Features
March 2021 Film Preview
By Vicki A. Lee and Kara Headley 2021 marks the 40th year since the early seeds of Women’s History Month were sown. In 1981, Congress passed Public Law 97-28 to request the President designate the...
March 2021 Television Preview
Winter isn’t quite over yet, but Spring TV has definitely arrived. From an Aretha Franklin miniseries to a drama about high school students figuring out who they are, there are plenty of...
Cinematographer to Watch: Nanu Segal of “Marvelous and the Black Hole” & “An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn”
Well-crafted films can grab you by the shoulders and sink you into a new reality, a skill cinematographer Nanu Segal has mastered through her years in the business. Segal has an impressive resume of...
Pick of the Day: “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry”
Clocking in at nearly two-and-a-half hours, “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” charts the teenage singer-songwriter’s meteoric rise, all the way from recording her...
Pick of the Day: “My Zoe”
I went into “My Zoe” only knowing the very basics of its plot, and I would advise anyone else interested in Julie Delpy’s latest film to do the same. (But there is a trailer below...
Exclusive: A Killer Hairdresser May Have Found Her Next Victim in “The Stylist” Clip
A lonely hairstylist finds a terrifying way to pass the time in “The Stylist,” Jill Gevargizian’s feature directorial debut. In our exclusive clip of the psychological thriller,...
Pick of the Day: “Test Pattern”
“Test Pattern,” Shatara Michelle Ford’s feature directorial debut, could form an unofficial trilogy with Jessica M. Thompson’s “The Light of the Moon” and Eliza...
See and Be Seen: Crowdfunding Picks
Self-perception is a two-way mirror. Self-perception is how we see ourselves: all our ambitions, all our anxieties reflected plainly in the looking glass. Self-perception is also how the person on...
Pick of the Day: “To All the Boys: Always and Forever”
Lara Jean Covey is growing up, and the “To All the Boys” franchise is maturing alongside her. The third and final installment of the franchise has dropped, and what began as an...
Pick of the Day: “Dead Pigs”
Cathy Yan’s zippy comic book pic “Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” was one of the last films to open in theaters before COVID shut everything down, but...
Pick of the Day: “The World to Come”
Vanessa Kirby follows up her powerhouse performance in “Pieces of a Woman” with another awards contender. The winner of the Queer Lion at last year’s Venice Film Festival, Mona Fastvold’s...
The Definition of Self: VOD Picks
How do we define ourselves? Do we look at the fragmented bits and pieces of our identities, or do we look at the whole? Are we defined by our families, our names, our passions? Can we be defined at...
Exclusive: Loira Limbal, Jialing Zhang, & Cristina Ibarra Among 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipients
Loira Limbal, Jialing Zhang, Cristina Ibarra, Maryam Ebrahimi, Tatiana Huezo, and Elwira Niewiera will be honored with a $50,000 grant and a year-long mentorship program for their documentary...
Pick of the Day: “Two of Us”
A coming out story, a portrait of two retired women in love, and a drama confronting old age and mortality — “Two of Us” is all of these and more. The French-language film is about...
Portraits of Metamorphosis: Crowdfunding Picks
By Kara Headley and Vicki A. Lee This week’s crowdfunding picks are a patchwork quilt of womanhood and girlhood, a vibrant assemblage of characters who are either coming of age or undergoing...
February 2021 Film Preview
By Kara Headley and Vicki A. Lee This is the first Black History Month since the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others sparked a new wave of activism in the Black Lives...
Watch: News Anchors Downplay COVID-19 in Chilling Clip of Nanfu Wang’s “In the Same Breath”
“Eight people were punished for spreading rumors about an unknown pneumonia,” various anchors tell us over and over again, sharing a January 1, 2020 announcement from the Wuhan police....
Pick of the Day: “True Mothers”
A sensitive and nuanced exploration of motherhood and adoption, Naomi Kawase’s “True Mothers” tells the story of two women whose lives collide. We’re first introduced to...
Pick of the Day: “The Long Song”
Being stolen from her mother as a young girl, being renamed “Marguerite” against her will, and deciding whether having a child of her own is worth bringing another soul into bondage are...
February 2021 Television Preview
Whether you’re in the mood for warm tales of family and friendship or reboots featuring ass-kicking female leads, February’s television offerings have got you covered. From new titles...
Sundance 2021 Preview: Tributes to Rita Moreno & Pauli Murray, a Queer Romance, “Passing,” & More
Newly reimagined thanks to COVID-19, this year’s edition of Sundance Film Festival is just around the corner. With nearly 50 percent of features directed or co-directed by women, there are...
Pick of the Day: “A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem”
Described by director Yu Gu as being at the “intersection of several worlds, including football, women’s rights, and labor rights,” “A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem” sees...
Pick of the Day: “Identifying Features”
There is no shortage of disturbing images in “Identifying Features,” Fernanda Valadez’s poetic tale of family, violence, and migration. We see an eyeball being operated upon and the...
Pick of the Day: “How It Feels To Be Free”
Black women have been the backbone of social justice movements throughout history. PBS’ new “American Masters” entry, “How It Feels To Be Free” tells the story of six of...
Pick of the Day: “Herself”
What makes a home? What makes a family, or community? Struggling single mother Sandra (co-screenwriter Clare Dunne) finds out in “Herself,” Phyllida Lloyd’s third feature film. Due to the...
Cinematographer to Watch: Ava Benjamin Shorr of “Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen” and “Equal”
Director of Photography Ava Benjamin Shorr is already well-versed in framing icons. In 2020, Shorr’s camera focused on dozens of trailblazing interviewees for Sam Feder’s “Disclosure: Trans...
January 2021 Film Preview
By Tatiana McInnis and Shayna Maci Warner 2020 has been an exercise of endurance, unspeakable loss, tragedy, anxiety, and rage, the scale of which cannot be addressed in any piece of writing. Many...
Pick of the Day: “Promising Young Woman”
“Promising Young Woman” is one helluva debut feature. The first film from actress and former “Killing Eve” showrunner Emerald Fennell is a sharp, stylish take on rape culture and is frankly...
Pick of the Day: “One Night in Miami…”
Best known for her Oscar- and Emmy-winning roles on-screen, Regina King has been pulling double duty in her professional life for the past decade or so, steadily building up a résumé of over a...
Weekly Update for December 23: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Wonder Woman 1984 – Directed by Patty Jenkins; Written by Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns, and Dave Callaham At long last, we’re being...
2020’s Best Films By and About Women
Confined and isolated thanks to COVID-19, we relied on films and appreciated their ability to transport and distract more than ever this year. Our favorite pics of 2020 served as invaluable emotional...
2020’s Best Documentaries By and About Women
Searing indictments of corrupt political systems, a trip down memory lane to a radical summer camp for teens with disabilities, an innovative tribute to the life and death of a man who is very much...
Weekly Update for December 18: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Ma Rainey knows her worth. As played by Viola Davis in the screen adaptation of August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s...
2020’s Best New Television Created By and About Women
Thank goodness for TV this year. With social distancing, lockdowns, and quarantines, it has been the most reliable source of entertainment during the pandemic. Thankfully, 2020 was an especially good...
Pick of the Day: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Ma Rainey knows her worth. As played by Viola Davis in the screen adaptation of August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Ma is a confident truth-teller who has experienced...
Investigating Intimacy: Crowdfunding Picks
This round of crowdfunding explores the stakes of our interconnectivity and the imperatives of creating ethical and accountable intimate relationships. Whether immersing viewers in familial...
Quote of the Day: TCA Prez Sarah Rodman on the Toll COVID Has Taken on Shows By and About Women
The COVID-19 crisis has hit women especially hard: professions dominated by women have seen the most job loss, and women are bearing the brunt of homeschooling-while-in-quarantine and childcare...
Weekly Update for December 11: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD The Stand-In – Directed by Jamie Babbit “The Stand-In” A washed-up movie star, Candy (Drew Barrymore), busted for tax...
Teen Dreams and Nightmares: VOD Picks
During hormone-addled, perpetually sleep-deprived teen years, life events can be so downright confusing that they take years of therapy, or at least out loud remembrances, to rediscover and accept....
Pick of the Day: “Finding Yingying”
A loving portrait of a young woman robbed of her bright future, “Finding Yingying” also serves as an indictment of the true crime genre, which all too often treats victims of violent...
Pick of the Day: “Through the Night”
Described by director Loira Limbal as “a love letter to single mothers and caregivers,” “Through the Night” takes us inside a 24-hour daycare center in New Rochelle, NY. The...
Pick of the Day: “Let Them All Talk”
“Here’s to picking up the conversation where we left off — and here’s to reconnecting the gang of three we used to be,” says Meryl Steep in “Let Them All Talk.” Filmed over two weeks...
Pick of the Day: “Funny Boy”
“Why does everyone say I’m funny? What does that mean?” young Arjie (Arush Nand) asks in “Funny Boy.” His parents are trying to explain to him why he can’t dress up as the...
Pick of the Day: “A Suitable Boy”
“A Suitable Boy” hit quite a few milestones on its way to Acorn TV. The miniseries adaptation of Vikram Seth’s bestseller is the first TV show Mira Nair has directed; it’s the...
Weekly Update for December 4: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Nomadland – Written and Directed by Chloé Zhao “Nomadland” is a marvel. A master class by rapidly ascending writer-director...
Pick of the Day: “La Leyenda Negra”
“Respect my existence or expect resistance.” These are the words high school senior and immigration rights activist Aleteia (Monica Betancourt) reiterates throughout “La Leyenda...
Pick of the Day: “Nomadland”
“Nomadland” is a marvel. A master class by rapidly ascending writer-director Chloé Zhao and ever-stalwart star Frances McDormand, the drama tells the story of Fern (McDormand), a woman...
Pick of the Day: “I’m Your Woman”
I have two theories about “I’m Your Woman,” Julia Hart’s latest feature and AFI Fest 2020’s opening film. The first: This movie is the photonegative of the classic...
December 2020 Film Preview
By Tatiana McInnis and Shayna Maci Warner December brings together cinematic stories of every magnitude. From big-budget, long-delayed superhero sequels and explorations of iconic singers, artists,...
Weekly Update for November 25: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Happiest Season – Directed by Clea DuVall; Written by Clea DuVall and Mary Holland Hark! The Herald Drag Queens Sing: Clea DuVall’s...
Pick of the Day: “Happiest Season”
Hark! The Herald Drag Queens Sing: Clea DuVall’s “Happiest Season” has finally arrived. Eagerly anticipated since it was first announced, the gay rom-com sees Kristen Stewart and...