Festivals
Tribeca Film Festival’s 2020 Feature Program Is 39 Percent Women-Directed
Tribeca Film Festival has announced its 2020 slate. Of 114 features set to screen, 44 are directed or co-directed by a woman, amounting to about 39 percent of the slate. The fest’s 18th edition...
Amy Poehler and Eliza Hittman Will Be Honored at Sun Valley Film Festival
Eliza Hittman is following up her Berlinale win with another award. The “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” writer-director and “Parks and Recreation” alumna Amy Poehler are among...
Toronto’s Female Eye Film Fest Will Celebrate International Women’s Day With Four Days of Films
The Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) is presenting four days of film in recognition of International Women’s Day. Now in its 18th edition, the Toronto fest’s lineup this year includes over 50...
Mary Wharton’s “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President” Will Open Tribeca Film Festival
The 19th edition of Tribeca Film Festival will kick off with a tribute to a presidential hopeful who harnessed the power of music on his road to the White House. Deadline reports that Mary...
Unjoo Moon & Beanie Feldstein Among Athena Awardees, Fest Announces Athena List Winners & More
The 10th annual Athena Film Festival (AFF) kicks off in just over two weeks and — adding to the excitement — the fest has unveiled its 2020 awardees, the winners of the Athena List, and...
Zheng Lu Xinyuan’s “The Cloud in Her Room” Wins IFFR’s Tiger Award
“The Cloud in Her Room” has been named as the 2020 winner of International Film Festival Rotterdam’s (IFFR) Tiger Award. Founded in 1995 with the aim of “discovering, raising...
Tabitha Jackson Makes History as Sundance’s First Woman and POC Festival Director
Sundance is bringing on its first new Festival Director in 11 years — and she’s the first woman and person of color to take on the role. A press release has announced that, following a...
Sundance: Women Sweep Major Directing Awards
The 2020 edition of Sundance Film Festival has come to a close. An awards ceremony was held Saturday in Park City, and “of the 28 prizes awarded … to 25 films – comprising the work of...
Heather Young’s “Murmur” Wins Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance
“Murmur” has been named as the winner of Slamdance Film Festival’s Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize. The fest’s awards were announced at a ceremony held Thursday, Deadline...
Sundance Deals: “Identifying Features” and “I Carry You With Me” Find Homes
Two more women-directed films have secured distribution out of Sundance. Kino Lorber snagged North American rights to Fernanda Valadez’s “Identifying Features” and Sony Pictures...
Berlinale 2020: 33 Percent of Competition Titles Are Women-Directed
The Berlin International Film Festival has announced its 2020 Competition lineup. The program is composed of 18 titles, and six of them, or 33 percent, are directed or co-directed by women. Last...
Director Ulrike Ottinger Will Be Honored at Berlinale 2020
Ulrike Ottinger will soon have another Berlinale award to go with Special Teddy she won at the film festival in 2012. The filmmaker and artist is set to receive the Berlinale Camera at the...
Sundance, SXSW, TIFF, & More Will Earmark Portion of Press Credentials for Time’s Up Critical
Several fests including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, TIFF, and Athena Film Festival will ensure more women, people of color, and other marginalized communities receive press credentials. According to...
Women Directed or Co-Directed 70 Percent of SXSW’s 2020 Competition Titles
Women-directed offerings dominate South by Southwest’s (SXSW) 2020 Competition lineups. The Austin, Texas-based fest just announced the program for its 27th edition, and women helmed or...
Cate Blanchett Will Be Jury President at 2020 Venice Film Festival
Well, maybe the 77th Venice International Film Festival will include more than one or two woman-directed features in competition. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cate Blanchett has been named...
Sarah Gavron Named Jury Chair for the BFI Future Film Festival Awards
Sarah Gavron will help celebrate the next generation of auteurs. A press release announced that the “Suffragette” helmer has been named Jury Chair of the BFI Future Film Festival, a UK...
Glasgow Film Fest Will Open with “Proxima,” Close with “How to Build a Girl”
Women-directed offerings will bookend the 2020 Glasgow Film Festival. The 16th edition of the fest will kick off with the UK premiere of Alice Winocour’s latest, mother-daughter drama...
Mia Hansen-Løve Will Head the Nordic Competition Jury at Göteborg Film Festival
Mia Hansen-Løve is headed to the Göteborg Film Festival. The French writer-director has been tapped to serve as head the jury of the Nordic competition at the 43rd edition of the fest, a press...
Lena Waithe Will Receive Palm Springs Film Fest’s Creative Impact in Producing Award
Lena Waithe has more to celebrate. Her feature screenwriting debut, “Queen & Slim,” hit theaters last month, and now Variety reports that she’ll be honored with the Creative...
Vanja Kaludjercic Named Festival Director of International Film Fest Rotterdam
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has appointed Vanja Kaludjercic as its new festival director. She will succeed current director Bero Beyer as IFFR’s artistic voice effective...
Exclusive: Athena Film Festival Announces Inaugural Breakthrough Award
The Athena Film Festival (AFF) is furthering its mission to empower and support women filmmakers. The fest has announced the inaugural Athena Breakthrough Award, which will recognize a first- or...
Isabel Coixet’s “Foodie Love” to Open International TV Fest Are You Series?
Isabel Coixet’s debut TV series, “Foodie Love,” is set to kick off the seventh edition of Are You Series?, an international TV series fest in Belgium. The HBO Europe title tells the...
Women Make Up 46 Percent of Sundance 2020’s Competition Directors
The Sundance Film Festival has bested its ratio of women filmmakers for the third year in a row. Its 2020 competition lineup is 46 percent women-directed or co-directed, as compared to 2019’s...
Helen Mirren to Be Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award at Berlin Film Festival
The Berlin Film Festival is set to celebrate Helen Mirren. The Oscar winner will be honored with a Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the fest’s 2020 edition. The Berlinale will also pay...
Heidi Hassan & Patricia Pérez Fernández’s “In a Whisper” Wins Top Prize at IDFA 2019
The 2019 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which concluded this past weekend, featured the highest ratio of women filmmakers in the fest’s 31-year history. Fittingly, this...
Jennifer Lopez to Be Honored with Spotlight Award at Palm Springs Film Festival
Jennifer Lopez is building momentum on the awards circuit. Less than a week ago the multi-hyphenate received an Indie Spirit Award nomination for “Hustlers,” and now the Palm Springs...
Women and Non-Binary Directors Helmed 40 Percent of Whistler Film Festival’s 2019 Lineup
Forty percent of the titles screening at this year’s Whistler Film Festival (WFF) are directed by women and nonbinary individuals. Slated to take place December 4-8 in Whistler, British...
Renée Zellweger to Be Honored at Palm Springs Film Fest
Renée Zellweger’s been a frontrunner in the Oscar race since “Judy’s” world premiere at Telluride in August. Her performance in the Judy Garland biopic has already earned her...
AFI Fest Announces 2019 Lineup, Features 51 Percent Women-Directed Films
The American Film Institute (AFI)’s complete 2019 festival program is in, and overall, 51 percent of the titles set to screen are women-directed. AFI Fest previously announced its Special Galas...
Toronto’s Female Eye Film Festival to Honor Mina Shum, Includes 75+ Films By Women
The 17th annual Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) kicks off in just over a week. Featuring more than 75 films directed by women, this year’s edition of the fest will open with Heather...
IDFA 2019 Lineup Marks Highest Percentage of Women Directors in Fest’s History
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam’s (IDFA) 2019 program marks “the highest percentage of female filmmakers in the event’s 31-year history: 64% of competition titles and...
Hot Springs Doc Film Fest’s 2019 Lineup Is Over 50 Percent Women-Directed
The 28th annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (HSDFF) is currently underway, and according to the fest, over 50 percent of the program hails from women filmmakers, and 25 percent of the...
Göteborg Film Fest’s 2020 Edition Will Be 50 Percent Women-Directed
Most film festival organizers believe in gender equality — in theory. In practice, they talk about the importance of parity but sometimes there is no real plan and sometimes it’s about...
BFI London Film Fest Winners Include “Atlantics” and “White Riot”
“Atlantics” just snagged another prestigious honor. Mati Diop’s refugee crisis drama about star-crossed lovers won the prize for best debut feature at the BFI London Film Festival,...
DOC NYC Announces 2019 Program, 29 Percent of Features in Competition Are Women-Directed
The United States’ largest doc festival has announced its 2019 lineup. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, this year’s DOC NYC program marks its largest to date, and includes two...
Indie Memphis Film Festival to Open with “Harriet”
The complete lineup for the 2019 Indie Memphis Film Festival has been announced. This year’s edition of the fest will kick off with a screening of Cynthia Erivo-starrer “Harriet,”...
Mumbai Film Fest’s International Competition Lineup Is 62 Percent Women-Directed
The International Competition lineup for the 21st edition of the Mumbai Film Festival is in. Of 13 features set to screen, eight are directed or co-directed by women, amounting to about 62 percent of...
Female Filmmaker Fest Lineup Includes Pics by Kirsten Johnson, Nadia Fares, & More
The second annual FFFEST (Female Filmmaker Festival) is set to take place at NYC’s Quad Cinema October 25-27, a press release has announced. This year’s celebration of women filmmakers...
Laura Dern, Olivia Wilde, and Kasi Lemmons Among Mind the Gap’s 2019 Participants
Mill Valley Film Festival’s (MVFF) gender equity program has announced its 2019 schedule. Laura Dern, Olivia Wilde, Kasi Lemmons, Women and Hollywood’s own Melissa Silverstein, and many...
Zurich Film Festival’s 2019 Edition Includes a Record Number of Women Directors
The 15th Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) will be its most female-friendly to date. This year’s edition of the fest features a record number of films by women. According to a press release from ZFF,...
TIFF News: Updates on “Military Wives,” Jennifer Kent’s Latest, and More
TIFF isn’t just ten days jam-packed with film screenings; it’s also a rendezvous point for development, funding, and distribution deals. Recent days have brought news of projects by and...
Venice Film Fest Hosts Gender Equality Seminar
Historically, Venice Film Festival has not seemed to give a shit about gender parity or inclusion. Artistic director Alberto Barbera has said he would rather quit than set gender quotas. In the wake...
Venice, TIFF, and San Sebastian Offering Childcare and Family-Friendly Services
Ahead of its 2019 edition, Cannes introduced “Le Ballon Rouge,” an initiative offering special services for industry attendees with babies or small children. The group Parenting at Film Festivals...
BFI London Film Fest’s Competition Lineup Is 60 Percent Women-Directed
The Venice Film Festival kicks off today, and the fest’s competition slate is yet again lacking when it comes to women-directed titles. Not all fests are struggling to program films made by...
Melina Matsoukas’ “Queen & Slim” Will Open AFI FEST 2019
Melina Matsoukas is returning to the American Film Institute (AFI). According to a press release, the AFI alumna’s feature directorial debut, “Queen & Slim,” will make its world...
TIFF 2019 Adds More Galas and Special Presentations, Reveals World Cinema Lineup
The Toronto Film Fest has announced the lineups for more programs — including Contemporary World Cinema, Masters, and Wavelengths — and added additional titles to its Gala Presentations...
Locarno Film Festival Releases Gender Stats for the First Time
Last year’s Locarno Film Festival saw the signing of the Programming Pledge for Parity in Inclusion in Cinema Festivals. Supported by the Swiss Women’s Audiovisual Network (SWAN), this...
TIFF 2019 Announces Discovery Titles and Docs, Ellen Page and Barbara Kopple Among Directors
Ellen Page, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Barbara Kopple are just a few of the directors who will be screening films at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF 2019 has unveiled the...
Sarah Gavron’s Latest to Open TIFF’s Platform Program, Lineup Is 40% Women-Directed
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced the lineup for its Platform section, a juried program spotlighting trailblazing directors from around the world. “Rocks,” from...
New York Film Festival’s 2019 Main Slate Is 21 Percent Women-Directed
Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) has unveiled the Main Slate for the 57th New York Film Festival (NYFF). Twenty-nine films will screen in the section, and six of them are directed by women, or about 21...
San Sebastian 2019: Official Selection Includes Three Women-Directed Films
Earlier this week, the San Sebastian International Film Festival announced that women directed more than half of its 2019 New Directors lineup. Now the fest has unveiled new additions to its Official...