ALL POSTS
Agnes Varda Admits She Has Trouble Securing Funding, Confesses Love for Lena Dunham’s “Girls”
Apparently not even achieving legendary status has shielded Agnes Varda from a common problem afflicting women directors. “I have an entire bestiary of prizes with bears, dogs, etc., but people...
Inside Out 2015 Women Directors: Meet Christina Zeidler — ‘Portrait of a Serial Monogamist’
Christina Zeidler is a film and video artist with over thirtytitles in distribution. Zeidler is one half of the Euro-electronica-pop-diva sensation “ina unt ina” and part of the high-conceptart...
Female Cannes 2015 Award Winners: Rooney Mara, Emmanuelle Bercot, Pippa Bianco and More
The 68th annual Cannes Film Festival has come to a close, with a number of female performers and helmers recognized for their talent and accomplishments. As with previous installments of the...
Get Involved: A Call to Action about the Representation of Women at the Tony Awards
On June 7th, when girls across the country turnon the Tony Awards, what do you want them to see? This is the question we’re posing to the Tony AwardsManagement Committee and CBS in a petition...
Cannes’ Heelgate: What Women in Heels Really Think (CARTOON)
Liza Donnelly is a contract cartoonist and writer with The New Yorker Magazine, where she has been drawing cartoons about culture and politics for over thirty years. She is also a columnist and...
7 Queer Female Filmmakers to Watch for in 2015
In what is already shaping up to be an exciting year for lesbian features, with both “Carol” and “Freeheld” sporting high-profile casts and higher expectations, queer female filmmakers are...
First Kill, First Wave, First Love and First Unemployment Line: New Women-Centric VOD and Webseries
In both real life and fictional narratives, there is always a turning point in the story, a catalytic moment when everything begins to change. Whatever happens going forward can be traced back to...
Weekly Update for May 22: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Aloft — Directed and Written by Claudia Llosa As we follow a mother (Jennifer Connelly) and her son (Cillian Murphy), we delve into a past marred by an...
Watch: Exclusive Clip from ‘Queen of Versailles’ Director Lauren Greenfield’s ‘Beauty CULTure’
Before she directed the critically lauded documentary “The Queen of Versailles,” about the construction of the largest mansion in the country and the wealthy weirdoes who contracted it,...
Catherine Deneuve’s Cannes Opener ‘Standing Tall’ Acquired by Cohen Media Group
For the first time in 28 years, a female-directed film kicked off the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Now comes word, just as the Croisette is winding down, that the US rights of Emmanuelle Bercot’s...
Amy Schumer Making Mother-Daughter Comedy with Paul Feig
In what feels like a match made in heaven, Amy Schumer is set to team up with proven female-comedy-lover Paul Feig (“Spy,” “The Heat,” “Bridesmaids”). The rising star will act in a...
Inside Out 2015 Women Directors: Meet Barbara Hammer — ‘Welcome to This House, a Film on Elizabeth Bishop’
A highly prolific filmmakerand videographer, Barbara Hammer has directed over eighty films and videos in acareer that spans 40 years. She is considered a pioneer of queer cinema. Hammer made the...
Anne Pasternak Becomes the First Female Director of The Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum has announced that its next director will be Anne Pasternak, making her the institution’s first-ever female chief. Founded in 1977, the museum is the second largest in New York...
Trailer Watch: The World Makes a Dying Child’s Wish Come True in ‘Batkid Begins’
Batman’s least broody iteration introduced himself on the streets of San Francisco on November 15, 2013, in front of thousands of enraptured strangers. Behind the mask was five-year-old Miles...
Stand for #FilmEquality and Sign the ACLU’s Petition on Behalf of Women Directors
The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a petition with the hopes of gaining more support and momentum in the struggle to put an end to the industry’s gender-biased hiring practices. Last...
Reese Witherspoon to Play Tinker Bell in Live-Action Disney Movie
Reese Witherspoon is claiming one of Disney’s most iconic characters as her next big-screen role. The Oscar-winning actress will play Tinker Bell in “Tink,” a live-action, revisionist take on...
84 Films By and About Women of Color, Courtesy of Ava DuVernay and the Good People of Twitter
If you were on Twitter recently, you might have seendirector Ava DuVernay’s clever call to social media to name films with “black,brown, native or Asian women leads” which were also directed...
Sexual Violence on “Outlander” vs. “Game of Thrones”
Barbra Streisand to Write Memoir About Her Career and Personal Life
EGOT winner Barbra Streisand will pen a book reflecting on her life and her five-and-a-half decades in showbiz. Viking will publish the as-yet-untitled memoir in 2017. Streisand has discussed...
Watch: Females Are Strong as Hell in ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’-’Mad Max: Fury Road’ Mash-Up
Just when you’d finally gotten the “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” theme song out of your head, here comes a must-see mash-up of Tina Fey’s Netflix series and the “Mad Max: Fury Road” scenes...
Maggie Gyllenhaal Told 37 is “Too Old” To Play a 55-Year-Old’s Love Interest
“There are things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time,” Maggie Gyllenhaal admitted in a new interview with TheWrap. Among...
Trailer Watch: Amy Winehouse Wants to Disappear in First Official Spot for ‘Amy’
“I don’t think I’m going to be at all famous,” predicts Amy Winehouse in the new documentary about her, which has opened to critical acclaim at Cannes 2015. That statement was probably...
Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Harrowing Religious-Repression Drama ‘Mustang’ Gets US Distribution Deal
The Turkish drama “Mustang,” which debuted to ecstatic reviews at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, has been acquired by the Cohen Media Group. The Directors’ Fortnight selection focuses on a...
New Arab Women Filmmakers Scholarship at UCLA Film School Announced
A new initiative to “give voice to the unique perspective of Arab women” has been launched as a partnership between the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT) and the...
Quote of the Day: Gina Prince-Bythewood Supports ACLU Action, Declares “Talent Has No Gender”
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Beyond the Lights,” “The Secret Life of Bees”) has released a statement voicing her support of the ACLU’s request for the government to investigate sexist...
Shonda Rhimes and Jenji Kohan Win Global Women’s Rights Awards
Shonda Rhimes and Jenji Kohan were recognized for “changing the face of media” by the Feminist Majority Foundation at the 10th annual Global Women’s Rights Awards on Monday. Rhimes and Kohan...
Kristen Schaal Sells Animated Comedy Pilot ‘Fancy Bastards’ to MTV
One of the busiest women in TV might finally get her own show. Kristen Schaal — who appears on the Fox comedy “Last Man on Earth,” voices the Fox animated sitcom “Bob’s Burgers” and...
Producers Wanted Emily Blunt’s Character in “Sicario” to Be a Man
Emily Blunt has found critical success (if not quite blockbuster megabucks) in action flicks like “Looper” and “Edge of Tomorrow.” But she almost got shut out of the crime thriller...
Ellen Page and Allison Janney to Star in Baby-Kidnapping Dramedy ‘Tallulah’
Here’s a story you haven’t heard before: A free spirit rescues a baby from her negligent mother, leading everyone to think she’s kidnapped the infant. She passes the baby off as her own around...
Melissa McCarthy Gets Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, Calls Industry Sexism “An Intense Sickness”
Two weeks before the release of “Spy,” her latest comedy, Melissa McCarthy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the ceremony, she thanked her parents’ steadfast support for...
Cannes 2015: Gender-Policing the Red Carpet
Cannes is like an alternate universe. At 9am yesterday morning, I went to see a fantastic movie called “Mustang” by a woman director named Deniz Gamze Erguven. It is about five sisters in a...
Natalie Portman on the “Vanity” of Women’s Movies (Bonus: Watch a Clip from Her Directorial Debut)
“I had wanted to direct for as long as I can remember,” recalled Natalie Portman in a Cannes interview to promote her first film, “A Tale of Love and Darkness.” But the Oscar-winning was...
Jane Fonda and Megan Ellison Receive Kering’s Inaugural Women in Motion Awards
Jane Fonda and Annapurna Pictures founder Megan Ellison received the inaugural Women in Motion award from Kering at a gala held Sunday in Cannes. Both women delivered acceptance speeches that...
“Happy Valley” Creator Sally Wainwright to Write and Direct BBC Film About Brontë Sisters
Veteran British TV writer Sally Wainwright will make her feature directorial debut with a two-hour BBC1 drama about the Brontë sisters. “To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters” will center on a...
Alice Winocour’s ‘Disorder (Maryland),’ Starring Diane Kruger, Acquired by Sundance Selects
Following its world-premiere screening at the Cannes Film Festival, French writer-director Alice Winocour’s “Disorder (Maryland)” was acquired by Sundance Selects. The Un Certain Regard...
Trailer Watch: Pioneering DJ Can’t Stay in ‘Eden’ Forever in Mia Hansen-Løve’s Latest
“I’ll be a DJ. I’ll be rich.” The trailer for Mia Hansen-Løve’s followup to 2011’s “Goodbye First Love” begins with this bold pronouncement from Paul, an ambitious and talented DJ...
Cannes 2015 Women Directors: Meet Chloé Zhao — ‘Songs My Brothers Taught Me’
Chloé Zhao was raised in Beijing and England and is currently a MFA thesis student at New York University’s graduate film program. She was selected as a fellow at the 2012 Sundance Directors and...
Cannes Deals: Catherine Hardwicke, Marjane Satrapi, Elle Fanning’s Transgender Movie and More
The Cannes Film Festival is about more than the prestige associated with winning the Palme d’Or or the glitz, glamour and couture of the red carpet — the festival is also a hub of wheeling...
May 2015’s Noteworthy Women-Centric Crowdfunding Projects
Last month, we at Women and Hollywood started a new feature spotlighting women-centric crowdfunding projects that we feel deserve attention and support. This month’s crowdfunding selections vary...
Jill Soloway Encourages Women Directors to “Storm the Gates”
“Transparent” creator Jill Soloway delivered a powerful keynote address to outgoing and incoming students of the AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women, calling for nothing short of a...
All-Female Shortlist Announced for Desmond Elliott Prize for New Fiction
The shortlist for the Desmond Elliott Prize for New Fiction has been announced, and all three nominated novelists are women. The £10,000 ($15,700 USD) literary prize is awarded to the best debut...
‘Pitch Perfect 2’ Tops Weekend Box Office, Grosses $107.5 Million in Three Days
Based on this weekend’s box-office tallies, “Pitch Perfect 3.” is definitely happening now. Disproving all the idiots out there who say that audiences won’t watch movies about women and...
The Power and Relevance of ‘Carol’
In a few short weeks, the Supreme Court of the United States will decide on the issue of gay marriage once and for all. Over here at the Cannes Film Festival, “Carol,” based on Patricia...
Oops! I Made a Feminist Manifesto: George Miller and “Mad Max”
It’s been three days since I saw “Mad Max: Fury Road” and I still can’t shut up about how phenomenal it was. I often think of this Onion article when attempting to reconcile my love of...
Salma Hayek Drops Truth Bombs About Hollywood’s Gender Problem
Salma Hayek is my new heroine. This morning at the Kering Talks (Kering is a sponsor of the festival and Hayek’s husband François-Henri Pinault is the CEO) this woman dropped epic truth bombs for...
Weekly Update for May 15: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Mad Max: Fury Road — Women-Centric Pick of the Week This post-apocalyptic feminist action-adventure story features Charlize Theron in her most kick-ass role...
Watch: Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara Begin a Love Affair in ‘Carol’ Clips
Two clips from “Carol,” Todd Haynes’ much anticipated adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith lesbian romance “The Price of Salt,” have been released. The two excerpts find confident and...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Ethan Hawke Speaks Out Against “Movie Business [Being] a Boys Club”
During a press tour for his latest film, Ethan Hawke spoke out against the “boys club” that runs Hollywood. Feminism appears to have little to do with the thriller “Good Kill,” but when...
Remembering Lois Weber, Early Hollywood’s Most Successful Woman Director
Last month, Vanity Fair ran a piece on women directors that claimed that “the feisty Ida Lupino was one of thefirst.” They were only off by fifty years. They forgot — or never...
Director Amy Berg on ‘Every Secret Thing,’ Her New Nicole Holofcener-Penned Thriller
Amy Berg is a critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her documentary “Deliver Us From Evil” (2006). The film...
Quote of the Day: Cate Blanchett on the Difficulty and Importance of Making Movies About Women
Todd Haynes’ lesbian romance “Carol” is on many a must-see list — including Women and Hollywood’s — but the journey of making and releasing the Cate Blanchett/Rooney Mara drama...