ALL POSTS
The Big O: And the Oscars’ Winning (and Losing) Female Nominees Are…
And so it begins. The 86th Academy Award nominations did the hustle big time for American Hustle, with 10 nominations. From our female perspective, it’s terrific that both Amy Adams, with her...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Thanks to Emma Thompson’s biggest fan Meryl Streep, we now know that the Saving Mr. Banks star cares about what she’s contributing to pop culture at large, both as an actress and a writer. In...
Interview: Callie Khouri on Female Likability and Nashville’s Upcoming Guest Stars
Nashville creator Callie Khouri first came into prominence as the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Thelma and Louise. She is also the director of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Mad Money....
An Oscar-Nominated Director Gets Real About How Women Are Treated in Hollywood
The following is cross-posted from Lexi Alexander’s blog with permission from the author. Editor’s Note: The post below is very important. This is a woman director standing up for herself and...
TV: A Preview of Girls’ Third Season from TCA
Lena Dunham’s Girls, which returns to HBO for its third season on Sunday night, can be difficult to see as simply a television show. When it premiered in 2012, the series, which follows the lives...
Why Judd Apatow Directing Amy Schumer in Trainwreck is a Great Thing
It looks like we’ll be able to look forward to at least one mid-budget female-driven comedy every summer. 2011 had Bridesmaids; 2012, Pitch Perfect. After last year’s The Heat, we’ll have...
Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson’s Feminist Love Fest
Holy hell. Last night at the National Board of Review awards ceremony, Meryl Streep outed herself as Emma Thompson’s biggest fan by celebrating her for being “a rabid, man eating feminist, like...
Hunger Games: Catching Fire Will Be Top Grossing Movie of 2013, Frozen Surges to #4
All hail Katniss, Anna, and Elsa. The heroines of Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen, introduced to us all the way back in November, have started off the new year still kicking box-office...
Trailer Watch: Veronica Mars’ Theatrical Preview
The official trailer has been released for the much anticipated Veronica Mars movie. Thankfully, it turns away from the “choosing boyfriends” theme of the previously released “first look” to...
Women and Hollywood January 2014 Film Preview
January is for December movies. That’s the conventional knowledge in Hollywood, where the first two months of the year are reserved as dumping grounds for stinkers while audiences catch up on the...
The Most Anticipated Films of 2014
2013 was a great year for a few key female players in Hollywood (congrats to Jennifer Lawrence and Sandra Bullock), but for most women who work in the film industry, it was another 365 days of...
The Big O: Remembering 2013’s Top Female Film Moments
I have always been a list-maker. After all, they come in handy when it comes to remembering what groceries to buy, what clothes to pack and what chores to nag my husband about. But unlike many film...
Pussy Riot No Longer a Band; First Russian Screening of Their Doc Canceled
Just a day after newly freed Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina announced the disbandment of Russia’s most important feminist punk group, the Putin administration...
Maria Friedman Talks Directing Merrily We Roll Along
Last summer when I was in London, I had the opportunity to see one of the most under-rated shows of Stephen Sondheim’s career, Merrily We Roll Along. It’s got some of his best songs, but as a...
Best Women-Directed Films of 2013
All this week, Women and Hollywood will run our own “Best of” lists to honor and celebrate the year’s best women-directed and women-centric movies and TV shows. See our previous posts on the...
Less than 10% of Oscar-Eligible Films Directed by Women
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have released their list of films eligible for the 2014 Oscars, and of the 289 films that qualified for Oscar consideration, a paltry 25, or 8.6%,...
Crosspost: Heroines of Cinema: An A to Z of Women in Film in 2013
It’s at times like these that twenty-six letters seems awfully few. Not that this list is intended as an encyclopedia. Instead, please see it as a mere sample of the films worth seeing, the...
The Big O: Can a Woman Win an Oscar Without Falling in Love?
Ifthere’s a lesson to be learned from likely multiple-Oscar nominee Saving Mr. Banks — other than, grammatically speaking, the climatic Mary Poppins song “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” should...
The Crash Reel Director Lucy Walker on Snowboarding and Simone de Beauvoir
British director Lucy Walker is best-known for her Oscar-nominated film Waste Land, a profile of artist Vik Muniz’s work with Brazilian catadores, or workers who collect recyclables from...
TV: Why You Should Watch Nashville
The ratings for Nashville, ABC’s drama about the personal and professional tribulations of artists on all rungs of the career ladder in the titular city’s country music scene, aren’t exactly...
Death Walks in High Heels: The Silent Avenger of Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45
In recent years there has been a surge of renewedappreciation for the rape-revenge film and, surprisingly, most of thesechampions have been women. The genre was validated to some extent (albeit...
When Does a Fluke Officially Become a Trend?
My latest piece from Forbes: The big news last week was rightfully the passage of a towering figure in history, Nelson Mandela. So it’s not surprising that most people — including...
Rashida Jones Speaks Out Against the “Pornification” of the Music Industry
Near nudity is the new normal. The race to the skimpiest bottoms among female pop stars (and video vixens in the background) arguably began in the eighties, when Madonna writhed around on a MTV VMA...
Judy Blume and Lena Dunham on What It’s Like to be Pioneers in Sexual Frankness
Lena Dunham and Judy Blume interviewed each other for a book called Judy Blume and Lena Dunham in Conversation: Two Cultural Icons Discuss Writing, Feminism, Censorship, Sex, and a Sixth-Grade...
Director Anna Condo: “Cosmetic Surgery is Ruining Cinema”
Casting is key. Without great characters, there can be no great story. And without great actresses, there can be no great films. I remember clearly the day I watched an actress “act.” Icould...
Nikki Finke Gets the Last “Toldja” in Funny or Die video
When Nikki Finke started writing Deadline back in the days of the writers strike it was a revelation. Here was a woman pushing the envelope all across Hollywood — agitating and...
Why Big Weekend For Frozen And Catching Fire Is A Great Thing For Women In Hollywood
Latest piece for Forbes This past weekend was a record breaker at the box office for films starring female characters. Catching Fire from Lionsgate continued its march towards being one of the top...
The Punk Singer Director Sini Anderson: “It’s Not Hard to be Drawn to Kathleen Hanna’s Story”
Sini Anderson has worked in film for over ten years as a producer, first assistant director, and creative consultant. The Punk Singer is Anderson’s first feature length documentary. She has served...
Saving Mr. Banks Producer Alison Owen on Making a Film About Disney with Disney
Alison Owen is one of the most successful independent producers working in the UK. Her incredibly diverse list of credits includes Elizabeth, Shaun of the Dead, Jane Eyre (2011), and, most recently,...
With Frozen, Director Jennifer Lee Breaks the Ice for Women Directors
It has taken 53 films, starting with 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, for theMagic Kingdom to reach this historic point. But Walt Disney Animation Studios hasfinally placed a woman in the...
Katie Couric is the New Face of Tech
Silicon Valley is a boys’ club — some might even call it a Fortress of Boy-itude. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg made herself one of the few female public figures in San Jose (AKA “Man...
The Double Standards for TV’s Male and Female Politicians
Bad-boy politicians are nothing new in popular culture. Mr. Smith was lamenting the sorry state of our politics and Joe Tynan was getting seduced by a lobbyist long before I was born. And television...
Hunger Games Producer Nina Jacobson on Creating a Female-Centric Blockbuster
This weekend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire became the highest-grossing November release ever with a box-office take of $161 million — $30 million over its production budget. Though star...
Trailer Watch: Jessie McCormack’s Baby-Swap Dramedy ‘Expecting’
Thirtysomething friendship is the focus of first-time writer-director Jessie McCormack’s upcoming dramedy Expecting, which finds two gal pals (Michelle Monaghan and Radha Mitchell) in a fairly...
Guest Post: Turning My Camera on Detroit’s Arab Community
The metropolitan Detroit area, where I have lived for over fifteen years, is home to one of the largest Arab-American and African-American populations in the United States. The people of Detroit are...
Director Andrea Arnold On Her Next Film: “It’s Going to Involve Lots of Wild Kids, Rihanna and a Bear.”
Fish Tank and Wuthering Heights director AndreaArnold recently spent over a month in the U.S. as the first filmmaker-in-residence at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Her residency coincided...
Directing the Future Panelists Are Beating the Odds
According to an oft-cited statistic, women comprise only 9%of directors in the film industry. But the participants of the “Directing theFuture” panel at Pepperdine University School of Law’s...
DOC NYC Women Directors: Meet Cecilia Peck
Before Brave Miss World, Cecilia Peck most recently directed and produced, with Barbara Kopple, the feature-length documentary Shut Up & Sing, which chronicles the political backlash against and...
Angelina Jolie, Angela Lansbury Honored at the Governors Awards
Angelina Jolie and Angela Lansbury, along with Steve Martin and costume designer Piero Tosi, received honorary Oscars at the Governors Award last night. Awarded by the Board of Governors of the...
DOC NYC Women Directors: Meet Lucy Kostelanetz
Filmmaker Lucy Kostelanetz premiered her first documentary feature Sonia in 2007 in film festivals around the world. Her previous work included two award-winning films for children, Rebeka Goes Down...
DOC NYC Women Directors: Meet Linda Hoaglund
Since 2007, Linda Hoaglund has produced three films and directed two relating to the Pacific War and postwar Japan. Born in Japan as the daughter of American missionary parents, she attended...
DOC NYC Women Directors: Meet Sierra Pettengill and Jamila Wignot
Sierra Pettengill is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker. Town Hall is her directorial debut. She is the producer of Cutie and the Boxer (U.S. Documentary Directing Award, Sundance ’13) and the archival...
DOC NYC Women Directors: Meet Sarah McCarthy
Born in Sydney, Sarah McCarthy studied film in her native Australia. After graduating with first-class honours, she moved to London, where she worked in development for the BBC and RDF Media before...
Weekly Update for November 15: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Currently Playing The Broken Circle BreakdownAss Backwards — Written by Casey Wilson and June Diane Raphael Reaching for the Moon — Co-Written by Julie Sayres, Carmen...
Trailer Watch: Francesca Gregorini’s The Truth About Emanuel
Lots of people have from mommy issues, but none quite like Emanuel’s (Kaya Scodelario). In the dramatic thriller The Truth About Fishes (formerly Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes), the angry,...
DOC NYC Women Directors: Meet Ky Dickens
Award-winning filmmaker Ky Dickens directed the documentary Fish Out of Water, which uses animation, LGBT narratives and historical analysis to deconstruct the seven Bible verses used to condemn...
Lily Allen Calls Out Sexism in the Music Industry, Undermines Her Message with Questionable Video
Lily Allen has staked a claim in mainstream music as pop’s most adorable tomboy, first arriving on YouTube in a flouncy dress and mall sneakers. Her public persona balances the sweetness in her...
DOC NYC Women Directors: Meet Dawn Porter
DawnPorter is the founder of Trilogy Films and the director/producer of Gideon’s Army, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and aired on HBO. Before becoming a filmmaker, she was...
AFI Women Directors: Meet Stephanie Martin
Born in Sao Paulo and raised mostly in Buenos Aires, Stephanie discovered her passion for film while at Wellesley College where she studied French and Political Science. Following graduation,...
Sunlight Jr. and Sherrybaby Director Laurie Collyer Shines a Light on the Unseen America
Laurie Collyer is best known for writing and directing Sherrybaby, for which actress Maggie Gyllenhaal received a Golden Globe nomination. She also directed the documentary Nuyorican Dream (1999)....
AFI Women Directors: Meet Patrice Toye
Patrice Toye was born in 1967 and studied film in Brussels. She has made several short films, documentaries and television programs. In 1995, she wrote the feature Tin Soldier with the support of...