ALL POSTS
DVD Giveaway: Name Your Favorite Judi Dench Movie for a Copy of Philomena
The hilarious and heartbreaking Philomena, about an elderly Irish woman’s search for the son who was adopted against her will by the Catholic church, is finally out on DVD, Blu-Ray, VOD, and Pay...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Talya Lavie (Zero Motivation)
Talya Lavie is a director, screenwriter, and comics artist. She studied animation at the Bezalel Art Academy and graduated with merit from the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem. She has also...
Studios Still Leaving Money on the Table by Failing to Diversify
The Writer’s Guild ofAmerica West has released the executive summary of its 2014 Hollywood Writer’s Report, which reveals thatdespite modest gains, women remain underrepresented in television by...
Quote of the Day: Emma Thompson on Fighting for Female Roles and Women’s Rights
Emma Thompson rarely misses an opportunity to speak out on behalf of women in the film industry, and a recent appearance on the BBC Radio 4’s Front Row to promote her new comedy with Pierce...
Women Dominate This Year’s Olivier Awards
The winners of this year’s Olivier Awards were expected, and yet revolutionary. Playwright Lucy Kirkwood was the odds-on favorite to win best new play for Chimerica, which also picked up trophies...
Divergent Third Novel to be Split into Two Movies
Lionsgate is betting big on Shailene Woodley. Production has yet to begin on Insurgent, the sequel that picks up right after Divergent, but Lionsgate has announced that Allegiant, the third book in...
Tribeca Women Directors: Meet Anete Melece (The Kiosk)
Anete Melece was born in Latvia in 1983. She studied visual communication at the Art Academy of Latvia (BA) and animation at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (MA). She is an...
Julie Walters to Receive British TV’s Highest Honor
Seven-time BAFTA winner and two-time Oscar nominee Julie Walters can add another trophy to her crowded mantle: the 2014 Academy Fellowship, the British Academy Television Awards’...
Tribeca Women DIrectors: Meet Elizabeth Swados (My Depression)
Perhaps best known for her Broadway and international smash hit Runaways, Elizabeth Swados has composed, written and directed for over 30 years. Some of her works include the Obie Award-winning...
Weekly Update for April 11: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Hateship Loveship — Directed by Liza Johnson After receiving rave notices for her feature debut Return, director Liza Johnson has followed up with a second film...
Trailer Watch: Food Industry Scrutinized in Fed Up
“This is the first generation of American children expected to lead shorter lives than their parents,” intones a talking head in Stephanie Soechtig’s sugar expose Fed Up. “Over 95% of all...
Lego Movie Sequel Director Regretful Original Film Fails Bechdel Test, Wants to Do Better
Although I enjoyed The Lego Movie immensely (it’s clever and funny and visually stunning), I wasn’t really looking forward to the inevitable sequel — until now. Lego Movie 2 director...
Director and Exec Sarah Smith Launches UK Animation Studio
Sarah Smith, the former Aardman Animation Creative Director and Arthur Christmas helmer, has launched a new cartoon studio. Locksmith Animation will be the UK’s “first dedicated high-end CG...
Julianne Nicholson on August: Osage County, Masters of Sex, and Aging in Hollywood
August: Osage County offers apainfully intimate look at a family reuniting in the wake of tragedy. Deathbrings out the dysfunction in every family, but it’s clear that there have beengaping cracks...
Trailer Watch: Helen Hunt Discovers Cancer Gene in Decoding Annie Parker
The revolutionary discovery that breast cancer can be passed from mother to daughter through the BRCA1 gene gets the big-screen treatment in Decoding Annie Parker. Samantha Morton plays the titular...
Cannes Workshop to Focus on Women Directors and Screenwriters
The European Audiovisual Observatory, a EU organization that compiles statistical and analytical data on film and television, will devote its upcoming workshop at Cannes to women in the film...
Guest Post: When Violence is the Answer
About 7 months ago, I was readingthe Times while working as a researcher for ascreenwriter when I suddenly felt sick. My hands started shaking. I realized I feltviolent. All of the articles I...
Malala Movie Finds Second Financier
A documentary about Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who survived an assassination attempt at age 14 for advocating girls’ education, is one step closer to getting made. Socially...
Infographic: Black Inequality in Film
The good folks at the New York Film Academy have made another wonderful infographic, this time about black progress in Hollywood. Though the number of speaking parts for black actors (12.4%)...
90% of Summer 2014 Studio Movies Directed by White Guys
A comprehensive study of this summer’s major releases by The Wrap reveals that a dispiriting 90% of those films will be directed by white men. Jupiter Ascending helmer Lana Wachowski, along with...
Cate Blanchett, Susanne Bier Team Up for The Dig
Remember when Cate Blanchett argued for more movies about women? As Blanchett is probably aware, one of the most reliable routes to starring in a film about woman is working with female directors...
Lisa Cholodenko to be Guest Director of LA Film Festival
Lisa Cholodenko, the director of The Kids Are All Right, Laurel Canyon, and High Art, has been named the guest director of the Los Angeles Film Festival (June 11–19). In a statement, LAFF director...
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to Play Sisters in New Film
After killing it two years in a row hosting the Golden Globes, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, our favorite comedy duo, will reunite on the big screen in The Nest. The former SNL co-stars will star as...
Director Liza Johnson on Exploring Kristen Wiig’s Dramatic Side in Hateship Loveship
After receiving rave notices for her feature debut Return, director Liza Johnson has followed up with a second film about an outsider protagonist desperately wanting in. Return starred Linda...
TV: Trailer Watch: New Preview for Season 2
The Orphan Black team has released a second trailer for the upcoming season. This new cut of last month’s teaser is arguably more newbie-friendly. It explains Orphan Black’s premise: “We’re...
Cartoon: Who Will Take Letterman’s Chair?
Cross-posted from The Nib. Liza Donnelly is the author of the book Women on Men.
Watch: How Kamala Khan Is Changing Comics and Readers
Kamala Khan isn’t just the first Muslim superheroine — she’s a one-girl revolution. Created by Marvel editor Sana Amanat, writer G. Willow Wilson, and artist Adrian Alphona, Kamala is the...
Jhumpa Lahiri, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Donna Tartt Among Baileys Contenders
The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, the most prestigious award dedicated to recognizing literary works by female authors, has announced its shortlist. Three of the novels to make the cut are...
Ellen Burstyn Retrospective to Play at Brooklyn Academy of Music
Screen legend Ellen Burstyn will receive a nine-film career retrospective at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (April 30-May 6). She will make an in-person appearance on May 3 after a screening of...
Trailer Watch: Michelle Monaghan Returns Home After Afghanistan in Fort Bliss
Michelle Monaghan (True Detective, Source Code) takes on the leading writer-director Claudia Myers’ Fort Bliss, a career-versus-family drama about an Army medic who prefers the landmine-ridden...
Female Film Industry Heavyweights Support Fledgling Female Directors
Jane Campion, Helen Mirren, and Sienna Miller are among the participants of a wonderful new initiative to highlight the next generation of female filmmakers. The London-based fashion and culture...
Manohla Dargis on the Perks of Being a Male Director
Film critic Manohla Dargis continues her efforts to lay bare studio filmmaking’s institutional sexism. In her review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, published last week, she wrote in The...
Scarlett Johansson is a Box-Office Superheroine
Scarlett Johansson kicked off the summer-movie season, which seems to begin earlier and earlier every year, on a high note this past weekend. Captain America: The Winter Soldier broke April records...
Women and Hollywood on the Road in London and Stockholm
Women and Hollywood (meaning me) is about to embark to Europe for several public appearances that I wanted to make sure any of our readers in those countries know about. If you are at any of these...
Trailer Watch: Gia Coppola Makes Her Directorial Debut with Palo Alto
Gia Coppola, granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola and niece of Sofia Coppola, makes her directorial debut with Palo Alto, a loose adaptation of James Franco’s short-story collection. Franco...
Dear Will Ferrell: Depicting Sexism Isn’t Enough
As the buffoonish Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell made the world laugh at sexist pigs who have trouble accepting the fact that women are pretty good at lots of things, including the arduous task of...
Weekly Update for April 4: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening Frankie and Alice — Co-Written by Cheryl Edwards, Mary King, Anna Waterhouse Frankie and Alice is inspired by the remarkable true story of “Frankie” (Halle...
Dorothy Arzner to Receive Career Retrospective
Here’s the good news: Pioneering director Dorothy Arzner (1897–1979) — was one of the first woman directors to have a career in Hollywood making films. She was the first female member of...
Trailer Watch: Scarlett Johnasson Has Superpowers in Lucy
Lucy is the film we’ve been waiting for. At the very least, it certainly looks like the film we’ve been waiting for, an action flick about a badass with superpowers with an original premise,...
Opera America Announces Eight Winners of Women Composers Competition
Any Women and Hollywood readers who wade into the gender politics of the classical music world will find the same types of issues as the movie business. Women are underrepresented in the prestigious...
Special Report: Women Directors at the Box Office in March 2014
A much-needed profileof Anita Hill is one of the top-grossing films directed by women in March, withthe highest monthly gross of a female-directed documentary so far this year. Anita has made...
Trailer Watch: Toni Collette Searches for a Lost Love in Lucky Them
After seeing her in a string of mom roles for the past few years, it’s nice to see Toni Collette out and about again. In director Megan Griffiths’ Lucky Them, Collette plays a veteran rock...
Thea Sharrock to Make Her Feature Directorial Debut
Acclaimed theater and TV director Thea Sharrock has signed on to adapt Jojo Moyes’ best-selling novel Me Before You for the big screen. The production will mark Sharrock’s feature directing...
MMA Fighter and Action Star Gina Carano on In the Blood and What Makes a Good Heroine
In the Blood is a love story — a bullet-riddled, blood-soaked love story. When Ava’s (Gina Carano) husband (Cam Gigandet, Twilight) goes missing on theirhoneymoon in the Caribbean, she...
Orange is the New Black, Scandal, Borgen Among Peabody Winners
The Peabody Awards have named a record 46 winners this year in their ongoing efforts to recognizing “stories that matter.” Twenty of the awardees (43%) — which range from journalism to...
Claire Danes, Iman, Idina Menzel Among Variety’s Power of Women
Variety will honor Claire Danes, Nancy Dubuc, Iman, Idina Menzel, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Susan Sarandon for their humanitarian efforts at the inaugural Power of Women luncheon in New York. Each...
The Continuing Case for Having More Women in Film
Yesterday, the numbers crunchers at fivethirtyeight.com, the guys and gals who have predicted elections, took a crack at the conundrum of women, movies and money. Not surprisingly, they found what...
JK Rowling to Pen Harry Potter Spinoff Trilogy
J.K. Rowling may have two post-Potter novels under her belt, but she isn’t yet done with her most famous creation. Rowling will make her screenwriting debut by adapting Fantastic Beasts and Where...
Cate Blanchett, Kerry Washington, Rose Byrne Honored by Women in Film
Cate Blanchett, Kerry Washington, Rose Byrne, Eva Longoria, and Frozen director Jennifer Lee are the five honorees of this year’s Crystal + Lucy Awards. Organized by Women in Film — Los...
April 2014 Film Preview
The Big Dipper isn’t the only constellation of stars you’ll see this April — there’s a handful of actress-led vehicles on offer this coming month. By far the biggest is The Other Woman,...
Guest Post: The Celluloid Ceiling is Much Lower Than You Think
After many years working in the film industry, I am struggling in to find work. It’s hard for me to admit when I need help, and even harder to ask for it. I got into film so I could tell stories...