Interviews
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Alanis Obomsawin — “We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice”
Alanis Obomsawin’s directing credits include “70 Years of Resistance,” “Rocks at Whiskey Trench,” “Is the Crown at War with Us?,” “Hi-Ho Mistahey!,” and “Trick or Treaty?” In...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Kelly Fremon Craig — “The Edge of Seventeen”
Kelly Fremon Craig started out writing sketch comedy and spoken word poetry in college, then landed an internship in the film division of Immortal Entertainment, where she read her first film script...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Maya Zinshtein — “Forever Pure”
Maya Zinshtein is an Israeli filmmaker and journalist originally from Russia. She has worked as a producer of documentaries, including “Thieves by Law” (2010), and as an investigative...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Katherine Dieckmann — “Strange Weather”
Katherine Dieckmann’s films include “Motherhood,” “Diggers,” and “A Good Baby.” She began her career as a journalist, writing for such publications as Rolling Stone, The Village Voice,...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Katell Quillévéré — “Heal the Living”
Katell Quillévéré was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Her films include the shorts “À bras les corps,” “L’Imprudence,” and “L’Échappée,” and the features “Un poison violent”...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Raja Amari — “Foreign Body”
Raja Amari’s previous features include “Satin Rouge” and “Buried Secrets.” She was born in Tunis and completed a Master’s degree in French literature at the University of Tunis, and...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Bronwen Hughes — “The Journey is the Destination”
Bronwen Hughes is a Canadian-British film director based in New York and Hollywood. “The Journey is the Destination” is her fourth feature film. Hughes’ previous films include “Forces of...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Erin Heidenreich — “Girl Unbound”
Director-writer-producer of documentaries, short films, and branded content, Erin Heidenreich’s voice has been shaped by the cultures she has immersed herself in across the globe. Set in the...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Elite Zexer — “Sand Storm”
Interview by Eboni Boykin and Laura Berger Elite Zexer’s previous short films are “Take Note,” which won the Best Fiction Film Award at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival, and...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Robin Swicord — “Wakefield”
Robin Swicord made her feature directorial debut with “The Jane Austen Book Club,” which she also penned the screenplay for. Her other screenwriting credits include “Memoirs of a Geisha,”...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Emmanuelle Bercot — “150 Milligrams”
Emmanuelle Bercot’s previous directing credits include “Clément,” “Backstage,” “On My Way,” and “Standing Tall.” Bercot’s films have earned her many awards and honors,...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors : Meet Sofia Exarchou — “Park”
Sofia Exarchou was born in Athens. She has been working as an assistant director in feature films and commercials since 2004. She has written and directed two short films, “Distance” and...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet María José Cuevas — “Beauties of the Night”
María José Cuevas’ practice draws from her experience in documentary, experimental video, design, and photography. She has collaborated on a variety of diverse cultural projects, which have...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Sarah Adina Smith — “Buster’s Mal Heart”
Sarah Adina Smith’s first feature, “The Midnight Swim,” won six top prizes on the festival circuit, including the breakthrough audience award from AFI FEST. Smith was the only female director...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet April Mullen — “Below Her Mouth”
April Mullen’s previous features include “88,” an action thriller, and “Dead Before Dawn 3D,” which confirmed Mullen as the youngest person and first female to direct a live action...
TIFF 2016: Meet Chloé Robichaud — “Boundaries”
Born in Quebec, screenwriter and director Chloé Robichaud lives and works in Montreal. Her first feature film, “Sarah préfère la course,” was selected for the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Her...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Rachel Lambert — “In the Radiant City”
Rachel Lambert received a BFA from Boston University and also studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. After graduating, she worked for HanWay Films in addition to writing and...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Selma Vilhunen — “Little Wing”
Selma Vilhunen is an Academy Award nominated director and screenwriter based in Helsinki, Finland. She has written and directed both documentaries and fiction films since 1998. Vilhunen’s short...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Amma Asante — “A United Kingdom”
Amma Asante’s previous directing credits include “Belle” and “A Way of Life.” Both films premiered at TIFF. Asante has been named by Variety as one of the Top Ten Directors to Watch, and...
“Fun Home” Writers Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron on Saying Goodbye to Broadway
Gabriella Pizzolo and Michael Cerveris in “Fun Home”: Joan Marcus Musicals take many years to develop, and when that development results in a successful Broadway run, saying goodbye can be...
“As I Open My Eyes” Writer-Director Leyla Bouzid on Arab Women and Revolution
Interview by Siân Melton Leyla Bouzid is a Tunisian born and raised filmmaker. She studied French literature at the University of Paris and film directing at La Fémis. Her shorts...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Alison Maclean — “The Rehearsal”
Alison Maclean’s credits include “Crush,” “Jesus’s Son,” and “Kitchen Sink.” She was born in Canada and raised in New Zealand. “The Rehearsal” will premiere at the 2016 Toronto...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Ann Marie Fleming — “Window Horses”
Ann Marie Fleming is an independent Eurasian-Canadian filmmaker, writer, and artist. She has created award-winning work in a variety of genres, and often focuses on the themes of family, history,...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Anne Émond — “Nelly”
Anne Émond lives and works in Montreal. Between 2005 and 2011, she wrote and directed seven short films, “Naissances” and “Sophie Lavoie” among them, which screened at several international...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Petra Epperlein — “Karl Marx City”
Petra Epperlein and her co-director/husband Michael Tucker’s previous films include “The Last Cowboy,” “Gunner Palace,” “The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair,”...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Ralitza Petrova — “Godless”
Ralitza Petrova studied Directing at the National Film and Television School in the UK. Her films have won acclaim at film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, and Locarno. In 2007 she was awarded the...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Susan Johnson — “Carrie Pilby”
Susan Johnson is an Independent Spirit Award winning filmmaker. “Carrie Pilby” marks her feature directorial debut. After a successful career as a music video director, Johnson has produced 10...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Hope Dickson Leach— “The Levelling”
Born in Hong Kong and educated in the UK, Hope Dickson Leach completed her MFA in filmmaking at Columbia University in New York. Her award-winning thesis film, “The Dawn Chorus,” played at...
TIFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Maren Ade — “Toni Erdmann”
Maren Ade‘s second feature, “Everyone Else,” won two Silver Bears at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival: the Grand Jury Prize and Best Actress for Birgit Minichmayr. The modern relationship drama...
“White Girl” Writer-Director Elizabeth Wood on Her Controversial New Film
Interview by Diana Martinez After a few years of making experimental and documentary films, Elizabeth Wood received a screenwriting fellowship to Columbia, where she earned her MFA. One of...
Listen: Podcast with Clea DuVall, Writer, Director, and Star of “The Intervention”
Women and Hollywood spoke with Clea DuVall, writer, director, and star of “The Intervention.” DuVall has been acting on screen for 20 years, with credits including “Veep,” “American Horror...
“Equal Means Equal” Director Kamala Lopez Talks Patricia Arquette and Fair Pay
Kamala Lopez has been named the 2015 Woman of the Year by the LA County’s Board of Supervisors and the Women’s Commission, one of 21 Leaders of the 21st Century by eNews, and the 2011 Woman of...
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...
Emmy Winner Tracy Droz Tragos on Her New Doc “Abortion: Stories Women Tell”
Tracy Droz Tragos is an award-winning independent filmmaker. Tragos’ “Rich Hill” explored rural poverty and won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival....
Molly Bernstein on Her New Doc About Photographer Rosamond Purcell
Interview by Freja Dam Molly Bernstein directed, produced, and edited “Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay.” She has written and directed documentary profiles of other...
Serbian Actress Mirjana Karanović on Her Directorial Debut “A Good Wife”
“A Good Wife”: Karlovy Vary Interview By Tina Poglajen Mirjana Karanović has been one of the most instantly recognizable faces of the cinema of the countries of ex-Yugoslavia at least since...
Maris Curran Talks Grief and Compassion in “Five Nights in Maine”
Maris Curran spoke with Women and Hollywood about the “joys and trauma of everyday life” that her debut feature, “Five Nights in Maine,” explores. The drama made its World Premiere at TIFF...
Sian Heder Reveals What Inspired Her New Kidnapping Drama “Tallulah”
Sian Heder writes and produces on “Orange is the New Black,” for which she has received multiple WGA nominations. Her first short film, “Mother,” won top honors at the Cannes Film Festival,...
“Into the Forest” Writer-Director Patricia Rozema on Her Sister-Centric Survival Story
Interview by Freja Dam Patricia Rozema’s first feature, “I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing,” won the Prix de la Jeunesse and was runner-up for the Camera d’Or at the 1987 Cannes Film...
Oscar Winner Barbara Kopple on Her Inspiring New Doc “Miss Sharon Jones!”
Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award winning filmmaker. Her recent credits include “Shelter,” which explores the psychological trauma created by military service, the effects that remain...
Listen: Podcast with “Equity” Director Meera Menon
Women and Hollywood recently had the chance to talk with director Meera Menon about her trailblazing new film. “Equity” tells the story of the women of Wall Street — the powerful female...
Nanfu Wang on Activism, Sex Work, and Human Rights in “Hooligan Sparrow”
Interview by Diana Martinez Nanfu Wang was born in a remote farming village in Jiangxi Province, China. Wang is a recipient of the Sundance Documentary Fund and the Bertha Britdoc Journalism Fund...
Catherine Corsini on Pioneering Lesbian Feminists and “Summertime”
In “Summertime,” Catherine Corsini gives us a love story about two women in Paris and the French countryside at the dawn of the feminist movement in the early 1970s. These women are forging a...
Listen: Podcast with “Our Kind of Traitor” Director Susanna White
Women and Hollywood recently spoke with British director Susanna White about “Our Kind of Traitor,” her upcoming spy thriller starring Ewan McGregor, Naomie Harris (“Spectre”), Stellan...
“I Dream Too Much” Writer-Director Katie Cokinos on Her Bright and Uplifting Coming-of-Age Story
Katie Cokinos began her film career in the late 1980s working at Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP) in Houston, where she co-produced Eagle Pennell’s “Heart Full of Soul” in 1989. She...
“O.J.: Made In America” Producer Caroline Waterlow on Race, Marcia Clark, and Domestic Abuse
Women and Hollywood spoke with Caroline Waterlow, producer of the highly anticipated “O.J.: Made in America,” one of Sundance 2016’s biggest hits. Described as a masterpiece by many critics,...
Listen: Podcast With Emily Best, CEO and Founder of Seed&Spark
Women and Hollywood spoke with Emily Best, the CEO and Founder of Seed&Spark, about the exciting new steps for the platform. It is going to bring audiences to the content creators....
LA Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Anaïs Volpé — “HEIS (chronicles)”
Anaïs Volpé is a screenwriter, filmmaker, visual artist, and actress. She likes mixing arts and exploring new forms of narration. In 2013, she directed her first short film, “Blast.” The film...
LA Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Meet Dorie Barton — “Girl Flu.”
Writer-director Dorie Barton makes her feature film debut with “Girl Flu.” She has spent many years as a story consultant with filmmakers, from up-and-coming writers, to industry veterans. As a...
LA Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Meet Melissa Finell — “Sensitivity Training”
Melissa Finell is an award-winning director and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. “Sensitivity Training” is her first feature film. Her script for the film won an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation...
LA Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Meet Melissa Finell — “Sensivity Training”
“Sensitivity Training”Melissa Finell is an award-winning director and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. “Sensitivity Training” is her first feature film. Her script for the film won an...