ALL POSTS
Read: The ACLU’s Letter to the EEOC Citing Employment Discrimination Against Women Directors
Two weeks ago, the ACLU sent letters to three government agencies requesting an investigation into the gender-based discrimination against women directors in the film and TV industries. The...
4 Female Directors Discuss What It Takes to Make a Passion Project
RichardLinklater’s “Boyhood” got a lot ofdeserved attention for the dedication it took to make a feature film over 12years. While that timeline was planned, getting a film made often turns out...
Cannes 2015 Women Directors: Meet Chloé Zhao — ‘Songs My Brothers Taught Me’
Chloé Zhao was raised in Beijing and England and is currently a MFA thesis student at New York University’s graduate film program. She was selected as a fellow at the 2012 Sundance Directors and...
Weekly Update for May 15: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Mad Max: Fury Road — Women-Centric Pick of the Week This post-apocalyptic feminist action-adventure story features Charlize Theron in her most kick-ass role...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Ethan Hawke Speaks Out Against “Movie Business [Being] a Boys Club”
During a press tour for his latest film, Ethan Hawke spoke out against the “boys club” that runs Hollywood. Feminism appears to have little to do with the thriller “Good Kill,” but when...
Cannes 2015 Women Directors: Meet Nancy Buirski — ‘By Sidney Lumet’
Nancy Buirski is the director, producer and writer of “Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq,” which had its world premiere at the 51stNew York Film Festival and its international premiere at...
Natalie Portman to Play Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Athena List Biopic
Natalie Portman will star as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a biopic that focuses on the Supreme Court justice’s early career as a feminist legal crusader. Written by Daniel Stiepleman, “On the Basis...
LA Film Fest Lineup Released: 40% of Features in Competition Directed by Women
An impressive number of female filmmakers are set to screen their work at the 21st annual Los Angeles Film Festival. The festival released its full lineup on May 5, and 40% of features in...
Hot Docs 2015 Women Directors: Meet Amy Benson — Drawing the Tiger
Amy Benson is the co-owner of Nonfiction Media, a production company in Seattle. She has shot and edited over 25 short films, telling the stories of nonprofits in the Pacific Northwest, Africa and...
Female Filmmakers Initiative Research Confirms Hollywood Is Stuck in a Sexist Rut
The big Hollywood studios are all in Las Vegas this week, showing off their upcoming summer films to the theatre owners at CinemaCon. Clearly, gender is on their mind, since John Fithian, the head...
San Francisco Film Society Announces Recipients of Inaugural Women Filmmaker Fellowships
Jennifer Phang (“Advantageous”), Nikole Beckwith (“Stockholm, Pennsylvania”) and Stewart Thorndike (“Lyle”) have been selected as the inaugural recipients of the San Francisco Film...
Three Women Directors to be Featured in Cannes 2015’s Directors’ Fortnight
Three women-directed features are included in the lineup for this year’s Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. Artistic director Edouard Waintrop announced the program of 19 features, chosen from a...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Natalia Leite — ‘Bare’
Natalia Leite is from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Since moving to New York, she has directed music videos, documentaries and short films. She is a recipient of the Kodak Grant Award, a Sundance Screenwriters...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Claudia Llosa — ‘Aloft’
Clauda Llosa was born in Lima, Peru. Her debut film “Madeinusa” premiered in Sundance’s official competition in 2006 and won several international awards. Her second film, “The Milk of...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Leslye Headland — ‘Sleeping with Other People’
Leslye Headland started her writing career in theater, with such plays as “Bachelorette” (Second Stage), “Assistance” (Playwrights Horizons), and the rest of the “Seven Deadly Plays”...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Hemal Trivedi — ‘Among the Believers’
Hemal Trivedi’s credits include “Outlawed in Pakistan,” “Saving Face,” “Shabeena’s Quest” and “Beyond Mumbai.” She has produced and edited over 50 award-winning shorts for...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Ivy Meeropol — ‘Indian Point’
Ivy Meeropol is an acclaimed documentary filmmaker. Her work has been featured on the Sundance Channel and HBO. Meeropol’s films have been nominated for numerous awards, and her feature, “Heir...
Sally Field’s ‘Hello, My Name is Doris’ Lands 2015 SXSW Film Fest’s Biggest Deal
A third Oscar statuette might be headed Sally Field’s way when her Sundance hit “Hello, My Name is Doris” is released by its domestic distributor, Roadside Attractions. Roadside is set to...
2015 Full Frame Doc Film Fest Announces Winners: Lyric R. Cabral, Alexandra Shiva, Phie Ambo
Female documentarians made up 8 of the 11 award winners at the 2015 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina. Betzabé Garcia’s “Kings of Nowhere” and Lyric R. Cabral...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg — ‘In My Father’s House’
Tribeca Film Festival alumni Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg are multi-award-winning producers and directors best known for “Knuckleball!,” “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” “The Devil Came...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Diane Bell — ‘Bleeding Heart’
“Bleeding Heart” is writer/director Diane Bell’s second feature. Her first feature film, “Obselidia,” premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival,...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Pamela Romanowsky — ‘The Adderall Diaries’
Pamela Romanowsky studied behavioral psychology at Macalester College, verité documentary filmmaking with Barbara Kopple, and narrative filmmaking at New York University’s MFA program. “The...
Guest Post: What I Learned From a Post-It Note to Make My First Film
Back in 2008, I heard about that Oprah tip — the one whereyou make a list of goals on a Post-It and put it on your bathroom mirror. Youare supposed to look at it every morning when you wake up...
Guest Post: How I Ended Up With a “Faith” Movie by Believing in Myself
In three short days, I am releasing my second film, “Dial a Prayer.” I directed from my own script (my first as a solo writer), and the coming-of-age comedy stars Brittany Snow, William H. Macy,...
Provincetown Film Society Launches Women Filmmakers Residency Program
The Gabrielle A. Hanna Film Institute, an initiative of the Provincetown Film Society, has announced the launch of a residency program for female filmmakers. The program will offer female...
Saoirse Ronan and Cynthia Nixon’s Kidnapping Drama “Stockholm, Pennsylvania” to Air on Lifetime
In a clear example of how the distribution market is changing everyday, Nikole Beckwith’s Sundance drama “Stockholm, Pennsylvania” has been slated for a run on the Lifetime channel. Starring...
Distribution Deals: Milla Jovovich’s “Alchemy,” Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi Climbing Doc “Meru”
Two action thrillers with women in prominent roles have found distribution. Milla Jovovich’s latest vehicle, about a diplomat on the run after being framed, has been acquired by Alchemy. Set in...
Director Rose Troche Honored with the 2015 Outfest Fusion Achievement Award
Writer-director-producer Rose Troche was recognized with the 2015 Outfest Achievement Award at an event for the LGBT film festival on Saturday, March 14, at the Egyptian Theater. Troche’s...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti — ‘A Woman Like Me’
Alex Sichel (Writer, Director) directed the feature “All Over Me”, released by New Line, which UCLA’s Journal of Cinema and Media Studies named one of the top films by women directors. All...
Sarah Silverman’s ‘I Smile Back’ and Two Other Female-Centric Films Land Distribution
Three female-centric dramas are heading to the big screen. “I Smile Back,” which stars Sarah Silverman as a self-destructive wife and mother, will be distributed by Broad Green Pictures....
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Hannah Fidell — ‘6 Years’
Hannah Fidellwrote and directed the feature film “A Teacher,” which premiered at Sundance 2013and went on to play such festivals as SXSW, where she won the Chicken & EggAward. In 2012, her...
Guest Post: Making a Magical Realist Film About a Boy Who Smells Like Rotting Fish
There are countless films with unique ideas and storylines, but I believe my firstfeature film, “Treading Water,” is the only one about a boy who smells like fish. This idea caught my attention...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Katharine Emmer — ‘Life in Color’
Katharine Emmer is a graduate of New York University, where she was the recipient of the Tisch Artistic Achievement Award. She has appeared on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” and made her acting...
Kerry Washington to Play Anita Hill in HBO Movie ‘Confirmation’
Kerry Washington has landed another high-profile role. The “Scandal” star will play law professor Anita Hill in “Confirmation,” a HBO movie about Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court-nomination...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Ondi Timoner — ‘BRAND: A Second Coming’ and ‘The Last Mile’
Director and producer Ondi Timoner won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice — for “Dig!” (2004) about the collision of art and commerce through the story of two bands and “We Live in...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Karyn Kusama — ‘The Invitation’
Karyn Kusama wrote and directed her first feature film, “Girlfight,” in 1999. The film won the Director’s Prize and shared the GrandJury Prize at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. It went on to...
Brit Marling’s Co-Written Drama ‘The OA’ to Air on Netflix
Brit Marling has written another starring vehicle for herself. The indie actress has co-created and will star in “The OA,” a drama just picked up by Netflix. The show’s plot and premise are...
The Big O: 12 Must-See Feminist Films Saluted by the Oscars
If any year proved how entrenched Hollywood’s female troubles are, it was 2014, and not just because the bench of best-actress candidates in the Oscar race was far from deep. Also problematic was...
Weekly Update for February 27: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week The Hunting Ground (doc) (Women and Hollywood’s Pick of the Week) “The Hunting Ground” is an extraordinarily powerful and searing look at the epidemic of...
SFFS Announces 2015 Documentary Film Fund Finalists; 7 Women Directors Make the List
The San Francisco Film Society has announced the finalists for its 2015 Documentary Film Fund, with awards totaling more than $75,000 going towards feature-length documentaries in post-production....
Marielle Heller’s ‘The Diary of a Teenage Girl’ to Open ND/NF Festival
Writer-director Marielle Heller’s Sundance gem “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” will open the 2015 New Directions/New Films festival (March 18–29). Based on Phoebe Gloeckner’s graphic novel,...
Marielle Heller’s ‘The Diary of a Teenage Girl’ to Open ND/NF Festival
Writer-director Marielle Heller’s Sundance gem "The Diary of a Teenage Girl" will open the 2015 New Directions/New Films festival (March 18-29). Based on Phoebe...
Weekly Update for February 20: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week The DUFF (Women and Hollywood’s Pick of the Week) A definite case of “don’t judge a movie by its title,” “The DUFF” — which wincingly stands for...
Marielle Heller and Best Director Awardee Małgorzata Szumowska Among Berlinale 2015 Winners
Female filmmakers from around the globe were recognized for their work at the 2015 Berlinale, including Best Director co-winner Małgorzata Szumowska (“Body”), who tied with Radu Jude...
First Winners of Women Cinematographers Grant Announced
Five female DPs have been selected as the first recipients of the Digital Bolex Grant for Women Cinematographers. The grant is the first of its kind, offering more than $10,000 in camera gear and...
Festival Deals: Swanberg’s ‘Unexpected,’ Fontaine’s ‘Innocent,’ Muylaert’s ‘Second Mother’
A trio of wildly disparate women-directed films have recently found distribution at Sundance and Berlin. Kris Swanberg’s “Unexpected” has been picked up for US distribution by Film Arcade....
Guest Post: Should There Be a Best Female Director Category at the Oscars?
If wewant greater gender equality in Hollywood, should the Academy Awards still besplitting its acting awards along gender lines? This wasa question posed to me by a friend a few weeks ago as we...
The Force is with Felicity Jones: From Jane Hawking To Starring in Stand-Alone ‘Star Wars’ Movie
Felicity Jones is going from standing by the side of a theoretical physicist to starring in a big-budget blockbuster. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jones, who recently earned an Oscar nom for...
‘Girlhood’ Director Céline Sciamma on Feminism, Race, and Paris Post-Charlie Hebdo
French writer-director Céline Sciamma has a small but sturdy body of work that addresses how girls navigate a culture that can be incredibly hostile to them. She does it with nuance, intelligence,...
Sharing Our Story: Mary Harron’s Misunderstood Cult Classic ‘American Psycho’
As this year’sSundance Film Festival swings into gear, let’s take a look back at awoman with a definite place in Sundance history: Park City darling Mary Harron. Born to comedianDonald Harron...
Guest Post: Spending A Year With Women Filmmakers
In 2013, I saw two films thatdeeply affected me: Judy Chaikin’s The Girls In The Band andSini Anderson’s The Punk Singer. In both films, the women interviewed talk aboutlooking for artists,...