Festivals
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Pietra Brettkelly — “Yellow is Forbidden”
Pietra Brettkelly is the director of “Beauty Will Save the World,” “The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins,” “Maori Boy Genius,” and “A Flickering Truth.” Her films have won various...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Norah Shapiro — “Time For Ilhan”
Norah Shapiro is a Minneapolis-based filmmaker who left a decade-long career as a public defender to pursue documentary filmmaking. Her prior credits include “Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile” and...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Madeleine Sackler — “O.G.”
Madeleine Sackler is an Emmy-winning director and producer. Her films include 2010’s “The Lottery” and 2013’s “Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus.” “O.G.” will...
Cannes 2018: Directors’ Fortnight Feature Lineup Falls to 25% Women-Directed
Cannes has announced its 2018 Directors’ Fortnight schedule and, unfortunately, the numbers have dipped quite a bit from last year. Five of the 20 features selected to screen in the...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Sarah Kerruish — “General Magic”
Sarah Kerruish’s films have been distributed worldwide and won awards including a Peabody, and an Emmy nomination. In 2017, she made a short film about the last few days of the tech team at the...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Stephanie Wang-Breal— “Blowin’ Up”
Stephanie Wang-Breal is an award-winning filmmaker and commercial director. Her Emmy-nominated feature documentary “Wo Ai Ni Mommy (I Love You, Mommy)” was awarded Best US Feature at AFI...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Gabrielle Brady — “Island of the Hungry Ghosts”
Gabrielle Brady is an Australian filmmaker who focuses on documentary and hybrid films. Her short film “The Island” was commissioned as part of the Guardian documentary series and premiered at...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Laura Bispuri — “Daughter of Mine”
Laura Bispuri’s short film “Passing Time” was selected as one of the best international shorts by France’s Académie des César, and her next short, “Biondina,” was awarded Italy’s...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Ioana Uricaru — “Lemonade”
Ioana Uricaru was born and raised in Romania, where she studied biology before turning to filmmaking. She is an Alumna of Berlinale Talents, the Cannes Cinefondation Residence Programme, the...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Keren Ben Rafael — “Virgins”
Keren Ben Rafael is a writer-director based in Israel and France. Her previous credits include shorts “La Plage” and “Northern Lights” and doc “Bite Into Life.” “Virgins” will...
Cannes 2018: Critics’ Week Main Competition Is 57% Women-Directed
Cannes’ 2018 Critics’ Week lineup has been announced. Dedicated to directors’ first and second films, this year’s sidebar is much more female-friendly than the fest’s recently announced...
Tribeca 2018 Preview: Women-Directed Films About Cyber Bullying, Police Brutality, Barbie, and More
“Time for Ilhan”: Chris Newberry With timely docs and features about online harassment, investigative journalism in the age of Donald Trump, and surrogates in its program, the 2018 edition of...
You’re Invited: Women and Hollywood is Continuing the Conversation in Cannes
Heading to Cannes 2018 and interested in discussing topics such as securing funding, working collaboratively, and the lack of women-directed films screening in the fest’s Competition? Please join...
Cannes Competition Numbers Remain Predictably Low For Female Directors
“The world will never be the same again, the Cannes Film Festival will never be the same again,” said Cannes Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux of a post Harvey Weinstein world. The fest just...
Cannes 2018: 25% of Shorts and 47% of Cinéfondation Films Directed by Women
Cannes Film Festival has unveiled its Short Film and Cinéfondation lineups for 2018. While the Cinéfondation selections are 47 percent women-directed — a slight increase from last year’s...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Alyssa Fedele — “The Rescue List”
Alyssa Fedele is a documentary filmmaker and anthropologist. She produced and edited the short documentary film “The Ride of Their Lives,” which premiered at Sundance. From 2015 to 2017, Fedele...
Ashley Judd to Receive Greenwich Film Fest’s Changemaker Award
Actress, activist, and Silence Breaker Ashley Judd will be celebrated for her international work with women and children at this year’s Greenwich International Film Festival. According to PEOPLE,...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Anne de Mare — “Capturing the Flag”
Anne de Mare is a documentary filmmaker and playwright with work supported by MacArthur Foundation and Sundance Institute. Her prior film credits include “The Homestretch,” which won a 2015...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Katie Galloway and Dawn Valadez — “The Pushouts”
Katie Galloway’s credits include “The Return,” “El Poeta,” and “Prison Town, USA.” She’s received numerous honors including the Writer’s Guild of America’s Best Documentary...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Talya Tibbon — “Sky & Ground”
Interview by Kaidia Pickels Talya Tibbon is an award-winning director, producer, and writer. She’s worked in four continents documenting wide-ranging subjects such as street gangs, mass shooters...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Alison McAlpine — “Cielo”
Alison McAlpine has worked in theater in Ireland, and in Canada, where she formed a theater company, and wrote and directed plays that were presented at festivals in Canada, Ireland, and France. She...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Laura Nix — “Inventing Tomorrow”
Laura Nix is an award-winning director, writer, and producer whose work has screened at Sundance, TIFF, Berlinale, and Outfest and has aired on HBO, PBS, CBC, and New York Times Op-Docs. Nix was...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Celia Peterson— “The Good Struggle”
Celia Peterson is a photographer and documentary filmmaker. Currently based in Dubai, she works predominantly in the Middle East shooting a range of documentary photographic and film...
“Radium Girls” to Make Its World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival will host the world premiere of “Radium Girls,” a press release has announced. Set in the early 20th century, the drama follows two female employees of the U.S. Radium...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Anais Huerta — “David. The Return To Land”
Anais Huerta is the co-creator of Amaina Films production company in Mexico City, where she has produced a range of documentaries. She previously directed “Rehje,” an award-winning feature...
Guest Post: Why We Founded a Feminist Film Festival in Glasgow
Guest Post by Lauren Clarke and Kathi Kamleitner Conversation is how Femspectives started. About a year ago we were talking about women’s film festivals and their space in the wider film festival...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Allison Bohl DeHart — “Bending Lines: The Sculpture of Robert…
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Allison Bohl DeHart — “Bending Lines: The Sculpture of Robert Wiggs” Allison Bohl DeHart is a filmmaker and cinematographer based in Louisiana. Her...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Roopa Gogineni — “I Am Bisha”
Roopa Gogineni is a director and photographer, and has created documentaries for The New York Times, Al Jazeera, and VICE. Her experience producing reality TV in Somalia was chronicled in an episode...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Laura Green & Anna Moot-Levin— “The Providers”
Laura Green’s shorts have played at numerous festivals, including Palm Springs Shortfest, Aspen Shortsfest, Sarasota Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, and Outfest. Anna Moot-Levin’s...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Monica Klemz — “A Singular Garden”
Monika Klemz has worked as first assistant director, researcher, producer, director, and screenwriter of fiction short films, documentaries, experimental film, and animation. Her debut documentary...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Chiara Campara— “Tempting Promises”
Chiara Campara’s documentary project “Photofinish” screened at Festival dei Popoli, Bergamo Film Meeting, Filmmaker Festival, and Milano Film Festival, and her doc “Sotterranea” screened...
Full Frame 2018 Women Directors: Meet Veena Rao — “Rebuilding in Miniature”
Veena Rao’s work has been featured on The New York Times Op-Docs, The Atlantic, and National Geographic. A member of Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, her previous credits include “Mumbai...
“Chewing Gum’s” Michaela Coel to Deliver Prestigious Lecture at Edinburgh TV Fest
“Chewing Gum” creator, writer, and star Michaela Coel has been invited to give the MacTaggart lecture at this year’s Edinburgh International Television Festival. She’ll become the fifth...
Tribeca Film Fest Adds Day-Long #TimesUp Event
Herstory is being made at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. The fest is set to host #TimesUp’s inaugural New York event, Deadline reports. The day-long program will feature conversations with the...
Elissa Down’s “The Honor List” to Open 2018 Bentonville Film Fest
Director Elissa Down’s coming of age story, “The Honor List,” will open this year’s Bentonville Film Festival (BFF), according to The Hollywood Reporter. Additionally, “Back to the...
Cannes 2018: Filmmaker Ursula Meier Named President of Caméra D’Or Jury
The Cannes Film Festival has tapped “Sister” director Ursula Meier to lead its 2018 Caméra d’or Jury. According to a press release, Meier will serve as president and, alongside the six-member...
Hot Docs 2018 Program Is 50 Percent Women-Directed
North America’s largest documentary festival has announced its 2018 slate, and this year’s edition of Hot Docs marks a major milestone. Eighty-six of 171 features screening are directed or...
Submit Your Script to Athena Film Fest’s Summer 2018 TV and Screenwriting Labs
The Athena Film Festival (AFF) is launching a new program for rising women screenwriters. In partnership with IRIS and the Stephens College Master of Fine Arts in Television and Screenwriting, AFF...
Guest Post: How Starting a Film Festival Helped Expand My Social Awareness
Guest Post by Nora Armani Awareness is the first step towards reclaiming our rights as women. So long as we are unaware that we are experiencing inequality, and so long as we accept the status quo...
2018 Full Frame Doc Film Fest’s Main Lineup Is Nearly 50 Percent Women-Directed
The schedule for the 2018 Full Frame Doc Film Fest is in and the subject of its opening night film, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, would be very proud of its representation of women. Women directed or...
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Shana Feste — “Boundaries”
Shana Feste was nominated for a Humanitas Prize for her first feature, “The Greatest,” which she both wrote and directed. She also wrote and directed Gwyneth Paltrow-starrer...
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Marja-Lewis Ryan — “6 Balloons”
Marja-Lewis Ryan wrote, produced, and starred in the indie feature “The Four-Faced Liar.” In TV, she is slated to create the new “The L Word” series for Showtime, and a one-hour untitled...
Films from Ava DuVernay, Amma Asante, and Julie Dash to Screen at Ebertfest
Three trailblazing directors are set to attend Ebertfest 2018. Ava DuVernay, Amma Asante, and Julie Dash will be screening films at the fest, a press release has announced. Co-founded by and hosted...
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Jenn Wexler — “The Ranger”
Jenn Wexler is a writer-director and a producer for NYC’s Glass Eye Pix. Her producing credits include “Darling,” “Like Me,” and “Most Beautiful Island.” “The Ranger” is her...
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Jenny Murray — “¡Las Sandinistas!”
Jenny Murray is the director of two short films and multiple social satire comedy videos. Her most recent short narrative film was selected to screen at Anthology Film Archives in New Filmmakers New...
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Sasha Waters Freyer — “Garry Winogrand: All Things Are…
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Sasha Waters Freyer — “Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable” Trained in photography and the documentary tradition, Sasha Waters Freyer fuses...
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Stacy Cochran — “Write When You Get Work”
Stacy Cochran made her debut with “My New Gun,” starring Diane Lane; it premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes and earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature....
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Miranda Bailey— “You Can Choose Your Family”
An actor, director, distributor, and producer, Miranda Bailey makes independent films through her company Cold Iron Pictures. Her directing credits include “The Pathological Optimist” and...
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Nijla Baseema Mu’min — “Jinn”
Named one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film by “Filmmaker Magazine” in 2017, Nijla Baseema Mu’min’s short films have screened at festivals and venues across the country, including Outfest,...
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Nosipho Dumisa— “Number 37”
Nosipho Dumisa has directed and produced award-winning short films and commercials, and has extensive television credits. Dumisa is one of the first black female feature film directors from South...
SXSW 2018 Women Directors: Meet Lola Arias — “Theater of War”
Lola Arias is a writer, director, visual artist, and performer. Arias’ theater works have been performed at numerous festivals and venues including Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, Parque de la...