BY Women and Hollywood
New Trailer for Frozen — Co-Directed by Jennifer Lee
Disney has released a new trailer for Frozen, co-directed by Jennifer Lee. The film voiced by Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel and Jonathan Groff, follows Anna (Bell) who must find her sister Elsa...
An Unexpected Gem: ABC’s Trophy Wife
The concept for the show sounded so awful, that earlier this summer, when the screeners for ABC’s new comedy Trophy Wife were made available to critics, I admit that I put off watching it. How...
The Hollywood Reporter Announced the Top 50 Showrunners
The Hollywood Reporter has announced their 50 power showrunners of 2013 for comedy and drama. 12 women out of 50 were on the list. And four women out of 10 were on the 2014 Showrunners to...
Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood to Star in Patricia Rozema’s Into the Forest
Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood will be playing sisters in Patricia Rozema’s upcoming Into the Forest. Rozema will direct the adaptation of Jean Hegland’s novel of the same name. The film...
Quote of the Day: Diablo Cody on Writing Strong Female Characters
Film School Rejects does a really great interview with Diablo Cody on the release of her directorial debut Paradise. (Side note- Many of the interviews she has done for the release of this film have...
IDFA Announces 2013 Lineup
The International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA) announced their 2013 lineup. The festival will screen a total of 288 films and over a 100 will be premieres. This year the festival...
Trailer Watch: Sweet Dreams — Directed by Lisa Fruchtman and Rob Fruchtman
Award winning documentary filmmakers Lisa Fruchtman and Rob Fruchtman have a new documentary being released, Sweet Dreams. The film has already received many critical accolades including being a top...
Cross Post: Heroines of Cinema: ‘Blue is the Warmest Color’ and the Real Problem With Male Filmmakers and Female Sexuality
I am a man, and this is an article concerning female sexuality, at least in part. I feel that should be noted immediately, lest anyone take it as an unnoticed irony rather than a relevant starting...
The Haunting of Hill House and a Sense of Belonging
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against...
LFF Interview with Flora Lau — Director of Bends
The title of Flora Lau’s debut feature film, Bends, refers to the winding river that separates Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland. The theme of the film is separation — the wealthy from the...
Carol Burnett Receives Mark Twain Prize
On Sunday, the iconic Carol Burnett received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, one of the highest honors for a comedian. Burnett was paid tribute by other iconic stars like Julie Andrews and...
DOC NYC Announces Line Up
DOC NYC, the largest documentary festival in the U.S., has just announced its slate. The festival will run from November 14–21. Over 125 documentary filmmakers and and special guests are expected...
LFF Women Directors: Meet Chloe Ruthven
Chloe Ruthven’s first feature, Mario and Nini, followed two nine-year-old boys over five years, as she struggled to help them find alternatives toa life of crime. The film premiered at Sheffield...
Weekly Update for October 18: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend Carrie — Directed by Kimberly Peirce Peirce’s modernized version of the classic stars Chloe Grace Moretz as Carrie, an ostracized teen, who learns...
Quote of the Day: Alfre Woodard
When asked by Variety about this year’s films starring or about African American and African experiences, she said: We’ve all been putting down roots in dry, dry land, but this year we see the...
The Lady Killers: Considering the Female Killer in Horror
In contrast to many other genres, horror films have long been hospitable to the concept of the female hero. From Marion Crane to Laurie Strode, Nancy Thompson to Clarice Starling, many of horror’s...
Films By and About Women
Women Centric Films Currently Playing The Huntsman Winter’s War The Meddler — Written and Directed by Lorene Scafaria Nina — Written and Directed by Cynthia Mort Sworn...
The Women of 12 Years a Slave
As a child my mother, an anthropologist, informed me that my great uncle’s mother disappeared from the shores of Lake Victoria or Nam Lolwe, as we call it, when he was a boy. My great great aunt...
The Big O: Oscar Didn’t Always Have a Horror Problem
There is a new Carrie intown. She has access to the Internet now and her high-school tormentors usetheir smart phones to broadcast her shower-scene to even greaterembarrassment. But the wallflower...
LFF Interview with Destiny Ekaragha — Director of Gone Too Far!
Destiny Ekaragha’s debut feature film, Gone Too Far!, follows two incredibly well received short films, Tight Jeans and The Park, onto the screens of her local film festival, the BFI’s LFF. But...
America Ferrera Heads Back to Television
America Ferrera is heading back to television screens in her first leading role since Ugly Betty. Ferrera will headline Damascus, playing a nun in law school who uses her studies to benefit the...
LFF Women Directors: Meet Elina Psykou
Born in Athens, Greece in 1977, Elina Psykou studied Film Direction at Lykourgos Stavrakos Film School and Sociology at Panteion University, both in Athens. She continued her studies receiving her...
LFF Women Directors: Meet Chiemi Karasawa
Chiemi Karasawa founded Isotope Films in 2005 to develop and produce original content based on non-fiction material. Her award-winning work as a producerincludes Billy the Kid, The Betrayal, Tell...
“It Reaches the Level of Myth” — An Interview with Kimberly Peirce — Director of Carrie
Kimberly Peirce is taking a stab at reimagining one of the most iconic horror classics, Carrie, which arguably stars one of the best horror heroines in the genre. Hitting theaters on Friday,...
After Tiller Expands Across the Nation
Lana Wilson and Martha Shane’s deeply affecting and discourse changing documentary, After Tiller, is about the current state of late-term abortions after the murder of Dr. George Tiller in 2009....
Interview with Diablo Cody — Director of Paradise
Diablo Cody’s directorial debut, Paradise, is out on October 18th, 2013 in Los Angeles and New York theaters. The story about a young Mormon girl named Lamb who survives a horrific plane crash and...
Sarah Paulson Talks 12 Years a Slave and Being a Woman in Hollywood
Sarah Paulson is excited about this year’s Oscar race. “There are probably 10 women who could be nominated for Best Actress. When do we ever have that?” says the actress. “Usually it’s...
LFF Women Directors: Meet Cherien Dabis
Cherien Dabis is an award-winning Palestinian American filmmaker who received her M.F.A. in film from Columbia University. She wrote, directed, produced and edited several short films including Make...
Eleanor Catton Wins Man Booker Prize
Besides winning this year’s prestigious Man Booker Prize, Eleanor Catton made history multiple times. At 28, Catton is the youngest winner in the history of the prize and her novel, The...
How Can We Still be Talking About Whether Women Are Funny?
Yesterday morning brought the great news that Amy Poehler and Tina Fey will be hosting the Golden Globes in 2014 and 2015. They were so terrific as hosts last year that the Globe people were smart...
France Pushes for Gender Equality in the Film Industry
France is setting up a sex equality charter for improving the numbers of women working within the film industry. The five point charter was signed last week by Culture and Communications Minister...
Guest Post: A Trip Down the Rabbit Hole: Things I’ve Learned and Want to Fix
Back in 2011, I wrote a guest blog for Women and Hollywood entitled I Sold My House to Make My Feature.I had spent many years working in film art departments both in the U.S. and the U.K. ( Harry...
UK Sets a Diversity Forum
Screen International and Broadcast are teaming up with FilmLondon and Creative Skillset to host a forum on November 13 in London about improving diversity within the UK Film and TV...
Woman Seeks Revenge: What’s the Purpose of the Rape/Revenge Horror Film?
If you want to start a spirited debate amongst horror fans, a sure fire topic to bring up is the infamous rape/revenge sub-genre probably best knownbecause of movies like Meir Zarchi’s 1978 film I...
Three of the Five Nominees for EFA’s Discovery Award Are Women
The European Film Academy announced the five nominees for their 2013 Discovery Award, which is given to recognize a director for their first feature film. Of the five nominated films three are...
Susan Sarandon to Star in Mother-Daughter Sitcom at NBC
Susan Sarandon joins the growing list of actresses heading to the small screen. She will star in a mother-daughter sitcom for NBC alongside her daughter, Eva Amurri Martino. Martino will write...
Cross Post: London Film Festival — Shorts Short on Women Directors
Yesterday we went to a good discussion on feminism, curated by performance artist Bryony Kimmings at Soho Theatre in relation to her show there at the moment, Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model....
Woman Seeks Revenge: What’s the Purpose of the Rape/Revenge Horror Film?
If you want to start a spirited debate amongst horror fans, a sure fire topic to bring up is the infamous rape/revenge sub-genre probably best known because of movies like Meir Zarchi’s...
Women Win Big at the Hamptons International Film Festival
The Hamptons International Film Festival wrapped up over the weekend and handed out their awards. Women directors and women centric films cleaned up the big prizes at the festival with the Judi...
Overcoming Trauma of the Home: Women Gaining Strength in Light of Abuse
Much has been made by media critics of the propensity of horror movies to fetishize the murder of women — to make them victims, suffering at the hands of brutal forces for their sexual sins....
Nicole Kidman to Star in The Silent Wife
Nicole Kidman is attached to star in The Silent Wife. Kidman will play an affluent woman, whose nearly 20 year marriage is seemingly perfect on the outside, but her denial of her husband’s...
Trailer Watch: The Invisible Woman
The Invisible Woman, starring Felicity Jones, follows the life of Charles Dickens’ longtime mistress. Jones plays Nelly Ternan, who was Dickens’ mistress for 13 years up until his death. Ralph...
Meg Ryan to TV
Another movie star (or former movie star) is taking to the small screen. Meg Ryan will soon be heading to television screens with a new NBC comedy from Marc Lawrence. Ryan will play a former big...
LFF Women Directors: Meet Chika Anadu
Chika Anadu’s debut feature film, B For Boy, is in competition in the London Film Festival’s first feature section. Having delivered two ambitious and acclaimed short films on a similar subject,...
HIFF Women Directors: Meet Shana Betz
Shana Betz served as Executive Director for the MVPA, the premiere trade association for the music video industry, and executive produced the Director’s Cuts Film Festival, a cutting edge film...
Introduction to the London Film Festival
Having opened in true Hollywood form on Wednesday night with a gala screening of Paul Greengrass’s Captain Phillips, the 2013 BFI London Film Festival is well under way. What could be more...
HIFF Women Directors: Meet Irene Taylor Brodsky
Irene Taylor Brodsky is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director whose documentaries have shown theatrically, at film festivals and on television worldwide. Irene most recently...
Weekly Update for October 11: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend A River Changes Course — Directed by Kalyanee Mann (doc) A River Changes Course is the moving and insightful 2013 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning...
The Big O: Reality Bites Oscar — Hard
It’s time to get real about the Oscar race. Most of the films in play for a coveted spot on the best-picture roster have some element of truth to them. Today marks the arrival of Captain...
One Woman Directed Short on 2013 Oscar Documentary Short Shortlist
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced the 8 documentary shorts that are on the 2013 Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Short. Three to five of the films on the list will...
The Bad Girls of American Horror Story: TV’s Most “Unlikeable” Women
At the American Horror Story: Coven premiere last weekend, Women and Hollywood asked creator Ryan Murphy how he goes about creating such complex and interesting female characters for the show. I...