Women Directors
Meet the NYC and LA First-Time Female Filmmaker Contest Winners
Women and Hollywood has selected the New York and Los Angeles winners and runners up of its First-Time Female Filmmaker Contest, an initiative to help build a pipeline of women directors. The NYC...
Quote of the Day: Sarah Polley on How Directing Made Her More Aware of Hollywood’s Sexism
Actress, writer, and director Sarah Polley is sharing her story about Harvey Weinstein. The producer propositioned Polley, the “Stories We Tell” helmer writes in an opinion piece for the New...
Just Getting By: November’s VOD and Web Series Picks
“Eighty-Sixed” Breakups, losses, growing older, career setbacks — we all have times when we just have to put our heads down and soldier on. This month, our female-led VOD and web series...
Weekly Update for October 13: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Professor Marston and the Wonder Women” Films About Women Opening This Week M.F.A. — Directed by Natalia Leite; Written by Leah McKendrick (Also Available on VOD) “M.F.A.” An art...
The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program Announces This Year’s Participants
The five participants of this year’s Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program have been announced. Launched to provide industry support, funding, and other resources to new...
Lake Bell and “New Girl” Creator Liz Meriwether Collaborating on Fox Comedy
Actress, writer, and director Lake Bell is teaming up with “New Girl” creator Liz Meriwether for a comedy series. According to Deadline, Fox has given a pilot production commitment to “Bless...
Quote of the Day: Patty Jenkins on Her Duty to Fight for Equal Pay on “Wonder Woman 2”
“Wonder Woman” helmer and record-smasher extraordinaire Patty Jenkins made headlines last month when, after a long negotiation process, she officially signed on to helm the superheroine sequel...
Reina Gossett Says “Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson” Director Stole Her Work
The director of the new Netflix doc “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson,” David France, has come under fire for allegedly stealing ideas and research from Reina Gossett. Gossett, a...
Women and Hollywood Announces 10th Anniversary Trailblazer Award Winners
Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot on the set “Wonder Woman”: Warner Bros. Entertainment and THR Women and Hollywood is honored to share the recipients of the Trailblazer Awards, which will be given...
Guest Post: What It’s Like to Be a Fiercely Independent Woman Film Fest Director in the Trenches
Guest Post by Meira Blaustein When I co-founded the Woodstock Film Festival 18 years ago I had no sense of how hard the work would be, and how immense the positive influence on so many people, near...
Trailer Watch: A Throuple Makes Comic Book History in “Professor Marston & The Wonder Women”
“I’m going to inject my ideas right into the thumping heart of America,” announces esteemed psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans, “Beauty and the Beast”) in a new trailer...
Quote of the Day: Sally Potter on Being a Feminist vs. Making Feminist Films
Sally Potter is a proud, self-identified feminist. As she told The Guardian in a new interview, everyone on her newest film, the black comedy “The Party,” received equal pay. However, she is...
Trailer Watch: A Little Girl is Sent to a Witch Camp in Rungano Nyoni’s “I Am Not a Witch”
“Now it’s up to you whether to be a goat or a witch,” eight-year-old Shula (Margaret Mulubwa) is told in the first trailer for Rungano Nyoni’s “I Am Not a Witch.” Shula has been accused...
Weekly Update for October 6: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“The Florida Project” Films About Women Opening This Week The Florida Project Set on a stretch of highway just outside the imagined utopia of Disney World, “The Florida Project” follows...
Struggles That Define Us: Crowdfunding Picks
We all face personal struggles that are drastically altered and influenced by the world we live in. For this round of crowdfunding picks, we’re looking at shorts centered on the struggle to...
Foreign-Language Oscar Race is 27 Percent Women-Directed
We’ll have to wait until January 23 for Oscar nominations to be announced, but the Academy has released the titles of all of the films competing in the foreign-language Oscar race. According to...
Lynn Shelton, Liz Tigelaar, Amy Pascal, & Elizabeth Cantillon Team Up for Hulu Comedy
Quite the dream team has assembled for a new Hulu project. According to Deadline, director Lynn Shelton (“Your Sister’s Sister”), “Casual” EP/showrunner Liz Tigelaar, and producers Amy...
Nicole Kidman to Star in Karyn Kusama’s Next Film
Karyn Kusama is joining forces with Hollywood royalty for her next feature. Nicole Kidman will topline “Destroyer,” an LA-based crime thriller directed by Kusama, The Hollywood Reporter...
Dee Rees’ Next Film “Uncivil War” Will Tell Story of the Equal Rights Amendment
Dee Rees is on a roll. Less than a week after news surfaced that the “Pariah” director would helm an adaptation of a Joan Didion’s “The Last Thing He Wanted,” Deadline has confirmed that...
Patricia Arquette to Make Feature Directorial Debut with “Love Canal”
Patricia Arquette is stepping behind the camera. Deadline reports that the Oscar-winning actress is set to make her feature debut with “Love Canal,” a drama based on “The Canal,” an upcoming...
Save the Date: Women and Hollywood’s 10th Anniversary Celebration in London
Women and Hollywood will be hosting its final 10th anniversary event in London on November 27. As we honor a decade of educating, advocating, and agitating for greater gender diversity in film, we...
Clea DuVall & Sally El Hosaini Among Selectees for Universal’s Directors Intensive
Universal Filmed Entertainment Group has announced the first eight filmmakers chosen for its “Directors Intensive: Pitch to Premiere” initiative — and seven of the participants are women....
Lucrecia Martel’s “Zama” Submitted as Argentina’s Foreign-Language Oscar Pick
Lucrecia Martel’s first feature in nine years may earn her an Academy Award nomination. Argentina has submitted “Zama” as their foreign-language Oscar pick, The Hollywood Reporter confirms....
Andrea Arnold Named Jury President of BFI London Film Fest’s Official Competition
“Fish Tank” director Andrea Arnold is heading to the 61st BFI London Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter confirms that the Oscar-winning filmmaker will lead the official competition’s jury....
Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi on Celebrating a “Badass Butch” in “Chavela”
Catherine Gund is an Emmy-nominated producer, director, writer, and activist. Her media work focuses on strategic and sustainable social transformation, arts and culture, HIV/AIDS and reproductive...
Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s “Let the Corpses Tan” Acquired by Kino Lorber
“Let the Corpses Tan” has found a home weeks after screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. Variety reports that Kino Lorber snagged North American rights to the neo-Western,...
Tribeca’s First-Ever TV Festival Reflected Changing Tides for Women in TV
At least some women directors working on the small screen have packed slates. That good news came out at Tribeca’s first-ever, TV-only festival that ran from September 22–24 in New York City....
Weekly Update for September 29: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Te Ata”: The Chickasaw Nation Films About Women Opening This Week Te Ata — Written by Esther Luttrell (Opens in Oklahoma; Opens October 13 in NY and LA) “Te Ata” (TAY’ AH-TAH) is...
Kristen Stewart & Lupita Nyong’o Being Eyed for Elizabeth Banks’ “Charlie’s Angels” Reboot
Kristen Stewart and Lupita Nyong’o may be stepping in front of the camera for Elizabeth Banks. The actresses are being eyed to star in Banks’ upcoming reboot of “Charlie’s Angels,” Variety...
October 2017 Film Preview
“Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman” What better time than fall to head to the theater to avoid the last of the summer heat, or escape the chill in the air by curling up at home with popcorn...
Nancy Buirski on Exploring Hidden Stories in the Civil Rights Movement in “The Rape of Recy Taylor”
Nancy Buirski’s writing, directing, and producing credits include “By Sidney Lumet,” “Afternoon of a Faun,” and the the Oscar shortlisted, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning “The Loving...
Roya Sadat’s “A Letter to the President” Is Afghanistan’s Foreign-Language Oscar Pick
Roya Sadat is joining the foreign-language Oscar race. Afghanistan has submitted her feature debut, “A Letter to the President,” as its pick for the upcoming ceremony, The Hollywood Reporter...
Julie Taymor to Adapt Gloria Steinem’s Memoir
In what sounds like fan fiction dreamed up by feminist film lovers, word has come that Gloria Steinem’s memoir, “My Life on the Road,” is being adapted for the big screen. And Julie Taymor and...
Dee Rees to Direct Film Adaptation of Joan Didion’s “The Last Thing He Wanted”
Dee Rees has lined up her next project before her latest has even hit theaters. Since its debut at Sundance, “Mudbound” has been earning rave reviews and causing plenty of Oscar buzz. Rees will...
Author Erin Carlson on Her New Book “I’ll Have What She’s Having” and the Legacy of Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron died in 2012, at the age of 71, but she left an indelible mark on the world as one of the most influential voices of our time. She left behind a strong legacy and continues to inspire...
DGA Study Finds Big Increase in First-Time Female TV Directors in 2016–17 Season
Reed Morano, who made her TV directorial debut with a fall 2016 episode of “Halt and Catch Fire”: IMDb/YouTube The number of first-time female episodic TV directors increased by 13 percent over...
Julie Dash to Direct Biopic of Rosa Parks
Writer-director Julie Dash made history with 1991’s “Daughters of the Dust,” the first feature directed by an African-American woman to be distributed theatrically in the U.S. Now she’s...
Women In Entertainment to Launch Women-Directed Doc Series at ArcLight Santa Monica
Women in Entertainment and ArcLight Santa Monica are joining forces. The group of activists, artists, entrepreneurs, executives, and journalists are set to launch a series highlighting...
Trailer Watch: Steven Spielberg Steps in Front of the Camera for Susan Lacy’s HBO Doc
Steven Spielberg is one of the most prolific and celebrated filmmakers of all time, but according to the man himself, he still gets nervous every time he starts a new scene. “When that verges on...
“Insecure” Director Melina Matsoukas to Adapt “A Brief History of Seven Killings” for Amazon…
“Insecure” Director Melina Matsoukas to Adapt “A Brief History of Seven Killings” for Amazon Studios If you haven’t already heard Melina Matsoukas’ name, you will soon. The frequent...
Singapore Selects Kirsten Tan’s “Pop Aye” for Foreign-Language Oscar Pick
“Pop Aye” will be representing Singapore in the 2018 foreign-language Oscar race, Variety reports. Written and directed by Kirsten Tan, the award-winning drama is set in Thailand and centers on...
Trailer Watch: The Bellas Embark on a Farewell Tour in “Pitch Perfect 3”
Post-college life can be tricky. Just ask former Barden Bellas Beca, Chloe, Fat Amy, and Aubrey. They show up to an a cappella event expecting to perform with the current Bellas and are humiliated...
Watch: A Newly Single Bisexual Woman Goes Off-Script in Exclusive Clip of “Strangers”
The presence of a film crew doesn’t deter a woman from spilling her guts to a love interest in our exclusive new clip of “Strangers.” Created and directed by Mia Lidofsky, the series follows...
Weekly Update for September 22: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Battle of the Sexes”: Melinda Sue Gordon/20th Century Fox Films About Women Opening This Week Battle of the Sexes — Co-Directed by Valerie Faris In the wake of the sexual revolution and...
Trailer Watch: A Writer Announces Her Plan to Commit Suicide and Seeks an Heir in “Maya Dardel”
Academy Award nominee Lena Olin plays an internationally renowned poet and novelist busy orchestrating one helluva plot twist in her own life in Magdalena Zyzak and Zachary Cotler’s “Maya...
Apply Now for Fork Films’ Documentary Grants
Documentary filmmakers, take note: Fork Films’ annual open call for doc grant applications is here. The New York-based production company will accept applications via an online submission form...
Susanna Nicchiarelli’s “Nico, 1988” Acquired by Magnolia Pictures
Susanna Nicchiarelli’s award-winning drama about Christa Päffgen, better known as Nico, has secured distribution. Deadline reports that Magnolia Pictures snagged the U.S. rights to “Nico,...
Trailer Watch: A Woman Grapples with Trauma in Jessica M. Thompson’s “Light of the Moon”
“The Light of the Moon” “How about you let me decide how I feel?” Bonnie (Stephanie Beatriz, “Brooklyn Nine- Nine”), a rape survivor, tells her boyfriend Matt (Michael Stahl-David,...
Sabrina the Teenage Witch “Riverdale” Companion Series in Development at The CW
Sabrina the Teenage Witch is coming back to the small screen. The CW is developing a project based on the Archie Comics’ character, but it’s not a reboot of the ’90s series led by Melissa Joan...
Natasha Lyonne, Leslye Headland, & Amy Poehler Join Forces for New Netflix Comedy Series
“Orange Is the New Black” star Natasha Lyonne, “Sleeping with Other People” writer-director Leslye Headland, and “Parks and Rec” alumna and national treasure Amy Poehler are teaming up...
Strength in Numbers: Crowdfunding Picks
It’s often said that two is better than one. Many of us have found strength in numbers by turning to our friends and families for support, encouragement, and guidance. This month’s crowdfunding...