Features
December 2015 Film Preview
Fitting well with the festive spirit of Christmas (if that’s your thing), December brings us a number of women-centric and female-directed films that will help end the year on a high. The...
Weekly Update for November 25: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Janis: Little Girl Blue (Documentary) — Directed by Amy Berg (Opens November 27) Musician Cat Power narrates this documentary on Janis Joplin’s evolution...
Films by 15 Queer Female Filmmakers To Stream This Thanksgiving
With the prospect of a long holiday weekend surrounded by family and/or loved ones ahead, the question naturally arises of what to do with all that free time after digesting your turkey (or Tofurky,...
THR Roundtable Actresses on Ageism, the Pay Gap and Playing “Strong Women” & Gender-Swapped Roles
Much of the response to The Hollywood Reporter’s 2015 actress roundtable, published last week, focused (rightly) on the all-white line-up. But the roundtable participants — Jennifer Lawrence,...
Black Female Friendship and Women’s Suffrage Revisited: November 2015’s Crowdfunding Picks
This month’s crowdfunding picks all feature women breaking glass ceilings in male-oriented fields. “Mothers of Men” is a newfound 1917 suffrage film about a woman running for governor in...
Mainstreaming the Conversation About Discrimination Against Women Directors
The New York Times has written about Hollywood sexism before. Last year, we saw a three-part series from ManohlaDargis on the institutional discrimination against women directors in the industry. But...
Weekly Update for November 20: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 Three years have passed since Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) fired her first arrow in “The Hunger Games.” She...
5 Women-Centric Pop Culture Essentials This Weekend
Thanksgiving is still a week away, but there’s a lot to feast on in the next few days, especially if you’re looking for female-centric entertainment. Everywhere you look — the multiplex,...
Quote of the Day: Lou Diamond Phillips Feels “Incredibly Fortunate” to Work With Women Directors
Former “Numb3ers” and current “Longmire” star Lou Diamond Phillips has had great experiences working with women directors, and he recently shared some insight into why that’s the case with...
‘Mustang’ Director Deniz Gamze Ergüven on Creating a Sisterhood, Representing France at the Oscars
“Mustang” is both a powerful coming-of-age story and a touching tribute to sisterhood. The story follows five sisters in Turkey who cause a stir in their ultra-conservative village when...
Apply for the Roger Ebert Fellowship for Film Criticism
During the press tour for “Suffragette,” Meryl Streep brought renewed attention to the gender lopsidedness plaguing film criticism. Here’s one way emerging female (and male) critics can get...
The All-White THR Actress Roundtable Is a Perfect Example of #HollywoodSoWhite
Yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter postedits annual actress roundtable, and not surprisingly — but certainly disappointingly — all of the eight performers on the cover were white. Steven...
Quote of the Day: Ava DuVernay Explains Why It’s a Problem There Are So Few Women Directors
Recently asked what her “leading frustration about Hollywood” is, Ava DuVernay offered a characteristically insightful and honest response. She identified gender inequality behind the camera as...
Stripping Down to the Truth: November 2015’s VOD and Web Series Picks
Jenica Bergere’s comedy “Come Simi” follows a pregnant woman’s efforts to unite with her estranged family before letting a new member of it enter the world. If only she had the...
Marvel Steps Up Its Game With ‘Jessica Jones’
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Sabrina Schmidt Gordon — ‘BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez’
Sabrina Schmidt Gordon is a documentary producer, editor and director from NYC. Her editing debut won an Emmy for WGBH (public broadcasting from Boston), and she has continued to distinguish herself...
Guest Post: Producer Lydia Dean Pilcher on the Great Conundrum Facing Feminist Progress in Hollywood Today
With “Suffragette” now in theaters, what lessons can we glean from this powerful story in thecurrent struggle for gender equality in Hollywood? While women in entertainment certainly aren’t...
Is This the End of the Model Gay Character?
Earlier this month, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Ron Nyswaner reignited a debate that has long been percolating in the LGBT community about our representation in media and entertainment. At the...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Shannon Post — ‘Circle of Poison’
Shannon Post is a filmmaker, sociologist and food and garden educator based in Brooklyn. “Circle of Poison” is her first film. Post is also the co-founder of Player Piano Productions, a company...
Exploring Internal Lesbian Discrimination in ‘The Same Difference’
Within the lesbian community — especially in communities of color (in the United States but also around the globe) — there are a lot of rules and internal discrimination that take place....
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Dyllan McGee — ‘MAKERS: Once and For All’
Dyllan McGee is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and the founder and executive producer of “MAKERS,” an Emmy Award-nominated series on women in space, Hollywood, politics, war, comedy and...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Nicole N. Horanyi — ‘Motley’s Law’
Acclaimed Danish filmmaker Nicole N. Horanyi has screened her award-winning documentary films around the world. “Motley’s Law” is her most recent collaboration with leading European film...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Holly Morris — ‘The Babushkas of Chernobyl’
Holly Morris has written and directed several documentaries that explore the lives of courageous women: politicos, activists and artists making change in their home cultures. “The Babushkas of...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Amy Berg — ‘Janis: Little Girl Blue’
Amy Berg is a critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker. She was nominated for an Academy Award and a DGA Award (Outstanding Directorial Achievement in...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Erika Frankel — ‘King Georges’
Erika Frankel most recently produced “The Home Team” (SXSW, AFI DOCS 2014), “Annie: It’s the Hard Knock Life” (PBS 2013) and “Frontrunners” (SXSW, Oscilloscope 2008; Sundance Channel...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Juliet Jordan — ‘Miriam: Home Delivery’
Juliet Jordan is a British documentary filmmaker, currently based in New York City. She graduated from The National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield, Britain. She won the Royal...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Nicole Groton — ‘The Melting Family’
Nicole Groton started her career as Creative Executive at Intuition Productions, where she developed and produced new projects and served as field producer. Groton has worked for the president at...
Weekly Update for November 13: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Ayanda — Directed by Sara Blecher; Written by Trish Malone In a community vibrant with migrants from across the African continent, against the backdrop of...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Hillevi Loven — ‘Deep Run’
Hillevi Loven is a filmmaker, producer and still photographer based in Brooklyn. She is making her feature-film-directing debut with “Deep Run.” In collaboration with NYU anthropologist Natasha...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Redfearn — ‘Tocando la Luz (Touch the Light)’
Jennifer Redfearn is an Academy Award-nominated director and producer. She directed and produced “Sun Come Up,” nominated for an Academy Award and the IDA’s Pare Lorentz Award. Redfearn has...
That’s “General Leia” To You: ‘Star Wars’ Welcomes Back Carrie Fisher With a Kick-Ass Promotion
Die-hard fans were more than excited to hear that Carrie Fisher, well known for her portrayal of the kick-ass and quick-witted Leia Organa, will be back for the next installment of the “Star...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Meghan L. O’Hara — ‘The C Word’
As a producer, Meghan L. O’Hara’s credits include the award-winning features “Sicko,” “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Bowling For Columbine.” She began her career directing, writing and...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Molly Bernstein — ‘An Art That Nature Makes: The Work of Rosamond Purcell’
Molly Bernstein was the director, producer and editor of “Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay,” about the great magician, actor and “scholar of the unusual.” She has...
Cast Your Vote for Amazon’s ‘Good Girls Revolt’
‘Song of Lahore’ Co-Directer Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy on Pakistan’s Rich Music Scene and Culture
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the Oscar-winning co-director of 2012’s “Saving Face,” once again finds inspiration in her birth country, Pakistan, in “Song of Lahore.” This time around,...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Sharon Shattuck — ‘From This Day Forward’
Sharon Shattuck is a filmmaker and animator. She is the co-creator of the New York Times Op-Docs series “Animated Life,” which illustrates historical moments of scientific discovery using...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Darcy Dennett — ‘The Champions’
Darcy Dennett has worked in photography, film and television for nearly twenty years. “The Champions” is her first documentary. In 2013, Dennett produced a segment in Nigeria for Oprah...
Documenting Women’s Stories: November 2015’s Crowdfunding Picks
This month’s first crowdfunding picks focus on the strength of women in the powerful medium of documentary film. Unintentionally — yet joyously — our top crowdfunding projects this...
Kim Longinotto on Her Long Career and the Role of (Lack of) Confidence in Her Filmmaking
For over thirty years, Kim Longinotto has made acclaimed documentaries that have won awards from BAFTA, the Sundance Film Festival and the San Francisco International Film Festival, among others....
DOC NYC 2015 Preview: Race-Car Drivers, Rock Gods and AIDS Activists
38% of the features screening at DOC NYC this year are directed or co-directed by women — 39 films of the 104 screening. The good and bad news is that there are simply too many films by female...
Systemic Change in Hollywood: So What Do We Do Now?
Earlierthis week, Reese Witherspoon spoke at the Glamour Women of the Year event, and in her fantastic, passionate, feminist speech, she talked about whyshe started Pacific Standard, her production...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Emily Abt — ‘Daddy Don’t Go’
Filmmaker Emily Abt was one of Variety Magazine’s “Top 10 Directors to Watch” and has produced and directed documentaries for PBS, OWN, MTV, Showtime and the Sundance Channel. Abt earned her...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos — ‘Making a Murderer’
Laura Ricciardi is a filmmaker with a special interest in social justice. She earned a JD from New York Law School and an MFA in film from Columbia University School of the Arts. Her thesis film was...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Sara Fishko — ‘The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith’
Sara Fishko makes her directorial debut with “The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith.” Fishko is an Emmy Award-winning film editor and public radio broadcaster/podcaster whose explorations...
Guest Post: South African Filmmaker Sara Blecher on Her Afro-Hipster Coming-of-Age Tale ‘Ayanda’
a I’ve always wanted to make feature films. I feel that makingdocumentaries and TV dramas was a valuable way of learning to do this, as was beinga mother. Some people do make features without...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet June Cross — ‘Wilhemina’s War’
June Cross is a writer and documentary producer who covers the intersection of poverty, race and politics in the United States. She has been a Professor of Journalism at Columbia University’s...
DOC NYC 2015 Women Directors: Meet Janelle Gueits — ’13 Million Voices’
Janelle Gueits is an artist, filmmaker and change-maker. Her career has spanned across artistic and social pursuits across the U.S. and worldwide as a feature film director, network television...
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...
Infographic: Hollywood Sexism On Screen, Behind the Camera, in Paychecks
Weekly Update for November 6: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Miss You Already — Directed by Catherine Hardwicke; Written by Morwenna Banks — Women and Hollywood’s Pick of the Week In a year filled with great...
Starz’s “Flesh and Bone” Starts Out “Breaking Ballet,” Ends Up “Showbuns”