ALL POSTS
CINEMATOGRAPHERS XX Members Make Their Mark on Sundance 2017
Female DPs are making at splash at Sundance 2017. Back in spring of last year, female cinematographers banded together to form a new, supportive group called CINEMATOGRAPHERS XX, which aims to...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Janicza Bravo — “Lemon”
Janicza Bravo wrote and directed “Gregory Go Boom,” a Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning short film. Her other credits include “Man Rots from the Head,” “Woman in Deep,” and an episode of...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Ramona S. Diaz — “Motherland”
Ramona S. Diaz is an award-winning Asian-American filmmaker. Her film credits include “Spirits Rising,” “Imelda,” “The Learning,” and “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Michelle Latimer— “Rise”
Michelle Latimer is a Métis/Algonquin filmmaker based in Toronto, as well as a programmer, actor, and activist. Her previous directorial efforts include “Choke,” a Sundance Special Jury...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Ry Russo-Young — “Before I Fall”
“Before I Fall” marks director Ry Russo-Young’s first wide-release movie. Her previous credits include “Nobody Walks,” which won a special Jury Prize at Sundance and was released...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Laura Dunn — “Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry”
Laura Dunn’s first feature documentary, “The Unforeseen,” executive produced by Robert Redford and Terrence Malick, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and was released theatrically and...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Helene Hegemann — “Axolotl Overkill”
Helene Hegemann is a German writer and director. She has written two novels, including the German bestseller “Axolotl Roadkill.” Hegemann has directed award-winning work in film, theater, and...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Marianna Palka — “Bitch”
Sundance Film Festival alum, humanist filmmaker, and proud Scotswoman Marianna Palka has previously directed the features “Good Dick” (2008), “I’m the Same” (2014), and “Always Worthy”...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Alicia Scherson — “Family Life”
Now based in Chile, Alicia Scherson has studied, worked, and lived in Cuba, Spain, and the U.S. Her feature films “Play,” “Turistas,” and “Il Futuro” have been shown in theaters...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Christina Clusiau — “Trophy”
Christina Clusiau is a documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and photojournalist based in Brooklyn, NY. In 2013, Clusiau co-founded Reel Peak Films, a production company specializing in short and...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Cate Shortland — “Berlin Syndrome”
Cate Shortland’s films have screened at film festivals around the world, including Cannes Film Festival and Sydney Film Festival. Her previous credits include “Somersault”...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Neasa Ní Chianáin — “In Loco Parentis”
Neasa Ní Chianáin started directing in 2001 with television documentaries. Her previous credits include the award-winning “Frank Ned & Busy Lizzie,” which won the Best Feature award at The...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Susan Froemke— “Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman”
Susan Froemke is a four-time Emmy winner and non-fiction filmmaker with over thirty films to her credit, including Academy Award-nominated HBO documentary film “Lalee’s Kin,” “Grey...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Sabaah Folayan — “Whose Streets?”
Sabaah Folayan is a storyteller and activist based in Brooklyn, New York. She was a lead organizer for The Millions March, one of the largest marches for racial justice in New York history. “Whose...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Gillian Robespierre — “Landline”
Gillian Robespierre is a filmmaker born and raised in New York City. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts, Film and Video Program. Her first feature, “Obvious Child,” premiered at...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kyoko Miyake — “Tokyo Idols”
Born in Japan, Kyoko Miyake studied history at Tokyo University and then moved to Britain to research the history of witchcraft at Oxford. Her film “Brakeless” won a Peabody Award after airing...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors: Meet Kirsten Tan — “Pop Aye”
Kirsten Tan is a writer, director, and cinematographer. Her work has screened at film fests across the world, including Singapore, Rotterdam, and Toronto. Tan has won numerous international awards,...
Sundance 2017 Women Directors Preview: Films About Pioneers, Dancers, and Nuns
“Step” The Sundance Film Festival kicks off January 19, and like all major fests, the program is rather overwhelming. There are lots of options, and plenty of projects worth checking out. We’ve...
Netflix Acquires Kitty Green’s “Casting JonBenet” Before Sundance Premiere
Streaming giant Netflix has acquired the rights to director Kitty Green’s documentary “Casting JonBenet” before its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this month. “Casting...
Sundance Short Film Lineup is About 50 Percent Women-Directed
“Come Swim”: Sundance The 68 short films that will screen alongside the feature lineup of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival were announced today, and female filmmakers are very well-represented in...
Sundance 2017 to Host World Premieres of Films by Barbara Kopple, Dee Rees, & More
The Sundance Film Festival has unveiled more of its 2017 slate. The Park City, Utah-based fest will host World Premieres of films by Oscar winner Barbara Kopple, Lucy Walker, Dee Rees,...
Sundance 2017 Competition Lineup Revealed, 36% of Films Women-Directed
“Casting JonBenet”: Sundance Sundance has revealed the competition lineup for the 2017 edition of the fest, to be held in Park City, Utah January 19–29. Of the 56 films that have been announced...
Win a Trip to the Sundance Film Festival Through The Horizon Award
Heads up, female filmmakers! The Creative Mind Group is now accepting submissions for the 2017 Horizon Award, which gives the opportunity to aspiring female directors to win a free trip to the...
Introducing the 2017 Women at Sundance Fellows
The Sundance Institute has announced the women directors chosen for its fifth iteration of Women at Sundance Fellows. The six diverse filmmakers work as producers and directors in the documentary...
Maggie Greenwald’s Sundance Romance “Sophie and the Rising Sun” Acquired
“Sophie and the Rising Sun” has found a home, Deadline reports. Monterey Media has acquired the U.S. and Canadian rights to the period romance, starring Julianne Nicholson (“August: Osage...
Sundance Announces 2016 Fellows
Sundance has announced the 12 independent artists who will be awarded the 2016 Sundance Institute/Time Warner Foundation Fellowships and seven of them (58 percent) are women. As a release details,...
Trailer Watch: A College Student Tailspins in Elizabeth Wood’s Sundance Hit “White Girl”
A trailer has landed for “White Girl,” Elizabeth Wood’s feature directorial debut. The film premiered to rave reviews at Sundance, where it was compared to Larry Clark’s “Kids,” another...
Sundance Institute and Women In Film LA Name Alison Emilio Director for the Systemic Change Project
The Sundance Institute and Women In Film Los Angeles have announced that they have hired Alison Emilio for the newly-appointed position of Director for the Systemic Change Project. Emilio has more...
Elite Zexler’s Sundance-Winning Debut “Sand Storm” Acquired by Kino Lorber
Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Elite Zexer’s “Sand Storm,” Deadline has reported. The Israeli drama won the World Cinema Grand Jury Dramatic Prize at the...
Sundance London 2016 Women Directors: Meet Elyse Steinberg — “Weiner”
Elyse Steinberg wrote, produced, and directed the acclaimed feature documentary “The Trial of Saddam Hussein” (PBS), an explosive exposé on what really happened at the former dictator’s...
Sundance London 2016 Women Directors: Meet Clea DuVall — “The Intervention”
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Clea DuVall began working as an actor at 18 and quickly became a fixture in television and film. Some of her credits include the Academy Award–winning film...
Marielle Heller, Crystal Mozelle, and More Chosen for Sundance’s FilmTwo Initiative
“The Diary of a Teenage Girl” The Sundance Institute has announced an expansion of its artist development programs to include support for second-time feature filmmakers. The new FilmTwo...
Sundance Institute’s Annual Directors Lab Includes 5 Women
Sundance Institute has selected their first-time filmmakers for this year’s Directors Lab, and five out of the eight directors chosen are women. That’s a lovely 62 percent. The annual Lab...
“Women’s Films Have an Uphill Battle”: Women in Sundance Fellows Learn from the Vets
Women at Sundance Fellows: Kering Earlier this week, Women in Sundance fellows were gathered for a special workshop, put together by Kering and the Sundance Institute. The workshop was designed to...
FilmRise Acquires Elizabeth Wood’s Controversial Sundance Drama ‘White Girl’
FilmRise has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Elizabeth Wood’s controversial drama “White Girl.” In a previous interview with Women and Hollywood, Wood described the plot of her...
Sundance Selects Acquires Nicole Garcia Period Drama Starring Marion Cotillard
Sundance Selects has acquired the U.S. rights to Nicole Garcia’s period drama “From the Land of the Moon.” Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard stars in the film, which is based on Milena...
Trailer Watch: Reproductive Rights Are Under Attack in Sundance-Winning Abortion Doc ‘Trapped’
“Women are going to have abortions — it’s just that they’re not going to be safe and legal.” So begins the terrifying trailer for Dawn Porter’s timely new documentary “Trapped.”...
Anne Fontaine’s Sundance Drama About Pregnant Nuns Picked Up By Music Box Films
Music Box Films has acquired all U.S. rights for writer-director Anne Fontaine’s latest offering, “The Innocents.” The drama premiered at Sundance last month under the title “Agnus Dei.”...
The Orchard Acquires Sundance Hit ‘Christine’ Starring Rebecca Hall
The Orchard has secured all North American rights to Antonio Campos’s “Christine.” The film, which stars Rebecca Hall in the titular role, is based on the story of television reporter Christine...
Trailer Watch: A Young Woman is Accused of Witchcraft in Sundance Winner ‘The Witch’
“The Witch” has been terrifying audiences and earning glowing reviews on the festival circuit since it premiered last year at Sundance — and took home the Directing Award in the U.S....
Sundance Hit ‘The Eagle Huntress’ Acquired by Sony Pictures Classics
“The Eagle Huntress” has found a home at Sony Pictures Classics. The crowd-pleasing Sundance documentary chronicles a 13-year-old Mongolian girl’s attempt to challenge 2,000 years of tradition...
Debuts From Female Filmmakers Win Three of Sundance 2016’s Top Four Awards
Three of Sundance 2016’s top four awards were bestowed on feature debuts from women directors. Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegman’s “Weiner,” a portrait of disgraced politician Anthony...
Sundance Deals: ‘Audrie and Daisy’ to Netflix, ‘Weiner’ to Hulu and Showtime
Two high-profile docs that made their world premieres at Sundance 2016 have found new distribution deals. Netflix acquired all rights to Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk’s “Audrie & Daisy,” about...
Women in Film Awards $32,000 in Grants to Sundance Filmmakers
Women In Film, Los Angeles (WIF-LA) awarded $32,000 in cash and in-kind grants at Sundance over the weekend. The honors were presented at the 10th annual Women in Film Sundance Filmmakers Panel...
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,...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Anne Fontaine — ‘Agnus Dei’
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Anne Fontaine — “The Innocents” Anne Fontaine is an actress, screenwriter and director born in Luxembourg. Her film “Dry Cleaning” won Best...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Rita Coburn Whack — ‘Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise’
Rita Coburn Whack is an award-winning writer, producer and director for television, magazines, series, news, talk shows, documentary programming and social media. Coburn Whack is the owner of RCW...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Sara Jordenö — ‘Kiki’
Sara Jordenö is a New York- and Gothenburg-based Swedish visual artist and documentary filmmaker. Her stories often concern communities facing different types of marginalization and how they...
Finding Inspiration at Sundance 2016
So I’ve been a bit logistically challenged here at Sundance, meaning that I have missed a films and been shut out of others. That’s the way it goes here. You have to surrender to it. But the one...
Sundance 2016 Women Directors: Meet Meera Meenon — ‘Equity’
Meera Menon was recently selected to be a fellow at 20th Century Fox’s Global Directors initiative. Her directorial debut, “Farrah Goes Bang.” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, where she...
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”...