ALL POSTS
The Women’s Guide to Comic-Con
Comic-Con has long been a boys club — I mean, it is called “fanboy” culture for a reason. However, in recent years there’s been more and more female-skewing programming,...
Guest Post: The Evolution of Women in Comedy: From Mary Tyler Moore to Amy and Mindy
Treva Silverman had spent most of her 30 years wanting to be funny and female — and allowed to do so in public, maybe even collect a buck or two for her trouble. Growing up in the 1950s in...
Nine for IX: Let Them Wear Towels Directed by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern Premieres Tonight on ESPN
The latest film (the third) in the series Nine for IX is a historical look at the women who broke the barriers for women to cover sports. It is directed by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern and...
Why Talking About Women Directors Matters
When I started doing this work six years ago, and when I spoke about the importance of talking about women directors, about the importance of their voices, I was basically talking to the mirror....
Sundance Institute Awards Documentary Grants
The Sundance Institute awarded 29 documentaries grants from their Documentary Film Program and Fund. Combined all the films will receive over $550,000 in grants. Here are the women directed...
Ava DuVernay To Take on Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic Selma
Ava DuVernay has signed on with Plan B (Brad Pitt’s company) and Pathe UK to helm Selma, a biopic on civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The film will focus on the voting rights...
LAFF Interview with Molly Green, Stephanie Dziczek and Meg Charlton of Forev
I’m not ashamed to admit that I can never pass up a romantic comedy–no matter how bad they can get. It’s a genre that can be extremely accessible–looking at stories about...
Interview with Ava DuVernay – Director of Venus Vs.
Venus Vs.shows an unexpected side of Venus Williams. The film is all about the fight for equal pay for women in tennis. Billie Jean King led the charge in her day and the US Open started...
Quote of the Day: Liz W. Garcia – The Obstacles That Women Face in Hollywood Are Particularly Difficult Because Many Can’t Be Seen, Or Easily Identified…
I came across this interview from Go Into the Story with writer/director Liz W. Garcia whose film The Lifeguard premiered at Sundance in 2013 and will be coming out on August 30th. It’s a...
The Heat – Written by Katie Dippold
Yesterday, I wrote a piece that gave my argument about why you need to go and see The Heat this weekend. What I didn’t share since I was embargoed was the fact that I really liked the...
Women Critics Give Advice for Aspiring Critics
Every week Criticwire asks a handful of critics a question and publishes their responses. This week they asked critics what advice they would give to aspiring critics. We’ve highlighted the...
Miss You Can Do It Premieres Tonight on HBO
Miss You Can Do It is a wonderful, uplifting film about a beauty pageant targeted at girls with disabilities. It shows the power these events can have to make girls who are sometimes...
Women Directors and Why Language Matters
A couple of weeks ago I read that the two male directors — Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg — of Kon-Tiki which was nominated for best foreign language film got the gig of...
Patton Oswalt On Rethinking Rape Jokes
Last week, Lindy West wrote an article for Jezebel about the rape threats she had been receiving after appearing on FX’s Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell to explain rape culture and the role...
Cross Post: On Gender Parity
The issue of gender parity in the theater, and celebrating more female writers, has been on my mind for a while now. Part of that is just out of a sense of fairness....
Women, Aging and Hollywood
In recent interviews, both Kim Cattrall and Susan Sarandon have both spoken about aging in Hollywood. Neither had good things to say about their experiences. Cattrall, who is in London starring in...
Interview with Katie Aselton – Director and Star of Black Rock
Black Rock is every woman’s worst nightmare. You go out on an adventure with friends and then things go horribly wrong and you are running for your life. Katie Aselton gives us a film where the...
Geena Davis Speaks About the Lack of Opportunities for Women in Hollywood at the MPAA
Last week, in a conversation with Rep. Rosa DeLaura, D-Conn., Geena Davis spoke to the Motion Picture Association of American about the lack of opportunities and the dismal statistics for women...
Jean Stapleton – An Appreciation
All in the Family is without a doubt one of the seminal shows in TV history. It was a sitcom that defined our times. It was about a country that was struggling — and still is...
Book Excerpt: Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted
Treva Silverman is an Emmy winning television writer known for her work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. You can find more information on Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted here and here. Excerpt from MARY...
Blue is the Warmest Color Author Slams Sex Scenes in Film Adaptation
Everyone has been buzzing about Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Color throughout all of Cannes and even more since its win of the coveted Palme d’Or. The three hour lesbian...
TIFF Rerun: Interview with Margarethe von Trotta and Barbara Sukowa – Director and Star of Hannah Arendt
Originally published on October 29. Hannah Arendt opens in New York today and in Los Angeles on June 7th. Last, but not the bit least is a conversation with master director Margarethe von Trotta...
Sony Head Amy Pascal on Women Directors: The Whole System is Geared for Them To Fail
Holy crap. In a revealing interview with Forbes’ Dorothy Pomerantz on the occasion of the publication of the most powerful women in the world list, Sony studio chief Amy Pascal, the only...
Francois Ozon Believes That Many Women Fantasize About Being Prostitutes
You gotta love the news that comes out of Cannes. In between burglaries (they should check and see if the Bling Ring posse is still in town) you get some wonderful juicy tidbits from artists which...
Guest Post: Bold Broads and Daring Dames: An Interview with Kim Krizan
Kim Krizan is an Academy Award-nominated writer of the films Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. She appeared as an actress in the films Slacker, Dazed and Confused, and Waking Life. She wrote the...
Why Women in Power Positions Matter
While we are still digesting the bad news from yesterday with the release of statistics on the low amount of women onscreen in films, TV continues to be the bright spot regarding women’s...
Interview with Judy Chaikin – Director of The Girls in the Band
The Girls in the Band opens for a one-week run in NYC on May 10. Tickets here. Women and Hollywood: What drew you to making this film? Judy Chaikin: I come from a family of musicians...
Guest Post: Invisible Women Who Rock
We are both filmmakers launching documentaries featuring different generations of women pursuing their artistic vision in the predominantly male bastion of rock and roll. And of course, the...
Disney Crowns Brave’s Merida a Princess
In completely baffling and disturbing news, Disney has decided to make Brave heroine, Merida into their 11th Disney Princess. On May 11th, Merida will join the other Disney princesses in a royal...
Weekly Update May 3: Women-Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You
Films About Women Opening This Weekend Kiss of the Damned – Written and Directed by Xan Cassavetes If you are a fan of horror films, especially not the torture porn crap of late, you’ll...
Guest Post: Aroused
I never thought I would ever make a documentary film, let alone one where my leading cast would be some of the biggest names in the Porn industry. I am a photographer, and yes, I have always felt...
TIFF Rerun: Interview with Susanne Bier – Director of Love Is All You Need
Originally published on September 19. Love Is All You Need opens in limited release on Friday. At the Toronto Film Festival you see a lot of heavy movies really early in the morning. Love is...
Guest Post: The Appearing Female Magician – Desperate Acts of Magic
When I was seven, my parents took me to a magic shop at Pier 39 in San Francisco. I bought my first magic trick, the Imp Bottle. I loved playing with it. Not long after that, my parents bought me a...
CinemaCon Holds Panel on Women and the Box Office
Last week at CinemaCon, they held a panel about women and the box office. Moderated by The Hollywood Reporter’s Editorial Director, Janice Min, the panel touched upon the depressing statistics...
A Night With Barbra Streisand
Monday evening, Barbra Streisand received the 40th Chaplin Award given by the Film Society at Lincoln Center. As you can guess the award was named after the first recipient Charlie Chaplin....
NYC Event Alert: The Ins & Outs of Film Festival PR Panel On 4/24
If you are in New York, check out Women and Hollywood’s Melissa Silverstein moderating a panel on film festival PR tomorrow, Wednesday (4/24) at Merrill Lynch (601 Lexington Avenue, 47th Floor)...
Interview with Lily Tomlin – Narrator and Executive Producer of An Apology to Elephants
Tonight, in honor of Earth Day, HBO will premiere An Apology to Elephants narrated by Lily Tomlin that will put to an end any feeling person’s trips to the circus. It’s an...
Whose Responsibility Is It To Move The Dial for Women Directors?
So now that the Cannes lineup is in the rear view mirror it’s time for a moment of reflection. I want to thank Mr. Thierry Fremaux the head of the Cannes Film Festival, for inspiring this...
Marin Alsop to be First Female Conductor for BBC’s The Last Night of The Proms
Until now, for 118 years, BBC Proms has never been led by a female conductor. American born, premiere conductor Marin Alsop will be the first woman to do so. The festival will have over...
Cross Post: The Host: Less Anti-Feminist than Twilight, but Hardly a Sisterhood Manifesta
I readily admit I did not read The Host. I couldn’t face it after immersing myself in all things Twilight while researching my book Seduced by Twilight. I started it, but less than 20 pages in...
SXSW Interview with Hannah Fidell, Lindsay Burdge and Kim Sherman of A Teacher
A Teacher is a tense, unflinching piece of film that gets under your skin and refuses to let go. It’s the tightly drawn portrait of Diana (Lindsay Burdge), a young high school teacher who is...
Interview with Karen Struck and Amanda Johns – Writers on Monday Mornings
For the last couple of months I have been enjoying the new series Monday Mornings created by David E. Kelley. It’s a hospital drama that focuses on the surgeons and the meeting each week...
Cross Post: Tyler Perry’s Rape Problem
Trigger warnings: rape, sexual assault, acquaintance rape, Tyler Perry A week after rapper Rick Ross found himself in hot water over a lyric that was said to promote date rape, producer and director...
Cross Post: Women Film Festivals: Do We Need Them?
Recently Ottawa International Animation Festival director and programmer Chris Robinson asked in a private Facebook message to 10 female animators what they felt about gender specific festivals....
SXSW Review – The Other Shore
Diana Nyad is a warrior. There has never been a woman so aptly named after a Goddess. The Other Shore tells the story of Nyad’s attempts to accomplish the near impossible feat,...
SXSW Interview with Sini Anderson, Tamra Davis and Kathleen Hanna of The Punk Singer
I can’t write about Sini Anderson’s great documentary The Punk Singer without mentioning that Kathleen Hanna has been one of my life-long heroes. When I was sixteen a friend gave me...
Ashley Judd Not Running for Senate
After months of speculation, Ashley Judd has decided to not run for senate. She used twitter and her website to release her decision. She made clear that while she has a deep commitment to...
Lily Tomlin on Feminism, Humor and Girls
With the release of Admission, the awesome Lily Tomlin has been popping up in the media. Seeing Tomlin reminds us of what a pioneer she has been in Hollywood ranging from her career as a...
SXSW Interview with Brie Larson – Star of Short Term 12
Short Term 12, written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, was hands down one of my favorite films I saw at SXSW. The film follows Grace (Brie Larson), a young staffer at a group home who...
Pussy Riot Band Members Speak Out on 60 Minutes
60 Minutes did a segment on Pussy Riot, the now infamous feminist punk band from Russia who were sent to prison for their demonstration against Vladimir Putin. Two of the members are still serving...
Interview with Karen Croner – Writer of Admission
Women and Hollywood: I read that you started in the documentary world? Can you talk about how you shifted into writing? Karen Croner: When I first started writing, I was very interested in true...