Films
Cannes Hit “Toni Erdmann” Wins 2016 Fipresci Grand Prix
German writer-director Maren Ade just made history. Her newest film, Cannes hit “Toni Erdmann,” has been awarded the 2016 International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) Grand Prix for best...
How Alpha Violet Supports Female Talent
Virginie Devesa, the co-head of the Paris-based sales agency Alpha Violet, is at the Locarno Film Festival this week in search of new filmmaking voices and has her eye out for films made by women....
Trailer Watch: Halle Berry is On a Mission to Save Her Son in “Kidnap”
Don’t mess with a mom and her minivan. In “Kidnap,” Oscar winner Halle Berry plays Karla McCoy, a woman determined to find her son after he’s kidnapped from a park. A new trailer for the...
Spain’s Oscar Short-List: Two of Three Films are Directed by Women
Spain won’t announce its Academy Award candidate until September 7, but the country has revealed their short-list of contenders, and two of the three films are directed by women: Iciar Bollain’s...
Watch Today: Women’s Leadership in Theater Conference Live Stream
The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco is hosting a Women’s Leadership Conference today that you can watch live. The conference, as BroadwayWorld reports, “emerged from a...
Mira Nair, Freida Pinto, and Cheryl Boone Isaacs to Speak at TIFF Conference
The Toronto International Film Festival Industry Conference has announced further details about its 2016 lineup. While TIFF is best known for its high-profile film screenings, the festival also...
Weekly Update for August 19: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“A Tale of Love and Darkness” Films About Women Opening This Week A Tale of Love and Darkness — Written and Directed by Natalie Portman “A Tale of Love and Darkness” is based on the...
Trailer Watch: “Quit Staring At My Plate” Takes a Woman to Her Breaking Point
Croatian director Hana Jusic’s debut feature, “Quit Staring At My Plate,” will play in competition the Venice Days section of the Venice Film Festival. The new trailer for the film highlights...
Kristen Stewart Gets Candid About Anxiety and Relationships
Having started acting at nine years old, Kristen Stewart has had to grow up in the public eye. That could give anyone anxiety, but the pressures placed on young women in particular can absolutely...
Ellen Page and Kate Mara to Star in Forbidden Romance “Mercy”
Ellen Page (“Freeheld”) and Kate Mara (“House of Cards”) are teaming up for Israeli filmmaker Tali Shalom Ezer’s “Mercy,” Variety reports. The actresses will also produce the romantic...
Trailer Watch: “Girl Asleep” Captures Teenage Angst and Imagination
Being a teenager is seriously rough, and the filmmaking debut of theater director Rosemary Myers captures the angst perfectly in the new trailer for “Girl Asleep.” The Australian comedy stars...
San Francisco Film Society Announces Doc Film Fund Finalists
The San Francisco Film Society has announced the ten finalists for the 2016 SFFS Documentary Film Fund awards, which support feature-length documentaries in post-production. Six of the ten projects...
All Eight Disney/ABC Diversity Program Writers Get Staff Jobs
All eight writers selected for the year-long Disney|ABC Writing Program have secured staff jobs on series for the 2016–17 television season, Shadow and Act reports. Three of the writers are women:...
Kathryn Bigelow to Be Honored by LACMA
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art will honor Kathryn Bigelow for her illustrious career at its sixth annual Art + Film Gala this fall. Bigelow made history in 2010 when she became the first...
“Hidden Figures” Eyes Potential Awards Season Qualifying Run
Good news for fans of female-centric movies, inclusive casts, and the history of space travel: Deadline reports that “Hidden Figures,” the true story of the black women involved in the space...
Trailer Watch: Cynthia Nixon Portrays Emily Dickinson’s “Quiet Passion”
Prepare to see Miranda Hobbes as you’ve never seen her before. A trailer has been released for “A Quiet Passion,” featuring former “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon as Emily...
Sofia Vergara Joins the Cast of Whitney Cummings’ Directorial Debut
Sofia Vergara will star in “The Female Brain,” comedian Whitney Cummings’ directorial debut. Comingsoon.net has reported that the ensemble cast for the film will include the Emmy-nominated...
Trailer Watch: “Generation Startup” Shows the Harsh Realities of Entrepreneurship
90 percent of startups fail, but the subjects of Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser’s documentary “Generation Startup” are trying to be some of the few that succeed. The new doc follows six...
Trailer Watch: A Female Musician Goes Against the Grain in “As I Open My Eyes”
A trailer has arrived for “As I Open My Eyes,” Leyla Bouzid’s award-winning feature debut. The coming-of-age film is set against the backdrop of the burgeoning Jasmine Revolution in Tunis and...
Ava DuVernay Talks Making History
Ava DuVernay: THR “Selma” director Ava DuVernay cannot be stopped. No one is going to tell her what to do. And thank goodness. Not only does the director have an abundance of projects coming up,...
Helen McCrory to Star in Six-Part Political Thriller
Helen McCrory has signed on to star in “Fearless,” a six-part series from “Homeland” writer and EP Patrick Harbinson. The project is being produced by Mammoth Screen for ITV and is scheduled...
Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman Reteam for Another Book Adaptation
Oscar winners Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman are set to join forces again, Deadline reports. Witherspoon’s Pacific Standard production banner and Kidman’s Blossom Films have optioned the...
Nia Long Joins Idina Menzel for Lifetime’s “Beaches” Remake
Nia Long is set to join Idina Menzel in Lifetime’s remake of “Beaches,” Deadline reports. Long will play Hillary to Menzel’s CC. The 1988 original starred Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey...
Lizzy Caplan to Topline Dark Comedy “Friend of Bill”
“Masters of Sex” star Lizzy Caplan has signed on to topline “Friend of Bill,” a dark comedy directed by Amy Rice (“By the People: The Election of Barack Obama”). The script, penned by...
Trailer Watch: “American Honey” Wants You to “Dream Baby Dream”
A new trailer for Andrea Arnold’s “American Honey” has been released, and it features Bruce Springsteen’s “Dream Baby Dream” and new voiceover narration describing the...
The Taint on “The Birth of a Nation”
This past Friday, the public learned (at least the public that was paying attention on a steamy August Friday) that Nate Parker, the most recent Sundance Institute Vanguard winner, and writer and...
TIFF Announces More Galas and Special Presentations
The Toronto International Film Festival will host the World Premiere of Emmanuelle Bercot’s “150 Milligrams.” The fest continues to gradually roll out its complete slate, and the French...
Eva Longoria Signs Deal with Universal
Eva Longoria has signed a two-year, first-look deal with Universal Pictures for her company UnbelEVAble Entertainment, Deadline reports. The first project on the slate is “My Daughter’s...
Amazon Acquires Black List Script About Journalist Ida Tarbell
Ida Tarbell: James E. Purdy/ Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Library of Congress A biopic about Ida Tarbell is on the way. Amazon has acquired “Ida Tarbell,” a 2015 Black List script about the pioneering...
Lauren Palmigiano to Direct Elizabeth Banks-Produced “White Girl Problems”
“Funny or Die” writer Lauren Palmigiano has signed on to make her feature directorial debut with Lionsgate’s “White Girl Problems,” Variety reports. The project is produced by Elizabeth...
Trailer Watch: The Aliens of “Arrival” Are Revealed to Amy Adams
Human beings have often misunderstood one another throughout history. Whether we speak the same language or not, miscommunications have led to catastrophic events. So imagine the pressure Amy...
Patricia Arquette Headlining Colette Burson’s “Permanent”
Patricia Arquette, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her 12-year long role in “Boyhood,” will star in the coming-of-age comedy “Permanent.” The film was written and will be...
What I Learned Starting a Female Film Fest in the Middle of the Country
Guest Post by Justina Walford “But we already have a women’s organization for film.” I was building a three-day film festival of female-created films in Dallas, and to a few, that seemed...
Quote of the Day: Felicity Jones on the Respect “Rogue One” Has for Women
Felicity Jones is about to have an amazing fall/winter of 2016. In addition to leading “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the first spinoff film of the franchise, she’ll appear alongside Tom...
Julie Taymor to Direct Revival of “M. Butterfly”
Julie Taymor will direct a revival of “M. Butterfly,” David Henry Hwang’s Tony-award winning play, BroadwayWorld reports. The drama originally opened on Broadway in 1988 and starred John...
Trailer Watch: “Hidden Figures” Introduces the Black Women Who Got Us into Space
“We go from being our father’s daughters, to our husbands wives, to our baby’s mothers,” says Janelle Monáe’s character in the new trailer for “Hidden Figures.” But that’s no longer...
Trailer Watch: “Long Way North” Heroine Sets Out on a Frigid Quest
Shout! Factory Films has announced a release date for the animated film “Long Way North” and unveiled a new trailer in anticipation. The film, according to its official synopsis, is set in the...
“Walking Dead” Director Jennifer Chambers Lynch to Helm Horror Film
Jennifer Chambers Lynch has helmed episodes of “The Walking Dead” and is pretty much guaranteed to have creepy in her DNA — David Lynch is her father. So it’s fitting that she’ll...
San Sebastian Film Festival’s Official Lineup Includes Zero Women Directors
Sixteen films have been announced in San Sebastian Film Festival’s Official Selection as of today, and exactly zero of them are directed by women. As its name suggests, the Official Selection is...
Weekly Update for August 12: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Florence Foster Jenkins” Films About Women Opening This Week Florence Foster Jenkins Meryl Streep disappears into yet another role, this time as art patron and heiress Florence Foster...
Frankie Shaw Gets Showtime Pilot
Showtime has ordered a pilot for Frankie Shaw’s “SMILF,” Deadline reports. The series is based on her short of the same name that won the Short Film Jury Award at Sundance last year. The...
Michelle MacLaren to Direct Film Adaptation of “The Nightingale”
Michelle MacLaren is making her big-screen directorial debut after building an impressive resume working in TV, helming episodes of series such as “Better Call Saul,” “Game of Thrones,”...
Trailer Watch: “Rogue One” Reveals Your Favorite Villain
The familiar, heavy breath of Darth Vader is a lingering presence over the end of the new trailer for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” but our female lead, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) seems...
Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Crowdfunding Picks
Untitled “Curious George” documentary This round of August’s crowdfunding picks challenge us to acknowledge and empathize with some who are invisible in most narratives: authors of famous...
Sundance Announces 2016 Fellows
Sundance has announced the 12 independent artists who will be awarded the 2016 Sundance Institute/Time Warner Foundation Fellowships and seven of them (58 percent) are women. As a release details,...
Alice Winocour on PTSD and Peeling Back the Layers of a Trophy Wife in “Disorder”
“Disorder,” the latest from French writer-director Alice Winocour, spans many genres. What begins as a character portrait of Vincent (Matthias Schoenaerts, “A Bigger Splash,” “The Danish...
Margot Robbie to Play A Trapeze Artist in “Queen of the Air”
Margot Robbie is putting aside her “Suicide Squad” sledgehammer and joining the circus. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Robbie is attached to star as a trapeze artist in “Queen of the...
Emily Carmichael to Direct “Lumberjanes” for 20th Century Fox
Indie filmmaker Emily Carmichael will direct “Lumberjanes” for 20th Century Fox, TheWrap has reported. According to the site, “Lumberjanes” is considered “a female version of ‘The...
“Star Trek: Discovery” Will Feature a Female Lead
Bryan Fuller revealed more details about the upcoming “Star Trek” series “Star Trek: Discovery,” which is set to air on CBS’ All Access, while at the TCAs this week. The series, The...
Academy Announces 2016 Film Scholars
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced Dr. Donna Kornhaber and Dr. Ellen Christine Scott as 2016 Academy Film Scholars. The Film Scholars program, which was established in...
Trailer Watch: Kathy Bates’ Love is Unconditional in “The Great Gilly Hopkins”
A new trailer has been released for “The Great Gilly Hopkins,” Lionsgate Premiere’s upcoming adaptation of Katherine Paterson’s National Book Award-winning 1978 children’s novel. The...