Women Directors
Weekly Update for October 7: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“The Girl on the Train” Films About Women Opening This Week The Girl on the Train — Written by Erin Cressida Wilson Rachel (Emily Blunt), devastated by her recent divorce, spends her...
NYFF 2016 Co-Directors: Linda Saffire and Adam Schlesinger— “Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan”
Linda Saffire has worked on numerous award-winning film and television productions. Among her feature documentary and film credits are “A Conversation with Gregory Peck,” a collaboration with...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Claire Simon — “The Graduation”
Claire Simon is a screenwriter, actress, cinematographer, editor, and director. Simon has directed independent shorts and many documentaries throughout her filmmaking career, including “La...
D.C.’s Signature Theatre and Broadway Producer Launch Writers Initiative to Support Female…
D.C.’s Signature Theatre and Broadway Producer Launch Writers Initiative to Support Female Playwrights Broadway producer Jenna Segal is teaming up with the Washington D.C. Signature Theatre to...
Trailer Watch: “It Had To Be You” Flips the Script on Marriage Proposals
Romantic comedies centering on heterosexual couples typically treat marriage proposals as a man’s job: The woman waits passively to be swept off her feet by her beloved’s grand, romantic...
Hamptons Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Meet Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg — “Marathon: The…
Hamptons Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Meet Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg — “Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing” Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s credits include “Joan Rivers: A...
Listen: Podcast with “13th” Director Ava DuVernay
It’s amazing to be reminded that director Ava DuVernay didn’t pick up a camera until she was 33 years old. She has come so far in such a short time. I sat down with her last week and talked...
“The Watermelon Woman” Celebrates 20th Anniversary with Revival Run
LGBTQ festival favorite “The Watermelon Woman” is heading back to to the cinema with a makeover, Shadow and Act reports. First Run Features has announced the re-release of writer-director Cheryl...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Asli Özge — “All of a Sudden”
Asli Özge was born in Istanbul, Turkey and has lived in Berlin, Germany since 2000. Özge directed short films and a documentary before making her feature film debut in 2009 with “Men on the...
Trailer Watch: “The Edge of Seventeen” Captures How Impostor Syndrome Feels
Do you remember growing up? A lot of it sucked, right? Writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig’s film “The Edge of Seventeen” captures that feeling of thinking that everyone around you has it all...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Shahrbanoo Sadat — “Wolf and Sheep”
Shahrbanoo Sadat is an Afghan screenwriter and director. Sadat’s first short fiction film, “Vice Versa One,” was selected at Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2011. In 2013, she launched her...
“The Killing” Creator Veena Sud Has New Series in the Works at Netflix
“The Killing” creator Veena Sud apparently has a new series in the works at Netflix. As director Gavin O’Connor (“The Americans”) told Collider, the series, called “Seven Seconds,” is...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Khushboo Ranka — “An Insignificant Man”
Khushboo Ranka has experience in the fields of journalism, graphic design, and filmmaking. “Continuum,” a short film she wrote and directed at the age of 20, won the best short film at the...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet C. Fitz— “Jewel’s Catch One”
C. Fitz is a creator, director, writer, and producer, as well as a television and marketing veteran. Her previous films include “Rancid,” “No More Roses,” “ShowGirls, Provincetown, MA,”...
Hope Dickson Leach Wins Inaugural IWC Filmmaker Bursary Award
Hope Dickson Leach has been named the inaugural recipient of the IWC Filmmaker Bursary Award, presented in association with the BFI, ScreenDaily reports. According to the BFI, the £50,000 award...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Pepa San Martin — “Rara”
Pepa San Martin’s first film, “The Shower,” premiered at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival and won the DAAD Short Film Prize. Her second film, “Gleisdreieck,” will premiere at the Valdivia...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Ruth Beckermann — “The Dreamed Ones”
Ruth Beckermann was born in Vienna. She studied journalism and art history in Vienna, Tel Aviv, and New York. She has contributed as a journalist to several Austrian and Swiss magazines. In 1978 she...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Margaret Salmon — “Eglatine”
Margaret Salmon was born in New York and studied photography at The School of Visual Arts and the Royal College of Art. She lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. She creates filmic portraits which...
LFF 2016 Women Directors: Meet Fiona Tan — “Ascent”
Fiona Tan is an artist who works primarily in film and photography. Tan represented The Netherlands in the 2009 Venice Biennale. Her work can be found in numerous international art collections...
Trailer Watch: BFFs Get in Over Their Heads in Cannes Winner “Divines”
Atrailer has been released for “Divines,” Houda Benyamina’s coming-of-age drama that won the hearts of critics and audiences at Cannes earlier this year. When asked by a teacher what she...
Hamptons Film Fest 2016 Women Directors: Meet Jessie Auritt — “Supergirl”
Jessie Auritt is an award-winning documentary filmmaker based in New York City. Her short film, “The Birdman,” screened at festivals around the country and won the Slamdance Grand Jury Prize for...
Trailer Watch : Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Creepy Sci-Fi “Evolution”
Imagine if “The Island of Doctor Moreau” was led by a group of pale, stoic women experimenting on pre-teen boys, and you’d get Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s “Evolution.” And this new trailer...
Sony Pictures Classics Acquires “Maudie” Starring Sally Hawkins
Sony Pictures Classics has announced the acquisition of Aisling Walsh’s “Maudie,” her biopic of artist Maud Lewis. Written by Sherry White and starring Sally Hawkins (“Happy Go Lucky”),...
Chantal Akerman: May Her Memory Be for a Blessing
Guest Post by Jenni Olson “Chantal Akerman committed suicide yesterday.” That was all I could manage to write in my journal on the evening of October 6, 2015. It was also my 53rd birthday that...
October 2016 Film Preview
“The Girl on the Train” For those of you who are gearing up for awards season or are planning to celebrate Halloween at the movies, we at Women and Hollywood would just like to say you will not...
Submissions for the 2017 Bentonville Film Festival Open Soon
The third annual Bentonville Film Festival will soon be accepting submissions. The fest, co-founded by Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis, is scheduled to take place in Bentonville, Arkansas May...
Weekly Update for September 30: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“American Honey” Films About Women Opening This Week American Honey — Written and Directed by Andrea Arnold Star (Sasha Lane), an adolescent girl from a troubled home, runs away with a...
Amma Asante’s “A United Kingdom” Acquired by Fox Searchlight
After kicking off negotiations at TIFF earlier in the month, Fox Searchlight Pictures has acquired the North American rights to Amma Asante’s “A United Kingdom,” a press release confirmed. The...
NYFF 2016 Highlights: Ava DuVernay, Annette Bening, and More
“13th” The 54th annual New York Film Festival opens with a bang today. One of our most anticipated titles of the year, never mind this particular fest, holds the honor of kicking off the...
60th BFI London Film Festival Lines Up Diverse Jury
The jury members for the 60th London BFI Film Festival, which runs from October 5–16 this year, have been revealed. The inclusive juries feature a number of women and people of color. As Screen...
Chicken & Egg Productions Launches 2017 Accelerator Lab
Hey there, first-time female filmmakers, or even those with one in the can. Chicken & Egg Pictures will soon begin accepting applications for the 2017 Accelerator Lab for first and second-time...
Dawn Porter to Be Honored at DOC NYC Film Fest
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter will be honored at this year’s DOC NYC Film Festival, Realscreen reports. Porter will receive the Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary...
Making Your Own Way: September Web Series and VOD Picks
“Ladies Room” Too often, stories about women fall into the same tired tropes: the search for a husband, children, and “having it all.” This month’s picks for web series and VOD highlight...
Quote of the Day: Amma Asante on Trusting Female Filmmakers
Amma Asante’s “A United Kingdom” is set to open the 60th BFI London Film Festival in a week, and her film may be an awards contender this year. Like any female director, Asante has no doubt...
Jordan Chooses Mai Masri’s “3000 Nights” as its Oscar Pick
The film “3000 Nights” has been selected as Jordan’s candidate for the foreign-language category at the 2017 Oscars, The Hollywood Reporter writes. The drama marks documentarian Mai Masri’s...
Jodie Foster to Receive Britannia Award for Excellence in Film
Jodie Foster is set to be honored with the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film at this year’s Britannia Awards, USA Today reports. The actress and director will be awarded with...
Amandla Stenberg to Star in Jennifer Yuh Nelson’s Live-Action Directorial Debut
“Hunger Games” actress Amandla Stenberg’s star continues to rise. Stenberg has snagged the lead role in “Darkest Minds,” Fox’s adaptation of Alexandra Bracken’s dystopian YA trilogy,...
Celebrating Nine Years of Women and Hollywood
Nine years ago this September (I never remember the exact date) I started a website on blogger called Women and Hollywood. I culled links about women in the entertainment industry, started going to...
Trailer Watch: Ava DuVernay’s “The 13th” Critiques Mass Incarceration
Director Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) has secured the Opening Night spot at this year’s New York Film Festival, which runs from September 30-October 16, for her documentary “The 13th.” And now...
“Bridget Jones’s Baby” Tops Foreign Box Office For Second Week in a Row
“Bridget Jones’s Baby” is still going strong in international market, despite a poor performance in the U.S. As Variety reports, the movie topped the foreign box office once again, earning...
Guest Post: How to Be an Ally — Tips for Men Working with Women in Film Production
by Graham Sheldon The entertainment industry has a massive problem. Women are rarely behind the camera, and it isn’t for lack of interest or effort on their parts. I consider myself lucky to...
“Audrie & Daisy” Director Bonni Cohen Talks Cyberbullying and Sex Crimes
Interview by Diana Martinez Since co-founding Actual Films in 1998, Bonni Cohen has produced and directed an array of award-winning films, including “The Island President,” “Inside...
Weekly Update for September 23: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Queen of Katwe” Films About Women Opening This Week Queen of Katwe — Directed by Mira Nair For ten-year-old Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga) and her family, life in the impoverished slum...
“Generation Startup” Directors on Pushing Boundaries and Starting Companies
“Generation Startup” directors Cynthia Wade and Cheryl Miller Houser shared their thoughts on starting their own companies, why it’s important for young people to pursue their business dreams,...
AFI Fest to Celebrate Dorothy Dandridge, Ida Lupino, and Anna May Wong
The American Film Institute has announced that the 30th iteration of AFI Fest will spotlight Dorothy Dandridge, Ida Lupino, and Anna May Wong. Dandridge was the first African-American woman...
Elite Zexer’s “Sand Storm” is Israel’s Oscar Pick
Another women-directed feature is joining the Oscar race. Israel has chosen to submit “Sand Storm” to represent the country in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2017 Academy Awards,...
Jamie Lee Curtis to Direct an Episode of “Scream Queens”
The queen of screams herself is taking charge. “Halloween” actress Jamie Lee Curtis is set to direct an episode of Fox’s horror-comedy series “Scream Queens,” Deadline reports. Curtis acts...
Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson’s “Claire in Motion” Goes to Breaking Glass
Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired the North American rights to writer-director team Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson’s “Claire in Motion,” ScreenDaily reports. The film premiered at SXSW and...
Quote of the Day: “Selma” Star David Oyelowo On How He Supports Women Directors
“Selma” breakout David Oyelowo sat down with Variety to discuss his two upcoming projects, the chess underdog story “Queen of Katwe” and the interracial romance “A United Kingdom.” Both...
Rosemary Myers on Exploring the Dark Heart of the Teenage Mind in “Girl Asleep”
Rosemary Myers is the Artistic Director of Windmill Theatre, an award-winning national performing arts company based in Adelaide, South Australia. Her directing credits for Windmill include the...
Solution for Hollywood’s Woman Director Problem: Demand More from Agencies
Guest Post By Rachel Feldman It’s about time that gender equality for directors in Hollywood has become news. It’s taken decades of pushing this story uphill, but the film and television...