Films
Cannes 2018: Patty Jenkins to Receive Women in Motion Award
Patty Jenkins is heading to Cannes. The “Wonder Woman” director will be honored with the 2018 Women in Motion Award. A press release announcing the news emphasized that the trailblazing...
Trailer Watch: Fat-Shamers and Sexual Abusers Face the Music in AMC’s “Dietland”
Revolution is afoot in a trailer for “Dietland,” Marti Noxon’s new AMC series. “I never wanted to stand out. I was just trying to fit in,” says Plum (Joy Nash, “Twin Peaks”). She’s a...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Alba Sotorra — “Commander Arian”
Alba Sotorra is an independent filmmaker and producer based in Barcelona. She has directed a number of documentaries, including “Unveiled Views,” which premiered at Guadalajara International...
BAFTA Elevate Rocket-Boosts Female Directors in the UK
“Thousands of talented young women have been excluded from careers as film and television directors every year simply because they are not men. I am one of a very small group of lucky ones.”...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Biljana Tutorov — “When Pigs Come”
Biljana Tutorov is a director, producer, film curator, and VJ. In 2010 she founded Wake Up Films, an independent film production company dedicated to young European talent. She is now in...
Trailer Watch: Cannes Film “Whitney” Presents Both Sides of an Incredible Talent
Whitney Houston’s family and friends describe her two sides in a new trailer for “Whitney.” The late singer was an iconic, amazingly gifted artist and performer, but she was also, as one of the...
Mary Harron to Helm Salvador Dali Biopic “Dali Land”
Fresh off directing a pic about the Manson Family murders, Mary Harron has lined up her next project. The “American Psycho” director is taking on the life of surrealist artist Salvador Dali in...
Teaser Watch: Blake Lively Disappears and Anna Kendrick Vows to Find Her in “A Simple Favor”
Another addictive mystery is moving from bookshelves to the big screen. Following in the footsteps of page-turners such as “Gone Girl” and “Girl on the Train” is “A Simple Favor,” Darcey...
Sundance Winner “Night Comes On” Acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films
Jordana Spiro’s feature directorial debut has found a home. Deadline reports that Samuel Goldwyn Films secured North American distribution rights to “Night Comes On.” The drama about sisters...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Audrey Gordon — “Siblings”
Audrey Gordon is a French documentary filmmaker and former journalist. She has directed several documentaries for TV including “Kinderlekh,” “Edith and Lucile,” “A Two-way-Street,” and...
Trailer Watch: A Woman is Betrayed by Her Husband and Friend in Cannes Pic “One Day”
The trailer for “One Day” (“Egy Nap”) sees Anna (Zsófia Szamosi) carting her kids around to school and various activities, doing some grocery shopping, comforting her crying toddler, and...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Margarita Cadenas — “Women of the Venezuelan Chaos”
Margarita Cadenas served as a co-writer and producer for French Television, and has produced numerous commercials around the world. Her filmmaking credits include “Cenizas Eternas,”(“Eternal...
Trailer Watch: Women Directors Share Their Stories in “Half the Picture”
A new documentary has assembled some of the most prominent women directors, and they’re speaking out about why there are so few of them. There’s plenty of female filmmakers out there, but as a...
Quote of the Day: Cate Blanchett Wants Artists to Be “Fearless” in Fight for Equality
“I feel really positive about the inevitable, positive moves toward equality in the face of a lot of fear and adversity,” two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett told Variety in an in-depth...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Hind Bensari— “We Could Be Heroes”
Hind Bensari’s first documentary short, “475: Break the Silence,” contributed to a movement in Morocco that succeeded in repealing a law that allowed men accused of rape to marry their...
Chastain, Cruz, Nyong’o, Cotillard, and Fan to Star in Spy Thriller “355”
Best known as a two-time Oscar-nominated actress, Jessica Chastain has been steadily building up her producing resume. And she’s got a hell of a project lined up. The “Molly’s Game” star has...
Laura Bispuri’s “Daughter of Mine” Acquired by Strand Releasing
Strand Releasing has snagged North American rights to Laura Bispuri’s “Daughter of Mine” shortly after its U.S. debut at Tribeca Film Festival. The company also distributed Bispuri’s...
Trailer Watch: Gillian Jacobs, Vanessa Bayer, and Phoebe Robinson are BFFs in “Ibiza”
“Love” is over but Gillian Jacobs has found romance abroad. A trailer has dropped for “Ibiza,” a comedy that sees the “Community” alumna heading to Barcelona for work and reluctantly...
Lupita Nyong’o to Play Assassin in Remake of “The Killer”
Lupita Nyong’o has booked another action pic. The “Black Panther” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” star is set to topline a remake of “The Killer” for Universal Pictures. Variety reports...
BFI Southbank Will Spotlight Films By and About Women in June
BFI Southbank will be showcasing women-centric and women-made films throughout the month of June. A press release has announced that the four-screen cinema in South Bank, London will be championing...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Sandra Luz López Barroso — “Artemio”
Sandra Luz López Barroso is an anthropologist and award-winning filmmaker. She’s spent more than 10 years working on diverse artisticprojects in Mexico. She served as a DP on the short film...
Trailer Watch: “Jewel’s Catch One” Offers a Look Into America’s Oldest Black-Owned Disco Club
Jewel’s Catch One “offered a place where any and everybody could come,” and now a new doc is exploring how that inclusive environment became the stuff of legend. A trailer had dropped for C....
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Christy Garland — “What Walaa Wants”
Christy Garland has directed award-winning and critically acclaimed documentary features and fiction shorts. Her credits include “Cheer Up,” “The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song,” and...
Women In Film Now Accepting 2018 Finishing Fund Applications
The submission period for Women In Film’s 2018 Film Finishing Fund is open. Now in its 33rd year, the fund awards 10 to 15 grants to films by and about women. Documentary, narrative, animated, and...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Trisha Ziff — “Witkin & Witkin”
Trisha Ziff has worked for the last 25 years as a writer, editor, curator, and documentary filmmaker. Her feature credits include “The Mexican Suitcase,” and “The Man Who Saw Too Much,”...
Trailer Watch: Fonda, Keaton, Bergen, and Steenburgen Have a Lust for Life in “Book Club”
Sharon (Candice Bergen) announces that she’s done with romance in the trailer for “Book Club.” “We are four smart, successful women,” she declares to her friends (Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton,...
Lily Collins to Star in Hope Dickson Leach’s “The Cradle”
Hope Dickson Leach has another family drama on the way. Deadline reports that Lily Collins (“To the Bone”) and Jack O’Connell (“Unbroken”) will topline the award-winning...
May 2018 Film Preview
“Tully” Plenty of women-helmed, female-fronted flicks are premiering alongside the superhero and sci-fi blockbusters this month. Kicking the month off on May 1 is the Netflix debut of C. Fitz’s...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Elizabeth Mirzaei — “Laila at the Bridge”
Elizabeth Mirzaei served as director and cinematographer on the BBC’s “The Killing of Farkhunda,” which was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award, and a cinematographer on the...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Cynthia Wade and Sasha Friedlander — “Grit”
Cynthia Wade’s 2008 documentary “Freeheld” won an Academy Award, Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and 13 other awards. Her other credits include “Grist for the Mill,”...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Elan Bogarín — “306 Hollywood”
Elan Bogarín was nominated for at the 2009 Gotham and Spirit Awards for producing “Big Fan.” She co-founded The Wassaic Project, an arts festival/residency program that has hosted thousands of...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Kate Novack — “The Gospel According to André”
Kate Novack is an Emmy-nominated producer and director of documentary films. She was a producer and writer on “Page One: Inside the New York Times,” which was nominated for two News &...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Katrina Costello — “The Silver Branch”
Katrina Costello co-founded Sea Fever Productions in 2006 along with her husband, Kevin O’Sullivan. The company is dedicated to producing natural history documentary films in Ireland. “The...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown— “United Skates”
Dyana Winkler is a director, producer, and film festival programmer whose narrative screenplay “Bell” was a participant in the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab and awarded a Sundance Sloan...
Tribeca 2018 Women Directors: Meet Laura Brownson — “The Rachel Divide”
Laura Brownson worked for nearly 15 years in narrative features and television before turning to documentary film. She is the co-director of the documentary “Lemon,” which won a Special Jury...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Paula Eiselt — “93Queen”
Paula Eiselt is an independent filmmaker. She is currently a POV/Wyncote Filmmaker Fellow and was a 2017 Sundance Creative Producing Summit Fellow and a 2016 IFP Lab fellow. “93Queen” is her...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Sarah Menzies — “Afghan Cycles”
Sarah Menzies’ documentary films have screened at Telluride Mountainfilm, Banff Mountain Film Festival, Port Townsend Film Festival, and many other festivals. She directed the documentary shorts...
Rachel Morrison to Receive AFI’s Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal
History-making cinematographer Rachel Morrison is set to receive an honor from the American Film Institute (AFI). The “Black Panther” DP will be awarded the 2018 Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Azadi Moghadam — “The Broker”
Azadi Moghadam was born in Tehran. She filmed her first documentary, “Kahrizak — Tajrish,” in 2015. She published Simia, a professional theater magazine, while she was a student in...
Wanuri Kahiu’s LGBTQ-Themed Cannes Film “Rafiki” Banned in Kenya
“Rafiki” will make history as the first Kenyan feature to premiere at Cannes Film Festival, but the lesbian romance has been banned in Kenya, where homosexuality is illegal. Variety confirms...
Weekly Update for April 27: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Let the Sunshine In” Films About Women Opening This Week Let the Sunshine In — Directed by Claire Denis; Written by Claire Denis and Christine Angot (U.S. Release) (Also Available...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Lindsey Cordero — “I’m Leaving Now (Ya Me Voy)”
Lindsey Cordero is a Mexican filmmaker based in Brooklyn. She previously co-directed the TV documentary “Firmes, Mexicans in the Bronx” and produced “En el Séptimo Día.” “I’m Leaving...
Trailer Watch: A Girl and Her Father Return to Civilization in Debra Granik’s “Leave No Trace”
Debra Granik’s latest offering has a trailer. This time around, the “Winter’s Bone” co-writer and director is telling the story of a father and daughter whose lives are upended when local...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Samara Grace Chadwick — “1999”
Samara Grace Chadwick has spent more than 15 years working in the field of documentary film throughout Europe and North and South America, primarily as a filmmaker, editor, and festival programmer....
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Christina D. King and Elizabeth A. Castle — “Warrior Women”
Christina D. King is a member of the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma whose work across commercials, documentary, film, and television focuses on human rights issues, civic engagement through...
S.J. Clarkson to Direct “Star Trek 4”
S.J. Clarkson will boldly go where no woman has gone before. Deadline reports that she’s been tapped to helm “Star Trek 4,” making her the first woman to direct a feature in the “Star...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Irene Lusztig— “Yours in Sisterhood”
Irene Lusztig is a filmmaker whose work has been screened around the world, including at the Berlinale and MoMA, and on television in Europe, Taiwan, and the U.S. Her credits include her...
Biopic About Game-Changing Journalist Nancy Dickerson in the Works at Showtime
A biopic about Nancy Dickerson is in development at Showtime. The trailblazing reporter made history as the first woman hired as a network correspondent by CBS News. Titled “Hello Nancy,” the...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Laura Marie Wayne — “Love, Scott”
Laura Marie Wayne’s short films have been featured in festivals across Europe, North America, and the Caribbean. In 2015 her lyrical memoir film “Most of Us Don’t Live There” premiered in...
Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Yasemin Samdereli— “Night of All Nights”
While at the University of Television of Film in Munich, Yasemin Samdereli worked as Assistant Director on two of Jackie Chan’s features. She has also directed “Kismet” and “Almanya: Welcome...
Lena Waithe to Deliver Keynote at AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women Showcase
In the span of just over a month, Lena Waithe has graced the cover of Vanity Fair and been named by TIME as one of the most influential people of the year. In January her Showtime series, “The...