ALL POSTS
Guest Post: Why Are People Concerned Directing Is “Too Much” for Women? We Can Handle It, Thanks
When I was a little girl my mother worked in an unheated factory five days a week and cleaned houses on weekends. Never once did anyone tell her, “Well, that’s too big a job for a woman.” Nor...
Celebrate International Women’s Day With Films By and About Women
Happy International Women’s Day from the Women and Hollywood team. In honor of the occasion, we’ve asked our interns to highlight some of their favorite movies by and about women. They’ve...
Waking the Feminists Comes to New York City
Last week I had the privilege to participate in Waking theFeminists as it arrived in NYC from Dublin. This movement began when womenprotested at the Abbey Theatre about the lack of women playwrights...
Weekly Update for March 4: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Tina Fey takes on the female midlife crisis and blows up her life by heading to Afghanistan to cover the war. She has no idea what she is...
An Open Letter to DGA President Paris Barclay
As President of the Directors Guild of America, your job is to represent all directors in Hollywood. From what I can tell, you are a working TV director with lots of credits and I’m sure you’re...
March 2016 Film Preview
March’s female-centric and/or women-directed films spread wide across all genres, ranging from comedies and the return of a cult favorite to suspenseful action flicks by and about women. First to...
Guest Post: What I Learned Shadowing on ‘Homeland’
A year ago, I went to a “diversity” lunch at Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. I was hesitant to attend, because the overwhelming majority of those who currently fill this position are...
Weekly Update for February 26: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (select IMAX theaters and streaming on Netflix) In this sequel to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” four...
Kesha: Some of the Best Reading Picks About Her Case and Its Huge Significance
Kesha’s contractual dispute with Sony has been dominating headlines and sparking much-needed discussions about rape culture, corporate greed and institutional sexism. The bestselling...
What You See Isn’t What You Get: February 2016’s VOD and Web Series Picks
February’s picks for VOD features and web series showcase new sides of seemingly familiar protagonists. In “The Skinny,” actress Jessie Kahnweiler plays a fictionalized version of herself to...
4 Women-Directed Gothenburg Film Fest Features to Put on Your Radar
This is the third of three dispatches from the 2016 Gothenburg International Film Festival. As the largest film festival in Scandinavia, the world’s leader in gender equality, the Gothenburg...
WMC Study: Women Get Fewer Than 1 in 5 Oscar Nominations in Non-Acting Categories
When the Oscars take place on Sunday, February 28, just 22% of the non-acting award hopefuls at Dolby Theatre will be female. Depressingly, that’s actually an above-average rate for women...
We’ve Missed You, ‘Broad City’!
The effervescent, whip-smart “Broad City,” still the best rendering of best-friendship on TV, returned last night with an eye on one of New York (and women’s) most essential and least...
Trailer Watch: A Teacher Works with MI6 in Susanna White’s Spy Thriller ‘Our Kind of Traitor’
A trailer has arrived for British helmer Susanna White’s upcoming “Our Kind of Traitor.” The spot for the spy thriller comes hot off the news that Jessica Chastain will star in White’s next...
Berlinale 2016 Women Directors: Meet Livia Ungur — ‘Hotel Dallas’
Livia Ungur was born in Communist Romania. She immigrated to America to study art, graduating from the Yale School of Art in 2015. She make films, sculptures, installations and performances. Since...
Crosspost: What Launching The Bechdel Test Fest Taught Me
The following has been reposted from The Huffington Post with permission of the author. Our version below includes minor edits. This February, The Bechdel Test Fest celebrates its first birthday....
Guest Post: Hollywood Is Not Solely To Blame For Lack Of Diversity — Critics Are, Too
Lately, due to the #OscarsSoWhite,#OscarsSoMale and #AltOscarParty campaigns, a lot of attention is being paid to how The Academy, and Hollywood in a more general sense, fails to reward women and...
SXSW Announces Most of Its 2016 Lineup: Competition Sections Are 40% Female-Helmed
South by Southwest has announced the bulk of its 2016 lineup, and eight of twenty films in competition are female-helmed or co-helmed: That amounts to a not-at-all shabby 40%. In 2015, only 25% of...
Gina Rodriguez Launches Social-Media Movement to Spotlight Latino Performers
The #OscarsSoWhite movement that has dominated headlines for over a week has been a necessary reckoning with the institutional exclusion that plagues Hollywood. But that all-important protest has...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Jessie Kahnweiler — ‘The Skinny’
Jessie Kahnweiler can’t afford therapy, so she makes films. Her work has been featured on CNN, TMZ, People, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Magazine, Mashable, Buzzfeed, Elle, The Daily Beast,...
Where’s Rey? Toymakers Were Told To Exclude Her
The feminist force is strong with the latest “Star Wars” movie, which introduced the 38-year-old franchise’s first female protagonist in orphaned scavenger Rey, played by dynamo newcomer Daisy...
Shonda Rhimes on PGA Diversity Award: “It’s Not Trailblazing to Write the World As It Actually Is”
Shonda Rhimes delivered a tongue-in-cheek speech challenging writers and producers to be more inclusive while receiving the PGA’s Norman Lear Achievement Award at the PGA Awards on Saturday....
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Bonni Cohen — ‘Audrie & Daisy’
Since co-founding Actual Films in 1998, Bonni Cohen has produced and directed an array of award-winning films, including “The Island President,” “Inside Guantanamo,” “The Rape of Europa”...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Chris Hegedus — ‘Unlocking the Cage’
Chris Hegedus has been making films as a director, cinematographer and editor for 40 years. She received the 2001 DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for “Startup.com.” With her...
The Academy Steps Up to the Diversity Challenge in a Big Way
Sundance is in full swing but the big news today came out of LA, where Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs and CEO Dawn Hudson, with the support of the Board of Governors, unveiled radical changes...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Elite Zexer — ‘Sand Storm’
Elite Zexer received her BFA and MFA from Tel Aviv University, the latter in film directing. Her previous short films are “Take Note,” which won the Best Fiction Film Award at the Tel Aviv...
Berlinale 2016’s Complete Competition Lineup Announced: Only 9% Directed By Women
The 2016 Berlin Film Festival has released its full competition lineup. Now that we can take stock of all the directors screening films in the festival’s most prominent category, we...
Phyllis Nagy Developing Rachel Kushner’s ‘Telex From Cuba’ As ’50s-Set TV Series
"Carol" screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, who received her first Oscar nod for penning the lesbian romance last week, is currently developing a TV adaptation of Rachel Kushner’s 2008 novel...
Guest Post: The Aerial Cinematography and Fearless Living of ‘Sunshine Superman’
As I write this, my documentary "Sunshine Superman" has been out in the world for a little over a year. We have played at over 40 festivals worldwide and had a limited theatrical run...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Liz Garbus – ‘Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper’
Oscar-nominated director Liz Garbus is one of the most celebrated American documentary filmmakers working today. Her films have been acclaimed worldwide and have garnered multiple Academy...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Milica Zec – ‘Giant’
Milica Zec is a New York City-based film and virtual reality director. Raised in war-torn Serbia, Zec’s work is deeply rooted in issues of conflict, identity and the human struggle. Highlights of...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Maggie Greenwald – ‘Sophie and the Rising Sun’
Writer, director and producer Maggie Greenwald is an award-winning filmmaker who began her career as a picture and sound editor. Her 1987 film "The Kill-Off," a noir thriller based on a...
Sundance 2016 Preview: Eagle Huntresses, Toddler Kidnappers, Other Festival Gems By and About Women
January hasn’t been a great — or even remotely good — month for films by and about women in theaters, as our January Film Preview proves. But tomorrow marks the beginning of the...
Netflix News: Updates on ‘Kimmy Schmidt,’ ‘Jessica Jones,’ ‘Orange/New Black,’ ‘Grace & Frankie’
Netflix dropped several news bombs over the weekend at the Winter TCAs. Here’s the latest updates on four of our favorite (female-centric, female-created) shows: "Unbreakable Kimmy...
Why “Carol” Failed to Become the Lesbian ‘Brokeback’
Well, that’s that. Lesbians will not have their “Brokeback Mountain” this year after all. That’s because “Carol,” perhaps the most critically acclaimed mainstream film of all time...
How Samatha Bee’s New Late Night Show is Tackling Gender Diversity Behind the Scenes
Samantha Bee and her team for her new talk show, "Full Frontal," are putting their money where their mouths are. "The talent is out there, so late-night shows need to stop saying,...
Emma Watson Launches Feminist Book Club, See Our Reading Recommendations
Emma Watson has chosen the first selection for her newly launched feminist book club, "Our Shared Shelf." The book club will see the "Noah" star — and fellow readers —...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Ryan Coogler
Although the issue of Hollywood’s egregious lack of women directors has gone mainstream, we still don’t have very many prominent male filmmakers willing to speak out on behalf of their...
Quote of the Day: Dakota Johnson on Hollywood’s “Brutal and Absurd” Ageism
Dakota Johnson is only 26, but she’s seen enough of the film industry’s ageism — through her mother Melanie Griffith and her grandmother Tippi Hedren — to speak out against...
Crosspost: The Difficulties of Juggling Diversity Activism and a Directing Career in Hollywood
The following has been reposted from Lexi Alexander’s blog with permission of the author. Our version below includes minor edits. 2015 was an interesting year for me. After finally getting back...
The 11 Most Important Women of Color Moments of 2015
"Harry Potter" Gets More Inclusive: Hermione Will Be Played by a Black Actress The "Harry Potter" franchise — seven best-selling books, eight movies that struck...
Guest Post: Secrets to Success in Hollywood (For Women)
When I first came to Hollywood and started taking meetings, I was sure it was my high-pitched voice and curvy figure that were placing obstacles in my path to success as a film director. I had a lot...
Guest Post: How I Made 6 Indie Films in 10 Years
I just finished producing my sixth feature film, "Mr. Rudolpho’s Jubilee." We shot in Berlin, Milan and Tuscany with an artist collective of 300 people from 30 different countries....
Weekly Update for December 18: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This WeekSisters — Written by Paula Pell We can’t ever get enough of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, so we’re excited that the sweet and salty “Sisters” is a...
Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton Comedy ‘Divanation’ Acquired by Netflix
Netflix’s star wattage continues to impress. The streaming service has acquired “Divanation,” a comedy that will star three of Hollywood’s funniest leading ladies : Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn...
20% of 2015 Black List Scripts Written by Women
The 2015 Black List was released yesterday. In total, 16 of the 81 scripts featured, or 20%, are written or co-written by women. The selection process is highly competitive, and the scripts that...
The 12 Best Films About Girls and Women of 2015
2015 has been a remarkable year for female-led films. The Women and Hollywood team struggled to compile this list because there were just so many worthy candidates this year — a problem we’re...
Weekly Update for December 11: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Bleeding Heart — Written and Directed by Diane Bell “Bleeding Heart” follows the story of May (Jessica Biel), a yoga instructor who finds herself...
Jessica Chastain Publishes Essay on the Value of Women-Directed Films
“I want to make sure I’m contributing to creating diversity in the industry,” wrote Jessica Chastain in a guest feature for The Hollywood Reporter yesterday. Chastain has a long and inspiring...
December 2015 Film Preview
Fitting well with the festive spirit of Christmas (if that’s your thing), December brings us a number of women-centric and female-directed films that will help end the year on a high. The...
Films by 15 Queer Female Filmmakers To Stream This Thanksgiving
With the prospect of a long holiday weekend surrounded by family and/or loved ones ahead, the question naturally arises of what to do with all that free time after digesting your turkey (or Tofurky,...