ALL POSTS
Elizabeth Banks to Produce and Direct Comedic Take on ‘The X-Files’ for ABC
After helming Pitch Perfect 2 as her directorial debut, Elizabeth Banks will go behind the camera once more, this time for the small screen. Banks will executive produce and direct the ABC comedy...
Greta Gerwig and Julie Delpy to Star in Todd Solondz’s ‘Welcome to the Dollhouse’ Sequel(-ish) Project
Some exciting news for those among us who are fans of very, very dark comedy: Todd Solondz is kinda-sorta making a sequel to his painfully funny and disturbing 1995 cult classic Welcome to the...
Guest Post: Doc Director Edet Belzberg: “If You Find a Good Enough Story, It’s Impossible to Quit”
Young women often ask me what my greatest challengeis when making a film. It is hard to choose just one. I’m very instinctual in my work. I followstories and characters that hit me on a gut...
Review: Keira Knightley Charms in Lynn Shelton’s Sweet Seattle Comedy ‘Laggies’
“Suck it up, go with your gut.” That’s the advice Seattle late-twentysomething Megan (Keira Knightley) gives to adolescent Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz) at the end of Lynn Shelton’s most...
Here’s the Next Generation of Female Screenwriters
Every year, Tracking Board publishes the “Young and Hungry” list — 100 screenwriters on the verge of making it big, voted on by “Hollywood’s most influential powers.” This year, 29...
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler Developing New Shows
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s takeover of TV — or at least my TV — continues. Fey and Poehler each announced new projects for the small screen yesterday. Fey will collaborate with...
Gotham Awards Nominate Women Directors Ana Lily Amirpour, Eliza Hittman, Laura Poitras
Aaaaaand, we’re off! Award season officially began today with the announcement of the nominations for the Gotham Independent Film Awards, “a bellwether for indie titles and talent,” according...
‘The Affair’ Rewrites the Femme Fatale Script
Mild spoilers below for the first two episodes of The Affair. Is Showtime’s The Affair more about her side than his? Co-creator Sarah Treem (with In Treatment colleague Hagai Levi; like the show,...
‘Sleeping with the Fishes’ Director Nicole Gomez Fisher on the Need for Diversity and the Unexpected Rewards of Low Budgets
Family — love them, hate them, or the complicated in-between, they are rarely easy. In the semi-autobiographical Latino-Jewish comedy Sleeping with the Fishes, Lexie Fish (Gina Rodriguez, now...
Meryl Streep Books New Role in Opera Biopic ‘Florence’
Meryl Streep has signed on to her first biopic project since her Oscar-nominated turn as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Variety reports that Streep is set to star in Florence as a “New York...
Disney’s Giving Us Another Female Protagonist, But ‘Moana’ Will Be Written and Directed by Dudes
Walt Disney Animation Studios has finally released some information about Moana, an animated adventure set in the South Pacific expected to arrive in late-2016. The film will focus on its titular...
For Your Consideration: Juliette Binoche in ‘1,000 Times Good Night’ (VIDEO)
The Renee Zellweger Hullabaloo: Faces, Bodies, Feminism, and Hollywood
From my latest Forbes post about the the media’s reaction to Renee Zellweger’s new look at Elle Magazine‘s annual event honoring women in Hollywood and what it says about feminism and aging in...
The Big O: Will Keira Knightley’s Image Switch Convince Oscar She’s Worthy?
Take a look at Keira Knightley in her most recent perfume ad for Chanel from earlier this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZAZD3ylG6Y So gorgeous. So come hither-y. So female James Bond in...
Book Excerpt: The Psychology of Fear in Ida Lupino’s ‘The Hitch-Hiker’
Ida Lupino was the first mainstream American female filmmaker to make movies within the Hollywood system since thebeginning of film censorship in the 1930s. She is often cited by feministfilm...
Lucy Walker, Aneta Kopacz, Ellen Goosenberg Kent Among Oscar Semi-Finalists for Best Short Doc
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1: Trailer
Gena Rowlands to Be Feted by LA Film Critics Group
Gena Rowlands will receive the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s career achievement prize during its annual awards ceremony next year on January 10. Rowlands’ career encompasses six decades...
Trailer Watch: Valerie Cherish Attempts Another ‘Comeback’ in Season 2
Television has changed a great deal since The Comeback was last on the air a decade ago, but it’s a fair guess that showbiz narcissism hasn’t. Perhaps that’s why Lisa Kudrow’s mockumentary...
Crosspost: Romola Garai on Sexism in Film and Theater and Feeling Like a “Commodity”
Cross-posted with permission from The Interval. When we saw the announcement of Romola Garai’s casting in Indian Ink, we e-mailed The Roundabout right away — seriously, like within ten...
43% of 2014 DOC NYC Features Directed by Women, But Where Are the Films About Women?
It’s generally not hard to find female-directed features at documentary film festivals, since women filmmakers face less obstacles in the nonfiction world. This year’s DOC NYC Film Festival...
Jenny Bicks to Adapt ‘Marley & Me’ for TV
Marley & Me, the 2008 dramedy about the death of Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston’s beloved labrador retriever, is the latest film to be adapted for TV. Jenny Bicks, best known as a writer on...
LFF Review: Falling for ‘The Falling,’ Carol Morley’s Swoon-Worthy New Film
There were no less than twelve femalemembers of the cast and crew on stage to introduce The Falling at its world premiere at the London Film Festival, andit made for quite a sight. One of the most...
Learning from ‘Transparent’ and ‘OITNB’: There’s No Single Right Way to Do Diversity
We often talk about the need for diversity in Hollywood, but we rarely talk about how to do it. This leaves us with the clumsy approach in practice today, as writer Beejoli Shah discovered last...
Julianne Moore to Be Honored at the Museum of Moving Image
The Oscars have demonstrated a stinginess toward Julianne Moore over the years, but other institutions have been lining up to shower the actress with trophies and accolades. After winning the Best...
Weekly Update for October 17: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Dear White People Sam White (Tessa Thompson) is a media studies major and student filmmaker determined to tell the world that things are far from where they should be. She...
Guest Post: ‘Last Hijack’ Goes Home with a Somali Pirate
In 2009 there was a swarm of news reports aboutpiracy off the coast of Africa. I got intrigued by the subject because of thethrilling hijack stories, but almost immediately focused on the Somali...
Trailer Watch: Olympic Runner and WWII P.O.W. Louis Zamperini Perseveres in Angelina Jolie’s ‘Unbroken’
We finally have a trailer for Unbroken, Angelina Jolie’s highly anticipated follow-up to her directorial debut, In The Land of Blood and Honey. Awards buzz has circulated around Unbroken since its...
The Big O: Watch Out, Rosamund Pike — Oscar Doesn’t Fall for Amy’s Type
Spoilers for Gone Girl ahead. As the iconic silver-screen siren Mae West once said, “When I’m good, I’m very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better. ” Since Hollywood’s earliest days,...
GamerGate: A War on Women Hiding Behind a Mask of “Ethics”
Being a woman in the gaming community is scary. For pointing out demeaning stereotypes of female characterswithin video games in a series of YouTube videos, feminist cultural critic AnitaSarkeesian...
Crosspost: Number of Women Directors of Shorts at London Film Festival Doubles From Last Year
The following is crossposted with the permission of the author. It was originally published here. Last year, I posted this analysis of the huge underrepresentation of women among directors of short...
Guest Post: You Don’t Need Anyone’s Permission to Make a Film But Your Own
Throughout my life as anactor, I have waited for people to give me permission. Waited for someone towrite something, someone to produce it, direct it, and hopefully, eventually, hire me. Until...
Watch: Jennifer Lawrence Takes Center Stage Again in New ‘Hunger Games’ Teaser
Little of the marketing thus far for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, which opens in just five weeks, has focused on the franchise’s heroine, Katniss Everdeen. That’s partly because...
LFF Women Directors: Lynette Wallworth — ‘Tender’
Lynette Wallworth is an Australianartist/filmmaker whose immersive video installations and film works reflect onthe connections between people and the natural world and explore fragile states of...
‘Cristela’ and ‘Jane the Virgin’ Vanquish Latina Stereotypes
Dear WB, Consider Hiring These Women Writers and Directors for Your Wonder Woman Movie
Yesterday, Warner Brothers did what studios do these days: announce superhero movies and spin-offs. This announcement was a little different than the usual proceedings, though, because among the 15...
Trailer Watch: Katie Holmes is a Captivating Female Vigilante in ‘Miss Meadows’
Marvel Introduces New Asian-American Superheroine
After creating a Muslim-American superheroine in teenage Kamala Khan (alias: Ms. Marvel), Marvel Comics will continue to diversify its roster of do-gooders with a new series devoted to Silk, an...
Jane Campion’s ‘Top of the Lake’ to Return for Season 2
Top of the Lake was one of the most notable breakthroughs in television of the last five years, a masterwork of tone, suspense, and cinematography that upended the routinely sexist murder-mystery...
LFF Women Directors: Rebecca Johnson — ‘Honeytrap’
Layla (Jessica Sula) is 15 and has been living in Trinidad. Returned to her estranged mother in London, she is faced with settling into a new home and a new city with a fresh set of rules and codes....
Crosspost: Tony-Nominated Writer Sarah Ruhl on Plays About Motherhood and Challenging Theater’s Male Domination
The following has been cross-posted with permission from The Interval. “You should know about me arranging playdates for my daughter,” says Sarah Ruhl as she runs into a friend during the course...
Monica Potter to Star in NBC Sitcom Produced by Ellen DeGeneres
Parenthood star Monica Potter, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal as Kristina Braverman, will headline a new sitcom on NBC when the critically acclaimed family drama goes off the...
Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls at the Party Goes Legendary
Patricia Ariza Wins Award for Creating Social Change Through Theater
Patricia Ariza, a Columbian artist and activist, has received the LPTW Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award for her endeavors toward peace and greater awareness of women’s issues during...
LFF Women Directors: Meet Corinna McFarlane — ‘The Silent Storm’
On a remote Scottish island in the 1950s, Aislin (Andrea Riseborough) lives with her minister husband Balor (Damian Lewis). He is a man of sudden and violent mood swings and stern religiosity....
Susanne Bier on ‘A Second Chance,’ ‘Serena,’ and Her Upcoming Mary, Queen of Scots Biopic
Susanne Bier is one of the most respected and well-known women directors in the world. One of three female filmmakers to win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, the prolific Danish helmer’s...
Trailer Watch: ‘She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry’ Chronicles the Turmoil of the Women’s Movement
Feminist movements, then and now, have been largely ignored by the movies. Unlike, say, the civil-rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s, which receives respectful remembrance in high-profile...
Gamora and Wonder Woman to Get New Comic-Book Series
Neither Marvel nor DC, the two powerhouses that dominate the comics industry, has a great track record at gender diversity. According to 538, female characters account for only about one of four...
Watch: Viola Davis on Her Anti-Hunger Campaign: “I Didn’t Know Where My Next Meal Was Coming From”
As an honoree at Variety’s 2014 Power of Women event, a celebration of female philanthropy within the film industry, Viola Davis delivered a personal speech last Friday about her difficult...
Laura Poitras Humanizes Edward Snowden in ‘Citizenfour’
Woodstock Film Festival Women Directors: Jenna Ricker — ‘The American Side’
There’s three sides to every story. The truth, the lie, and the American Side. Following a mysterious suicide at Niagara Falls, a low-rent detective unravels a conspiracy to build a revolutionary...
Athena Film Festival: Igniting Conversation and Sparking Ideas — What Would You Like to Hear?
As we enter our 5th Year, the Athena Film Festival is proud to have offered a history of unique panels, conversations, and standalone events featuring powerful women leaders. To name a few: In...