ALL POSTS
Trailer Watch: Rebecca’s on the Warpath in Season 3 of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
Rebecca Bunch has never been one for subtlety, and it looks like Season 3 of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” will see its anti-heroine really embrace the “crazy” part of her moniker like never before....
Trailer Watch: A Writer Announces Her Plan to Commit Suicide and Seeks an Heir in “Maya Dardel”
Academy Award nominee Lena Olin plays an internationally renowned poet and novelist busy orchestrating one helluva plot twist in her own life in Magdalena Zyzak and Zachary Cotler’s “Maya...
Fall 2017 TV Preview: New Shows By and About Women to Check Out
“Star Trek: Discovery”: CBS ENTERTAINMENT We are officially in the throes of the fall television season — and the next couple of months will be an especially good time for women on the...
Emmys 2017: “Big Little Lies,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and Lena Waithe Win Big
The 2017 Emmy Awards were a great night for women in television. Not only did the two biggest awards go to women-centric series — “The Handmaid’s Tale” took home the best drama series...
Acclaimed Women-Directed Films Were One of the Major Narratives of TIFF 2017
There are always multiple narratives that come out of a festival as big as TIFF. This year, one of the through lines was the amazing films that had female directors. TIFF consistently includes lots...
Weekly Update for September 15: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“First They Killed My Father” Films About Women Opening This Week First They Killed My Father — Directed by Angelina Jolie; Written by Angelina Jolie and Loung Ung (Available on...
Quote of the Day: Lesli Linka Glatter Says the Pool of Female Directors Is “Wide and Deep”
“There aren’t enough qualified female directors.” This excuse is all too common in conversations about the lack of films and series directed by women, and suggests that the problem isn’t...
Guest Post: Directing “Red Trees” and Discovering My Own Identity
Guest Post by Marina Willer The title of my film, “Red Trees,” refers to the moment when my father discovered that he was color blind as a child, drawing trees with red leaves. It makes...
Pamela Adlon on Being Inspired by Lena Dunham and Saying Goodbye to Over-Pleasing
Pamela Adlon has added even more to her plate on “Better Things” this season. The comedy’s sophomore run debuts on FX tonight, and the series’ co-creator, star, showrunner, writer, and...
Trailer Watch: A Buddhist Priest Helps People Find the Will to Live in Lana Wilson’s “The…
Trailer Watch: A Buddhist Priest Helps People Find the Will to Live in Lana Wilson’s “The Departure” A Japanese punk-rocker-turned-Buddhist-priest provides much-needed hope to suicidal people...
Quote of the Day: Taraji P. Henson Wants to Inspire Little Black Girls
Taraji P. Henson knows the legacy she’d like to leave behind. “I love black people. I love telling stories,” the “Empire” star said in a new interview with Marie Claire. “I want these...
Rebel Wilson Receives Record Settlement in Defamation Lawsuit
Rebel Wilson won a landmark sum in her lawsuit against Bauer Media, the publisher behind Woman’s Day and the Australian Women’s Weekly. Wilson, who had brought a libel case against Bauer,...
Quote of the Day: Swedish Film Institute CEO Anna Serner on the Bias Against Women Directors
Anna Serner has heard plenty of bullshit excuses defending the lack of women directors hired to direct high-profile, big-budget projects. This fact was made abundantly clear at a recent event at the...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kamila Andini — “The Seen and Unseen”
Kamila Andini made her feature debut with “The Mirror Never Lies,” which portrays the life of a sea wanderer in the Indonesian ocean. Previous short films include “Following Diana” and...
Brie Larson on Embracing Uniqueness, Directing Herself, and “Captain Marvel”
Brie Larson is an actress who has given standout performances in films such as “Short Term 12” and “Trainwreck.” In 2016 she won an Oscar for her turn as a young mother willing to do...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Joan Chemla — “If You Saw His Heart”
Joan Chemla is a director who decided to dedicate herself to filmmaking after an initial stint in law. She has helmed three short films: “Mauvaise Route,” “Dr Nazi,” and “The Man with the...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Mouly Surya — “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts”
Mouly Surya was born in Jakarta, where she currently lives. She is considered one of the most promising filmmakers in Indonesia. Her debut film, “Fiksi.” won numerous awards including Best...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Ainsley Gardiner — “Waru”
Ainsley Gardiner is of Ngāti Awa, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Pikiao, and Whakatōhea descent. Gardiner previously produced the short films “Two Cars, One Night” and “Tama Tu,” written...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Erika Cohn — “The Judge”
Erika Cohn is a director who has received numerous accolades for her work, including a Director’s Guild of America award for her film, “When the Voices Fade,” a narrative profile of the...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Brie Larson — “Unicorn Store”
Brie Larson is an Academy Award-winning actress whose credits include “Short Term 12,” “Room,” “The Glass Castle,” and the upcoming “Captain Marvel.” Her short film “The Arm” won...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Rachel Grady — “One of Us”
Rachel Grady is a filmmaker and co-owns New York’s Loki Films with Heidi Ewing. She and Ewing have have directed six feature-length films, including “Jesus Camp,” “The Boys of Baraka,”...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Violeta Ayala — “Cocaine Prison”
Violeta Ayala is an award-winning Indigenous filmmaker and writer from Bolivia. Her other credits include “The Flight,” “The Bolivian Case,” and “Stolen,” which has won numerous awards...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Limor Shmila — “Montana”
Limor Shmila is an Israeli writer and director, who is also known for her work as a casting director. For the last 10 years she has been one of the leading casting directors in Israel, working on...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Clio Barnard — “Dark River”
Clio Barnard is a director whose films have won her The Douglas Hickox Award at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), Best Screenplay at the Evening Standard British Film Awards, and Best...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Nora Twomey — “The Breadwinner”
Nora Twomey is a filmmaker and co-founder of Cartoon Saloon, the twice Oscar-nominated animation studio based in Ireland. Having co-directed “The Secret of Kells” with Tomm Moore, Twomey went on...
Weekly Update for September 8: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Home Again”: Open Road Films Films About Women Opening This Week Home Again — Written and Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer “Home Again” stars Reese Witherspoon as Alice Kinney in a...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Susanna White — “Woman Walks Ahead”
Susanna White is a BAFTA-winning film and television director. Her previous credits include “Our Kind of Traitor” and “Parade’s End.” White was lauded for her six episodes of “Bleak...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Valerie Faris — “Battle of the Sexes”
Valerie Faris and her husband, Jonathan Dayton, have co-directed music videos for R.E.M., The Smashing Pumpkins, Janet Jackson, Oasis, and many others in the 1990s and 2000s. Their previous film...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Sadaf Foroughi — “AVA”
Sadaf Foroughi is an Iranian-born, Montreal-based filmmaker. In 2005 she was selected to participate in the Berlinale Talent Campus as a writer-director. She created a short documentary,...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Priscilla Cameron — “The Butterfly Tree”
Priscilla Cameron is a writer and director whose short films have won awards, screened in national and international festivals, and have been sold nationally and internationally. “The Butterfly...
“Year by the Sea” Star Karen Allen on Joan Anderson’s Book, Directing, and Roles for Women Over 60
Probably best-known for her turns in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and the “Christmas Carol” retelling “Scrooged,” Karen Allen has been working regularly since her 1978 debut in “Animal...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Tracy Heather Strain — “Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart”
Tracy Heather Strain is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer, and producer. Her previous directing credits include episodes of miniseries “Unnatural Causes” and “I’ll Make Me a...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Molly McGlynn — “Mary Goes Round”
Molly McGlynn is a Canadian writer and director. Her previous short films include “I Am Not a Weird Person,” “Shoes,” and “3-Way (Not Calling).” “Mary Goes Round” is her first...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Haifaa Al-Mansour — “Mary Shelley”
Haifaa Al-Mansour is the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia, where her 2005 documentary “Women Without Shadows” has influenced a new wave of filmmakers. Her work is both praised and vilified...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kate Novack — “The Gospel According to André”
Kate Novack is a producer and director. Her credits include “Page One: Inside the New York Times,” “A Table in Heaven,” and “Eat This New York.” Novack’s first feature screenplay,...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Greta Gerwig — “Lady Bird”
Greta Gerwig’s acting credits include “Maggie’s Plan,” “Frances Ha,” and “Mistress America.” She co-wrote the latter two features, and alongside Joe Swanberg she co-directed the...
TIFF 2017 Women Directors: Meet Barbara Albert — “Mademoiselle Paradis”
Barbara Albert is a director and writer whose short films have been introduced at festivals around the world. Her first feature film “Nordrand,” or “Northern Skirts,” premiered at Venice...
17 Films By and About Women to Check Out at TIFF 2017
“Unicorn Store” The 42nd edition of the Toronto International Film Festival will kick off in just two days, and as always, there is an overwhelming amount of amazing-sounding films screening at...
Weekly Update for September 1: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Viceroy’s House” Films About Women Opening This Week Tulip Fever “Tulip” In 17th century Amsterdam, an orphaned girl (Alicia Vikander) is forcibly married to a rich and powerful merchant...
September 2017 Film Preview
Jennifer Lawrence in “mother!” Fall will come rolling in with a bevy of women-centric, women-directed, and women-written films that range from romantic to historical to scary to funny. There’s...
Gurinder Chadha on “Viceroy’s House,” the Partiality of Historical Films, and “Bend It Like…
Gurinder Chadha on “Viceroy’s House,” the Partiality of Historical Films, and “Bend It Like Beckham” Gurinder Chadha is a writer, director, and producer known for films like “Bend It...
Kate del Castillo’s Biographical Series “The Day I Met El Chapo” to Debut on Netflix
Kate del Castillo and Sean Penn’s meeting with the world’s most wanted drug lord sparked international headlines, and now the former will share her side of the story in a new biographical...
Pink Shares Story About Her Daughter, Celebrates Individuality in Moving VMAs Speech
Pink used her VMAs platform to recount an interaction she’d had recently with her six-year-old daughter. Accepting the Video Vanguard award last night — which recognizes an artist’s career...
Weekly Update for August 25: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Served Like a Girl” Films About Women Opening This Week Served Like a Girl (Documentary) — Co-Written and Directed by Lysa Heslov (Opens in NY and LA) Director Lysa Heslov’s powerful...
James Cameron Disses “Wonder Woman” and the Internet Disses Him Back
Gal Gadot shutting down an attacker in “Wonder Woman”: Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Yesterday, James Cameron found out that he’s no longer the King of the World. There is a new king — actually...
Amy Schumer Negotiated with Netflix for Better Pay for “The Leather Special”
“I would like to say that I have been selling out arenas these last couple years. Something a female comic has never done,” Amy Schumer wrote in an Instagram post yesterday. “That’s a big...
Books, Films, News, Television
Riley Keough and Producer Gina Gammell Team Up for Felix Culpa Production Co.
Riley Keough is the latest actress to begin her own production company. Deadline reports that the “Logan Lucky” star has officially launched company Felix Culpa with producer Gina Gammell....
Weekly Update for August 18: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
“Patti Cake$” Films About Women Opening This Week Patti Cake$ (Opens in Limited Release) In a coming-of-age story straight out of Jersey, an unlikely rapper (Danielle Macdonald) finds her voice...
Quote of the Day: Amandla Stenberg on the Power of Seeing Complex Black Women in Film
Despite evidence that films with diverse casts enjoy higher box office receipts than their non-diverse counterparts, on-screen racial inclusivity is still a rarity. This was on Amandla Stenberg’s...
Trailer Watch: Real-Life Love Story “Dina” Presents an Unconventional Protagonist
“Dina’s” official synopsis promises “an unconventional movie protagonist the likes of which haven’t been seen before.” Its newly released trailer promises the same. This real-life...
Anna Paquin and Holliday Grainger to Star in Period Romance from Annabel Jankel
Oscar winner Anna Paquin is switching from one period project to another. The “True Blood” star, who will next be seen in Sarah Polley’s “Alias Grace” miniseries on Netflix, has signed on...