ALL POSTS
Hot Docs 2015 Women Directors: Meet Laurie Kahn — ‘Love Between the Covers’
Laurie Kahn started her film career by helping a friend make an adaptation of a Guy de Maupassant story. While working on this project, she found paying work on the side writing film reviews for the...
Queer Women Out of the Picture in 2014 Films
Damn, Hollywood, what is it going to take to finally give us some hot girl-on-girl action? Oh, so now I have your attention? Well, then what I really want to ask is, what will it take to finally...
Trailer Watch: Growing Up Isn’t the Problem in ‘The Little Prince’
Hot Docs 2015 Women Directors: Meet Tonje Hessen Schei — ‘Drone’
Tonje Hessen Scheiis an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has worked with independentdocumentary productions since 1996. Her films focus on human rights, theenvironment and social justice....
Lena Dunham and Rose Byrne Launch All-Female Production Companies
The gender imbalance in Hollywood is leading more actresses to form their own production companies. Two of the latest entrants to the producers’ game are Lena Dunham and Rose Byrne, who both...
Whitney Cummings Gets HBO Stand-Up Special, Pilot Order for New Comedy
Whitney Cummings is returning to television. After co-creating CBS’s “2 Broke Girls” (still going strong) and creating/starring in NBC’s “Whitney” (canceled after two seasons), Cummings...
Trailer Watch: Studio Ghibli’s ‘When Marnie Was There’ Offers a Mysterious Female Friendship
A trailer has been released for Studio Ghibli’s latest feature, which unfortunately may also be its last. “When Marnie Was There,” an adaptation of Joan G. Robinson’s young-adult book of the...
Watch: #makeitfair Video Highlights Gender Inequality with Humor
A new video from #makeitfair, a project calling for gender equality in the entertainment industry, politics and beyond has us nodding our heads in agreement while laughing out loud. Rita Wilson,...
Is 2015 the Year of the Older Actress?
We at Women and Hollywood have noticed a trend: 2015 seems to be the year of the older actress. We can’t recall a year in the past decade or so with more female-centric projects led by actresses...
Jessie Mueller Will Star in Sara Bareilles’ Musical ‘Waitress’
Broadway star Jessie Mueller has been confirmed to play the title role in Sara Bareilles’ upcoming musical “Waitress.” Mueller won a Best Actress Tony last year for her performance in the...
Carey Mulligan Discusses Her Victorian Heroines in ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ and ‘Suffragette’
Female Filmmakers Initiative Research Confirms Hollywood Is Stuck in a Sexist Rut
The big Hollywood studios are all in Las Vegas this week, showing off their upcoming summer films to the theatre owners at CinemaCon. Clearly, gender is on their mind, since John Fithian, the head...
Watch: LA-Based Female Film Collective R.I.P. Dora Channeled a ‘Wild Fearlessness’ to Make ‘Serena’
The lack ofwomen filmmakers in Hollywood has been much discussed recently, and it’s clearit’s a problem that’s a long way from being remedied — though the voicesclamoring for change are...
San Francisco Film Society Announces Recipients of Inaugural Women Filmmaker Fellowships
Jennifer Phang (“Advantageous”), Nikole Beckwith (“Stockholm, Pennsylvania”) and Stewart Thorndike (“Lyle”) have been selected as the inaugural recipients of the San Francisco Film...
Sharing Our Story: Hollywood’s First Contract Director Dorothy Arzner’s ‘Dance, Girl, Dance’
To celebrate the firstanniversary of Seeking Our Story, this month’s screening will proudly feature awoman of many firsts: Dorothy Arzner. Arzner first moved to Hollywood in 1906, whereher father...
Three Women Directors to be Featured in Cannes 2015’s Directors’ Fortnight
Three women-directed features are included in the lineup for this year’s Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. Artistic director Edouard Waintrop announced the program of 19 features, chosen from a...
Cathy Schulman Joins Newly Launched STX Entertainment as Production Exec
Oscar-winning producer Cathy Schulman (“Crash”) has joined the newly launched STX Entertainment after eight years as the president of Mandalay Pictures. Schulman will serve as a top production...
Three Movies About Women Make ‘The Billion Dollar Club’
Only twenty films have grossed more than $1 billion dollars through their global theatrical runs, with “Furious 7” being the most recent addition to that list, taking only 17 days to race its...
Emma Stone to Play Billie Jean King in Biopic Directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton
One of the three(!) Billie Jean King projects in development found its directors and stars yesterday. Husband-and-wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (“Little Miss Sunshine,” “Ruby...
Nicole Perlman and Meg LeFauve Confirmed to Write ‘Captain Marvel’ Movie
Marvel has hired two women writers, “Guardians of the Galaxy” co-writer Nicole Perlman and “Inside Out” co-writer Meg LeFauve, to pen the company’s first female-driven film. Marvel...
Barbara Seyda’s Debut Play “Celia, a Slave: 26 Characters Testify” Wins Yale Drama Prize
Barbara Seyda’s first play, “Celia, a Slave: 26 Characters Testify,” has been named this year’s winner of the prestigious Yale Drama Series Prize. Based on historical events, “Celia”...
Ann Hui’s ‘The Golden Era’ Wins Hong Kong Film Awards’ Best Film, Best Director Prizes
Ann Hui’s “The Golden Era” continues its domination of Chinese film awards. Hong Kong’s 2015 Oscar submission for the foreign-language-film category has thus far garnered Hui, its director,...
Cannes 2015 Announces All-Male Roster for Critics’ Week Program
Cannes lives up to its chauvinistic reputation once again with an all-male roster for its high-profile Critics’ Week program. This year’s jury president Ronit Elkabetz will have ten features to...
Susan Sarandon to Exec Produce Rebecca Parrish’s Doc About Feminist Nuns
Twenty years after her Academy Award-winning performance as Sister Helen Prejean in “Dead Man Walking,” Susan Sarandon is attached to another project about politically progressive nuns. Sarandon...
Noomi Rapace to Star in Sci-fi Thriller ‘Rupture’
Swedish actress Noomi Rapace has landed the lead role in “Rupture,” a sci-fi adventure thriller about a single mother who is kidnapped by a mysterious organization and learns an extraordinary...
Meryl Streep Launches Fund for Women Screenwriters Over 40
One of the highlights of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival is the announcement of a new program funded by Meryl Streep to provide support and development opportunities for women screenwriters over...
Cinedigm Acquires Sarah Hirsh Bordo’s ‘A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story’
Cinedigm has secured the North American rights to Sara Hirsh Bordo’s directorial debut, “A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story.” The documentary premiered at SXSW to great acclaim, winning...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy — ‘Song of Lahore’
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is an Academy-and Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her work centers on human rights and women’s issues. She has worked with refugees and marginalized communities...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Cosima Spender — ‘Palio’
London-based director Cosima Spender graduated with a degree in anthropology and art history from the University of London. Since graduating from the National Film and Television School in 2001, she...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Vanessa Hope — “All Eyes and Ears”
Vanessa Hope started her film career in China while teaching a graduate course at People’s University. Fluent in Chinese, she’s produced multiple films in China, with civil rights as a common...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Lisa Immordino Vreeland — ‘Peggy Guggenheim — Art Addict’
Long immersed in the world of fashion, Italian director Lisa Immordino Vreeland adapted her book “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel” into her first documentary. It won the Silver Hugo at the...
Weekly Update for April 17: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Alex of Venice — Co-Written by Jessica Goldberg and Katie Nehra (simultaneously releasing to VOD) In “Alex of Venice,” workaholic environmental attorney...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Natalia Leite — ‘Bare’
Natalia Leite is from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Since moving to New York, she has directed music videos, documentaries and short films. She is a recipient of the Kodak Grant Award, a Sundance Screenwriters...
Jill Soloway to Deliver Keynote for AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women Showcase
“Transparent” creator and “Afternoon Delight” writer-director Jill Soloway will deliver the keynote address at the AFI Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) Showcase on May 14. Soloway will...
Sony to Distribute Kelly Reichardt’s Next Film With Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams
Sony has acquired the global distribution rights to Kelly Reichardt’s next film. Based on short stories by Maile Meloy about small-town life in Montana, the untitled project will be a series of...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Claudia Llosa — ‘Aloft’
Clauda Llosa was born in Lima, Peru. Her debut film “Madeinusa” premiered in Sundance’s official competition in 2006 and won several international awards. Her second film, “The Milk of...
Anna Kendrick Signs Book Deal for Humorous Autobiographical Essays
Anna Kendrick is adding another title to her already impressive resume. The Academy Award-nominated actress and Tony-nominated musical star will soon be a published author. Kendrick has signed a...
Sarah Jessica Parker’s ‘Divorce’ Comedy a Go at HBO
Thirteen years after “Sex and the City” ended its run, Sarah Jessica Parker has announced her return to HBO to explore another facet of modern womanhood. In a single-cam comedy called...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Amy Kohn — ‘A Courtship’
Amy Kohn is an Emmy Award-winning television producer and showrunner. Her documentary work has included the critically acclaimed “My Life as a Child” (TLC), which profiled children ages 7 to 11...
Trailer Watch: Elizabeth Banks Searches For a Missing Child in Amy Berg’s ‘Every Secret Thing’
A trailer has arrived for Amy Berg’s psychological thriller “Every Secret Thing,” starring Elizabeth Banks, Diane Lane, Dakota Fanning and Danielle Macdonald (“2 Broke Girls”). The film...
Guest Post: Actress Anne Archer on How Women Can Play the Game Today
Since avery small girl, I have loved to perform and really only cared about acting. And yes, I would say it is still my number one love and goal, but I had an epiphany afew years ago that to...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Leslye Headland — ‘Sleeping with Other People’
Leslye Headland started her writing career in theater, with such plays as “Bachelorette” (Second Stage), “Assistance” (Playwrights Horizons), and the rest of the “Seven Deadly Plays”...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Hélène Zimmer — ‘Being 14’
Hélène Zimmer studied literature before directing “Being 14,” her first movie. In 2013, she co-wrote an adaptation of Octave Mirbeau’s novel “The Diary Of A Chambermaid.” (Tribeca Film...
Trailer Watch: Patricia Clarkson Takes the Wheel in Isabel Coixet’s ‘Learning to Drive’
A trailer has been released for Spanish director Isabel Coixet’s “Learning to Drive,” a romantic comedy starring Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley. The film, which premiered at the Toronto...
Variety’s Power of Women Awards to Honor Whoopi Goldberg, Glenn Close, Lena Dunham
Whoopi Goldberg, Glenn Close, Lena Dunham, Rachel Weisz and Kim Kardashian West will be honored at Variety’s Power of Women: New York, a biannual event celebrating the philanthropic work of women...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Hemal Trivedi — ‘Among the Believers’
Hemal Trivedi’s credits include “Outlawed in Pakistan,” “Saving Face,” “Shabeena’s Quest” and “Beyond Mumbai.” She has produced and edited over 50 award-winning shorts for...
‘Orphan Black’s’ Clone Club Admits Men — Sort Of
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Abigail Disney — ‘The Armor of Light’
Tribeca Film Festival alumna Abigail Disney is an Academy Award nominee, philanthropist and activist based in New York. Her passion for women’s issues has led her to producing films. Her film...
Cannes Announces 2015 Lineup; 5 Women Directors to Compete; Natalie Portman Makes Filmmaking Debut
Unlike many other film festivals of its caliber, Cannes has never been a great place to see works by women. A new announcement of the current 2015 lineup reveals that continues to be the case at...
Things We Learned from the Change of Directors for Wonder Woman
Not 48 hours ago, we learned that Michelle MacLaren, the woman who was going to break through DC’s superhero glass ceiling with “Wonder Woman,” had departed the project. Speculations abounded...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Laura Bispuri — ‘Sworn Virgin’
Laura Bispuri was an attendee of the Fandango Lab Workshop. She won the David Donatello Award (Italian Oscars) for Best Short Film in 2010 with “Passing Time.” “Sworn Virgin” is her first...