Interviews
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Laura Bispuri — ‘Sworn Virgin’
Laura Bispuri was an attendee of the Fandango Lab Workshop. She won the David Donatello Award (Italian Oscars) for Best Short Film in 2010 with “Passing Time.” “Sworn Virgin” is her first...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Malika Zouhali-Worrall — ‘Thank You For Playing’
Malika Zouhali-Worrall is an award-winning filmmaker of British/Moroccan origin. She is one of the directors and the producer of “Call Me Kuchu” (2012), a documentary that depicts the last year...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Ivy Meeropol — ‘Indian Point’
Ivy Meeropol is an acclaimed documentary filmmaker. Her work has been featured on the Sundance Channel and HBO. Meeropol’s films have been nominated for numerous awards, and her feature, “Heir...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Jeanie Finlay — ‘Orion: The Man Who Would Be King’
Jeanie Finlay is an acclaimedBritish artist and filmmaker who creates intimate, funny and personaldocumentary films and artworks. Her focus is on creating compelling portraits, and she is obsessed...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Andrea Nevins — ‘Play It Forward’
Academy Award-nominated Andrea Nevins has produced, directed and written for documentary film, television news, public radio and newspapers for over 25 years. She has produced critically acclaimed...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg — ‘In My Father’s House’
Tribeca Film Festival alumni Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg are multi-award-winning producers and directors best known for “Knuckleball!,” “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” “The Devil Came...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Anna Sandilands — ‘Uncertain’
Anna Sandilands and her co-director Ewan McNicol are the directing and producing team behind and the co-owners and creative directors of the documentary studio Lucid Inc. Both are named in Filmmaker...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Diane Bell — ‘Bleeding Heart’
“Bleeding Heart” is writer/director Diane Bell’s second feature. Her first feature film, “Obselidia,” premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival,...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Melanie Shaw — ‘Shut Up and Drive’
Melanie Shaw was born and raised in Los Angeles. Her short films have been featured in the LA Film Festival, NYU’s New Visions and Voices (2010 Best Director), and more. In 2011, Shaw directed a...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Reed Morano — ‘Meadowland’
Reed Morano is the youngest active member in the American Society of Cinematographers and one of only 13 women out of approximately 345 active members in the organization. In 2011, she was the...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Erin Lee Carr — ‘Thought Crimes’
Erin Lee Carr is a documentary filmmaker. Before that, she covered the vast intersection between science and technology for Vice Media, specifically for their science vertical Motherboard. She also...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Pamela Romanowsky — ‘The Adderall Diaries’
Pamela Romanowsky studied behavioral psychology at Macalester College, verité documentary filmmaking with Barbara Kopple, and narrative filmmaking at New York University’s MFA program. “The...
‘Apartment Troubles’ Directors/Stars Jennifer Prediger & Jess Weixler on Making a Film With a New BFF
Jennifer Prediger and Jess Weixler’s directorial debut “Apartment Troubles” follows the trials and tribulations of co-dependentroommates Olivia (Prediger) and Nicole (Weixler), who find...
Composer Jeanine Tesori on Her Artistic Process and Rewarding Female Ambition
Cross-posted with permission from The Interval.We want Jeanine Tesori to be our life coach. Really. And not just for the obvious reasons, like that Jeanine holds the most Tony nominations for...
SXSW Film Head Janet Pierson Puts Her Stamp on the Austin Festival
In 2009, Janet Pierson took over the South by Southwest Film Festival from longtime fest head Matt Dentler, stepping boldly into her new role — but not without a little trepidation. Dentler,...
Director/Choreographer Kathleen Marshall on Her Process, Female Mentors, and Developing New Musicals
Cross-posted with permission from The Interval. Let’s go put on a Broadway show! We can do it! Okay, this is some hubris on our part, but also the effect that listening to someone talk both...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Jessica Edwards — ‘Mavis!’
Jessica Edwards has a broad background in the film industry as a director, producer and publicist. Her short film “Seltzer Works” screened at SXSW and many other festivals before airing on PBS....
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Katie Cokinos — ‘I Dream Too Much’
Katie Cokinos has a history of supporting independent film, starting in Texas, where she was an administrator for SWAMP and Managing Director of the Austin Film Society. She’s made five short...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti — ‘A Woman Like Me’
Alex Sichel (Writer, Director) directed the feature “All Over Me”, released by New Line, which UCLA’s Journal of Cinema and Media Studies named one of the top films by women directors. All...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Director Phie Ambo & Producer Malene Flindt Pedersen — ‘Good Things Await’
PhieAmbo directed the film “Mechanical Love,” which was in the Joris Ivenscompetition in 2007. It has screened at 15 film festivals and won two first prizes. In 2005 she directed the film...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli — ‘Frame by Frame’
AlexandriaBombach is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who lives on the road. The founder of Red Reel, Bombach is known to sell all her belongings to tell a story shebelieves in. Mo Scarpelli is a...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Betzabé García — ‘Kings of Nowhere (Los Reyes Del Pueblo Que No Existe)’
Betzabé García’s first feature documentary film, “Kings of Nowhere,” was thewinner of the Program of Promotion of Projects, the Cultural Joint Ventures ofthe National Fund for Culture and...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Zuzanna Solakiewicz — ’15 Corners of the World’
Zuzanna Solakiewicz graduated from the University of Warsaw before going on to study directing at the Sam Spiegel Film & TV School in Jerusalem. She has completed an internship at the Lodz Film...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Anna Sofie Hartmann — ‘Limbo’
Anna Sofie Hartmann was born in Denmark. She studied for a year at the European Film College in Aarhus. After moving to Berlin, she worked at the Studio Olafur Eliasson. In 2008 she began studying...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Hannah Fidell — ‘6 Years’
Hannah Fidellwrote and directed the feature film “A Teacher,” which premiered at Sundance 2013and went on to play such festivals as SXSW, where she won the Chicken & EggAward. In 2012, her...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Samantha Futerman — ‘Twinsters’
Samantha Futerman is a Korean American adoptee from New Jersey. She attended the Professional Performing Arts School in New York City and graduated from Boston University in 2009 with a BFA in...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Lina Mannheimer — ‘The Ceremony’
After obtaining a degree in film and art history from the University of Nebrija in Madrid, Lina Mannheimer embarked on a Master’s of Science program at the Stockholm School of Economics. She also...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Olivia Wyatt — ‘Sailing A Sinking Sea’
Olivia Wyatt is a filmmaker and photographer based in Los Angeles. She is a member of the Sublime Frequencies film and music collective. Her first feature, “Staring Into the Sun,” is about...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Katharine Emmer — ‘Life in Color’
Katharine Emmer is a graduate of New York University, where she was the recipient of the Tisch Artistic Achievement Award. She has appeared on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” and made her acting...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Sara Hirsh Bordo — ‘A Brave Heart’
“A Brave Heart” is Sara Hirsh Bordo’s film directorial debut. She has held senior roles at Paramount Pictures and MGM Studios as Co-Founder of NowLive and Producer of TEDxAustinWomen. In 2012,...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Ondi Timoner — ‘BRAND: A Second Coming’ and ‘The Last Mile’
Director and producer Ondi Timoner won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice — for “Dig!” (2004) about the collision of art and commerce through the story of two bands and “We Live in...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Shannon Sun-Higginson — ‘GTFO: Get The F#$% Out’
Shannon Sun-Higginson is a documentary filmmaker from New York City. In 2009, her first documentary short, “Hapa Perspectives,” aired on Current TV. She has worked as a Production Coordinator...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Rebecca Johnson — ‘Honeytrap’
Rebecca Johnson makes her feature-film debut with “Honeytrap” after a string of short-film successes, including the award-winning “Top Girl,” which played at more than 30 festivals...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Micah Magee — ‘Petting Zoo’
Micah Magee graduated from the University of Texas with a dual degree in Plan II Honors and Radio-Television-Film. In addition to making films, Magee worked as managing and programming director of...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Nelly Ben Hayoun — ‘Disaster Playground’
Award-winning director and designer of experiences Nelly Ben Hayoun is a critical explorer and a fearless and passionate provocateur. Wired Magazine awarded Nelly Ben Hayoun with an Innovation...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Karyn Kusama — ‘The Invitation’
Karyn Kusama wrote and directed her first feature film, “Girlfight,” in 1999. The film won the Director’s Prize and shared the GrandJury Prize at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. It went on to...
‘October Gale’ Writer-Director Ruba Nadda on Widowhood and Shooting During the Coldest Winter in Decades
Ruba Nadda is a Montreal-born, Toronto-based filmmaker. She attended York University and the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. She has written and directed several feature films, including...
The Big O: Oscar-Nominated ‘Dragon 2’ Producer Arnold Aims to Make DreamWorks Soar Again
Bonnie Arnold has plenty of reasons to be animated of late. Not only was she named co-president of DreamWorks feature animation last month with fellow producer Mireille Soria, but the industry...
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Willemiek Kluijfhout — ‘Sergio Herman: F*cking Perfect’
Willemiek Kluijfhout studied Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and attended the DutchFilm and Television Academy as a director. She has directed several highly acclaimed documentaries...
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Stina Werenfels — ‘Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents’
Born in Basel in 1964, Stina Werenfels spent her early childhood in the USA, Greece, and Spain. After her degree in pharmacology, she went on to study film at New York University’s Tisch School of...
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Silvina Landsmann — ‘Hotline’
Born in Argentina in 1965, Silvina Landsmann emigrated to Israel with her family at the age of eleven. After studying psychology in Paris and math in Tel Aviv, she graduated from Tel Aviv...
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Sonja Heiss — ‘Hedi Schneider Is Stuck’
Sonja Heiss studied at the HFF Film School of Munich before acquiring experience in advertising. Her first feature, Hotel Very Welcome, won the “Dialogue en perspective” prize at the Berlinale....
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Sanna Lenken — ‘My Skinny Sister’
Sanna Lenken studied film directing at the National Film School, Dramatiska Institutet in Stockholm. She has also studied film at the European Film College in Ebeltoft, Denmark, and the Dramatiska...
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Ella Manzheeva — ‘The Gulls’
Director Ella Manzheeva graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television in 2005, specializing in TV and film sound engineering. In 2007, she enrolled at the Higher Courses...
Tony Winner Laura Benanti on ‘Nashville,’ ‘Parade,’ and the Importance of Female Mentors
“Thank God we’re interviewing Laura Benanti,” was a phrase we were proclaiming a lot the past two weeks. It’s only the middle of January, but so far 2015 hasn’t exactly been a banner year...
‘Girlhood’ Director Céline Sciamma on Feminism, Race, and Paris Post-Charlie Hebdo
French writer-director Céline Sciamma has a small but sturdy body of work that addresses how girls navigate a culture that can be incredibly hostile to them. She does it with nuance, intelligence,...
Sundance Women Producers: Meet Sophia Lin — ‘Z for Zachariah’
Sophia Lin is a producer and production manager. Her previous credits include Camp X-Ray, Take Shelter, and Friends with Kids. Z for Zachariah premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January...
Sundance Women Producers: Meet Naomi Scott — ‘The Overnight’
Naomi Scott is a London-born writer and producer. Her previous credits include The Greatest Event in Television History, The Andy Milonakis Show, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! Scott produced The Overnight,...
Slamdance Women Directors: Meet Jiyoung Lee — ‘Female Pervert’
Jiyoung Lee is a writer, director, musician, and actress. In 2007 she received an MA in Television, Radio, and Film from Syracuse University. In 2011 she played a fictionalized version of herself in...
Slamdance Women Directors: Meet Gabrielle Demeestere — ‘Yosemite’
Born and raised in Paris, Gabrielle Demeestere is a New York-based filmmaker. Most recently, she wrote and directed a segment of the feature film The Color of Time, based on the poetry of C.K....
The Big O: How Nora Grossman of ‘The Imitation Game’ Broke the Code of Becoming a Woman Producer
Of the top 250 movies that were released last year, women made up only 23% of the producers involved with those titles — down 1% from 1998 — according to the Center for the Study of...