Women Directors
Glamour and Girlgaze Partner for #NewView Short Film Competition
Glamour magazine is teaming up with digital media company Girlgaze to support young female filmmakers. A press release announced that the two companies are launching #NewView, a film competition for...
Child Sex Trafficking Doc “I Am Jane Doe” Gets Digital Release Date
Child sex trafficking is dramatically more common than most people realize. Mary Mazzio’s new documentary, “I Am Jane Doe,” aims to raise awareness about this horrific crime and the fact that...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Lana Wilson — “The Departure”
Lana Wilson is an Emmy-winning filmmaker based in New York. Her first film, “After Tiller,” co-directed by Martha Shane, went inside the lives of the four most-targeted abortion providers in...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Petra Volpe — “The Divine Order”
Petra Volpe’s feature debut, “Dreamland,” was nominated for four Swiss film awards and played both the festival and theatrical circuit. “The Divine Order” will premiere at the 2017 Tribeca...
“13th,” “Trapped,” & More Women-Directed Docs Win Peabody Awards
Twelve documentaries are being honored by the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors, and seven of them are women-directed or co-directed. 2016 was an amazing year for documentaries, and this stellar...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Liz W. Garcia — “One Percent More Humid”
Liz W. Garcia’s directorial debut, “The Lifeguard,” starring Kristen Bell, premiered in competition at Sundance in 2013. She is currently writing “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 3” for...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Josephine Decker — “Flames”
Josephine Decker is an actor, writer, and director best known for “Collective Unconscious” and “Thou Wast Mild and Lovely.” In 2008, Decker co-directed a documentary on bisexuality called...
Marielle Heller to Receive Inaugural Moms-in-Film Award
Moms-in-Film (MiF), an organization for working parents in film and TV, is celebrating its first anniversary by honoring “Diary of a Teenage Girl” writer-director Marielle Heller. Heller will...
Tribeca 2017 Women Directors: Meet Rachel Israel — “Keep the Change”
Rachel Israel has directed short films that have screened worldwide. “Keep the Change” marks her feature debut. She is an adjunct professor at RISD. “Keep the Change” will premiere at the...
Gina Rodriguez Lines Up “Carmen Sandiego” & Two Potential Women-Directed Films
Where in the world is Gina Rodriguez? Everywhere. Per The Tracking Board, the “Jane the Virgin” star will voice the titular character in Netflix’s animated series “Carmen Sandiego.” She is...
Tribeca 2017 Preview: Arranged Marriages, Endangered Animals, the Justice System, & More
“A Suitable Girl” Women directed nearly 40 percent of the films screening in Competition at this year’s edition of the Tribeca Film Festival, and there are plenty of women-centric projects in...
Amy Schumer to Star in Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein’s “I Feel Pretty”
It’s less than a month until “Snatched” hits theaters, and now comes word that Amy Schumer has booked another gig. She’ll topline and produce “I Feel Pretty,” a comedy from McG’s...
Trailer Watch: Four Women Take on the Pacific Ocean in “Losing Sight of Shore”
“There’s an incredible insight to be gained to know that you can fight and overcome anything that is thrown your way,” says one of the characters in a newly released trailer for “Losing...
Cross-Post: #WomenDirectorWeek: The Challenge of Watching Only Female-Directed Films for One Week
The following has been reposted from Film Inquiry with the author’s permission. If you pay much attention to events in the film industry, you’ll already know about the incredible dearth of...
Sofia Coppola to Be Honored at Provincetown Film Festival
Sofia Coppola is having a helluva week. The writer-director’s next film, “The Beguiled,” was just announced as part of Canne’s 2017 lineup, and now comes word that the Oscar winner will be...
Weekly Update for April 14: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week “A Quiet Passion” A Quiet Passion (Opens in NY; Opens in LA April 21) Cynthia Nixon delivers a triumphant performance as Emily Dickinson as she personifies...
New Shonda Rhimes Show & Season 2 of “Queen Sugar” Get Premiere Dates
“Still Star Crossed”: ABC Your summer TV watchlist just got longer. Premiere dates have been announced for Shonda Rhimes’ newest show, “Still Star Crossed,” and the second season of Ava...
Trailer Watch: Amanda Lipitz’s Sundance Winner “Step” Will Have You Dancing
Get a Kleenex out and clear some space to bust a move. A trailer has been released for Amanda Lipitz’s “Step,” and it’s equally likely to bring you to tears as it is to inspire some dancing...
Trailer Watch: Suki Waterhouse Lives with Cannibals in Ana Lily Amirpour’s “The Bad Batch”
In the parched desert, with vultures circling overhead, a young woman (Suki Waterhouse, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”) uses her remaining two limbs — one arm, one leg — to push...
Gurinder Chadha Joins UK Initiative Tackling Gender Imbalance in the Film Industry
Based in the UK and want to learn from the best and brightest in the film business? Listen up. Female Film Leaders is an industry forum that “aims to equip up-and-coming female film industry...
Principal Photography Kicks Off for Hannah Fidell’s “The Long Dumb Road”
Hannah Fidell is following up “6 Years,” her portrait of dysfunctional young love, with a buddy comedy. Principal photography for “The Long Dumb Road” has begun in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a...
Cannes 2017 Lineup: Women Directors Represent 16% of Main Competition
Naomi Kawase’s “Radiance” A couple of weeks ago, the 70th anniversary poster for the Cannes Film Festival was unveiled. It featured a picture of a giddy, twirling Claudia Cardinale and received...
Trailer Watch: Katell Quillévéré’s “Heal the Living” Explores Each Side of a Heart Transplant
“I can’t walk much. I can’t go upstairs,” a woman waiting for a heart transplant explains in the trailer for “Heal the Living.” “I’m not sure I want a dead person’s heart,”...
Laura Poitras’ Julian Assange Doc “Risk” Gets Release Date & Trailer
The Julian Assange documentary “Risk” is receiving a theatrical release. According to a press statement, Showtime Documentary Films and NEON will bring Laura Poitras’ doc to theaters May 5. It...
Nanfu Wang’s “I Am Another You” Secures Distribution
Nanfu Wang’s award-winning new documentary has found a home. FilmRise has acquired North American distribution rights to “I Am Another You,” and PBS’ “Independent Lens” secured U.S...
Cannes 2017: 33% of Shorts and 44% of Cinéfondation Picks Are Women-Directed
Cannes announced its selections for the Short Films Competition and Cinéfondation category today, and 33 percent of the shorts and 44 percent of the Cinéfondation films are directed by women....
“The Raven Cycle” Gets Pilot Order, Catherine Hardwicke to Direct
Fantasy fans, rejoice. Maggie Stiefvater’s best-selling four-book series “The Raven Cycle” is being adapted for TV, and Catherine Hardwicke has signed on to helm the pilot and serve as an...
Trailer Watch: Everyone Just Wants to Survive the Night in Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit”
“Detroit” Throughout her career, Kathryn Bigelow has explored the traditionally masculine subjects of war and violence. “The Hurt Locker” suggested that life-or-death situations can be a...
Daisy Asquith’s “Queerama” to Open Sheffield Doc/Fest
Daisy Asquith’s “Queerama” will open the 2017 Sheffield Doc/Fest, Women in Film and Television UK reports. Created with material from the BFI National Archive, the doc was made to mark the 50...
Goldie Hawn Retrospective to Screen at the Quad Cinema in NYC
The upcoming mother-daughter comedy “Snatched” marks Goldie Hawn’s first film since 2002’s “The Banger Sisters.” To celebrate the end of Hawn’s 15-year sabbatical, the Quad will hold a...
Quote of the Day: Kirsten Dunst on Filming Sex Scenes with Women Directors
Like most actors, Kirsten Dunst is not a fan of filming sex scenes. “I don’t like it, I don’t like it,” the “Hidden Figures” actress told E! News at CinemaCon while promoting Sofia...
Guest Post: A Summary of the Inaugural Women’s Media Summit
Guest Post by Maria Giese On March 31, 2017, 114 women gathered in Provincetown, Massachusetts for the inaugural Women’s Media Summit, a three-day think-tank forum designed to solve gender...
Listen: Podcast with “Shots Fired” Co-Creator Gina Prince-Bythewood
Gina Prince-Bythewood’s film credits include “Beyond the Lights,” “The Secret Life of Bees,” and “Love & Basketball.” Now the writer-director is re-teaming with Sanaa Lathan, who...
“UnREAL” Co-Creator Sarah Gertrude Shapiro Inks Deal with A+E Studios
Looks like Sarah Gertrude Shapiro will be creating more content for A+E Studios. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the “UnREAL” co-creator has signed a multiyear overall deal with the...
Amy Sherman-Palladino’s “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Gets Two-Season Order
As die-hard “Gilmore Girls” fans would say, “Copper boom!” “Gilmore” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino’s newest series, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” just got a two-season order from...
Trailer Watch: Elle Fanning Is a Transgender Teen Fighting to Transition in “3 Generations”
“The hardest part of my day is knowing everybody still sees me as a girl,” says Ray (Elle Fanning) in a new trailer for Gaby Dellal’s “3 Generations.” While Ray is part of a progressive...
Cannes 2017: Women-Directed Films We’re Tracking for This Year’s Festival
“The Beguiled” While many other high-profile festivals have made strides towards closing the gender gap in their programming, Cannes is infamous for lagging behind the times. Last year, just...
Trailer Watch: Vanessa Gould’s “Obit” Spotlights Those Who Make the Dead Live Again
“It’s counter-intuitive — ironic, even — but obits have next to nothing to do with death, and in fact absolutely everything to do with the life,” an obituary writer observes in a...
Weekly Update for April 7: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week “Their Finest” Their Finest — Directed by Lone Scherfig; Written by Gaby Chiappe “Their Finest” sees Gemma Arterton as Catrin, a young woman hired...
Female Directors Rejected from BAFTA Elevate Program Launch #BAFTAsLucky225
Credit: The BAFTA Twitter account Talk about making lemons into lemonade. More than two hundred women directors have turned their rejection from a prestigious program into an unofficial organization...
Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s Reese Witherspoon -Starrer “Home Again” Gets Release Date
“Big Little Lies” concluded Sunday on HBO, and while we’ll miss much about the murder mystery, one of the highlights of the limited series was definitely watching Reese Witherspoon knock it...
“Their Finest” Director Lone Scherfig on Making Meaningful Films
Most audiences were introduced to Lone Scherfig’s work with the 2009 Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan-starrer “An Education,” but the Danish writer and director has been working since the...
Melissa Stack to Make Directorial Debut with Vacation Comedy
“The Other Woman” grossed more than $196 million worldwide on a budget of $40 million, and now the screenwriter behind the 2014 Cameron Diaz infidelity comedy seems to have another hit on her...
Finding the Balance: Crowdfunding Picks
If you’re an avid reader of Women and Hollywood (and if you’re not, welcome!) the disparities between men and women in the film industry are of no surprise. These seemingly never-ending...
Shonda Rhimes’ MasterClass on Writing for Television Is Now Available
“I don’t believe in the phrase ‘aspiring writer.’ To me, it’s just: You’re a writer. Go write.” Consider that Shonda Rhimes’ first lesson on how to write for TV. For the rest of her...
Gemma Arterton Talks Sexism and Likability in “Their Finest”
“Their Finest” sees Gemma Arterton playing Catrin, a young woman hired to write lines for women in British war propaganda movies. It’s a movie within a movie dealing with gender roles in the...
Catherine Hardwicke Set to Direct “Miss Bala” Remake for Sony
Catherine Hardwicke has found her next gig. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the “Twilight” director will helm Sony’s remake of “Miss Bala,” a 2011 Mexican drama from...
Trailer Watch: “Anne” Can Do Anything a Boy Can Do and More
“My name is Anne Shirley Cuthbert, and please be sure to spell ‘Anne’ with an ‘e’,” the heroine of Netflix’s newest series requests on her first day at a new school. Even if you’ve...
Tallgrass Film Festival to Launch Female-Helmed Doc Competition
The largest film festival in Kansas is getting more female-friendly. The Tallgrass Film Association (TFA) has announced the creation of DoXX Spotlight competition for women-directed feature-length...
Character First: April VOD and Web Series Picks
“Reckless Juliets” These days at the box office, it seems that size matters. Whether it’s the latest Marvel film, or even the female-centric “Beauty and the Beast,” movies often mean big...
Gurinder Chadha Moves to TV with FremantleMedia-Backed Bend It TV
Gurinder Chadha is branching out into television. The “Bend It Like Beckham” director’s TV production company, Bend It TV, will receive 25 percent backing from FremantleMedia, Variety writes....