ALL POSTS
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Cosima Spender — ‘Palio’
London-based director Cosima Spender graduated with a degree in anthropology and art history from the University of London. Since graduating from the National Film and Television School in 2001, she...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Vanessa Hope — “All Eyes and Ears”
Vanessa Hope started her film career in China while teaching a graduate course at People’s University. Fluent in Chinese, she’s produced multiple films in China, with civil rights as a common...
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 Amy Kohn — ‘A Courtship’
Amy Kohn is an Emmy Award-winning television producer and showrunner. Her documentary work has included the critically acclaimed “My Life as a Child” (TLC), which profiled children ages 7 to 11...
Trailer Watch: Patricia Clarkson Takes the Wheel in Isabel Coixet’s ‘Learning to Drive’
A trailer has been released for Spanish director Isabel Coixet’s “Learning to Drive,” a romantic comedy starring Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley. The film, which premiered at the Toronto...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Abigail Disney — ‘The Armor of Light’
Tribeca Film Festival alumna Abigail Disney is an Academy Award nominee, philanthropist and activist based in New York. Her passion for women’s issues has led her to producing films. Her film...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Laura Bispuri — ‘Sworn Virgin’
Laura Bispuri was an attendee of the Fandango Lab Workshop. She won the David Donatello Award (Italian Oscars) for Best Short Film in 2010 with “Passing Time.” “Sworn Virgin” is her first...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Malika Zouhali-Worrall — ‘Thank You For Playing’
Malika Zouhali-Worrall is an award-winning filmmaker of British/Moroccan origin. She is one of the directors and the producer of “Call Me Kuchu” (2012), a documentary that depicts the last year...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Jeanie Finlay — ‘Orion: The Man Who Would Be King’
Jeanie Finlay is an acclaimedBritish artist and filmmaker who creates intimate, funny and personaldocumentary films and artworks. Her focus is on creating compelling portraits, and she is obsessed...
Tribeca 2015 Women Directors: Meet Anna Sandilands — ‘Uncertain’
Anna Sandilands and her co-director Ewan McNicol are the directing and producing team behind and the co-owners and creative directors of the documentary studio Lucid Inc. Both are named in Filmmaker...
Yogis, Sworn Virgins and Coders: 10 Most Anticipated Films By and About Women at Tribeca 2015
There’s much to look forward to at the 2015 edition of the Tribeca Film Festival, which begins this week. For starters, 33% of the feature filmmakers screening at this year’s festival are...
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...
Book Excerpt: Lessons from Dedicating Three Decades to a Life in the Theater
The following is an excerpt from Carey Perloff’s memoir “Beautiful Chaos: A Life in the Theater.” Much has been written about the paucity of female voices in the contemporary theater, and...
Do We Need Another ‘The L Word’?
The song tells us we can’t always get what we want. As lesbian and bisexual female media consumers, we know this all too well. But it also promises that, if we try, sometimes we’ll get what we...
Weekly Update for April 3: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Week Woman in Gold “Woman in Gold” is the remarkable true story of one woman’s journey to reclaim her heritage and seek justice for what happened to her family....
‘Apartment Troubles’ Directors/Stars Jennifer Prediger & Jess Weixler on Making a Film With a New BFF
Jennifer Prediger and Jess Weixler’s directorial debut “Apartment Troubles” follows the trials and tribulations of co-dependentroommates Olivia (Prediger) and Nicole (Weixler), who find...
‘Apartment Troubles’ Directors/Stars Jennifer Prediger & Jess Weixler on Making a Film With a New BFF
Jennifer Prediger and Jess Weixler’s directorial debut "Apartment Troubles" follows the trials and tribulations of co-dependent roommates Olivia (Prediger) and Nicole (Weixler), who...
Lisbeth Salander to Live on in New ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Book
A fourth “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” novel will be published on August 27. Lisbeth Salander, the anti-social hacker-heroine created by deceased Swedish author Stieg Larsson, will make her...
Anne Frank’s Life Retold Through Hallucinogenic Animation in New Film (IMAGES)
Anne Frank’s story has been told countless times, but never quite like in Ari Folman’s upcoming animated film. The Israeli director of “The Congress” and the Oscar-nominated “Waltz with...
April 2015 Film Preview
Summer blockbuster season is just around the corner, but there’s no need to wait until then to see a great movie. April brings us a wide variety of women-centric projects, as well as quite a few...
Angelina Jolie at Kids’ Choice Awards: “Different is Good”
In her first public appearance since penning an op-ed for the New York Times about her medical decision to remove her ovaries, Angelina Jolie revealed more of her struggles while accepting the award...
Keira Knightley: “Where Are the Female Stories? Where Are the [Women] Directors and Writers?”
Keira Knightley has spoken out once again about the adverse consequences of the film industry’s gender-lopsidedness. “Where are the female stories?” she asked rhetorically in a new interview...
Composer Jeanine Tesori on Her Artistic Process and Rewarding Female Ambition
Cross-posted with permission from The Interval.We want Jeanine Tesori to be our life coach. Really. And not just for the obvious reasons, like that Jeanine holds the most Tony nominations for...
SXSW Film Head Janet Pierson Puts Her Stamp on the Austin Festival
In 2009, Janet Pierson took over the South by Southwest Film Festival from longtime fest head Matt Dentler, stepping boldly into her new role — but not without a little trepidation. Dentler,...
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...
Gina Rodriguez: “I Am Constantly Being Told, ‘You’re Not Skinny Enough. You’re Not Ethnic Enough’”
“I work in an industry where I am constantly being told, ‘You’re not skinny enough. You’re not tall enough. You’re not ethnic enough,’” reveals Gina Rodriguez, the titular star of...
‘Insurgent’ Opens With $101 Million Intl’l Box Office, Continues 2015’s Trend of Female-Centric Hits
Female moviegoers have made “Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Cinderella,” and now “Insurgent” the three biggest live-action openings of the year so far. The “Divergent” sequel raked in $54...
‘Pretty Woman’ at 25: 10 Reasons Why This R-rated Cinderella Still Works Its Magic
The two biggest box-office openings so far in 2015 are a pair of fantasies aimed squarely at the female movie-going population: “Cinderella” and “Fifty Shades of Grey.” That their main...
Director/Choreographer Kathleen Marshall on Her Process, Female Mentors, and Developing New Musicals
Cross-posted with permission from The Interval. Let’s go put on a Broadway show! We can do it! Okay, this is some hubris on our part, but also the effect that listening to someone talk both...
Talking Women’s Issues and the Intersection of Feminism and Film in Kolkata, India
It is a very exciting time to be in India. The country is having a national conversation about gendered violence. There are not only the very heated debates about “India’s Daughter,” but new...
Quote of the Day: Paul Feig on Women Directors and Sexist Reactions to All-Female ‘Ghostbusters’
Paul Feig isn’t mincing words when it comes to sexism in Hollywood and beyond. While doing press at SXSW for “Spy,” his third collaboration with Melissa McCarthy, which premiered at the...
Rihanna Becomes Subject of Documentary “Character Study,” First Black Spokeswoman for Dior
Rihanna’s world domination continues. Two weeks before the release of “Home,” in which the “Diamonds” singer voices a resourceful teenager who befriends a banished alien, Rihanna...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Jessica Edwards — ‘Mavis!’
Jessica Edwards has a broad background in the film industry as a director, producer and publicist. Her short film “Seltzer Works” screened at SXSW and many other festivals before airing on PBS....
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Katie Cokinos — ‘I Dream Too Much’
Katie Cokinos has a history of supporting independent film, starting in Texas, where she was an administrator for SWAMP and Managing Director of the Austin Film Society. She’s made five short...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli — ‘Frame by Frame’
AlexandriaBombach is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who lives on the road. The founder of Red Reel, Bombach is known to sell all her belongings to tell a story shebelieves in. Mo Scarpelli is a...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Zuzanna Solakiewicz — ’15 Corners of the World’
Zuzanna Solakiewicz graduated from the University of Warsaw before going on to study directing at the Sam Spiegel Film & TV School in Jerusalem. She has completed an internship at the Lodz Film...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Samantha Futerman — ‘Twinsters’
Samantha Futerman is a Korean American adoptee from New Jersey. She attended the Professional Performing Arts School in New York City and graduated from Boston University in 2009 with a BFA in...
SXSW Women Directors: Meet Lina Mannheimer — ‘The Ceremony’
After obtaining a degree in film and art history from the University of Nebrija in Madrid, Lina Mannheimer embarked on a Master’s of Science program at the Stockholm School of Economics. She also...
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 Nelly Ben Hayoun — ‘Disaster Playground’
Award-winning director and designer of experiences Nelly Ben Hayoun is a critical explorer and a fearless and passionate provocateur. Wired Magazine awarded Nelly Ben Hayoun with an Innovation...
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...
Guest Post: Fearing the Teen-Movie Makeover
Last December, I sat down in a dark movie theater in NYC.Teenagers streamed in behind me, chattering excitedly, eager for the movie tobegin. Meanwhile, I was a nervous wreck. My hands were shaking...
Keeping Score: A Record Number of Female Composers on Broadway
How many female composers on Broadway can you name? Probablynot more than you have fingers on a hand, but while gender equality in thetheater has not yet been reached, there is reason to rejoice....
March 2015 Film Preview
While “Fifty Shades of Grey” may have dominated the February box office, March is set to bring audiences a love story of an entirely different color. Perhaps the month’s most talked about...
Guest Post: Enough with the “Black Movies,” Bring on the Black Mermaids
I love seeing movies with black people in them, but I’m not interested in making “black movies.” There’s a difference. I want to see representations of women like me in movies where it’s...
Seeking Our Story: Marguerite Duras Stages a Lurid Funeral for Colonialism in ‘India Song’
MargueriteDuras (1914–1996), the prolific author, playwright, political troublemaker, andfilmmaker, was born in Vietnam to French emigrant parents. Her family’s descent into poverty, themadness...
Guest Post: How to Hire a Woman Director
At the Oscars on Sunday night,Best Supporting Actress Patricia Arquette used her moment in the spotlight to speak out on the issue ofgender inequity. “It’s our time to have wage equality once...
Trailer Watch: Shailene Woodley Lets Her Anger Consume Her in Final ‘Insurgent’ Spot
The “Divergent” series’ ass-kicking heroine Tris (Shailene Woodley) is under a whole lot of pressure in the newest — and final — trailer for “Insurgent.” “This is the only...
Patricia Arquette Elaborates on Her Call for Equal Pay
We were thrilled to see this year’s Best Supporting Actress winner Patricia Arquette use her time at the podium to call for equal rights and equal pay for women. But Arquette’s call for change...
Engineering-Themed Competition Seeks ‘The Next (Female) MacGyver’
The Next MacGyver, a joint initiative of the National Academy of Engineering and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, hopes to offer a new face in problem-solving under extreme pressure: a lady...
Crosspost: Holding Out For a Heroine: On Being a Woman and Loving Star Wars
The following is cross-posted from with permission from Sound on Sight.It is a truth universally acknowledged that a little girl in possession of a good imagination must be in want of a heroine. At...