Women Directors
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Barbara Kopple — “This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous”
Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award winning filmmaker. A director and producer of narrative films and documentaries, her two most recent projects are the documentaries “Miss Sharon...
Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures Launches Distribution and Marketing Op
Megan Ellison is one step closer to taking over Hollywood. Annapurna Pictures is launching a full-service distribution and marketing operation, a press release has announced. The first project...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Pamela Yates — “500 Years”
Pamela Yates is a co-founder and current creative director of Skylight, a media company dedicated to creating feature length documentary films and digital media tools that advance awareness of human...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Brea — “Unrest”
Jennifer Brea is a filmmaker, writer, and data wrangler. She earned her AB in Politics from Princeton University, and is a TED Fellow. Prior, she was a freelance journalist in China and East and...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Sydney Freeland — “Deidra & Laney Rob a Train”
Sydney Freeland is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker. Her debut feature, “Drunktown’s Finest,” premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and went on to receive the Jury Prize at LA Outfest and a...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Marti Noxon — “To the Bone”
Marti Noxon is the creator and executive producer of Bravo’s first scripted drama series, “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce,” and the co-creator and executive producer of the acclaimed Lifetime...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Amanda Kernell — “Sami Blood”
Amanda Kernell has directed a number of shorts, including “Stoerre Vaerie,” or, “Northern Great Mountain,” which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and won the Best Swedish Short...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Catherine Bainbridge— “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the…
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Catherine Bainbridge— “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” Catherine Bainbridge is a writer, producer, and director, and the co-founder of Rezolution...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Catherine Bainbridge— “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World…
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Catherine Bainbridge— “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” Catherine Bainbridge is a writer, producer,...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Pascale Lamche — “Winnie”
Pascale Lamche is an award-winning filmmaker who has made feature documentaries and series both as a writer-producer and writer-director for key broadcasters internationally. Her films have...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Rory Kennedy— “Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton”
An Academy Award nominated, Primetime Emmy Award winning director and producer, Rory Kennedy’s work deals with some of the world’s most pressing issues — poverty, political corruption,...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Lone Scherfig — “Their Finest”
In her native Denmark, Lone Scherfig began her career directing award-winning commercials and television dramas. Her feature film credits include “An Education,” “One Day,” and “The...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Janicza Bravo — “Lemon”
Janicza Bravo wrote and directed “Gregory Go Boom,” a Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning short film. Her other credits include “Man Rots from the Head,” “Woman in Deep,” and an episode of...
Weekly Update for January 20: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Starless Dreams” Films About Women Opening This Week Starless Dreams (Documentary) (Opens in NY) A haunting portrait of stolen childhood, “Starless Dreams” plunges us into the lives of...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Ramona S. Diaz — “Motherland”
Ramona S. Diaz is an award-winning Asian-American filmmaker. Her film credits include “Spirits Rising,” “Imelda,” “The Learning,” and “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Michelle Latimer— “Rise”
Michelle Latimer is a Métis/Algonquin filmmaker based in Toronto, as well as a programmer, actor, and activist. Her previous directorial efforts include “Choke,” a Sundance Special Jury...
Teaser Watch: Kitty Green’s “Casting JonBenét” Will Give You Goosebumps
“My name is Anna and I’m auditioning for the role of JonBenét Ramsey,” a young aspiring actress announces in a newly released clip from Kitty Green’s “Casting JonBenét.” What comes out...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Ry Russo-Young — “Before I Fall”
“Before I Fall” marks director Ry Russo-Young’s first wide-release movie. Her previous credits include “Nobody Walks,” which won a special Jury Prize at Sundance and was released...
ABC Releases “Scandal” Web Series Created and Directed by Darby Stanchfield
Prepare to have even more “Scandal” in your life. The Hollywood Reporter writes that ABC surprise-released six webisodes of “Scandal: Gladiator Wanted” on January 19. The web series, an...
Trailer Watch: “Motherland” Welcomes Us to the Busiest Maternity Ward on Earth
“I admit I’m crazy. Why wouldn’t I be?” a patient asks in the new trailer for “Motherland.” “The children come one after another. I don’t have enough love to give all of them. I wish...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Laura Dunn — “Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry”
Laura Dunn’s first feature documentary, “The Unforeseen,” executive produced by Robert Redford and Terrence Malick, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and was released theatrically and...
Amanda Kernell’s “Sami Blood” Lands U.S. Distribution
Amanda Kernell’s “Sami Blood” has secured North American distribution prior to its U.S. premiere at Sundance on January 20. Synergetic Distribution snagged the rights to the coming-of-age...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Helene Hegemann — “Axolotl Overkill”
Helene Hegemann is a German writer and director. She has written two novels, including the German bestseller “Axolotl Roadkill.” Hegemann has directed award-winning work in film, theater, and...
Guest Post: What I Learned from Documenting the Aftermath of Sandy Hook
Guest Post by Kim A. Snyder Chronicling the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was without a doubt the most daunting endeavor I’ve ever undertaken in my twenty years as a...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Marianna Palka — “Bitch”
Sundance Film Festival alum, humanist filmmaker, and proud Scotswoman Marianna Palka has previously directed the features “Good Dick” (2008), “I’m the Same” (2014), and “Always Worthy”...
“Cameraperson” Director Kirsten Johnson Receives Rooftop Films Grant
Kirsten Johnson is on a hot streak. Last week, her documentary “Cameraperson” won three awards at the Cinema Eye Honors. It’s on the Oscars short list and was the grand prize winner of the...
Trailer Watch: There’s No Tomorrow for Zoey Deutch in Ry Russo-Young’s “Before I Fall”
“Maybe for you there’s a tomorrow. But for some of us, there’s only today,” explains Samantha (Zoey Deutch, “Why Him?”), the teen protagonist of “Before I Fall.” A new trailer has...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Alicia Scherson — “Family Life”
Now based in Chile, Alicia Scherson has studied, worked, and lived in Cuba, Spain, and the U.S. Her feature films “Play,” “Turistas,” and “Il Futuro” have been shown in theaters...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Christina Clusiau — “Trophy”
Christina Clusiau is a documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and photojournalist based in Brooklyn, NY. In 2013, Clusiau co-founded Reel Peak Films, a production company specializing in short and...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Cate Shortland — “Berlin Syndrome”
Cate Shortland’s films have screened at film festivals around the world, including Cannes Film Festival and Sydney Film Festival. Her previous credits include “Somersault”...
Barbara Kopple’s “This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous” Gets Release Date
Barbara Kopple’s latest project has a release date. Following its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, “This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous” will launch February 8 on...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Neasa Ní Chianáin — “In Loco Parentis”
Neasa Ní Chianáin started directing in 2001 with television documentaries. Her previous credits include the award-winning “Frank Ned & Busy Lizzie,” which won the Best Feature award at The...
Courtney Moorehead Balaker’s “Little Pink House” to Open Athena Film Festival
The Athena Film Festival announced today that “Little Pink House,” written and directed by Courtney Moorehead Balaker, will screen on Thursday, February 9 as the fest’s Opening...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Susan Froemke— “Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman”
Susan Froemke is a four-time Emmy winner and non-fiction filmmaker with over thirty films to her credit, including Academy Award-nominated HBO documentary film “Lalee’s Kin,” “Grey...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Sabaah Folayan — “Whose Streets?”
Sabaah Folayan is a storyteller and activist based in Brooklyn, New York. She was a lead organizer for The Millions March, one of the largest marches for racial justice in New York history. “Whose...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Gillian Robespierre — “Landline”
Gillian Robespierre is a filmmaker born and raised in New York City. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts, Film and Video Program. Her first feature, “Obvious Child,” premiered at...
Trailer Watch: Kristi Jacobson’s “Solitary” Turns Critical Eye on Supermax Prisons
Most offenders remain in their cell 23 hours a day, seven days a week at Red Onion State Prison, a supermax prison built on an Appalachian mountaintop. An interviewee reveals this shocking fact in a...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kyoko Miyake — “Tokyo Idols”
Born in Japan, Kyoko Miyake studied history at Tokyo University and then moved to Britain to research the history of witchcraft at Oxford. Her film “Brakeless” won a Peabody Award after airing...
Upcoming BAM Exhibition Celebrates Black Women’s Cinema
Cinephiles, your February just became a whole lot busier. Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) recently announced its “One Way or Another: Black Women’s Cinema, 1970–1991” exhibition, which...
Exclusive: Chicken & Egg Pictures Announces Breakthrough Filmmaker Award Recipients
Chicken & Egg Pictures has announced the recipients of the second Breakthrough Filmmaker Award, which includes a $50,000 unrestricted grant and a year-long creative support and mentorship...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kirsten Tan — “Pop Aye”
Kirsten Tan is a writer, director, and cinematographer. Her work has screened at film fests across the world, including Singapore, Rotterdam, and Toronto. Tan has won numerous international awards,...
AFI Announces the 25 Female Directors Selected for Fox Filmmaker Lab
The American Film Institute (AFI) recently announced the 25 female directors selected for the 2017 Fox Filmmaker Lab, an initiative designed to increase the number of women directing major studio...
TCA Update: Lifetime and FX Make Strides Towards Gender Equality, Inclusivity
It’s TCA time again, when presidents and CEOs of major networks — who are mostly white men in their fifties or sixties — make bold, sweeping promises about how this is the year when...
“Heathers” Anthology Series Green Lit at TV Land
TV Land The “Heathers” reboot has officially been ordered to series at TV Land, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. The dark comedy will mark the network’s first hourlong original series. While...
“Shots Fired’s” First Season Features Equal Number of Male and Female Directors
In addition to bringing the Black Lives Matter movement to the mainstream media, Gina Prince-Bythewood is also working to bridge the gender gap. “Shots Fired,” the upcoming Fox event series...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors Preview: Films About Pioneers, Dancers, and Nuns
“Step” The Sundance Film Festival kicks off January 19, and like all major fests, the program is rather overwhelming. There are lots of options, and plenty of projects worth checking out. We’ve...
Trailer Watch: A Vegetarian Transforms into a Cannibal in Julia Ducournau’s “Raw”
It’s probably not a good idea to watch the Red Band trailer for Julia Ducournau’s “Raw” with a full stomach. The newly released spot for the horror film features absolutely no dialogue, but...
CIR Launches Glassbreaker Films for Female Documentary Filmmakers
The Center for Investigative Reporting has announced the launch of Glassbreaker Films, a new film studio “intended to support and empower women in documentary filmmaking.” Glassbreaker Films was...
Amber Tamblyn’s Directorial Debut “Paint it Black” Acquired for Spring Release
Amber Tamblyn’s directorial debut, “Paint it Black” has been acquired by Imagination Worldwide for a release this April. The film premiered at the 2016 LA Film Festival. Based on the cult...
Tessa Thompson and Lily James Team Up for Nia DaCosta’s “Little Woods”
Tessa Thompson and Lily James have signed on to topline “Little Woods,” Nia DaCosta’s feature directorial debut. The two actresses will play sisters in the indie film,...
Gugu Mbatha-Raw Set to Star in Julia Hart’s “Fast Color”
Gugu Mbatha- Raw (“Belle,” “Beyond the Lights”) is set to star in the thriller “Fast Color,” Variety reports. “Miss Stevens” director Julia Hart is set to helm, with a screenplay she...