Features
‘The Fall’ is a Serial Killer Drama with a Feminist Twist
The second season of The Fall premieres on Netflix today, and if you haven’t watched this BBC drama yet, now’s a good time to start. (The first season’s only five episodes long, so you’ll be...
The Big O: In Directing, a Sin of Omission — But At Least ‘Selma’ Makes the Final 8
We had a dream last fall: that two female directors, Ava DuVernay for Selma and Angelina Jolie for Unbroken, would compete in the Best Director category at the 87th Academy Awards. Considering that...
Suffragettes, Action Heroines, and BDSM: Most Anticipated Films By and About Women in 2015
Our 2014 end-of-year coverage highlighted the good and the bad for women and Hollywood in 2014. As we usher in a new year, let’s focus on some of the exciting female-centric films that await us in...
Listen: Women and Hollywood Podcast #8: ‘Appropriate Behavior’ Writer-Director Desiree Akhavan
https://medium.com/media/b3f5df46c1fd9eb95a05ebb18f762f89/href
Quote of the Day: Patricia Arquette on Making Less Money Than Her Dog Walker
Artists can’t get by on awards and adulation alone, so we’re thrilled that Patricia Arquette is using her post-Globes spotlight to bravely broach the topic of compensation. “It’s important...
Weekly Update for January 9: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Vessel (doc) — Directed by Diana Whitten Vessel begins with a young doctor who lived by the sea — and an unlikely idea. Rebecca Gomperts, horrified by...
‘Selma’ Director Ava DuVernay is a Woman Daring to Tell History
From my latest Forbes post on how Ava DuVernay is making history by interpreting our shared past and defending Selma from its short-sighted critics: Whether we like it or not, there are different...
Women Wrote 17% of 2014’s Top 250 Grossing Films
On Wednesday, we revealed that women directed only 17 of last year’s top 250 grossing films — a depressing 6.8%. Fortunately, the number of female screenwriters who penned the scripts to...
Guest Post: How I Met My Mother By Making My Family History Doc ‘Farewell Herr Schwarz’
After two hours of interviews, thecinematographer signals that the battery is running out and that we need tostop. Thank God. I have been interviewing my mother for what feels like aneternity now,...
Guest Post: Inside the Fox Global Director’s Initiative
When I found out that I was invited to take part in the Fox Global Director’s Initiative, I was in Beirut, on my way to the Bekaa Valley. The lab would commence in just seven days — by which...
Women Directed 17 of the Top 250 Grossing Films of 2014
Female directors accounted for only 17 of the top 250 grossing films of 2014 — a mere 6.8%. As paltry as this number is, it represents a minor improvement from 2013, when women comprised 6% of...
Quote of the Day: Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan said what we’re all thinking at the New York Film Critics Circle awards ceremony earlier this week when she urged for more films from women directors while accepting the group’s...
The Big O: The State of the Race — and Where the Women Are
I had a sinking feeling when the Producers Guild announced their ten nominees for Best Picture on Monday. Take a gander at what was selected: American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, Foxcatcher, Gone...
January 2015 Film Preview
January is widely considered to be a dumping ground for bad movies, but there’s actually an embarrassment of art-house riches to be found this month in theaters, from Oscar vehicles to impressive...
Kristin Scott Thomas Quits Film
Women and Hollywood is taking a break this week. Please enjoy one of our most popular posts of the year below. We will return with new features, editorials, and news stories on Monday, January 5....
Ballet Dancer Misty Copeland to Get Biopic
Women and Hollywood is taking a break this week. Please enjoy one of our most popular posts of the year below. We will return with new features, editorials, and news stories on Monday, January 5....
8 Queer Women Films to Watch in 2014
An Oscar-Nominated Director Gets Real About How Women Are Treated in Hollywood
Women and Hollywood is taking a break this week. Please enjoy one of our most popular posts of the year below. We will return with new features, editorials, and news stories on Monday, January 5....
A List of All of Women and Hollywood’s End-Of-Year Coverage
Women and Hollywood is giving 2014 a grand send-off by celebrating as many different kinds of female-centric projects, events, milestones, and achievements as we can. Please check out all of our...
Spotlight on Women of Color in 2014
Women and Hollywood’s end-of-year coverage includes our “Best Women-Directed Documentaries of 2014 (That We Managed to See),” “Best Women-Directed Films of 2014,” “Best Films About Women...
The Big O: 2014 Delivers, From Ellen’s Pizza to DuVernay’s Historic Milestone
Thanks to a guy named Oscar, 2014 began on a cinematic high note for women. And not just because Idina Menzel composed herself enough to soar through the night’s eventual best-song winner,...
Weekly Update for December 19 & 24–25: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening December 19 Annie — Co-Written by Aline Brosh McKenna Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) stars as Annie, a young, happy foster kid who’s also tough...
The Most Important Feminist Film Moments of 2014
Women and Hollywood’s end-of-year coverage includes our “Best Women-Directed Documentaries of 2014 (That We Managed to See),” “Best Women-Directed Films of 2014,” “Best Films About Women...
The Best Films About Women in 2014
Women and Hollywood’s end-of-year coverage includes our “Best Women-Directed Documentaries of 2014 (That We Managed to See),” “Best Women-Directed Films of 2014,” and “Best TV Shows and...
The Best TV Shows and Moments of 2014: Comics, Convicts, and Curmudgeons
The A to Z of Women in Film in 2014: Part 2
Read the first part of this series, “The A to M of Women in Film in 2014,” here. N is for Nicole Perlman The male domination of the Marvel universe became an increasingly hot topic this year,...
The Best Women-Directed Films of 2014
Women and Hollywood’s end-of-year coverage includes our “Best Women-Directed Documentaries of 2014 (That We Managed to See)” list, with much more to come in the next few days. The abysmal...
The Big O: Want to Win Oscar’s Heart? Put Down the Mascara and Hide the Comb
Yep, they are falling for it again. Call it glamming down, uglifying, or letting yourself go, but more actresses than usual are forgoing makeup and regular shampoos in order to impress those...
Seeking Our Story: The Art of Pioneering Animator Lotte Reiniger
The following is an excerpt from a forthcoming book by author Heidi Honeycutt. Charlotte “Lotte”Reiniger (1899–1981)was a German silhouette artist and animator in the first half of the...
The Best Women-Directed Documentaries of 2014 (That We Managed to See)
It’s very difficult to create a best-of-year list when you haven’t seen everything that’s available. More documentaries were released this year that can be seen by any reasonable person. But I...
The A to Z of Women in Film in 2014: Part 1
In some ways, it’s been a year like any other. Some extraordinary female talent has broken through. Some miraculous, female-led stories have been told. And yet the industry as a whole has done its...
Weekly Update for December 12: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks Based on the international hit play by Richard Alfieri which has played in 24 countries and in 14 languages, Six Dance Lessons in...
Quote of the Day: Ava DuVernay
Earlier this week, Shonda Rhimes thanked her foremothers while receiving the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award for creating cracks in the glass ceiling so she could get through when the ABC VIP began...
‘The Red Tent’: The Old Testament Minus Testosterone
The Big O: The Lone Craft Category That is Almost Always Sewn Up By Female Nominees
Quick: Name the one Oscar category outside of acting that’s routinely dominated not just by female nominees, but female winners. Here’s a hint: It involves dressing for success. Or, rather,...
Weekly Update for December 5: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Wild Based on Cheryl Strayed’s best-selling memoir, Wild finds Reese Witherspoon au natural and reminds us that she is one of the best actresses of her...
The Big O: Actresses Often Benefit When Musicals Catch Oscar’s Ear
Let’s sing the praises of musicals — especially when it comes to providing opportunities for female performers to shine at Oscar time. Such celebrations of song make up what is probably the...
4 Tips for Female Filmmakers from Ms. In the Biz
Here’s the hard truth. Thenumbers for women in the entertainment industry aren’t great. This is somethingthat we are all well aware of. When both of us started out in the business, wecame onto...
Bravo’s ‘Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce’: A Mixed Bag of Tricks from ‘Buffy’ Scribe Marti Noxon
Full disclosure: I have never been divorced (or married), or had kids, so I can’t attest to the veracity of the events in Bravo’s Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce on a personal level. As a viewer...
Crosspost: These Are the Most Employed Women in the UK Film Industry
The following post originally appeared on Stephen Follows’ website and is published here with permission of the author. Last week, I looked at the most employed people in the UK film industry....
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Terry Crews (VIDEO)
Lauren Graham to Break Late-Night TV’s Glass Ceiling with Ellen DeGeneres (Sort Of)
It’s no secret that late-night television has a diversity problem. As we wrote previously, with Chelsea Handler off the air and Larry Wilmore’s Minority Report not set to debut until January...
December 2014 Film Preview
Decembermight be cold and snowy, but the month’s wide range of films is worth venturingout to the theater to see. Starting strong on December 3, the comedy Zero Motivation follows a unit ofIsraeli...
Weekly Update for November 21 and 28: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening November 21 A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night — Written and Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour Strange things are afoot in Bad City. The Iranian ghost town, home to...
Cross-Post: A Solution to Gender Inequality in Film — Just Add 5 Female Characters Onscreen
Each year, my Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative assessesthe gender of all speaking characters (those saying one or more words onscreen) across the 100 top-grossing films. In 2013, only...
Jennifer Lawrence and the ‘Mockingjay’ Are Ready To Set The Box Office on Fire
From my latest Forbes post on the sky-high projections for the world’s most popular female-led franchise and the two models of women’s leadership the blockbuster provides: The Hunger Games:...
The Big O: In a Weak Year for Female Roles, These Silent Types and Big Talkers Deserve Oscar Consideration
Silence can be golden and talk doesn’t have to be cheap — all you need is the right actress to pull it off. As is common at year’s end, when the air is rife with Oscar buzz, film pundits...
Quotes of the Day: Hilary Swank and Natalie Dormer on Girl Power, Feminism, and the Gender Pay Gap
Hilary Swank and Natalie Dormer are both promoting movies that focus on female protagonists, and nuanced ones at that — a rarity in the world of cinema. Swank and Dormer were drawn to their...
Weekly Update for November 14: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Beyond the Lights — Written and Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood Writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball and The Secret Life of Bees) humanizes...
Is ‘State of Affairs’ Katherine Heigl’s Big Comeback?
The Big O: Oscar Needs to Honor More Women With the “Write” Stuff
As the Academy Awards prepares for its 87th edition, a nagging fact continues to rear its gender-biased head: the astonishing fact that only four women have ever been nominated for Best Director and...