ALL POSTS
Katie Holmes and Stacy Title to Direct First and Fourth Feature, Respectively
Two women have signed on to helm new projects in the past week. Actress Katie Holmes made the surprise announcement that she’ll be heading behind the camera to make her directorial debut. Holmes...
Angela Kinsey to Co-Write and Star in Female Buddy Comedy
The truly challenging thing after a breakup isn’t staying friends with your ex. It’s making friends with your ex’s new lover. But what if it wasn’t so hard? That’s the premise that Angela...
Trailer Watch: Julianne Moore and Mia Wasikowska Grasp at the Hollywood Dream in ‘Maps to the Stars’
One of the buzziest films to come out of Cannes, Maps to the Stars, has released a trailer. David Cronenberg’s showbiz satire stars Julianne Moore (who won the best actress award at Cannes) as...
Caitlin Moran’s Autobiographical Sitcom Gets Season Order
Fans of Caitlin Moran, stories about sisters, economic diversity on TV, and humor in general now have cause to rejoice. Raised by Wolves, written by the author of the best-selling laugh-out-loud...
Trailer Watch: Dakota Fanning is a Rebellious Victorian Teen Bride in ‘Effie Gray’
The annulment of the marriage between prominent art critic John Ruskin and his much younger wife Effie Gray was a scandal in Victorian England, not least because Gray contended that their five-year...
Rose McGowan Brings Female Film Heroines to LA Theater
Actress Rose McGowan has big plans for the next stage of her career as a filmmaker. Her first step? An Oscar. Back in January, McGowan’s directorial debut, the 17-minute short Dawn, played at...
The Big O: Post-Toronto, the Oscar Picture Clears — and It Isn’t a Pretty One for Actresses
We were so spoiled. Last year, there was a rich variety of performances to celebrate in the lead-actress Oscar category. The choices were so abundant, in fact, that admirable efforts like Emma...
Infographic: Women Directed 10% of Independent Features Between 2009–2013
Earlier this summer, we published an infographic highlighting the awful truth that less than 5% of studio movies in the past five years were directed by women. Now we’ve taken a look at the...
Elisabeth Moss to Star in Broadway Revival of Wendy Wasserstein’s ‘Heidi Chronicles’
It’s hard to think of another actress with a better career than Elisabeth Moss does today. She was utterly fantastic in Jane Campion’s Sundance miniseries Top of the Lake, steals every scene...
Guest Post: Honeymoon, Bloody Unicorns and Spumoni
If you’ve been in an intimate relationship, you’ve had that moment — that awful moment — where the person you’ve been sharing your bed with suddenly seems like a stranger. It was...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Megha Ramaswamy — ‘Newborns’
MeghaRamaswamy is a Mumbai-based screenwriter and director. She wrote the screenplayfor the feature film Shaitan, and wroteand directed the fictional short Bunny. (TIFF official site) Her 8-minute...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Shahad Ameen — ‘Eye & Mermaid’
Shahad Ameen was born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Realizing at an early age that she could not make her dream of becoing a professional soccer player come true in Saudi Arabia, she turned to...
Weekly Update for September 12: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening No Good Deed — Written by Aimee Lagos Don’t let the bad press about the last-minute canceled critics’ screenings discourage you from No Good Deed, an effective...
Trailer Watch: Jennifer Lawrence is No Ordinary Wife in Susanne Bier’s ‘Serena’
Jennifer Lawrence gets a different type of role in the long awaited Serena, directed by the Oscar-winning Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier. The depression era film follows the strong-willed wife...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Carolina Markowicz and Fernanda Salloum — ‘Tatuapé Mahal Tower’
Carolina Markowicz is a director and screenwriter from São Paulo, Brazil. She has directed the short film 69-Luz Square, which won several awards in many festivals around the world, including Bst...
Hilary Swank to Receive Award from Hamptons Film Festival
Hilary Swank will be presented with Variety‘s Creative Impact in Acting Award at the Hamptons Film Festival (October 9–13) this fall. The two-time Oscar winner will also participate in a master...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir — ‘Playing with Balls’
Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir is an Icelandic actress,producer, and VFS (Vancouver Film School) graduate who has receivednumerous nominations and awards for her work both in Iceland...
Viola Davis is Still Waiting to Be Seen
Despite doing work that’s won her two Tony Awards, two Academy Award nominations, two Screen Actor Guild Awards, a Golden Globe nod, and a spot on Time’s 100 Most Influential People list,...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Sarah Galea-Davis — ‘An Apartment’
Sarah Galea-Davis is an award-winning director, writerand producer. She works in both fiction and documentary filmmaking. Her last short film, Can You Wave Bye-Bye?, won Best Short Film at the...
The Renaissance Of Reese Witherspoon
From my latest Forbes post on the imminent “Reese-surgence” via Oscar hopefuls like Gone Girl, The Good Lie, and Wild: Witherspoon could be looking at multiple Oscar nominations, both as an...
Guest Post: Living With and Making Films About Dementia
Let’s be completely honest. Professional women are still expected to be faultless and competitive, make it look effortless, and downplay the demands of family and life outside of work. But every...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Torill Kove — ‘Me and My Moulton’
Torill Kove is an award-winning director, animator, illustrator, and author. Born in Hamar, Norway, Kove lived in Kenya before moving to Montreal in 1982 to attend Concordia University. She went on...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Caroline Mailloux — ‘The Barnhouse’
The Barnhouse is the third short film written and directed by Caroline Mailloux. Her films Motel Pluton and Cher Dieu (Dear God) both enjoyed much success on the festival circuit, and Cher Dieu was...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Amanda Strong — ‘Indigo’
Amanda Strong is a filmmaker and media artist working in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Making use of diverse media (film, photography and illustration) and artistic collaboration, her work seeks...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Johanne Ste-Marie — ‘Migration’
Johanne Ste-Marie is a Montreal native who dove head firstinto the burning ring of animation after graduating with a BFA in FilmAnimation from Concordia University. In 2002, she formed an art duo,...
Trailer Watch: Claire Danes is a “Soldier in a War” and a New Mom in ‘Homeland’ Season 4
When Homeland killed off Brody and fired Saul from the CIA in the third season’s finale, it pushed the restart button on the show. The new trailer for Season 4 hints at what’s next: Carrie is...
Reese Witherspoon, Viola Davis, and Jane Fonda Among Variety’s Power of Women Honorees
A quintet of Hollywood power players and luminaries will be recognized for their philanthropic efforts on October 10. Variety’s 6th annual Power of Women luncheon will name Reese Witherspoon,...
Fall TV Preview Part 2: Shonda, Selfies, and Sick Kids
Last week’s look at some of the fall shows created by women was far from comprehensive. As a commenter pointed out, I did not include the much-anticipated How to Get Away with Murder, from Scandal...
Special NYC Preview Screening of Fox Shows
RSVP to: [email protected]
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Michelle Latimer — ‘The Underground’
Michelle Latimer, writer and director of the dramatic short The Underground, is an actor, filmmaker, and curator. Her award-winning documentary Aliaspremiered at the 2013 Hot Docs Film Festival...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Ruba Nadda — ‘October Gale’
Ruba Nadda is a Montreal-born, Toronto-based filmmaker. She attended York University and the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. She has written and directed several feature films, including Sabah...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Atsuko Hirayanagi — ‘Oh Lucy!’
Atsuko Hirayanagi wasborn in Nagano and raised in Chiba, Japan. She is a recent graduate of NYUTisch School of The Arts, Asia, with an MFA in Film Production. Her short films have played at numerous...
Trailer Watch: Jennifer Lopez is Stalked by ‘The Boy Next Door’
Jennifer Lopez returns to the thriller genre in The Boy Next Door, a lascivious guilty pleasure about obsession and control. Lopez plays a teacher and single mother who has a one-night stand with...
Halle Berry’s Production Company Gets Pilot Deal
With two episodes left in the debut season of her CBS sci-fi mystery series Extant, Halle Berry has signaling that she is taking another step in making television her new medium. Berry’s...
Helen Hunt’s Sophomore Directing Effort Finds Distribution
Helen Hunt continues to make starring roles for herself. As with her feature directorial debut (Then She Found Me), Hunt helmed and stars in her sophomore effort, Ride. The surf comedy has just been...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Kasia Nalewajka — ‘Pineapple Calamari’
Kasia Nalewajka attended the National Film and Television School in London. She wrote and directed the animated short film Sacculina Carcini (2014), and co-wrote and directed the animated shorts...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Isabel Coixet — ‘Learning to Drive’
Isabel Coixet was born in Barcelona.Since her debut feature, Too Oldto Die Young (1989), she has directedThings I Never Told You (1996), My LifeWithout Me (2003), The Secret Life of Words...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Sophie Barthes — ‘Madame Bovary’
A Columbia University graduate, Sophie Barthes was born in France and grew up in the Middle East and South America. Barthes has just completed an English adaptation of Gustave Flaubert’s Madame...
Is Hillary Clinton Fall’s Biggest TV Star?
America has never been readier for a female president, which may be why there are two new shows about women politicos this fall. The NY Times argues that CBS’s Madam Secretary and NBC’s State...
Susanne Bier to Lead Zurich Film Festival Jury
Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier is set to serve as President of the International Feature Film Jury at the Zurich International Film Festival (September 25-October 5). Bier, who won the Best...
‘Awkward’ Creator Lauren Iungerich Sells ‘Couch Detective’ to ABC
Awkward creator Lauren Iungerich has secured a put-pilot commitment from ABC for her new comedic murder-mystery series Couch Detective. Iungerich has teamed up with producer Jerry Bruckheimer on the...
Todd Haynes to Direct Reese Witherspoon as Peggy Lee
The Peggy Lee biopic that Reese Witherspoon has championed since 2010 has finally found a new director in Todd Haynes. After securing the rights to Lee’s story in 2010, Witherspoon had approached...
Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette Are Best Friends in Catherine Hardwicke’s ‘Miss You Already’
Drew Barrymore replaces Rachel Weisz as Toni Collette’s best friend in Catherine Hardwicke’s upcoming dramedy Miss You Already. Morwenna Banks’ script finds two lifelong friends being pulled...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Yassmina Karajah — ‘Light’
Yassmina Karajah was born in Amman, Jordan, and is a graduate of the Bristol Law School. She studies film production at the University of British Columbia. In Light (2014), her directorial debut, a...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Marie-Ève Juste — ‘The Sands’
Based in Montreal, Marie-Ève Juste worked at the Cinémathèque Québécoise between 2003 and 2007, where she first got familiar with cinema history and practice. In 2011, she co-directed her first...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Elizabeth Lazebnik — ‘Liompa’
Elizabeth Lazebnik is quickly becoming a recognized name in the Canadian film industry. Her shorts have previously played at TIFF, the Montreal World Film Festival and received awards from WWSFF,...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Grazia Tricarico — ‘Persefone’
Grazia Tricarico attended the University of Milan and the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. She has directed the short films Brightbox (2009), L’arte marziale (2010), Michele nella...
Seattle Fest Announces Women in Cinema Lineup: Lynn Shelton, Hannah Espia, Jessica Yu, More
The Seattle International Film Festival has released the lineup for its Women in Cinema showcase. The showcase will be a four-day event at SIFF 2015, and will include 12 features and documentaries,...
Mary-Louise Parker to Play Writer Mary Karr in New Showtimes Series
Unlike its distant rival HBO, Showtime has struggled for years to capture prestige for its original programming. The other premium cable network recently accomplished just that with the...
TIFF Women DIrectors: Meet Shonali Bose — ‘Margarita, With a Straw’
Shonali Bose was raised in Calcutta, Mumbai, and Delhi. She received her BA from Delhi University and her MA from Columbia before earning her MFA at UCLA film school. She made her feature debut as...
TIFF Women Directors: Meet Tamara Erde — ‘This is My Land’
Tamara Erde was born in Tel Aviv. She studied at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem and Le Fresnoy in France. In her first feature film, This is My Land, Erde visits six independently run Israeli and...