Films
“Hidden Figures” STEM Contest Grand Prize Winners are Announced
“The Search for Hidden Figures” is officially over. According to Shadow and Act, the scholarship contest, inspired by the film “Hidden Figures,” awarded its two grand prizes to Joy Buolamwin...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Sabaah Folayan — “Whose Streets?”
Sabaah Folayan is a storyteller and activist based in Brooklyn, New York. She was a lead organizer for The Millions March, one of the largest marches for racial justice in New York history. “Whose...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Gillian Robespierre — “Landline”
Gillian Robespierre is a filmmaker born and raised in New York City. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts, Film and Video Program. Her first feature, “Obvious Child,” premiered at...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kyoko Miyake — “Tokyo Idols”
Born in Japan, Kyoko Miyake studied history at Tokyo University and then moved to Britain to research the history of witchcraft at Oxford. Her film “Brakeless” won a Peabody Award after airing...
Upcoming BAM Exhibition Celebrates Black Women’s Cinema
Cinephiles, your February just became a whole lot busier. Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) recently announced its “One Way or Another: Black Women’s Cinema, 1970–1991” exhibition, which...
Exclusive: Chicken & Egg Pictures Announces Breakthrough Filmmaker Award Recipients
Chicken & Egg Pictures has announced the recipients of the second Breakthrough Filmmaker Award, which includes a $50,000 unrestricted grant and a year-long creative support and mentorship...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kirsten Tan — “Pop Aye”
Kirsten Tan is a writer, director, and cinematographer. Her work has screened at film fests across the world, including Singapore, Rotterdam, and Toronto. Tan has won numerous international awards,...
AFI Announces the 25 Female Directors Selected for Fox Filmmaker Lab
The American Film Institute (AFI) recently announced the 25 female directors selected for the 2017 Fox Filmmaker Lab, an initiative designed to increase the number of women directing major studio...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors Preview: Films About Pioneers, Dancers, and Nuns
“Step” The Sundance Film Festival kicks off January 19, and like all major fests, the program is rather overwhelming. There are lots of options, and plenty of projects worth checking out. We’ve...
Trailer Watch: A Vegetarian Transforms into a Cannibal in Julia Ducournau’s “Raw”
It’s probably not a good idea to watch the Red Band trailer for Julia Ducournau’s “Raw” with a full stomach. The newly released spot for the horror film features absolutely no dialogue, but...
CIR Launches Glassbreaker Films for Female Documentary Filmmakers
The Center for Investigative Reporting has announced the launch of Glassbreaker Films, a new film studio “intended to support and empower women in documentary filmmaking.” Glassbreaker Films was...
Amber Tamblyn’s Directorial Debut “Paint it Black” Acquired for Spring Release
Amber Tamblyn’s directorial debut, “Paint it Black” has been acquired by Imagination Worldwide for a release this April. The film premiered at the 2016 LA Film Festival. Based on the cult...
Tessa Thompson and Lily James Team Up for Nia DaCosta’s “Little Woods”
Tessa Thompson and Lily James have signed on to topline “Little Woods,” Nia DaCosta’s feature directorial debut. The two actresses will play sisters in the indie film,...
Gugu Mbatha-Raw Set to Star in Julia Hart’s “Fast Color”
Gugu Mbatha- Raw (“Belle,” “Beyond the Lights”) is set to star in the thriller “Fast Color,” Variety reports. “Miss Stevens” director Julia Hart is set to helm, with a screenplay she...
Weekly Update for January 13: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Claire in Motion” Films About Women Opening This Week Claire in Motion — Written and Directed by Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson (Also Available on VOD) Three weeks after Claire’s...
Maren Ade and Sandra Hüller Discuss Nudity and Feminism in Oscar Favorite “Toni Erdmann”
“Toni Erdman” is one of the most lauded films of 2016. It was won many critics awards and was named best film of the year by multiple international critics associations, including Sight &...
Kate Mara Iraq War Biopic Helmed by “Blackfish” Director Gets a Release Date
We’re one step closer to seeing Kate Mara in action on the front line. “Megan Leavey” has been acquired by Bleecker Street, Deadline reports. Mara plays a marine corporal in the biopic, which...
Trailer Watch: “The Lure” Makes Mermaids Frightening Again
Mermaids have always been frightening creatures of mythology, and now, Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska’s “The Lure” brings back the horror lost to Disney princesses, with an added fun,...
Taraji P. Henson Set to Play Hit Woman in “Proud Mary”
Taraji P. Henson has her next movie role lined up. According to Deadline, Henson is set to star in “Proud Mary,” for Screen Gems. She’s previously acted for the company in “No Good Deed”...
Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Acquires Heidi Saman’s Award-Winning Debut “Namour”
Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY has announced its fifteenth film acquisition. The independent distribution company has snagged “Namour,” Egyptian-American filmmaker Heidi Saman’s first feature. The...
Trailer Watch: Women Will Make You Scream with Horror Anthology “XX”
Horror anthology film “XX” is a breath of fresh air in the male-dominated genre: The feature utilizes an all-female directing team. A new trailer has been released for the project, and the...
“Cameraperson,” “Hooligan Sparrow,” and “Making a Murderer” Win at Cinema Eye
Kirsten Johnson’s “Cameraperson” topped the Cinema Eye Honors last night, taking home three awards: Outstanding Cinematography for Johnson, Outstanding Editing for Nels Bangerter, and...
New York Jewish Film Festival 2017 Lineup is 50 Percent Female-Directed
The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Jewish Museum kicked off the 26th Annual New York Jewish Film Festival yesterday and half of the lineup is directed by women. The NYJFF is one of the...
Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell on Identity, Loss, and Growth in “Claire in Motion”
Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell’s s debut feature, “Small, Beautifully Moving Parts,” premiered at SXSW in 2011 and went on to play over thirty festivals. Awards include the Alfred P. Sloan...
Trailer Watch: Gemma Arterton Joins the Movie Biz in Lone Scherfig’s “Their Finest”
The movie business isn’t all glitz and glamour, a fact made painfully clear in a newly released trailer for “An Education” director Lone Scherfig’s latest film, “Their Finest.” In it, we...
2016 Celluloid Ceiling Study Shows Us That Women Still Aren’t Making Progress
Jennifer Yuh Nelson, co-director of “Kung Fu Panda 3,” 2016’s highest-grossing film with a woman director: channelAPA — Asian American Entertainment/ YouTube We here at Women and...
Hasbro Launching New Female Toy Character with Digital Series
Toy maker Hasbro is launching a new female character. As The Hollywood Reporter writes, the company will introduce Hanazuki, “a girl gifted with powers that are tied to her many moods.” The toy...
Natalie Portman Says Ashton Kutcher Was Paid 3x More on “No Strings Attached”
Sexism strikes again. During an interview with Marie Claire UK, Oscar winner and “Jackie” star Natalie Portman revealed that her “No Strings Attached” co-star, Ashton Kutcher, was paid...
Kitty Genovese Doc “The Witness” Getting Narrative Treatment
The documentary “The Witness,” which follows the story of the murder of Kitty Genovese, is getting the narrative film treatment, Deadline reports. Killer Films’ Christine Vachon and Pamela...
2017 Bitch List Highlights Diverse Scripts That Pass the Bechdel Test
The annual Bitch List, which works to highlight unproduced feature film and television screenplays that pass the Bechdel Test, has just been released. For those not in the know, the Bechdel Test was...
Trailer Watch: Riley Keough & Jena Malone are BFFs in So Yong Kim’s “Lovesong”
If and when the line between platonic and romantic gets blurred, it’s unlikely that a friendship will ever be the same. A trailer for So Yong Kim’s “Lovesong” has been released, and it hints...
Why the Abortion Story Line on “Degrassi: Next Class” is So Groundbreaking
Guest post by Kelly Martinez “Yesterday, I was pregnant and now I’m not. And I’d like to talk about it. There’s so many things I wanna do in high school and being a mom is not one of them....
Jackie Collins’ Lucky Santangelo Books Being Adapted Into Film Trilogy
Jackie Collin’s beloved character Lucky Santangelo is coming to the big screen. As Deadline reports, the 10-novel series has been acquired by Universal Pictures with the hope of making a trilogy...
Athena Film Festival Announces its 2017 Lineup: “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Fits,” & More
The Athena Film Festival has released its seventh annual lineup. The 2017 edition of the fest, which is dedicated to celebrating female leaders in the real life and the fictional world, will feature...
Hope Dickson Leach’s “The Levelling” Acquired By Monterey Media
Hope Dickson Leach’s debut feature film “The Levelling” has been acquired by Monterey Media. The film premiered at TIFF back in September. Set in Somerset, England, “The Levelling” follows...
Nanfu Wang, Anna Rose Holmer, and Jordana Mollick Receive Spirit Grants
Three grants were awarded to women this past Saturday annual Film Independent’s annual Spirit Awards Nominees Brunch. As The Hollywood Reporter writes, Jordana Mollick received the Piaget...
Nanfu Wang, Anna Rose Holmer, and Jordana Mollick Recieve Spirit Grants
Nanfu Wang’s “Hooligan Sparrow”Three grants were awarded to women this past Saturday annual Film Independent’s annual Spirit Awards Nominees Brunch. As The Hollywood Reporter writes, Jordana...
“Hidden Figures” Wins Weekend Box Office
The African-American women of “Hidden Figures” ruled the box office this weekend. As The Hollywood Reporter writes, the historical film passed “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” to take the...
Golden Globes 2017 Wrap Up: Queen Meryl Streep, Feminism, and Tuxedos
Last night’s Golden Globe Awards, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, celebrated the best in movies and television of 2016, and there were plenty of moments that stood out for...
Trailer Watch: “Amaka’s Kin — The Women Of Nollywood” Celebrates Women Directors in Nigeria
Named in honor of Amaka Igwe, the most successful Nigerian female filmmaker of all-time, “Amaka’s Kin — The Women Of Nollywood” shines a spotlight on women working in a male-dominated...
Weekly Update for January 6: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Underworld: Blood Wars” Films About Women Opening This Week Underworld: Blood Wars — Directed by Anna Foerster The next installment in the blockbuster franchise, “Underworld: Blood...
Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Hits Palm Springs International Film Festival
The Palm Springs International Film Festival has kicked off, but not without a touch of scandal. Mere days before the festival began, The Desert Sun reports, the former acting director, Helen Du...
Cher to Star in Lifetime Movie Centered on Flint Water Crisis
Cher has signed on to star in “Flint,” an upcoming Lifetime original movie about the headline-making water-contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, Deadline reports. The singer and Oscar-winning...
2016 Marks Record-Breaking Year at the Box Office, But Where Are the Women Directors?
2016 was a history-making year at the North American box office. Variety reports that ticket sales last year amounted to $11.4 billion — a new record for the industry, surpassing 2015’s...
Should Leia Become an Official Disney Princess?
After Carrie Fisher’s tragic death on December 27, fans of the “Star Wars” saga and her character, Princess/General Leia Organa, mourned her loss by showing their devotion the the beloved...
Women Made Up 23% of the Protagonists in 2016’s Top 250 Grossing Films
Female-led films scored the top two spots at the domestic box office in 2016. A blue tang fish and a heroic rebel proved to be the most lucrative characters of the year. “Finding Dory,” whose...
Trailer Watch: Glenn Close Can’t Stop “The Girl with All the Gifts”
An intense new trailer has landed for “The Girl with All the Gifts,” a fresh take on a zombie story. Set in the near future, the dystopian film explores what happens after “humanity has been...
Denmark Faces Another Disappointing Year For Female Director Representation
Denmark, home of such lauded female directors as Susanne Bier and Lone Scherfig, is sadly headed for another disappointing year for Danish female directors. Though the country is known for being...
Katra Film Series Finalists Are 63% Female Directed, Written, and/or Produced
The 5th Annual Katra Film Series Grand Finale is toasting a big group of women this year. The finale of the series will take place on January 25 at the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn. The series...
Trailer Watch: Grab Tissues for “Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds”
Losing both Carrie Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, a mere 24 hours apart right before the year ended seemed like the cap to a particularly sad year of celebrity deaths. As a fitting way of...
Juliette Binoche to Star in Claire Denis’ Next Film
French powerhouses Juliette Binoche and Claire Denis are teaming up. Binoche will star in Denis’ next project, “Dark Glasses,” The Film Stage reports. Set to shoot in Paris and Guéret this...