ALL POSTS
Pick of the Day: “Lorelei”
First-time feature director Sabrina Doyle told us that “Lorelei” is the result of her desire to “make a film about working-class people that shows their resilience, their inner...
Pick of the Day: “The Pursuit of Love”
The new miniseries “The Pursuit of Love” features two storytelling tropes that tend to annoy me: the juxtaposition of the free spirited woman and her wallflower best friend, and the woman...
August 2021 Film Preview
A history-making Sundance winner and a biopic about the Queen of Soul are among the most anticipated titles hitting theaters this August. Kicking off this month’s releases is “Pray...
Pick of the Day: “Playing with Sharks”
I’d never heard of Valerie Taylor before “Playing with Sharks,” but Sally Aitken’s loving tribute makes a compelling case for why the pioneer in underwater filmmaking and...
“Cousins” Directors Ainsley Gardiner and Briar Grace-Smith on Exploring Indigenous Identity and Resilience
Ainsley Gardiner (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Awa, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Whakatōhea), has produced more than a dozen short and feature films, documentaries, and television drama series. Her first short...
Alanis Obomsawin to Receive TIFF Tribute Award for Bridging Social Impact and Cinema
Alanis Obomsawin is set to be honored at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer, singer, and activist has been named as the recipient of the...
Trailer Watch: “Julia” Child Doc Sees Betsy West & Julie Cohen Paying Tribute to a Revolutionary Cook
Julia Child transformed the way Americans cook, and her impact on the culinary would cannot be overstated. A new trailer for “Julia,” an upcoming doc about the trailblazer, emphasizes...
Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s “Clara Sola” Acquired by Oscilloscope Laboratories
Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s debut feature has found a home following its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. A press release announced...
Cannes 2021 Women Directors: Meet Kira Kovalenko – “Unclenching the Fists”
Kira Kovalenko was born in Nalchik, Russia. She graduated from Alexander Sokurov’s directing workshop at Kabardino-Balkarian State University in 2015. She made her feature directorial debut in 2016...
Cannes 2021 Women Directors: Meet Luàna Bajrami – “The Hill Where Lionesses Roar”
Self taught, Luàna Bajrami acquired experience through her collaborations with different filmmakers while practicing writing, editing, and directing through numerous amateur short film projects....
Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie Team Up for “Barbie,” Shooting Kicks Off in 2022
Greta Gerwig’s last film saw her re-imagining an iconic novel, and now she’s set to put a fresh spin on an iconic toy. The “Little Women” helmer has officially signed on to...
Cannes 2021 Women Directors: Meet Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic – “Murina”
Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic is a writer-director born in Dubrovnik and currently based in New York. Her short “Into the Blue” was nominated for a Student Academy Award, and won awards at...
Cannes 2021 Women Directors: Meet Nathalie Álvarez Mesén – “Clara Sola”
Nathalie Álvarez Mesén is a Costa Rican-Swedish writer and director. She is an alumna of Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program, the Berlinale Talents, and the TIFF Filmmaker Lab. Alvarez...
Cannes 2021 Women Directors: Meet Sandrine Kiberlain – “A Radiant Girl”
Sandrine Kiberlain is a French actress and singer. She received the César for Best Actress for her role in “9-Month Stretch.” The short film “Smile” was her first film as a director....
Cannes 2021 Women Directors: Meet Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova – “Women Do Cry”
After two decades in the British animation industry, Mina Mileva created Activist38 with actress Vesela Kazakova, whose leading roles earned her the Silver George at the Moscow International Film...
Cannes 2021 Women Directors: Meet Anaïs Volpé – “The Braves”
Anaïs Volpé is a self-taught screenwriter, filmmaker, and editor. In 2016, she self-produced “Heis,” a cross-media project which has been screened at international festivals and won the Jury...
Reclaim Your Story: Crowdfunding Picks
Few things are as frustrating as having your voice drowned out by someone who has not lived your experience. Oppression relies on suppressing minority voices. If you cannot share your stories, your...
July 2021 Film Preview
By Kara Headley and Vicki A. Lee Women kick ass. This is something that we know and we witness on the news, in our friends and relatives, and even in ourselves — but it’s always nice to be...
Teona Strugar Mitevska on Telling a Story About Having the Audacity to Define Yourself in “God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya”
Teona Strugar Mitevska was born in Macedonia. She started as a child actor, and trained as a painter and a graphic designer before studying in the MFA program in film at New York University’s...
Lizzie Borden Revisits “Working Girls” and Reflects on its Origins
After receiving a BFA in art history at Wellesley College, Lizzie Borden moved to New York, painted, wrote for Artforum Magazine, and made an experimental documentary, “Regrouping,”...
Jeanne Leblanc on Exploring the Silent Complicity of a Tight-Knit Community in “Les Nôtres”
Jeanne Leblanc has directed close to ten short films that have screened in international festivals. In 2017, she directed her first feature film, “Isla Blanca.” “Les Nôtres”...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Kristine Stolakis – “Pray Away”
Interview by Cody Corrall Kristine Stolakis is a director whose films explore power, politics, and prejudice — and the way they unfold in real people’s lives. Stolakis’ directorial debut,...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Bernadette Wegenstein – “The Conductor”
Bernadette Wegenstein is an Austrian-born linguist, author, and documentary filmmaker living in Baltimore. She is a professor at Johns Hopkins University. Her films and books bring together her...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Macha Colón – “Perfume de Gardenias”
Macha Colón is Gisela Rosario Ramos, an undisciplined artist currently based in Puerto Rico. Her award-winning short documentary “El Hijo de Ruby” has been shown in international...
New Org Will Offer Mentorship and Financial Support to Disabled Screenwriters
According to last year’s WGAW Inclusion Report, self-identified writers with disabilities comprise only 0.7 percent of current active Writers Guild of America West members. In contrast, about a...
Costume Designer to Watch: Ayanna James-Kimani of “Insecure”
“Costume is prime real estate in television — whatever message you want out, you’re going to see it in the person’s wardrobe,” costume designer and stylist Ayanna James-Kimani observed in...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Maya Cueva and Leah Galant – “On the Divide”
Maya Cueva is a Latina award-winning director and producer with a background in radio and podcast producing. Her short documentary “The Provider” premiered at SXSW and was nominated for...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Andrea Nix Fine- “LFG”
Andrea Nix Fine is an Oscar, Emmy, and Peabody award-winning filmmaker. In 2021, she, along with her husband and partner Sean Fine, launched impact studio Change Content to develop true stories into...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Shannon Post – “Building a Bridge”
Shannon Post is a queer documentary filmmaker from Florida. She attended college in Orlando, and Pulse nightclub was a safe place for her and her friends to have fun and be out and proud. Her first...
Stéphanie Lamorré Talks “Being Thunder,” Her Portrait of A Two-Spirit Genderqueer Teen
Stéphanie Lamorré is a French documentary filmmaker working as an international independent writer, director, and producer. She’s shot documentaries in Iraq, Africa, South America, and...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Lauren Hadaway – “The Novice”
Lauren Hadaway is an LGBTQ+ writer and director with a background in sound editing and mixing. She briefly worked as a Dallas-based reality TV editor before moving to Los Angeles in 2012 to pursue a...
Manjari Makijany on Telling an Empowering Story About Confidence and Courage in “Skater Girl”
Manjari Makijany is Los Angeles-based writer, director, and producer with diverse film experience in India and the United States. Her journey as a director took off with her critically acclaimed...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Suzanne Joe Kai – “Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres”
Suzanne Joe Kai received two Emmy Award nominations and was named Best Woman News Reporter while a broadcast journalist at San Francisco’s NBC affiliate KRON-TV. She worked at KCBS Radio (CBS) and...
Quiara Alegría Hudes on the Responsibility of Taking “In the Heights” from Stage to Screen
Writer-producer Quiara Alegría Hudes is a big believer in weaving in parts of her Latino heritage and culture into her storylines for a greater sense of reality. So when she was asked to join...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Amber Sealey – “No Man of God”
Amber Sealey is an award-winning filmmaker. She is attached to direct “The Education of Shelby Knox” and a comedy pilot she wrote called “Sistered.” She has written scripts...
Tribeca 2021 Women Directors: Meet Hannah Marks – “Mark, Mary & Some Other People”
Hannah Marks made her feature co-directorial debut with the independent film “After Everything,” which she also co-wrote. The film premiered in competition at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival....
Trailer Watch: Marion Hill Tells a Polyamorous Love Story in “Ma Belle, My Beauty”
Described by writer-director Marion Hill as “a contemporary love story” with “a deep devotion to the exploration and authentic depiction of nuance: nuance of character,...
Pick of the Day: “Feel Good”
Mae tries to break out of her destructive patterns in the new season of “Feel Good” — which means she has no choice but to face her past head-on. The second and final season of the...
June 2021 Film Preview
By Kara Headley and Vicki A. Lee Since the 1969 Stonewall Uprising members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies have celebrated Pride Month every June, honoring the social, cultural, and...
June 2021 Television Preview
Summer TV kicks off in earnest this June — a boatload of new and returning projects by and about women are set to debut, including a comedy about an all-Muslim women punk band, a darkly funny...
2021 WIA World Summit to Feature Talks from Amma Y. Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin and Victoria Alonso
The fifth Women in Animation World Summit is almost here. JusticeRx’s Amma Y. Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, Ph.D. and Marvel Studios’ Victoria Alonso will be among the virtual event’s...
Pick of the Day: “Plan B”
Given its subject matter and raunchy sense of humor, Natalie Morales’ teen comedy “Plan B” will probably draw comparisons to “Booksmart” and “Unpregnant.”...
“A Black Lady Sketch Show” Renewed for Season 3 at HBO
“A Black Lady Sketch Show” *clap clap* is getting another season *clap clap*. A press release has confirmed Robin Thede’s groundbreaking sketch series has been renewed for Season 3...
Teaser Watch: Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, & Gemma Chan Are Immortal Superheroes in Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals”
Chloé Zhao is following up her intimate portrait of a modern-day nomad with a Marvel blockbuster. The history-making “Nomadland” director’s latest, “Eternals,” is...
Women’s Secret Histories: Crowdfunding Picks
One of the best ways to learn about the world and its many peoples is by listening to stories. When underrepresented groups are given the chance to share — and to be heard — it can...
Caroline Link on Standing Up to Fascism with Her New Film “When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit”
When Caroline Link first read the children’s book “When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit” as a young girl, she was immediately drawn to the story. The semi-autographical novel by Judith...
“Bridgerton” Spinoff About Queen Charlotte Greenlit By Netflix
Looks like Lady Whistledown missed the scoop: The Hollywood Reporter confirms that a “Bridgerton” spinoff has received a series order from Netflix. Currently untitled, the limited series...
Pick of the Day: “Us Kids”
Described by director Kim S. Snyder as “a coming-of-age story about a bunch of regular teenage kids who live their lives against the backdrop of this horrendous national issue of gun violence,”...
Kristine Stolakis Conversion Therapy Doc “Pray Away” Lands at Netflix
“Pray Away” has found a home ahead of its world premiere at next month’s Tribeca Film Festival. Deadline reports that Netflix snagged rights to Kristine Stolakis’ conversion...
Stacey Abrams’ New Novel “While Justice Sleeps” Getting TV Adaptation
Stacey Abrams’ latest novel just hit bookshelves yesterday, May 10, and an adaptation is already in the works. Deadline confirms Working Title Television scored the rights to “While...
“Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters” Acquired by Kino Lorber
Rosalynde LeBlanc and Tom Hurwitz’s tribute to “D-Man in the Waters,” a trailblazing ballet inspired by the AIDS crisis, has secured distribution. Kino Lorber scored North American...