Films
Cannes 2017: Directors’ Fortnight Lineup Is 35% Women-Directed
Cannes has announced its 2017 Director’s Fortnight lineup, and seven of 20 films screening are helmed by women, amounting to 35 percent of the slate. This is a dramatic improvement from last year,...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Quinn Shephard — “Blame”
As an actress, Quinn Shephard is best known for Paul Feig’s “Unaccompanied Minors and “Hostages” on CBS. Her upcoming films include “Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl” and Desiree Akhavan’s...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Elina Psykou — “Son of Sofia”
Elina Psykou’s first feature, “The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas,” won the Works in Progress Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2012 and premiered at the Berlinale...
Trailer Watch: Two Women Grieve and Rage in Amber Tamblyn’s “Paint It Black”
In the newly released trailer for Amber Tamblyn’s “Paint It Black,” Josie (Alia Shawkat, “Search Party”) gets the phone call that everyone fears. “Has there been any individual you know...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Sierra Pettengill — “The Reagan Show”
Sierra Pettengill is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker. “Town Hall,” her directorial debut (co-directed by Jamila Wignot), broadcast nationally on PBS in 2014. She produced the Academy Award-nominated...
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck to Direct “Captain Marvel”
We finally know who’s going to helm “Captain Marvel.” After months of speculation and rumors, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have been announced as the directors of the highly anticipated Marvel...
Glamour and Girlgaze Partner for #NewView Short Film Competition
Glamour magazine is teaming up with digital media company Girlgaze to support young female filmmakers. A press release announced that the two companies are launching #NewView, a film competition for...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Lana Wilson — “The Departure”
Lana Wilson is an Emmy-winning filmmaker based in New York. Her first film, “After Tiller,” co-directed by Martha Shane, went inside the lives of the four most-targeted abortion providers in...
Trailer Watch: Alison Brie and Aubrey Plaza are Raunchy Nuns in “The Little Hours”
Nuns are usually depicted as stern, stoic, and cloistered away from the debauchery of the wider world. A NSFW trailer has landed for “The Little Hours,” and never before have we seen the likes...
Rosamund Pike Signs on to Play War Reporter Marie Colvin
Rosamund Pike is set to portray another real-life figure. The Oscar-nominated actress will play American war reporter Marie Colvin in an untitled film, Deadline reports. Pike was last seen in Amma...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Petra Volpe — “The Divine Order”
Petra Volpe’s feature debut, “Dreamland,” was nominated for four Swiss film awards and played both the festival and theatrical circuit. “The Divine Order” will premiere at the 2017 Tribeca...
“13th,” “Trapped,” & More Women-Directed Docs Win Peabody Awards
Twelve documentaries are being honored by the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors, and seven of them are women-directed or co-directed. 2016 was an amazing year for documentaries, and this stellar...
Greenwich Film Festival to Honor Renée Zellweger and Christy Turlington Burns
Renée Zellweger and Christy Turlington Burns will be honored at the Greenwich International Film Festival’s third annual Changemaker Gala. The event, scheduled to be held June 1, celebrates...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Liz W. Garcia — “One Percent More Humid”
Liz W. Garcia’s directorial debut, “The Lifeguard,” starring Kristen Bell, premiered in competition at Sundance in 2013. She is currently writing “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 3” for...
Academy CEO Dawn Hudson Renews Contract Through 2020
Dawn Hudson has signed on for another three years at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. According to Variety, the Academy’s Board of Governors voted to renew the CEO’s contract...
Jessica Chastain on the Power of Saying “No” and Her Fight for Equal Pay
Jessica Chastain is continuing to fight the good fight. The wonderfully outspoken advocate for gender equality in Hollywood frequently draws attention to the industry’s double standards, and in...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Josephine Decker — “Flames”
Josephine Decker is an actor, writer, and director best known for “Collective Unconscious” and “Thou Wast Mild and Lovely.” In 2008, Decker co-directed a documentary on bisexuality called...
Marielle Heller to Receive Inaugural Moms-in-Film Award
Moms-in-Film (MiF), an organization for working parents in film and TV, is celebrating its first anniversary by honoring “Diary of a Teenage Girl” writer-director Marielle Heller. Heller will...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Rachel Israel — “Keep the Change”
Rachel Israel has directed short films that have screened worldwide. “Keep the Change” marks her feature debut. She is an adjunct professor at RISD. “Keep the Change” will premiere at the...
Gina Rodriguez Lines Up “Carmen Sandiego” & Two Potential Women-Directed Films
Where in the world is Gina Rodriguez? Everywhere. Per The Tracking Board, the “Jane the Virgin” star will voice the titular character in Netflix’s animated series “Carmen Sandiego.” She is...
Trailer Watch: Salma Hayek Goes to the Dinner Party from Hell in “Beatriz at Dinner”
A trailer has landed for Salma Hayek-starrer “Beatriz at Dinner,” and the spot is full of cringe-inducing moments. “This woman is a saint. It’s like birds fly out of the sky and land on her...
Tribeca 2017 Preview: Arranged Marriages, Endangered Animals, the Justice System, & More
“A Suitable Girl” Women directed nearly 40 percent of the films screening in Competition at this year’s edition of the Tribeca Film Festival, and there are plenty of women-centric projects in...
Quote of the Day: Romola Garai Explains How Hollywood Makes Women Feel Inadequate
Romola Garai is a two-time Golden Globe nominated actress, but she has a less than favorable opinion of Hollywood. “I did a bit of modeling when I was a teenager and, even then, nobody asked me to...
Kelly Marie Tran’s Character Will Be a Major Part of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
Kelly Marie Tran has joined the Resistance. The actress-comedian “has the biggest new part” — the character Rose — in the highly-anticipated “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,”...
Trailer Watch: Four Women Take on the Pacific Ocean in “Losing Sight of Shore”
“There’s an incredible insight to be gained to know that you can fight and overcome anything that is thrown your way,” says one of the characters in a newly released trailer for “Losing...
Cross-Post: #WomenDirectorWeek: The Challenge of Watching Only Female-Directed Films for One Week
The following has been reposted from Film Inquiry with the author’s permission. If you pay much attention to events in the film industry, you’ll already know about the incredible dearth of...
Sofia Coppola to Be Honored at Provincetown Film Festival
Sofia Coppola is having a helluva week. The writer-director’s next film, “The Beguiled,” was just announced as part of Canne’s 2017 lineup, and now comes word that the Oscar winner will be...
Weekly Update for April 14: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week “A Quiet Passion” A Quiet Passion (Opens in NY; Opens in LA April 21) Cynthia Nixon delivers a triumphant performance as Emily Dickinson as she personifies...
Trailer Watch: Amanda Lipitz’s Sundance Winner “Step” Will Have You Dancing
Get a Kleenex out and clear some space to bust a move. A trailer has been released for Amanda Lipitz’s “Step,” and it’s equally likely to bring you to tears as it is to inspire some dancing...
Four Books from “Big Little Lies” Author Liane Moriarty Headed to the Screen
The “Big Little Lies” finale was less than two weeks ago and fans are clamoring for more time with Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Bonnie, and Renata. There have been rumors of a possible second season...
Guest Post: How I Made a Movie Based on My Experience as an Egg Donor
Guest Post by Sonja O’Hara “Submit for the Role of a Lifetime. Become an Egg Donor!” I remember how those words stood out next to listings for non-union commercials and Off-Off-Broadway...
Trailer Watch: Suki Waterhouse Lives with Cannibals in Ana Lily Amirpour’s “The Bad Batch”
In the parched desert, with vultures circling overhead, a young woman (Suki Waterhouse, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”) uses her remaining two limbs — one arm, one leg — to push...
Kathleen Robertson to Adapt “The Possibilities” for Fox Searchlight
Writer-actress Kathleen Robertson has scored a promising gig. The former “Boss” star has signed on to adapt “The Possibilities,” Kaui Hart Hemmings’ follow up novel to “The...
Gurinder Chadha Joins UK Initiative Tackling Gender Imbalance in the Film Industry
Based in the UK and want to learn from the best and brightest in the film business? Listen up. Female Film Leaders is an industry forum that “aims to equip up-and-coming female film industry...
Willow Smith to Produce Two Female-Led Fantasy Projects
Willow Smith is working on getting female-driven fantasy stories to TV and the big screen. The multi-hyphenate’s production shingle, MSFTS Production, is teaming up with Cartel Entertainment for...
Principal Photography Kicks Off for Hannah Fidell’s “The Long Dumb Road”
Hannah Fidell is following up “6 Years,” her portrait of dysfunctional young love, with a buddy comedy. Principal photography for “The Long Dumb Road” has begun in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a...
Cannes 2017 Lineup: Women Directors Represent 16% of Main Competition
Naomi Kawase’s “Radiance” A couple of weeks ago, the 70th anniversary poster for the Cannes Film Festival was unveiled. It featured a picture of a giddy, twirling Claudia Cardinale and received...
Trailer Watch: Katell Quillévéré’s “Heal the Living” Explores Each Side of a Heart Transplant
“I can’t walk much. I can’t go upstairs,” a woman waiting for a heart transplant explains in the trailer for “Heal the Living.” “I’m not sure I want a dead person’s heart,”...
Melissa McCarthy to Be Honored at Artemis Women in Action Film Fest
Melissa McCarthy’s filmography includes roles such as a ghost-catcher, spy, and cop, so it comes as no surprise that the Oscar-nominated actress will be honored with the Powerhouse award by the...
Nanfu Wang’s “I Am Another You” Secures Distribution
Nanfu Wang’s award-winning new documentary has found a home. FilmRise has acquired North American distribution rights to “I Am Another You,” and PBS’ “Independent Lens” secured U.S...
Cannes 2017: 33% of Shorts and 44% of Cinéfondation Picks Are Women-Directed
Cannes announced its selections for the Short Films Competition and Cinéfondation category today, and 33 percent of the shorts and 44 percent of the Cinéfondation films are directed by women....
“The Raven Cycle” Gets Pilot Order, Catherine Hardwicke to Direct
Fantasy fans, rejoice. Maggie Stiefvater’s best-selling four-book series “The Raven Cycle” is being adapted for TV, and Catherine Hardwicke has signed on to helm the pilot and serve as an...
Amy Adams to Receive American Cinematheque Award
Amy Adams has been named as the 2017 recipient of the American Cinematheque Award, a press release has announced. The honor recognizes “an extraordinary artist in the entertainment industry who is...
Trailer Watch: Everyone Just Wants to Survive the Night in Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit”
“Detroit” Throughout her career, Kathryn Bigelow has explored the traditionally masculine subjects of war and violence. “The Hurt Locker” suggested that life-or-death situations can be a...
Alfre Woodard to Star in “Juanita”
Alfre Woodard has signed on to star in “Juanita,” an indie drama based on Sheila Williams’ 2002 novel “Dancing on the Edge of the Roof,” Variety reports. The “Luke Cage” actress is...
“Ghost in the Shell” and a Brief Herstory of Whitewashing
Scarlett Johansson in “Ghost in the Shell” During its opening weekend, the anticipated yet controversial film “Ghost in the Shell” took home a measly $19 million at the domestic box office....
Daisy Asquith’s “Queerama” to Open Sheffield Doc/Fest
Daisy Asquith’s “Queerama” will open the 2017 Sheffield Doc/Fest, Women in Film and Television UK reports. Created with material from the BFI National Archive, the doc was made to mark the 50...
Cannes 2017: Women in Motion Announces Young Talents Award Details & Names Isabelle Huppert as Face…
Cannes 2017: Women in Motion Announces Young Talents Award Details & Names Isabelle Huppert as Face of Program The film lineup for the 70th Cannes Film Festival will be announced in a couple...
Goldie Hawn Retrospective to Screen at the Quad Cinema in NYC
The upcoming mother-daughter comedy “Snatched” marks Goldie Hawn’s first film since 2002’s “The Banger Sisters.” To celebrate the end of Hawn’s 15-year sabbatical, the Quad will hold a...
Quote of the Day: Kirsten Dunst on Filming Sex Scenes with Women Directors
Like most actors, Kirsten Dunst is not a fan of filming sex scenes. “I don’t like it, I don’t like it,” the “Hidden Figures” actress told E! News at CinemaCon while promoting Sofia...
Shonda Rhimes Teams Up with Dove for Real Beauty Productions
Throughout her career, Shonda Rhimes has been praised for her shows’ inclusivity and diversity. Unlike many other offerings on TV, series like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” do not...