ALL POSTS
Cross-Post: A Heroine’s Journey
The world has moved on but I’m still obsessing about why, for the second time in three years was there no films directed by a woman in the main competition at Cannes this year. I mean I know...
Nora Ephron Dies at 71
I’m sitting here reeling from the news that Nora Ephron has died. No one even knew she was sick and now she is gone. The loss to movies, and especially to women in movies, cannot be...
Interview with Susan Youssef, Director of Habibi
Susan Youssef’s film Habibi played at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. Women and Hollywood: In the press notes you say your film was funded 100% through grants. Can you give advice to other...
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival
One thing that many people before me have taken note of is that film festivals have become the only way some films get seen in this new world of limited distribution. No where is that point clearer...
Women’s Films Opening — June 15, 2012
Your Sister’s Sister I saw Your Sister’s Sister back at the Toronto Film Festival in September. I really liked it. I highy recommend it. The film is the story of sisters Iris and Hannah played...
Oscar Winner Kathryn Bigelow Nears Completion of Filming Zero Dark Thirty
Update- Seems like the reports of the completion of filming Kathryn Bigelow’s follow-up to her Oscar winning film, The Hurt Locker were a bit premature. I am now told that production of has moved...
Jane Fonda Goes All the Way in Peace Love and Misunderstanding
I was able to attend the Women’s Media Center premiere of Peace, Love and Misunderstanding on Monday evening. As I was watching the movie, and the great Jane Fonda play a hippie stoner grandma...
Guest Post: Why Female Actions Heroes Need to Be Role Models
This blog post was created in response to a question I asked after reading the piece Are Recent Action Heroines Really Role Models? in Boxoffice Magazine. We need female action heroes to be...
The Third Annual Lilly Awards
In advance of the Tony Awards next Sunday where no women writers were nominated, The Third Annual Lilly Awards (named after playwright Lillian Hellman) were handed out in NYC. The awards are...
Cross-Post: Quote of the Day: Scarlett Johansson Tired of Sexist Diet Questions
Wow, who knew I could love Scarlett Johansson so much?? At The Avengers press conference in London, a reporter proceeded to ask Robert Downey Jr. an in-depth, thought-provoking question about his...
Book Excerpt: The Twitter Diaries by Georgie Thompson & Imogen Lloyd Webber
Media personalities Georgie Thompson, one of the faces of Sky Sports out of England, and Imogen Lloyd Webber (yes, she is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s daughter), an MSNBC commentator, have teamed up to...
Interview with Pink Ribbons Director Lea Pool and Producer Ravida Din
This is a repost of an interview with the director Lea Pool and producer Ravida Din of the terrific and anger producing documentary Pink Ribbons that was conducted shortly after last fall’s...
Silver Docs 2012: The Women
The 10th edition of AFI Silver Docs Festival will take place in Washington DC from June 18–24. It will open with Ramona Diaz’ crowd pleaser DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’: EVERYMAN’S JOURNEY. If you...
Guest Post: One Woman’s View of Composing In/Out of Hollywood
Writing a blog for a website called Women & Hollywood presents an interesting opportunity for this film composer who dwells primarily in the world of independent documentaries. While not really...
Guest Post: One Woman’s View of Composing In/Out of Hollywood
Writing a blog for a website called Women & Hollywood presents an interesting opportunity for this film composer who dwells primarily in the world of independent documentaries. While not...
Gender Watch: The Firing of Community’s Dan Harmon
I have been watching with interest all week the press regarding the firing of Dan Harmon the creator and showrunner of Community after three seasons. The whole incident would have passed without a...
Cross-Post: Cannes 2012: The Stories Aren’t By Women but They’re About Women
It’s hard not to notice sexism when it is everywhere. After dealing with a person named Chris for three years trying to find lodging in Cannes I was stunned to find out that Chris was a woman....
Cannes Film Festival Slammed By Feminist Group La Barbe For Excluding Women Directors
The French feminist group La Barbe which was started several years ago in response to the sexist media treatment of Segolene Royal in her race against Nicholas Sarkozy, has taken on one of the most...
Julie Delpy and Her Love/Hate Relationship with Hollywood
Julie Delpy is no a shrinking violet. She has many awesome opinions about how Hollywood treats women, which could be one of the reasons why, according to her, she has been fired by every agency...
Women’s Films Opening — May 11, 2012
Where Do We Go Now? — written and directed by Nadine Labaki Where Do We Go Now? is about how the women in a Lebanese village come together across religious differences to make peace in their...
Interview with Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell — Directors of Small, Beautifully Moving Parts
Women and Hollywood: How was it directing a movie together? How did you divide the work? Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell: In short, it was a very satisfying experience. We found that two brains...
Repost: Interview with Nadine Labaki — Writer and Director of Where Do We Go Now?
Here’s the repost of the interview I did with Nadine Labaki in September at the Toronto Film Festival. The film opens in the US today. Women and Hollywood: Congratulations. I read your film is...
Jessica Chastain Passes on a Part in Iron Man 3
When the news surfaced last week that Jessica Chastain was circling a part in Iron Man 3 I was a bit surprised. I just doesn’t seem to be her type of film. She does not scream big Hollywood action...
The Marginalization of Women’s Stories During The Summer Movie Season
The summer movie season kicked off this weekend with gusto with the record breaking $200 million opening of The Avengers. I joined the throngs on Friday afternoon for a showing and there was much...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Julia Bluhm
Maybe it will take an awesome girl to get people to think differently about how absurd and damaging it is that we live in a world dominated by photoshopped pictures. We never get to see anyone real,...
The Guthrie Theatre Announces Its 50th Anniversary Season With No Female Playwrights on the Program
The Guthrie Theatre is one of the most prestigious regional theatres in America. Next year it will be celebrating it’s 50th anniversary season. Joe Dowling, the 7th Artistic director of the...
Trailer Watch: Romeo & Juliet in Yiddish Directed by Eve Annenberg
Synopsis: Eve Annenberg’s gritty, funny new feature stars predominantly non-actor twenty somethings who grew up speaking Yiddish as a first language in Brooklyn. This is possibly the first...
Female Reviewer Gets Attacked for Avengers Review
While I am not usually that interested in boycentric blockbusters, I am very into seeing The Avengers. I want to see how an open feminist man like Joss Whedon makes a big budget Hollywood film. Will...
Guest Post: Filming Elephant Landmine Survivors Walk on Prostheses is No Small Feat
“The Eyes of Thailand” documentary tells the true story of Soraida Salwala’s quest to help two elephant landmine survivors, Motala and Baby Mosha, walk again on their own four legs by building...
Four Steps Back — NO Women Directors in Competition at Cannes
I’m sitting in my hotel room in Cologne, Germany having arrived yesterday at International Frauen Film Festival for the second year in a row. I came back this year because I had such a great time...
Interview with Mary Harron — Director of The Moth Diaries
Mary Harron’s The Moth Diaries hits theatres this week. It is also available on demand. Women and Hollywood: What drew you to this project? Mary Harron: It was the intense focus on young girls...
Guest Post: I Hate Romantic Comedies: Why I Made a Romantic Comedy
Yes, I am a woman and I hate romantic comedies. I have only seen a handful in my life that I didn’t feel like took place in some parallel universe, and fewer than that that didn’t seemed like...
Lena Dunham’s Show Girls — Yes, It Is That Good
For those of you who don’t have HBO this might be a good time to check it out. Not only does the new series Girls by Lena Dunham premiere this weekend, but next week we get Julia Louis Dreyfus in...
Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Ashley Judd
I can count on one hand — even one finger — an actress with a show up for renewal (btw you should watch Missing it’s great and Eddard Stark is alive on that show) who spoke back...
Interview with Vamps Director Amy Heckerling
Amy Heckerling has made some serious classic films in her career namely Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless. She was in NY this past weekend screening Clueless and her new film Vamps at the...
Guest Post: Elza — A Different Kind of Movie with a French Caribbean Twist
When I was in the advertising business I enjoyed producing powerful commercials, but at the same time I felt there was something missing. I yearned to tell my stories — to capture life about...
Disappearing Act IV — European Film Festival in NYC April 11–22
If you don’t go to the large film festivals around the world you really don’t get to see the wealth of films playing the circuit. Sure there are films that break out that get released, but there...
Lena Dunham in Conversation with Nora Ephron
I am very impressed with Lena Dunham. Have been since I saw Tiny Furniture. As the launch of her HBO show Girls approaches on the 15th of April (which I will write about next week), Lena is curating...
The Continuing Conversation About the Marginalization of Female Writers
I opened the NY Times book review this past weekend and lo and behold there was an essay by the divine Meg Wolitzer called The Second Shelf about how books written by men and women are treated...
Hollywood Sexist of the Day: Lee Aronsohn
At first when I read this I thought it was an April fools joke because I had never heard of Lee Aronsohn before and had no idea that he was a co-creator of Two and a Half Men. I’m guessing that...
Guest Post: A Wake Up Call
March may have been Women’s History Month, but we should be working actively all year to have more women’s work on film and on stage. We cannot accept the lowly statistics without activism....
Guest Post: Why I Started the San Francisco International Women’s Film Festival
The genesis of founding the San Francisco International Women’s Film Festival started when I took a Film History II class in 2004 while earning my film degree at San Francisco State University....
Is Princess Culture Redeemable?
I am extremely ambivalent about the whole princess thing. If I never saw another princess anywhere it would be too soon. But I live in the real world and write about Hollywood and Hollywood is...
Guest Post: Growing into Your Voice: The Resonance of “Rockaway”
I was a shy girl growing up. I was studious, reserved, and well-mannered. I’d very selectively raise my hand in school, secretly afraid of delivering the wrong answer and facing judgment by my...
Interview with Susan Seidelman — Director of Musical Chairs
Susan Seidelman returns to the big screen with the Musical Chairs a love story set in the world of wheelchair ballroom dancing. It’s got something for everyone. It’s got class issues, gender...
Will The Hunger Games Be The First Real Female Franchise?
In a little less than two days the film based on the first book of The Hunger Games trilogy will hit the big screen. Already over 2,000 screenings on Thursday night are sold out and theatres are...
Hollywood Feminists of the Day: Chris O’Dowd and Jon Hamm — The Guys from Friends with Kids
It’s not very often that I think about a movie several weeks after I’ve seen it, but I have had Friends with Kids on my mind. The more I think about it, the more I like it. It’s just an adult...
Guest Post: Just Do It: One Woman’s Journey to Making a Feature
I wish someone had told me when I started out that if you want to make a feature, you need to find a way to do it. Don’t wait for permission. Don’t wait for someone to recognize your brilliance...
Misogyny Run Rampant
I’m feeling a bit depressed this morning. It’s March and we are supposed to be celebrating the strides that women have made, yet, right now it feels like things suck. I’m hearing some horrific...
Interview with Rachael Harris — Star of Natural Selection
Natural Selection is a small but very touching movie about a woman who has spent 25 years locked in a world and a marriage that have kept her from being a full person. Rachael Harris plays Linda a...
Guest Post: It’s a Wild Thyme for Women in 21st Century Hollywood
One afternoon during the marketing campaign for the film Fried Green Tomatoes I received a call from Betty Friedan, legendary feminist crusader, author of The Feminine Mystique and the first...