Women Directors
Miss Representation Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom Premieres October 20 on OWN
Readers of this blog know that there are gender biases in media. The documentary film Miss Representation which premiered last year at Sundance (and also played the Athena Film Festival) is the film...
Trailer Watch: W.E. — Directed by Madonna
The film will open on December 9.
One More Glass Ceiling Shattered: Patty Jenkins Signed to Direct Thor 2
This signing deserves a big toast because what it means is that a woman has broken through into the big leagues. Patty Jenkins who directed Monster which got Charlize Theron an Oscar, has been signed...
Final List for Foreign Films Being Submitted for Oscar Consideration
63 films have made it onto the list to be considered for the 2012 Academy Awards. There was only one added since we last tracked about three weeks ago. That means a total of 10 films are directed by...
Interview with Ami Canaan Mann — Director of the Texas Killing Fields
The Texas Killing Fields opens in the US tomorrow fresh off its debut at the Venice Film Festival. It tells the true story of the investigation of women who have gone missing in Texas. Ami Canaan...
Trailer Watch: The Other F Word — Directed by Andrea Blaugrund Nevins
Nora Ephron Gets a New Project
Nora Ephron has been brought in by Sony, the studio that released Julie & Julia to write and direct the adaptation of the mini-series Lost in Austen. Here’s a short description of the...
Women in Film 2011 Finishing Grants
For the 26th year, Women in Film (in LA) has announced several grants to help projects get through that last hurdle towards the finish line. The fund is supported by Netflix (so I guess I like them...
Guest Post: 10 Things I Have Learned Having Our Film CONNECTED In Theaters by Tiffany Shlain
1. CUTTING YOUR OWN TRAILERDon’t try this. Very dangerous. When you are running at full speed to complete your film on your way to your premiere, don’t fool yourself that you have the perspective...
Interview with Agnieszka Holland — Director of In Darkness
I was able to interview the Academy Award winning director (Europa Europa) Agnieszka Holland in Toronto at the debut of her new film about the Holocaust, In Darkness. In Darkness is Poland’s entry...
Pink Ribbons, Inc. — Directed by Léa Pool
Next week starts the annual pinkification of cancer — breast cancer awareness month. Now I don’t want to take anything away from any woman who is figuring out a way to fight and survive this...
Patty Jenkins in Talk to Direct Thor 2
Even if this doesn’t come to pass, the fact that a woman, a director like Patty Jenkins who is best known for directing the shit out of Charlize Theron in Monster and for directing the pilot of The...
Good News: Many Films Directed by Women are Being Submitted for Academy Awards for Foreign Films
Something good is going on this year and I’ve been watching it for the last couple of weeks. The news is that many countries have submitted films directed by women for Academy Award consideration...
Toronto Review: Hysteria
One of the most vivid memories I have of my college learning experience is a class I took on Women in American History. I remember reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Kate...
Trailer Watch: Wuthering Heights Directed by Andrea Arnold
Films got picked up by Oscilloscope for a 2012 release.
Where Do We Go Now? Wins Audience Award at Toronto Festival
Where Do We Go Now? written and directed by Nadine Labaki was the first film I saw in Toronto. As I wrote last week, it’s a strong symbol of women sick and tired of the men fighting over nothing...
Interview with Tatiana von Fürstenberg and Francesca Gregorini Directors of Tanner Hall
Women and Hollywood: How is your coming of age story different from others we have previously seen? Francesca Gregorini: We tried to make an artful, poetic film about teens. One that values...
Some Deals for Women Directors at Toronto
Here are some of the deals that women directors scored here in Toronto: Wuthering Heights directed by Andrea Arnold will be released by Oscilloscope in North America in 2012. Lynn Shelton writing...
Sisters in Crisis: Your Sister’s Sister and Union Square
My time in Toronto was spent trying to seek out as many women directed films as I could. Two of my favorites from the past week are films about sisters. First up was Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s...
Interview with Nadine Labaki — Director of Where Do We Go Now?
Women and Hollywood: Congratulations. I read your film is going to represent Lebanon in the Oscars. How does that feel? Nadine Labaki: It feels great. I don’t know what will happen afterwards, but...
Poster Premiere: Oka! — Directed by Lavinia Currier
Here is the poster for the new film Oka! directed by Lavinia Currier. The film opens in LA on October 14. Here’s the description of the film from the press materials: OKA! tells the story of an...
TIFF: Wuthering Heights Directed by Andrea Arnold and In Darkness Directed by Agnieszka Holland
There is no denying that Andrea Arnold is one of the most interesting and provocative directors working today. If you haven’t seen her first two films Red Road and Fish Tank you have missed two...
Toronto Day 3- We Need to Talk About Kevin and Think of Me
I woke up thinking about Tilda Swinton’s blank face from We Need to Talk About Kevin. It is amazing how much expressiveness there can be in a blank stare. The movie directed bravely by Lynne Ramsey...
Trailer Watch: Connected — Directed by Tiffany Shlain
Film opens September 16
Toronto Film Festival — Day 1
It didn’t look like I was going to make it this morning because the day started with a monsoon and my flight out of NY was cancelled which of course I wasn’t notified about until I was at the...
A Film That Is Making a Difference — The Whistleblower
A couple of months ago I participated in a Q&A with Amy Kaufman one of the producers of The Whistleblower. I asked her if the people at the UN had seen the film and her reply was that she...
Jennifer Yuh Nelson Becomes The Top Grossing Female Director
Jennifer Yuh Nelson, the director of Kung Fu Panda 2 has become the highest grossing female director. These are worldwide numbers and they are big. The tally now is at $645 million. She wins the...
Interview with Circumstance Writer and Director Maryam Keshavarz
Here’s a piece I wrote for this summer’s Human Right Campaign Magazine Equality on the film. You can tell from the piece how impressive a film it is. It is a change making film because it tells...
Vera Farmiga Steps Up to Direct with Higher Ground
It’s tricky business when you make a movie about religion. Religion elicits such passion that it’s hard to get the nuance without sounding preachy or judgmental. But that is exactly what Vera...
Love and Risk in Iran: Circumstance Written and Directed by Maryam Keshavarz
Here is a piece I wrote on Circumstance written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz for the Human Right Campaign’s Equality Magazine, for their Summer 2011 Issue. Making an independent film is always...
Guest Post: I Sold My House To Make My Feature by Sloane U’Ren
I sold my home to make my feature film debut Dimensions: A Line, A Loop, A Tangle of Threads. It’s a sci-fi love story that takes place in England in the 1920s and 1930s…a period-science...
Interview With Lone Scherfig — Director of One Day
One Day directed by Lone Scherfig tells the story of Emma and Dex played by Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. Two people who become friends and who stick it out even though there are times when they...
The Hedgehog Written and Directed by Mona Achache
The Hedgehog is a very unexpectedly touching film. It starts off jarringly, with 11-year-old Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) sick and tired of watching her self possessed family decides she is going...
Trailer Watch: Toast — Directed by SJ Clarkson
Opens in NY on September 23rd and LA on October 7. Here’s the description: “TOAST is the ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960’s Britain. Based on the heart-wrenchingly...
More Toronto Additions
The Toronto Film Festival added to its already impressive lineup with some women directed films that I’ve been waiting for. There is a long awaited film from Nancy Savoca and Lynn Shelton’s...
Trailer Watch: Hysteria Directed by Tanya Wexler
Film is about the development of the vibrator and will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
Guest Post: Why I Made This Film By S. Caspar Wong
I’ve been called brave twice in my life. The first time, I left a comfortable, cushy lawyer job and followed my dream of becoming a filmmaker. The second time is after people watch this film. I...
Kathryn Bigelow Goes Political For Next Film
It was announced in January that Kathryn Bigelow’s next film would be on the hunt for Bin-Laden. The story clearly changed when Bin Laden was killed. The ending was set and the stakes got higher....
The Whistleblower — directed by Larysa Kondracki and written by Kondracki and Eilis Kirwan
When I was growing up the thing that scared the crap out of me was nuclear war. For many years I was convinced that we were all going to radiated away. So when I saw Silkwood it resonated with me in...
Interview with Larysa Kondracki — Director of The Whistleblower
Women and Hollywood: How did you come up with the idea for the film? Larysa Kondracki: I am a Ukrainian Canadian, and the issue of sex-trafficking was very much being discussed in my community. My...
Interview with Amy Wendel — Director of All She Can
In All She Can Luz wants to get the hell out of Benavides, Texas. The way she can get out is either through the Army or through a weight lifting scholarship to college. Her brother is in the Army and...
Chicken and Egg Pictures Announces 2011 Grants
Chicken and Egg Pictures supports women filmmakers who are telling the tough stories. They just gave out their latest round of grants. One of the the organization’s co-founders filmmaker Judith...
All She Can — Co-Written and Directed by Amy Wendel
Luz wants to get the hell out of Benavides, Texas. The way she can get out is either through the Army or through a weight lifting scholarship to college. Her brother is in the Army and she has seen...
Interview with Bobbie Birleffi and and Beverly Kopf: Directors of Wish Me Away
Wish Me Away is the incredibly moving coming out story of country music star Chely Wright. When I read a little over a year ago that Wright had come out my first reaction was “so what”. After you...
New Pariah Trailer
I saw this new trailer for Pariah this past weekend at New Fest in NYC. The release date is still slated for Winter. When I know more, you will.
25 New Face of Independent Film: The Women
Not a bad job on representing both genders. Here’s the editors talking about creating the list: Welcome to the 14th edition of Filmmaker’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” When we...
Guest Post: Things You Should Know: 5 Lessons for Young Female Directors by Elena Rossini
The movie business is just like a mafia family: incredibly powerful, for the most part inaccessible (unless you have family ties), it’s a patriarchal system that keeps its status by enforcing...
The Tree — Written and Directed by Julie Bertuccelli Opens Today
The Tree is a lament on love, loss and family. It’s a movie about trying to find a way through your grief to see some light on the other side. One of the stars of the film is this gigantic Moreton...
Trailer Watch: The Family Tree — Directed by Vivi Friedman
Film opens August 26 The Family Tree
The Bridesmaids Effect: Kristen Wiig Gets the Green Light for Imogene
Multiple sources are reporting that Bridesmaids star Kristin Wiig will next take on the dark comedy Imogene written by Michelle Morgan and to be directed by American Splendor directors Shari Springer...
Guest Post: Interview with Sophia Takal — Writer/Director of Green by Melissa Silvestri
Actress/writer Sophia Takal’s directorial debut, Green, is a film that is both dark in its themes of jealousy, yet shines with a natural ease depicting the burgeoning friendship of two very...