ALL POSTS
Quote of the Day: “Port Authority’s” Leyna Bloom on Being the First Trans WOC to Lead a Cannes Pic
Leyna Bloom, star of Danielle Lessovitz’s “Port Authority,” is the first trans woman of color to lead a film selected for the Cannes Film Festival. As she explained in a talk at the fest,...
Here & Queer: Crowdfunding Picks
Despite their place at the forefront of the women’s rights movement, queer women have long been marginalized, misunderstood, and underrepresented by media. The history and experiences of queer...
Cannes: Annabelle Attanasio’s “Mickey and the Bear” Lands at Utopia
Father-daughter story “Mickey and the Bear” has found a home. Utopia acquired worldwide rights to Annabelle Attanasio’s feature debut just after it screened in Cannes’ ACID...
Quote of the Day: Mindy Kaling on “Late Night” and the Stigma of Being a “Diversity Hire”
Mindy Kaling scored one of the biggest deals out of Sundance this year for “Late Night,” a comedy about a veteran late-night host who hires her first female writer under pressure to make...
Weekly Update for May 17: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Sun Is Also a Star – Directed by Ry Russo-Young; Written by Tracy Oliver College-bound romantic Daniel Bae (Charles Melton) and Jamaica-born pragmatist Natasha...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Maryam Touzani – “Adam”
Maryam Touzani is a director, screenwriter, and actress. Her first short film, 2012’s “When They Slept,” was selected by a number of prestigious international festivals and received...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sofía Quirós – “Ceniza Negra”
Sofía Quirós is a director and writer. Her short film “Selva” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Critic’s Week in 2017. Since then, it has screened in more than 40 cities around the world...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Shahrbanoo Sadat – “The Orphanage”
Shahrbanoo Sadat is an Afghan writer and director based in Kabul. Her first feature film, “Wolf and Sheep,” was developed with the Cannes Cinéfondation Residence in 2010. Twenty years old at the...
“GLOW” Costume Designer Beth Morgan on Expressing Empowerment Through Clothing
If you’re a fan of “GLOW,” you know that the clothing plays a very big role in the series. Based on the 1980s wrestling TV series “Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling,” the...
Trailer Watch: Ali Wong Reconnects with Her Childhood Sweetheart in “Always Be My Maybe”
Sasha Tran’s life seems perfect. She’s a happily engaged celebrity chef who’s about open another high-end restaurant. But things go sideways when she returns to her hometown, San...
Cannes: Nadine Labacki’s “Capernaum” Makes Box Office History
“Capernaum” is still making waves a year after its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival. The Lebanon-set drama took home the fest’s Jury Prize, and went on to receive an Oscar nod...
Quote of the Day: Julianne Moore Speaks in Favor of Quotas While Attending Cannes
“We will not have gender parity unless everybody is cooperating,” said Julianne Moore at recent event at the Cannes Film Festival, per TIME. Cannes signed the 5050×2020 gender parity...
Trailer Watch: Waad Al-Kateab Shares a Story of Family, Love, and War in “For Sama”
Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts’s “For Sama” sees Kateab shooting footage of the Syrian revolution and war while speaking directly to her young daughter, Sama, via narration....
Cannes 2019: Gong Li to Receive Women In Motion Award
Gong Li has been named as the recipient of Cannes’ 2019 Women In Motion Award. “Her name will be forever linked to the Festival de Cannes, especially for her unforgettable performances in...
Weekly Update for May 10: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Poms – Directed by Zara Hayes It is always nice to see women over 40 on-screen, as central characters. “Poms” takes us into a retirement community where...
Set Designer Laura Jellinek on “Oklahoma!” and Her Tony Nomination
If you take a look at Laura Jellinek’s current list of projects, you’ll wonder how she does it all. The Tony Award and Drama Desk nominee recently designed the sets for Broadway’s...
Cannes: Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s Stacy L. Smith Partners with Women in Motion
Annenberg Inclusion Initiative founder and director Stacy L. Smith is joining forces with Women in Motion, Kering and the Cannes Film Festival’s program spotlighting women in film. According...
Trailer Watch: Awkwafina Faces a Moral Dilemma in “The Farewell”
“Crazy Rich Asians” breakout Awkwafina takes center stage in Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell.” A trailer just dropped for the critically acclaimed Sundance pic. Based on an...
Weekly Update for May 3: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Tell It to the Bees – Directed by Annabel Jankel; Written by Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth (Also Available on VOD) “Tell It to the Bees” Dr. Jean...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Heddy Honigmann – “Buddy”
Heddy Honigmann is a director and writer who is best known for “Forever,” “The Underground Orchestra,” and “Metal and Melancholy.” “Buddy” premiered at...
Tribeca 2019 Awards: “House of Hummingbird” and “Scheme Birds” Land Top Honors
The winners of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival have been announced, and two of the fest’s three highest honors have gone to women-directed films. Bora Kim’s coming-of-age drama...
Quote of the Day: Oprah Talks Empowerment and Opportunity
Oprah Winfrey has delivered yet another inspirational speech, this time at The Hollywood Reporter’s first-ever Empowerment in Entertainment gala. Accepting the inaugural Empowerment in...
Liz Meriwether Signs Big Overall Deal with 20th Century Fox TV
Liz Meriwether is sticking with 20th Century Fox TV. Deadline confirms the prolific TV writer, creator, EP, and showrunner has inked a “rich four-year overall deal” with the studio,...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Laurence Mathieu-Leger – “Willie”
Laurence Mathieu-Leger is an award-winning filmmaker, editor, and producer. She specializes in documentary projects and has done work for The Guardian, Reuters, La Presse, Cosmo, and the United...
Glenda Jackson on Playing King Lear and Modern Dramatists’ Disinterest in Women’s Stories
Glenda Jackson has worked extensively in film, television, and theater, and served in the British Parliament. She’s nabbed two Oscars (“Women in Love” and “A Touch of Class”), two...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Baljit Sangra – “Because We Are Girls”
Baljit Sangra uses documentary and factual entertainment to explore social and cross-cultural issues. A three-time Leo Award nominee, Sangra’s films have premiered at festivals around the world....
Imagine That: Crowdfunding Picks
Imagination, J.K. Rowling shared in her 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech, is “not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not” but also “the power that enables us...
May 2019 Film Preview
May 2019 promises to be an exciting month for new releases by and about women. From star-studded comedies to intimate documentaries, women’s stories are flooding theaters this month. Olivia...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Phyllis Ellis – “Toxic Beauty”
Phyllis Ellis is a creator, writer, director, producer, and performer in factual and scripted television and film. She was honored at the 2013 Canadian Screen Awards with the prestigious Donald...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Jola Dylewska – “Marek Edelman… and There Was Love in the Ghetto”
Jola Dylewska is a Polish writer, director, and cinematographer. She has worked as a cinematographer on over 25 projects. She won Best Cinematography at the 2012 Polish Film Awards for her work on...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Aude Leroux-Lévesque – “A Place of Tide and Time”
Aude Leroux-Lévesque is a Montreal-based documentary filmmaker. Her first documentary, “Call me Salma,” aired on Arte, EBS Korea, Direct 8, and played in numerous international film...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Danielle Sturk – “El Toro”
Danielle Sturk is a bilingual multi-disciplinary artist. Sturk’s films have screened at over 30 film festivals, and have been broadcast on most major Canadian English and French networks, such...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Nance Ackerman, Ariella Pahlke, and Teresa MacInnes – “Conviction”
Nance Ackerman is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, and multimedia artist. Her films have won awards for direction and cinematography. Her credits include “Cottonland,” “Four...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Marcela Arteaga – “The Guardian of Memory”
Marcela Arteaga is a Mexican writer and director. Her 2003 documentary “Remembrance” was screened at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Festival des Films du Monde, and Hot Docs,...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Megan Wennberg – “Drag Kids”
Megan Wennberg is a writer and director based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She works in both documentary and fiction, and her work has screened at festivals around the world and been broadcast on CBC,...
Jenni Rivera Documentary in the Works
Fans will have the chance to see Jenni Rivera take the stage for her final concert. A documentary about the late Mexican-American singer is in development, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Made...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Bora Kim – “House of Hummingbird”
Bora Kim is a Korean filmmaker with an MFA in film directing from Columbia. Her debut feature, “House of Hummingbird,” won the Grand Prix for Best Feature Film at the 69th Berlin International...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sherry Hormann – “A Regular Woman”
Sherry Hormann is a German-American writer and director. Her directorial debut, “Silent Shadow,” won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Direction, the Film Award in Silver for Outstanding...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ani Simon-Kennedy – “The Short History of the Long Road”
Ani Simon-Kennedy is a feature film, documentary, and commercial director. Her first feature, “Days of Gray,” played at top festivals around the world with an original live score by...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Karen Stokkendal Poulsen – “On the Inside of a Military Dictatorship”
Karen Stokkendal Poulsen is a writer and director with a background in foreign affairs and political science. Her 2014 documentary “The Agreement” was nominated for Best Nordic Documentary at the...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni – “Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind”
Martha Kehoe is a writer, producer, and director who has worked on and created award-winning documentaries, series, and specials in multiple genres. Her early career focused on music, as she...
Quote of the Day: Amy Poehler on Unpacking Misogyny and Working with Women
Actress, writer, director, producer, Upright Citizens Brigade co-founder, and Worldwide Orphans Foundation ambassador Amy Poehler is a popular dream BFF, and it’s no wonder. One of the...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Yu Gu – “A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem”
Yu Gu is a filmmaker and visual artist born in Chongqing, China and raised in Vancouver, Canada. Her previous credits include hybrid documentary “A Moth in Spring” and feature documentary...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Marwa Zein – “Khartoum Offside”
Marwa Zein is a Sudanese film director and producer. Her graduation project, “A game,” was an official selection of more than 30 international festivals worldwide and was translated into five...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Tasha Hubbard – “nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up”
Dr. Tasha Hubbard is a writer, filmmaker, and associate professor at the University of Alberta. Her first solo writing/directing project, “Two Worlds Colliding,” premiered at imagineNATIVE in...
“Gentleman Jack’s” Sally Wainwright and Suranne Jones on Bringing Anne Lister to Life
Sally Wainwright (“Happy Valley”) has reclaimed Anne Lister in a bold way in the HBO limited series “Gentleman Jack.” Suranne Jones (“Scott & Bailey,”...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sonejuhi Sinha – “Stray Dolls”
Sonejuhi Sinha has worked as a director and editor on acclaimed feature films, documentaries, and commercials. Her first narrative short, “Love Comes Later,” premiered at the 2015 Cannes...
Trailer Watch: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Prepares to “Knock Down the House”
“If I was a rational person, I would have dropped out of this race a long time ago,” says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a newly released trailer for “Knock Down the House.”...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy – “Blow the Man Down”
Wesleyan University graduates Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy met on a film set in Coney Island. They immediately bonded over a shared love of character-driven stories and juicy filmmaking...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin – “Scheme Birds”
Ellen Fiske is a director, writer, and producer. She directed the award-winning short films “Keep Me Safe” and “Lone Dads,” both set in Scotland. She is currently co-directing another...
Tribeca 2019 Preview: Cheerleaders Fighting Wage Theft, the USA Gymnastics Scandal, & More
Fifty percent of the film’s screening in competition sections at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival are women-directed or co-directed, and plenty more titles from female filmmakers appear in the...