‘Sailing A Sinking Sea’
Olivia Wyatt is a filmmaker and photographer based in Los Angeles. She is a member of the Sublime Frequencies film and music collective. Her first feature, “Staring Into the Sun,” is about...
Disney Can’t ‘Let It Go’: ‘Frozen’ Sequel in Development
Disney has announced the inevitable “Frozen” sequel. The Oscar-winning film (for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song) has earned $1.27 billion at the global box office, as well as many...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Katharine Emmer — ‘Life in Color’
Katharine Emmer is a graduate of New York University, where she was the recipient of the Tisch Artistic Achievement Award. She has appeared on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” and made her acting...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Sara Hirsh Bordo — ‘A Brave Heart’
“A Brave Heart” is Sara Hirsh Bordo’s film directorial debut. She has held senior roles at Paramount Pictures and MGM Studios as Co-Founder of NowLive and Producer of TEDxAustinWomen. In 2012,...
Kerry Washington to Play Anita Hill in HBO Movie ‘Confirmation’
Kerry Washington has landed another high-profile role. The “Scandal” star will play law professor Anita Hill in “Confirmation,” a HBO movie about Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court-nomination...
Study: Female Characters Are Trapped Under Professional Glass Ceilings in the Movies
Back in February, Dr. Martha Lauzen observed in her annual Celluloid Ceiling Report that male characters are nearly twice as likely (61%) to be identified with a profession than their female...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Ondi Timoner — ‘BRAND: A Second Coming’ and ‘The Last Mile’
Director and producer Ondi Timoner won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice — for “Dig!” (2004) about the collision of art and commerce through the story of two bands and “We Live in...
Is There Life in ‘iZombie’?
Study: Women Made up the Majority of Moviegoers in 2014
It’s broken-record time again. For the 5th year ina row, women made up the majority of moviegoers in US and Canada in 2014, according to newresearch released by the MPAA. Women also purchased 50%...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Shannon Sun-Higginson — ‘GTFO: Get The F#$% Out’
Shannon Sun-Higginson is a documentary filmmaker from New York City. In 2009, her first documentary short, “Hapa Perspectives,” aired on Current TV. She has worked as a Production Coordinator...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Rebecca Johnson — ‘Honeytrap’
Rebecca Johnson makes her feature-film debut with “Honeytrap” after a string of short-film successes, including the award-winning “Top Girl,” which played at more than 30 festivals...
Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea Option Female Special-Ops Book ‘Ashley’s War’
The bibliophilic producing team of Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea has optioned another female-centric book. The film rights to journalist Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s “Ashley’s War: The...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Micah Magee — ‘Petting Zoo’
Micah Magee graduated from the University of Texas with a dual degree in Plan II Honors and Radio-Television-Film. In addition to making films, Magee worked as managing and programming director of...