Documentary
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Alex Hammond — ‘Lucha Mexico’
Alex Hammond has worked in film and TV in New York City for over ten years. Her feature debut, “Strange Things,” premiered at MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight Film Festival and was featured on...
Chantal Akerman’s Final Film ‘No Home Movie’ to Be Released by Icarus
Chantal Akerman’s last film, “No Home Movie,” has found a North American distribution deal and a U.S. release date. Shot almost entirely in her mother’s apartment and focused on the...
IDA Documentary Awards Nominations Announced; Liz Garbus Up for Best Feature Award
The nominations for the 31st IDA Documentary Awards have been revealed, and disappointingly, only one of the six docs competing for the Best Feature Award is helmed by a woman: Liz Garbus’s...
Apply to Essence’s 3rd Annual Shorts Competition for Black Women Filmmakers
Essence’s shorts competition is back, this time with a new theme: the modern black family. The third iteration of the magazine’s contest for African-American women directors is seeking...
Listen: Women and Hollywood Podcast #19: ‘The Armor of Light’ Director Abigail Disney
In “The Armor of Light,” documentarian Abigail Disney journeys to the belly of conservative America to try and understand how you can be “pro-life” and pro-gun. She tracks Reverend Rob...
Trailer Watch: High-School Programmer Girls Compete to Change the World in ‘CodeGirl’
Rom-Com Doc ‘Meet the Patels’ to Be Remade as Rom Com for Fox Searchlight
The crowd-pleasing “Meet the Patels” is best described as a nonfiction romantic comedy. After breaking up with his girlfriend of two years because she’s not Indian, 30-year-old Ravi allows his...
Watch: Chicken & Egg Pictures Celebrates 10 Years of Supporting Female Filmmakers
Since its founding in 2005, Chicken & Egg Pictures has awarded nearly $4 million in grants and offered 5,200 hours of mentorship to over 190 films. And now the only non-profit film fund...
The Love of Fangirls and the Hate of Online Harassers: October 2015’s Crowdfunding Picks
While teenage girls pour their hearts out to their chosen boy band in the documentary “I Used to Be Normal,” another (as-yet-untitled) documentary spotlights the hatred certain men express...
Trailer Watch: Pakistani Musicians Preserve Their Culture and Defy the Taliban in ‘Song of Lahore’
A trailer has been released for “Song of Lahore,” Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s new documentary. The Oscar-winning co-director of 2012’s “Saving Face,” an account of two Pakistani women...
33% of 2015 Oscar-Submitted Docs Directed by Women
Of the 124 documentary features submitted for the 2016 Oscar race, 41, or exactly a third, are directed or co-directed by women. Nine of thosee 41 films are co-directed with a male helmer. Half of...
Alexandra Shiva on ‘How to Dance in Ohio,’ Her Coming-of-Age Doc About Teens with Autism
“How to Dance in Ohio” is a portrait of young adults on the autism spectrum in the months leading up to a formal dance. After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, it will...
Director Leslee Udwin Discusses Censored ‘India’s Daughter’ and the “Disease” of Global Rape Culture
Leslee Udwin is a British filmmaker and human rights activist. Most recently, she has written, directed and produced the critically acclaimed documentary “India’s Daughter” — a film that...
Chicken & Egg Announces Participants of Inaugural Accelerator Lab for Non-Fiction Projects
Chicken & Egg Pictures has announced the selected participants of its inaugural Accelerator Lab, which will offer first- and second-time female filmmakers working on non-fiction projects the...
Women Helmers Win 3 of 4 Awards at London Film Fest; Athina Rachel Tsangari Takes Best Film
“The programming team has declared this the year of the strong woman,” said festival director Clare Stewart back in September at the the launch of this year’s BFI London Film Festival. The...
Trailer Watch: Laurie Anderson Offers Emotional, Experimental Tribute to Her Pet in ‘Heart of a Dog’
“I kissed her on the head and I said, ‘I’ll love you forever.’” Experimental artist and director Laurie Anderson makes this solemn oath not to a newborn child or a cherished lover, but to...
LFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Natalie Cristiani — ‘Nicola Costantino: The Artefacta’
Natalie Cristiani graduated from Centro Sperimentale Di Cinematografia in Rome as a Film Editor in 2002. From 2002 she has worked as a film editor with various talented young directors, including...
Trailer Watch: Janis Joplin Goes From Singer to Legend in Amy Berg’s Doc ‘Janis: Little Girl Blue’
A trailer has arrived for Amy Berg’s Janis Joplin doc “Janis: Little Girl Blue.” The spot begins with a voiceover from Joplin herself, who says, “I started singing when I was about 17.” It...
LFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli — ‘Frame by Frame’
Alexandria Bombach 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 she believes in. Mo Scarpelli is a...
LFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Johanna Schwartz — ‘They Will Have to Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile’
Johanna Schwartz is an award-winning, American-born, UK-based filmmaker. Working across the world — with a particular focus on Africa — she has produced and directed films for...
LFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Sarah Turner — ‘Public House’
Sarah Turner is an artist, filmmaker, writer, curator and academic. Her feature films include “Ecology” (2007), “Perestroika” (2009) and “Perestroika: Reconstructed.” Turner’s short...
Filmmaker Elizabeth Giamatti on Making a Film While Her Co-Director Battled Terminal Breast Cancer
LFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Hanna Polak — ‘Something Better to Come’
Hanna Polak is an Oscar-nominated director. She has worked on various movies as producer, director, cinematographer and still photographer. In 2002, she was awarded Best Producer of Documentary and...
LFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Evangelia Kranioti — ‘Exotica, Erotica, Etc.’
Evangelia Kranioti is a Greek-born visual artist based in France. She is the 2015 recipient of the Special jury Prize and the Elie Saab Prize at the 30th Hyères Fashion and Photography festival,...
LFF 2015 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...
Female Teenage BFF Inmates From Liz Garbus’ Doc ‘Girlhood’ to Get Movie Treatment
A narrative feature based on the two subjects of Liz Garbus’ 2003 documentary “Girlhood,” young female inmates Shanae Watkins and Megan Stahl, is in the works. The project, titled “Hood...
Amy Berg’s Janis Joplin Doc ‘Janis: Little Girl Blue’ Acquired by FilmRise
2015 is turning out to be quite the year for documentary portraits of female musicians. “Amy,” Asif Kapadia’s Amy Winehouse doc, is the year’s second biggest nonfiction film so far, while...
LFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Maya Newell — ‘Gayby Baby’
Maya Newell is an Australian filmmaker with a focus on directing documentaries. Her award-winning short “Two” screened at festivals internationally and she was awarded Best New Documentary...
LFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Lyric R. Cabral — ‘(T)ERROR’
Lyric R. Cabral is a photojournalist and documentary filmmaker committed to reporting stories seldom seen in mainstream media. Her documentary work has been supported by artist grants from the BBC,...
New Refinery29 Series Highlights Leaders on Feminism’s Frontlines
Who are some of the leading activists and revolutionaries fighting for gender equality around the world and what are their main concerns? A new eight-part original series from lifestyle website...
LFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Mor Loushy — ‘Censored Voices’
Mor Loushy graduated from the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in 2007 and has been working as a freelancer ever since. Her debut film, “Israel Ltd.,” world-premiered at International...
LFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Ondi Timoner — ‘BRAND: A Second Coming’
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...
Reed Morano to Direct ‘Lioness,’ Starring Ellen Page as Closeted Lesbian Soldier
The Many Faces of Feminism in ‘The Women’s List’
Lesbian Love and Pregnancy Past 40: September 2015’s Web Series and VOD Picks
Oh, to be young and in love. In the Dutch lesbian coming-of-age drama “Summer,” two teenage girls fall for each other and experience all the joys of first love — but also the challenges of...
Fork Films Now Accepting Documentary Grant Applications
Fork Films, which bills itself as a New York-based film production company that seeks to shed light, evoke compassion, stir action and build peace, has announced its second open call for grant...
Trailer Watch: MAKERS Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Largest Gathering of Women Ever
A trailer has been released for a new MAKERS documentary celebrating the 20th anniversary of the largest gathering of women ever assembled, the UN’s 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing....
Trailer Watch: Misty Copeland Dances into the History Books in ‘A Ballerina’s Tale’
The trailer for the Misty Copeland doc “A Ballerina’s Tale” begins with a voiceover from its subject, Misty Copeland. “I’m a black dancer,” she says. “That’s who I am. It’s so much...
TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Peedom — ‘Sherpa’
Jennifer Peedom is an Australian documentary filmmaker based in Sydney. Her television credits include high-altitude direction and cinematography on the Discovery Channel’s “Everest: Beyond the...
TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Gillian Armstrong — ‘Women He’s Undressed’
Gilliam Armstrong was born in Melbourne and studied filmmaking at Swinburne Art School and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. Her films include “My Brilliant Career,”...
TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Louise Osmond — ‘Dark Horse’
Louise Osmond is a British documentary filmmaker. Educated at Oxford, she worked as a journalist and editor before directing features, including “Deep Water,” “Blitz: London’s Firestorm,”...
TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Katherine Monk — ‘Rock the Box’
Katherine Monk is a film critic and writer based in Vancouver, Canada. Formally the national movie critic for Postmedia News, Monk is a regular contributor to CBC Radio, Global Television and Corus...
TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Danae Elon — ‘P.S. Jerusalem’
Upon graduating from high school, Danae Elon spent two years in compulsory military service as a non-commissioned officer to the United Nation forces in the area. At age 21, Elon left Israel to...
TIFF 2015 Preview: Under the Radar Films By and About Women You Shouldn’t Miss
This year’s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is filled with bona fide stars of the screen and filmmaking worlds. With performances by Julianne Moore (“Freeheld,”...
TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Mina Shum — ‘Ninth Floor’
Born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, Mina Shum is an independent filmmaker and artist. “Ninth Floor” is her first feature documentary. Her first feature, “Double Happiness” (1994),...
TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Geeta Gandbhir and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy — ‘A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers’
TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Caroline Monnet — ‘Mobilize’
Caroline Monnet is a multidisciplinary artist who has exhibited in Canada and internationally at venues such as the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), the Museum of...
Quote of the Day: Lina Wertmuller Explains Why Female Filmmakers are Ignored During Awards Season
In 1977, Lina Wertmuller became the first woman to ever be nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards. It’s been nearly two decades since the “Seven Beauties” helmer was recognized with...
New Film Series Celebrates Women Over 40 With Events in LA and NY
Anne Hathaway made headlines earlier this week for revealing that, at the ripe, old age of 32, she is now losing roles to younger actresses. The Oscar winner acknowledged that she herself played...
TCM and WIF LA Announce Initiative and Programming Celebrating Female Directors
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has announced a multi-year initiative with Women in Film (WIF), Los Angeles, called Trailblazing Women. The partnership will serve to highlight women’s historical...
Laurie Anderson’s ‘Heart of a Dog’ Gets Distribution Deal With Abramorama, HBO Documentary Films
Laurie Anderson’s essay film “Heart of a Dog” has been acquired by Abramorama and HBO Documentary Films. The deal was announced just before the feature was to make its debut screening at the...