Features
Writer to Watch: Akilah Green of “A Black Lady Sketch Show”
“It made sense at the time,” Akilah Green notes about abandoning her law career to pursue comedy full time. As a lawyer, she represented huge corporations like Starbucks and Delta Airlines, and...
Weekly Update for November 20: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Run Mommie Dearest does her best impression of Marmee in “Run.” Picture-perfect, warm, and loving on the surface, Diane (Sarah Paulson) is a...
Pick of the Day: “Run”
Mommie Dearest does her best impression of Marmee in “Run.” Picture-perfect, warm, and loving on the surface, Diane (Sarah Paulson) is a mom whose true nature is gradually revealed in the...
Rewriting Heroes: Crowdfunding Picks
Everybody thinks they could use a hero now and again. However, the enshrined out-of-this-world idol dreamed up to cure all that ails often fizzles away in the face of reality. Super humans...
Pick of the Day: “Born to Be”
Although it covers a very different topic, “Born to Be” reminds me of another doc that came out this year, “Aggie.” Like the latter’s protagonist, Agnes Gund,...
Weekly Update for November 13: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Dirty God – Directed by Sacha Polak; Written by Sacha Polak and Susanne Farrell “Dirty God” takes on the nexus of gendered...
Pick of the Day: “I Am Greta”
Greta Thunberg never expected to become a household name helping to lead the charge on climate activism. Her life, she explains in “I Am Greta,” now seems like a movie or dream,...
Pick of the Day: “Dirty God”
Sacha Polak’s BIFA-nominated drama “Dirty God” takes on the nexus of gendered violence and sexual objectification through the portrait of one young woman. Jade (newcomer Vicky...
Something Sour, Something Sweet: VOD and Podcast Picks
Something sour in the water and environmental injustice, sexuality and stolen strap-ons, and some sweet, rom-com levity round out this set of women-created VOD and podcast picks. Set in the rural,...
Pick of the Day: “Coded Bias”
With “Coded Bias,” Shalini Kantayya wanted to explore “the dark underbelly of big tech.” She was following the lead of Joy Buolamwini, an MIT media lab researcher who...
Weekly Update for November 6: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Proxima – Directed by Alice Winocour; Written by Alice Winocour and Jean-Stéphane Bron “Proxima” charts a different kind of...
Pick of the Day: “Proxima”
“Proxima” charts a different kind of hero’s journey. The astronaut drama is decidedly more grounded than what we’ve come to expect from stories about space exploration. From...
Weekly Update for October 30: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Kaali Khuhi – Directed by Terrie Samundra; Written by Terrie Samundra and David Walter Lech “Kaali Khuhi” Shivangi (Riva...
Pick of the Day: “The Donut King”
With “The Donut King,” director Alice Gu hopes to “challenge any preconceived notions of what a refugee is, or looks like, and that the film helps put a human face on refugees and...
Composer to Watch: Anna Calvi of “Peaky Blinders”
You may already know Anna Calvi’s name — especially if you’re a fan of genre-defying virtuosity, overwhelmingly described as “cinematic” pop, laced through with impressive, spiraling...
November 2020 Film Preview
By Shayna Maci Warner and Tatiana McInnis November is a varied, exciting month for women-forward filmmaking, sprinkled with dystopian thrillers, glimpses into grief and trauma-fueled paranoia, and...
Pick of the Day: “Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine”
Sarah Cooper became a household name by lip-synching some of Trump’s more incomprehensible COVID-19 remarks. With those viral videos, she was able to lay bare just how unqualified Trump is for...
Weekly Update for October 23: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD The Craft: Legacy – Written and Directed by Zoe Lister-Jones In Blumhouse’s continuation of the cult hit “The Craft,” an eclectic...
Pick of the Day: “The Queen’s Gambit”
Anya Taylor-Joy plays a brilliant chess prodigy besieged by addiction in “The Queen’s Gambit,” Netflix’s bingeworthy adaptation of the 1983 novel of the same name. Set in the...
Pick of the Day: “Bad Hair”
If you’re already missing “Lovecraft Country” and wishing HBO would just go ahead and frickin’ renew it already, then “Bad Hair” is just what the doctor ordered....
Offering a “Brave Space to Create Unapologetically”: Crowdfunding Picks
This round of crowdfunding picks shares a focus on representing and tackling a range of intersecting social and cultural issues. They rely on humor, fantasy, and, of course, Zoom, to address the...
Pick of the Day: “Surge”
One of the few good things to come out of the 2016 election was the subsequent onslaught of women running for office, organizing political campaigns, and participating in grassroots activism —...
Queer Family Felicitations: VOD and Web Series Picks
Queer family is an amorphous unit not quite like any other. For one thing, its permutations are endless; family could be anything from blood relatives, to acquaintances who look out for each other...
Weekly Update for October 16: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD What the Constitution Means to Me (Filmed Stage Production) – Directed by Marielle Heller; Written by Heidi Schreck As Amy Coney...
Pick of the Day: “Belly of the Beast”
Though it’s most closely associated with Nazi Germany, eugenics has a history stateside as well. And it’s not just a thing of the past. “Belly of the Beast” tells the story of...
Pick of the Day: “What the Constitution Means to Me”
As I write this, the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation hearings are winding down. Described as “unashamedly pro-life” and a self-proclaimed constitutional originalist, she will most likely...
Pick of the Day: “Time”
Even as it turns an unwavering eye on the criminal justice system, “Time” is an extremely hopeful film. Garrett Bradley’s documentary feature debut is the story of Fox Rich, a woman...
Weekly Update for October 9: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD The Forty-Year-Old Version – Written and Directed by Radha Blank A struggling playwright decides to reinvent herself as a rapper in...
Pick of the Day: “The Forty-Year-Old Version”
A struggling playwright decides to reinvent herself as a rapper in “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” this year’s winner of Sundance’s Directing Prize. Written and directed by Radha Blank, the...
Quote of the Day: Isabel Coixet Encourages Emerging Filmmakers to “Embrace the Fog” in Awards Speech
The Spanish Ministry of Culture honored Isabel Coixet with its National Cinematography Prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival last month. While accepting the prestigious award, which recognizes...
Pick of the Day: “Aggie”
Before “Aggie” was selected for Sundance 2020, I had never heard of Agnes Gund. Unless you’re very tuned into the worlds of art and social justice, you probably haven’t...
Editor to Watch: Jacqueline Basse of “She’s Gotta Have It” and “Aggie”
Shorts, features, documentaries, and memorable, acclaimed series populate up-and-coming editor Jacqueline Basse’s portfolio. Editing is an artistic exercise of technical prowess that maximizes...
Weekly Update for October 2: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Once Upon a River – Written and Directed by Haroula Rose “Once Upon a River” Based on the best-selling novel by Bonnie Jo...
Pick of the Day: “Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead” sees a filmmaker struggling to come to terms with her father’s mortality the best way she knows how: by making a movie. “Just the idea that I might ever lose this...
Pick of the Day: “The Great American Lie”
Burnt out educators, activists fighting for minimum wage in the restaurant industry, unemployed factory workers voting against their own best interests, single parents holding down four jobs to get...
October 2020 Film Preview
By Tatiana McInnis and Shayna Maci Warner This month, audiences can be entertained, intrigued, troubled, and inspired by a slate of diverse narratives and documentaries. October features the releases...
Talking Taboos: Crowdfunding Picks
What is art for in a fraught time, if not to serve as a template for those difficult conversations that are rarely introduced simply or without fuss at the dinner table? Though the best fiction may...
Weekly Update for September 25: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD The Glorias – Directed by Julie Taymor; Written by Julie Taymor and Sarah Ruhl Journalist, fighter, and feminist Gloria Steinem is an...
Reflecting on Relationships: VOD and Web Series Picks
As we brace for the cool, crisp evenings and shorter days of fall, this month’s VOD and web series picks invite reflections on all types and facets of relationships. Quirky romances, friendships,...
Weekly Update for September 18: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
“Black Lives Matter” FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD All In: The Fight for Democracy (Documentary) – Directed by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés In anticipation...
Exclusive: Motorcycle Champ Ana Carrasco Gets Personal in “Ride Your Dream” Clip
With her 2018 World Supersport 300 Championship victory, motorcyclist Ana Carrasco not only became the first woman to win in the Superbikes WorldSPP300 category, she became the first woman to win a...
Weekly Update for September 11: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD I Am Woman – Directed by Unjoo Moon; Written by Emma Jensen In 1966, single mother Helen Reddy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) leaves her old life...
Exclusive: Girls and Women Celebrate Their Passion for Aviation in “Fly Like a Girl” Trailer
“Girls make better pilots than boys because we’re way smarter. No offense,” says one of the young characters featured in “Fly Like a Girl.” Our exclusive trailer for...
Quote of the Day: Halle Berry on Stepping Behind the Camera and Her Post-Oscar Career
Halle Berry’s directorial debut is one of our most anticipated titles screening at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. In our write-up of “Bruised,” a drama about...
Exclusive Featurette: Nicole Riegel on “Holler,” Her TIFF Pic About a Woman Struggling to Pay for College
“When I was a high school senior, I had a meeting with my guidance counselor. She told me that I would probably never go to college, and it was one of the most discouraging things that I think...
Weekly Update for September 4: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Mulan – Directed by Niki Caro; Written by Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin, Amanda Silver, and Rick Jaffa Acclaimed filmmaker Niki Caro...
Book Excerpt: “Love Is All Around: And Other Lessons We’ve Learned from The Mary Tyler Moore Show”
The following is adapted from Paula Bernstein’s “Love Is All Around: And Other Lessons We’ve Learned from The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Reprinted by permission of Running Press,...
September 2020 Film Preview
By Shayna Maci Warner and Tatiana McInnis September is rich in documentaries and epic narratives with long-awaited releases. This month’s varied documentary releases highlight women’s...
Weekly Update for August 28: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Driven to Abstraction (Documentary) – Directed by Daria Price “Driven to Abstraction” unravels a mutating tale of self-delusion,...
Weekly Update for August 21: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films You Can Watch from Home
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Lingua Franca – Written and Directed by Isabel Sandoval After securing a job as a live-in caregiver for Olga (Lynn Cohen), an elderly Russian woman in...
Pick of the Day: “The Vow”
“The Vow” is a horror story. The HBO docuseries pulls the curtain back on the NXIVM organization, a headline-making “sex cult” that operated under the guise of a self-help group....