ALL POSTS
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Stina Werenfels — ‘Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents’
Born in Basel in 1964, Stina Werenfels spent her early childhood in the USA, Greece, and Spain. After her degree in pharmacology, she went on to study film at New York University’s Tisch School of...
Female Franchises Expand: More ’50 Shades’ and Possibly ‘Hunger Games’ on the Way
Get ready to see more women at the multiplex. If you’re a “Hunger Games” fan who won’t be ready to say goodbye to Katniss and the gang when “Mockingjay — Part 2” opens on November...
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Silvina Landsmann — ‘Hotline’
Born in Argentina in 1965, Silvina Landsmann emigrated to Israel with her family at the age of eleven. After studying psychology in Paris and math in Tel Aviv, she graduated from Tel Aviv...
Lionsgate to Release Julianne Moore-Ellen Page LGBT Rights Drama ‘Freeheld’
Lionsgate has won a bidding war between several studios for the distribution rights to “Freeheld,” a drama chronicling the legal battle by lesbian couple Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree against...
Women Directors Sweep TV Categories at the 2015 DGA Awards
Television once again proved that it’s a female-friendlier medium than film via the 2015 DGA Awards, where women directors took home the three major small-screen categories. Lesli Linka Glatter...
Weekly Update for February 6: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Jupiter Ascending — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Lana Wachowski Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) was born under signs that predicted future greatness, but her...
Sundance 2015 Deals: Mora Stephens’s ‘Zipper’ and Louise Osmond’s ‘Dark Horse’
Two more Sundance favorites have found distribution deals. Mora Stephens’ thriller “Zipper” has found a home at Alchemy, which will release the film later this year. Starring Patrick Wilson...
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Sonja Heiss — ‘Hedi Schneider Is Stuck’
Sonja Heiss studied at the HFF Film School of Munich before acquiring experience in advertising. Her first feature, Hotel Very Welcome, won the “Dialogue en perspective” prize at the Berlinale....
‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Pre-Sales Strong in Southern States
Bad press has dogged Fifty Shades of Grey since the book’s publication right on through the movie’s press tour. We can conjecture for days about all the sexist (and feminist) why, but the fact...
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Sanna Lenken — ‘My Skinny Sister’
Sanna Lenken studied film directing at the National Film School, Dramatiska Institutet in Stockholm. She has also studied film at the European Film College in Ebeltoft, Denmark, and the Dramatiska...
‘Frozen’ Fever Boosts Disney’s Corporate Numbers, Yields New Short
Quote of the Day: Director Isabel Coixet on the Importance of Financing Women-Helmed Films
Female filmmakers face countless barriers to success in the film industry, but chief among them is the bizarre reluctance of many financiers to invest in projects helmed by women. Spanish director...
HBO Gives Greenlight to Issa Rae Comedy ‘Insecure’
Amy Pascal Steps Down as Sony Chairman
One of the most powerful women in the entertainment industry has resigned. Amy Pascal has stepped down as Sony Chairman — a move that was widely expected, albeit somewhat unfairly, since her...
Guest Post: Should There Be a Best Female Director Category at the Oscars?
If wewant greater gender equality in Hollywood, should the Academy Awards still besplitting its acting awards along gender lines? This wasa question posed to me by a friend a few weeks ago as we...
Tiger Moms and Fly Girls: How Do Women Fare on ‘Fresh Off the Boat’?
SXSW Lineup Announced: 5 of 20 Films in Competition Directed By Women; DuVernay To Give Keynote
Few of South by Southwest 2015’s highest-profile films will be directed by women. The Austin festival, which will take place on March 13–21, will showcase only two narrative features in...
Berlinale Women Directors: Meet Ella Manzheeva — ‘The Gulls’
Director Ella Manzheeva graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television in 2005, specializing in TV and film sound engineering. In 2007, she enrolled at the Higher Courses...
The Big O: Look to the Past for Solutions to Hollywood’s Current Female Troubles
When did featuring a woman as the driving force in a movie become a liability instead of a strength? This question came to mind when the films in the running for the best-picture Oscar were revealed...
3 Women Directors Selected for Film Independent’s Directing Lab With Mentor Catherine Hardwicke
Remember these names: Philiane Phang, Christina Choe, and Sylvia Sether. According to Film Independent, these are some of the most promising talents in the world of independent filmmaking today....
At Sundance 2015, Filmmakers Break The Silence Of Sexual Trauma
“What are these films telling us?” According to Sundance Senior Programmer Caroline Libresco,that’s what festival programmers asked when they realized they’dchosen five films about...
The Force is with Felicity Jones: From Jane Hawking To Starring in Stand-Alone ‘Star Wars’ Movie
Felicity Jones is going from standing by the side of a theoretical physicist to starring in a big-budget blockbuster. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jones, who recently earned an Oscar nom for...
Harper Lee to Publish Sequel to ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
Fifty-five years after To Kill a Mockingbird first appeared in bookstores, Harper Lee has announced that a sequel to her modern classic will be published this July. The reclusive author wrote Go...
Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny to Star in Adaptation of Jane Austen’s ‘Lady Susan’
Seventeen years after they co-starred in Whit Stillman’s The Last Days of Disco, Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny will reunite onscreen in another Stillman film. Beckinsale will play the lead...
Milla Jovovich in Talks to Star in Film Adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s Short Stories
A female-centric adaptation of Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin’s short stories is headed to the big screen.Milla Jovovich, one of the movies’ best-known female action stars, is in...
Jill Soloway Developing Feminist Comedy for MTV
Jill Soloway is developing a new series for MTV. The Transparent creator is collaborating with UCB alumna Ashley Skidmore and Lyle Friedman on creating an untitled “feminist comedy.” The...
Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey to Create TV Series for OWN
After announcing a Hurricane Katrina drama that would reunite her with Selma star David Oyelowo, Ava DuVernay has lined up another project: a TV series co-created by Oprah Winfrey to air on OWN....
Trailer Watch: J.K. Rowling’s Nightmarish English Village Miniseries ‘The Casual Vacancy’
The trailer for BBC One’s miniseries adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy begins on an idyllic note, presenting a quaint, seemingly picture-perfect British village filled with lovely...
More Sundance Deals: ‘Hot Girls Wanted,’ ‘10,000 Saints,’ ‘Songs My Brother Taught Me’
Three more Sundance titles from women directors have found distribution. Chloe Zhao’s well-received Native American drama Songs My Brothers Taught Me has found a home in Fortissimo Films. Zhao’s...
Super Bowl 2015 Trailers: Not Just For Dudes Anymore
Super Bowl Sunday has historically catered to dude-bros, but advertisers definitely acknowledged football’s female viewers last night. In between the Patriots’ victory over the Seahawks were...
Disney Introduces Its First Latina Princess — But Only on a Show for Preschoolers
As America’s largest minority group, Latinos make up 16% of the US population and 25% of domestic moviegoers. But last year, a study from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism...
Sundance 2015 Winners: Kim Longinotto, Jennifer Phang, Alante Kavaite, Chai Vasarhelyi
Sundance 2015 proved to be an action-packed — and awards-heavy — time for female filmmakers. A number of female filmmakers, especially documentarians, left Park City with prizes from the...
‘Agent Carter’ Showrunners Tara Butters & Michele Fazekas Sign Development Deal With ABC
Resurrection and Marvel’s Agent Carter showrunners Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas have signed a new development deal with ABC. Under the two-year arrangement, the long-time writing partners...
Weekly Update for January 23: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Girlhood — Written and Directed by Celine Sciamma French writer-director Céline Sciamma has a small but sturdy body of work that addresses how girls...
Tony Winner Laura Benanti on ‘Nashville,’ ‘Parade,’ and the Importance of Female Mentors
“Thank God we’re interviewing Laura Benanti,” was a phrase we were proclaiming a lot the past two weeks. It’s only the middle of January, but so far 2015 hasn’t exactly been a banner year...
MoMA Celebrates the Women’s Film Preservation Fund via Two Weeks of Special Screenings
The Women’s Film Preservation Fund and the New York branch of Women in Film and Television have worked tirelessly to rescue and restore films that feature women in key creative roles. Since 1995,...
Happy Friday: Celebrate the New ‘Ghostbusters’ Cast With Print-and-Cut Paper Dolls
If you’re looking for something to do this weekend — after streaming The Fall on Netflix and watching Appropriate Behavior on VOD, of course — look no further. Thanks to Mashable, you...
Watch: Amy Schumer Lives Out Our Fantasies of Forcing Anna Kendrick to Be Her BFF
Promo clips for awards shows usually aren’t especially entertaining — the notable exceptions being Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s Globe previews — but Anna Kendrick and this year’s MTV...
Watch: Nicole Kidman Plays a Real-Life Victorian Archaeologist in ‘Queen of the Desert’
If you’ve ever wondered what Homeland’s Sergeant Nicholas Brody and Moulin Rouge’s Satine look like kissing, today is your lucky day. A one-minute clip of Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert...
Guest Post: Writing the Change You Wish to See in Hollywood
My screenwriting debut, Pretty Rosebud, depicts the journey of Cissy, a professional,career-driven woman trapped in a childless marriage to a long-unemployedarchitect. Although she seems to have an...
February 2015 Film Preview
February is known as a month for lovers, but the films set to debut at the box office next month are much more varied than that particular stereotype would suggest. Fifty Shades of Grey is perhaps...
‘Girlhood’ Director Céline Sciamma on Feminism, Race, and Paris Post-Charlie Hebdo
French writer-director Céline Sciamma has a small but sturdy body of work that addresses how girls navigate a culture that can be incredibly hostile to them. She does it with nuance, intelligence,...
Sharing Our Story: Mary Harron’s Misunderstood Cult Classic ‘American Psycho’
As this year’sSundance Film Festival swings into gear, let’s take a look back at awoman with a definite place in Sundance history: Park City darling Mary Harron. Born to comedianDonald Harron...
More Deals at Sundance: ‘Mississippi Grind’, ‘City of Gold’, and ‘The Wolfpack’ Bought
Wednesday brought exciting news for two female directors at Sundance: Anna Boden and Laura Gabbert sold their respective pictures, Mississippi Grind and City of Gold, in Park City. Deadline is...
Quote of the Day: Producer Nina Jacobson on How to Fix Broken Hollywood
High-profile producer Nina Jacobson (The Hunger Games franchise, Ryan Murphy’s upcoming American Crime Story) wrote a guest column for Variety’s Broken Hollywood feature, which focuses on...
Isabel Coixet Signs on to Romance With Diane Kruger and Penelope Cruz
A week ahead of the world premiere of her upcoming Juliette Binoche drama Nobody Wants the Night, prolific Spanish director Isabel Coixet has announced her next project: a love-triangle romance...
Joss Whedon: Blame Hollywood’s “Genuine, Intractable Sexism” for Lack of Female Superheroes
As the director of The Avengers and its upcoming sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Joss Whedon has worked within the Marvel machine for the last five years. But the Buffy the Vampire Slayer...
‘The Babadook’ Director Jennifer Kent Wins Best Film, Best Director at Australian Oscars
The Australian Academy Awards demonstrated a refreshing willingness to think outside genre boxes when it named the horror indie The Babadook this year’s Best Film and honored first-time...
Farewell to the Stealthily Feminist ‘Parenthood’
Guest Post: Not Afraid to Fail: A New Distribution Model Empowers Filmmakers and Audiences
Guest Post: Spending A Year With Women Filmmakers
In 2013, I saw two films thatdeeply affected me: Judy Chaikin’s The Girls In The Band andSini Anderson’s The Punk Singer. In both films, the women interviewed talk aboutlooking for artists,...