ALL POSTS
Trailer Watch – Wadjda – Directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour
We’ve written about Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Wadjda before and finally the first trailer for the film has been released. Al-Mansour is the first woman to direct and write a film in Saudi...
More Plays About Women Were Written in the 1900s than Today
At an event that celebrated theater during the Suffragette movement, Professor Maggie Gale from the University of Manchester, revealed that her research had found that there were more plays written...
Sofia Coppola’s Career in a Nutshell
Sofia Coppola dissected her career with the website totalfilm.com down to a four minute nutshell. {"title":"Sofia Coppola: Career In Four Minutes","author_name":"Total...
Ellen Page and Toni Collette Talk Feminism
More and more as of late, we’ve been seeing actresses talking about the lack of great female roles, the sexism within the industry and outrightly discussing feminism. In recent interviews,...
Trailer Watch: Black Nativity – Directed by Kasi Lemmons
Kasi Lemmon’s Black Nativity is an adaptation of Langston Hughes’ famed retelling of the Nativity story with an all black cast. Lemmon’s take focuses on a teen (Jacob Latimore) who...
Quote of the Day: Dustin Hoffman on Everyday Misogyny
Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie is truly one of the great performances of all time. Here in an AFI interview Hoffman talks about the experience of playing the now iconic role of Dorothy Michaels and how...
Queen Latifah Hosting Your New Favorite Talk Show
Good news for your daytime talk show viewing habits–our beloved Queen Latifah is hosting a new talk show beginning in the fall. Entitled The Queen Latifah Show, the show will consist of...
Showtime To Make Tig Notaro Documentary
Showtime has greenlit a documentary about comedian, Tig Notaro. The doc, Knock Knock, It’s Tig Notaro, will follow Notaro as she tours the country. The twist is that her performances will be...
Trailer Watch: Passion – Starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace
Passion starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace follows two women working at an advertising agency and the rivalry that fuels their relationship. As things escalate, things between the pair turn...
Interview with Lindy DeKoven – Author of Primetime Princess
You know when you start a book and you immediately get sucked in and you can’t stop reading? That awesome feeling that’s like no other? That’s what happened with me and...
Melissa McCarthy is Outperforming Comedy Dudes
Melissa McCarthy is crushing it right now–with a $40 million dollar opening weekend with The Heat, a rumored ESPYS hosting gig and recently wrapped up principal production on Tammy a film she...
UN Women and Geena Davis to Partner on Global Study on Representation of Females in Family Films
UN Women is partnering with The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to analyze the representations of female characters in family films globally. This is the first time a study of this nature...
Trailer Watch: Afternoon Delight – Directed by Jill Soloway
Jill Soloway’s directorial debut, Afternoon Delight, was a big hit out of Sundance with great reviews and winning the Dramatic Directing Award. The film follows Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) a...
The Academy Sends Out 276 Invites
Last week, the Academy sent out 276 new invitations to join its ranks, the highest amount in recent years. (178 were invited in 2011; 135 in 2010; 134 in 2009; and 105 in 2008.) What you...
LAFF Interview with Molly Green, Stephanie Dziczek and Meg Charlton of Forev
I’m not ashamed to admit that I can never pass up a romantic comedy–no matter how bad they can get. It’s a genre that can be extremely accessible–looking at stories about...
Hollywood Women Stand With the Women of Texas
Since Wendy Davis’ epic 13 hour filibuster last week, female celebrities like Lena Dunham and others tweeted their support for the Texas Senator. Yesterday, a rally was held that coincided with...
Trailer Watch: Therese – Starring Audrey Tautou
The wonderful Audrey Tautou, plays Therese, a 1920s housewife who decides to leave her unhappy marriage with tragic conclusions. Therese is an adaptation of Francois Mauriac’s novel Therese...
Elizabeth Banks’ Brownstone Productions to Adapt Two New Projects
Lionsgate has just bought two book adaptation projects that will be produced by Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman’s Brownstone Productions. The first is based on Babe Walker’s (an alias...
Hollywood’s Glass Ceiling: Why Doesn’t the Film Industry Trust Women?
Here’s a piece I wrote for CNN’s Leading Women section: It would be wonderful to say that in 2013 things were looking up for women in Hollywood — both onscreen and behind the...
Interview with Ava DuVernay – Director of Venus Vs.
Venus Vs.shows an unexpected side of Venus Williams. The film is all about the fight for equal pay for women in tennis. Billie Jean King led the charge in her day and the US Open started...
Guest Post: What Women (and Men) Want: And Why That’s the Secret to Getting Back Together With the All-But-Dead Genre of Romantic Comedy
Dr. Mindy Lahiri has spent her whole life dreaming of a romantic-comedy ending to her love life: Sometime around 30, she’ll be swept off her feet by a Ken Doll of a hunk, he will make a...
Maggie Gyllenhaal to Star in Sundance Channel/BBC Miniseries The Honourable Woman
Maggie Gyllenhaal will be starring in a new miniseries The Honourable Woman, co-produced by the BBC and Sundance Channel. The eight part miniseries will follow Gyllenhaal as...
The Heat Packs The Heat at the Box Office
This weekend was supposed to be another coronation moment for Channing Tatum, but he ran into a couple of snags namely two crazy female cops. He also ran into the fact that he was in a $150...
New Trailer: Adore – Directed by Anne Fontaine
Anne Fontaine’s latest, Adore, stars Naomi Watts and Robin Wright as two lifelong friends who both end up in crossing major boundaries when they each begin relationships with the other’s...
Weekly Update for June 28th and July 5th: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend and Next Weekend (we’re taking next Friday off) The...
Happy Friday: Be Bro-Choice with Sarah Silverman
This week has been a huge news week for women’s reproductive rights. From the very good– Wendy Davis standing up and being a hero for women everywhere. To the very bad–Rick Perry...
Quote of the Day: Liz W. Garcia – The Obstacles That Women Face in Hollywood Are Particularly Difficult Because Many Can’t Be Seen, Or Easily Identified…
I came across this interview from Go Into the Story with writer/director Liz W. Garcia whose film The Lifeguard premiered at Sundance in 2013 and will be coming out on August 30th. It’s a...
Keira Knightley Will Produce and Star in The Other Typist
Keira Knightley will be producing and starring in The Other Typist, based on the debut novel of Suzanne Rindell. Fox Searchlight has locked down the rights. Set in the 1920s, Knightley will play...
Beth McCarthy-Miller to Direct Mean Moms
New Line has just hired Beth McCarthy-Miller to direct the comedy, Mean Moms. Don’t worry, it’s not a sequel to 2004’s Mean Girls but both films are based on books by Rosalind...
The Heat – Written by Katie Dippold
Yesterday, I wrote a piece that gave my argument about why you need to go and see The Heat this weekend. What I didn’t share since I was embargoed was the fact that I really liked the...
Why You Need To Go See The Heat This Weekend!
Remember two years ago when Bridesmaids came out and women went to the movies and Hollywood (except for every woman who worked there) was shocked that women and men went to see a movie about a bunch...
Oprah Tops Forbes 2013 Most Powerful Celebrities List
Oprah is number one on Forbes’ 2013 Most Powerful Celebrities list. Some may be surprised with the rough go of late that her network OWN has had..but it’s Oprah! She always bounces...
Trailer Watch: The New Black – Directed by Yoruba Richen
In honor of a historic day in American history, we bring you the new trailer for Yoruba Richen’s documentary The New Black which just won the AFI Docs Film Festival Audience Award and...
Ellen Page on Strong Female Characters and Feminist Porn
In a Reddit AMA, Ellen Page answered questions from fans on numerous subjects including finding female roles in Hollywood. Page’s latest role is in The East, about an anarchist group, which is...
Cross-Post: We are the 40%!
Last week, a chart appeared on the popular screenwriting website Go Into the Story analyzing gender inequity among spec script sales in the American entertainment business. The figures not only show...
Watch This: The Evolution of Peggy Olson
It’s no surprise that Peggy Olson, played by the wonderful Elisabeth Moss, on Mad Men is one of our favorite female characters on television. We’ve watched Peggy evolve from a shy...
Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose: We Stand With Wendy Davis
While there’s much discussion about the lack of female superhero movies in Hollywood, a real life one emerged yesterday. Texas State Senator Wendy Davis was set to go through a 13 hour long...
Angelina Jolie Goes to the UN Security Council
Angelina Jolie took a seat before the UN Security Council to speak out against rape against women in war zones. Jolie is an ambassador for the UN high commissioner for refugees, and this was the...
Women Critics Give Advice for Aspiring Critics
Every week Criticwire asks a handful of critics a question and publishes their responses. This week they asked critics what advice they would give to aspiring critics. We’ve highlighted the...
Guest Post: Wrap Up from the Human Rights Film Festival
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival just ended, exhibiting some beautiful and undeniably poignant tales that are not always told, nor heard. Bringing together stories from across the globe,...
Viola Davis on the Crisis for African American Actresses
This past Sunday Oprah hosted several leading African American actresses for a conversation on OWN. There are a variety of clips available but I found this one from Viola Davis very...
Trailer Watch: Just Like a Woman – Written by Joelle Touma and Marion Doussot
Just Like a Woman, written by Joelle Touma and Marion Doussot, follows two friends–Marilyn (Sienna Miller) and Mona (Golshifteh Farahani) who are both dealing with some upheavals in their...
Whoopi Goldberg Has Gotten Really Busy Lately
I saw Whoopi Goldberg last evening on a post screening discussion at the ESPN Films & espnW kickoff event for the NINE For IX Series following the New York premiere of Venus Vs. which...
Borgen Season Two DVD Now Available Here in the US – Win a Copy
Next week when I head to London one of the things I am going to do is try and find a copy of the 3rd season of Borgen. It’s already played in Europe and I must find it. That’s...
Anne Hathaway to Produce and Star in The Lifeboat
Anne Hathaway has just signed on to star in and produce The Lifeboat, an adaptation of the novel by Charlotte Rogan. Set in 1914, Hathaway will star as Grace Winter, a young newlywed woman who...
Women Centric & Directed Films Nab Awards at Provincetown Film Festival and Los Angeles Film Festival
Yesterday both the Provincetown Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Festival announced the recipients of their awards and women won big. Both festivals honored several women directed and women...
Miss You Can Do It Premieres Tonight on HBO
Miss You Can Do It is a wonderful, uplifting film about a beauty pageant targeted at girls with disabilities. It shows the power these events can have to make girls who are sometimes...
Women Directors and Why Language Matters
A couple of weeks ago I read that the two male directors — Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg — of Kon-Tiki which was nominated for best foreign language film got the gig of...
Weekly Update for June 21: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Currently Playing The Bling Ring The Wall Twenty Feet From Stardom (doc) My Best Day – Directed by Erin Greenwell Tiger Eyes ...
Counting the Women
Last Friday, NPR writer Linda Holmes duly infuriated the masses by actually going out and counting the movies about women and the movies directed by women that were playing in her neighborhood....
Happy Friday: Abby Wambach Breaks Mia Hamm’s Goal Scoring Record
While everyone was watching the basketball game last night, another record setting event took place to much less media play. Mia Hamm was the top goal scorer in the world — male or female...