#Documentary
Sundance 2019 Women Directors: Meet Kim Longinotto – “Shooting the Mafia”
Kim Longinotto is an award-winning documentarian known for making films about female outsiders and rebels. Among her 20 films, she has followed a teenager struggling to become a wrestling star in...
Sundance 2019 Preview: Films About Late Night Writers, Cliques, Toni Morrison, and More
Sundance 2019 begins this Thursday, January 24, and will be screening plenty of buzzy women-driven and women made films. As always, Women and Hollywood has put together some of the festival...
Guest Post: Why My Sisters and I Shared Our Story of Childhood Sex Abuse in a Documentary
Guest Post by Desirae Brown In the fall of 2007 we were at the peak of our careers. All five of us, including our brothers Gregory and Ryan, had attended Juilliard, capturing the attention of The New...
Weekly Update for January 18: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Adult Life Skills – Written and Directed by Rachel Tunnard (Also Available on VOD) Anna (Jodie Whittaker) is stuck: she’s approaching 30, living like a hermit in her...
Doc About Hollywood Gender Discrimination “This Changes Everything” Secures Release
“This Changes Everything,” a documentary investigating Hollywood’s decades of discrimination against women on and off-screen, has nabbed distribution. According to a press...
Berlinale 2019: 41% of Films Eligible for Top Honors in Competition Are Women-Directed
The Berlin International Film Festival has finalized its 2019 Competition. Of the 23 films selected, eight are helmed by women, or about 35 percent. That figure is more than double last year’s...
Box Office Report: “On the Basis of Sex” Hits $10.6M, “Beale Street” $7.7M, & More
Ruth Bader Ginsburg continues to rule at the box office. Last year Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s doc about the Supreme Court Justice, “RBG,” became one of the highest-grossing...
Trailer Watch: “Ask Dr. Ruth” Spotlights the Groundbreaking Sex Therapist
“At 90, still talking about sex from morning ’til night,” says Dr. Ruth Westheimer in a new trailer for “Ask Dr. Ruth.” The trailblazer launched her media career in the...
Trailer Watch: Lorena Bobbitt Sets the Record Straight in Amazon Docuseries
“This was a modern love story. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy marries girl. Girl cuts off boy’s penis,” says one of the characters in “Lorena.” The...
Athena Fest 2019: “Fast Color,” “Knock Down the House,” & More to Screen
If you’re frustrated by awards season’s exclusion of women filmmakers and their stories, or if you’re encouraged by the growing number of film festivals committing to gender parity,...
2019 DGA Award Nominations: Amy Sherman-Palladino, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, & More
Awards season is heating up. With the Globes just one day behind us the Directors Guild of America (DGA) has announced nominees for the 71st edition of the DGA awards in the categories for TV and...
January 2019 Film Preview
By Antora Majumdar and Keno Katsuda If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to watch more movies, January’s film releases will help you reach your goal. With a solid mix of wholly original...
Guest Post: How Making a Doc Series Helped Me Preserve My Identity
Guest Post by Oluwaseun Babalola Creative content, like film or television, is integral to identity and cultural preservation. Have you ever heard of “Cool Japan”? It’s a reference to...
On the Big and Small Screens, 2018 Was the Year of #MeToo and #TimesUp
Despite being so deeply ingrained in the cultural discourse, #MeToo and #TimesUp are still in their early days as social movements. #TimesUp is less than a year old and, while Tarana Burke created it...
2018’s Best Documentaries By and About Women
Women and Hollywood’s top documentaries of 2018 feature a Nobel-winning activist, a filmmaker investigating her stolen project, and a world-renowned pop singer. Inspiring, heartbreaking, and...
Berlinale 2019’s Panorama Program Is 23% Women-Helmed So Far
The Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled the first half of its 2019 Panorama program. Unfortunately, its initial numbers aren’t as encouraging as the Competition lineup’s...
Over 50 Percent of Documentary Features in the Oscar Race are Women-Directed
The Oscar race is heating up. Just 15 films remain in the running for the Documentary Feature category for the 91st Academy Awards. Over 160 films were originally submitted for consideration. Eight...
Brown Girls Doc Mafia Appoints Board of Directors, Receives $105K MacArthur Grant
Big things are happening at Brown Girls Doc Mafia (BGDM), an org advocating for women and non-binary people of color in documentary filmmaking. According to Filmmaker Magazine, BGDM has announced...
Natalie Wood Documentary in the Works at HBO
Natalie Wood is being paid tribute to by her nearest and dearest in a new documentary. A press release from HBO Documentary Films announced that production has kicked off on “Natalie Wood: What...
Exclusive: Roberta Grossman’s WWII Resistance Doc “Who Will Write Our History” Secures Release
“Who Will Write Our History,” Roberta Grossman’s chronicle of a lesser known form of WWII-era resistance, will have a theatrical run, Women and Hollywood has learned exclusively....
December 2018 Film Preview
By Antora Majumdar and Keno Katsuda If you’re hoping to hit the multiplex over the holidays, December’s film releases do not disappoint. With plenty of pics driven by complex female...
Weekly Update for November 30: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Clara’s Ghost – Written and Directed by Bridey Elliott (Opens December 6) (Available on VOD December 7) Set over the course of a single evening in the Reynolds...
Dr. Ruth Doc Acquired in Advance of Its Sundance Premiere
Hulu has snagged rights to an upcoming doc about one of the world’s most famous sex therapists. The streamer will air “Ask Dr. Ruth” following its premiere at Sundance 2019,...
Under the Radar: Aube Giroux’s “Modified” Is a Personal, Political Exploration of Food Policy
By Antora Majumdar and Keno Katsuda “If you add water to a food product, you must add ‘water’ to the food label. But if you add insecticide [to food] through genetic engineering, you...
Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Releasing Lisa France Documentary “Roll With Me”
ARRAY has lined up its latest film release. Ava DuVernay’s independent distribution company will be screening “Roll With Me,” Lisa France’s doc about recovering addict and...
Pamela B. Green’s Alice Guy-Blaché Doc “Be Natural” Secures Distribution
Audiences will soon be able to learn more about Alice Guy-Blaché, the first woman filmmaker. According to Deadline, Pamela B. Green’s documentary “Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice...
Weekly Update for November 16: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Widows – Written by Gillian Flynn and Steve McQueen Viola Davis leads “Widows,” a heist thriller about a group of women who share little in common besides the...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Benedetta Argentieri – “I Am the Revolution”
Benedetta Argentieri is an independent journalist and director who has been covering the Iraqi and Syrian war since 2014. She produced “Capulcu-Voices from Gezi,” a documentary about the revolt...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Bridgette Auger – “We Are Not Princesses”
Bridgette Auger has covered the Arab Spring in Egypt and Libya, as well as the refugee crisis as a result of the war in Syria, through photography and video. She was a 2016 National MediaMaker Fellow...
Trailer Watch: Five Young Refugees Go to Summer Camp in Barbara Kopple’s “New Homeland”
“New Homeland,” Oscar winner Barbara Kopple’s latest documentary, sees five refugee boys from Syria and Iraq going to summer camp, a fairly common rite of passage for kids in the...
Gucci Tribeca Doc Fund’s 2018 Grants Go to Six Women-Directed Projects
Six documentaries from women directors will receive $150,000 in grants from the 2018 Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund. From Tribeca Film Institute (TIF), Gucci, and the Oath Foundation, the fund offers...
Trailer Watch: Alexis Bloom Details Roger Ailes’ History of Harassment in “Divide & Conquer”
“Divide & Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes” traces the rise and fall of the eponymous media mogul. Alexis Bloom’s upcoming documentary details how Ailes worked as Richard...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Ofra Bloch – “Afterward”
Ofra Bloch is a filmmaker and psychoanalyst. She grew up in Israel, where her deep interest in the short and long-term effects of trauma originated. She has volunteered with Doctors of the World,...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Emily Harrold – “While I Breathe, I Hope”
Emily Harrold has directed documentaries including “Checkers in the Afternoon.” Her films have screened at Tribeca Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, and the...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Karen Winther – “Exit: Leaving Extremism Behind”
Norwegian director Karen Winther made her feature directorial debut with “The Betrayal,” a personal documentary about her involvement in extremist groups as a teenager. The award-winning...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Tracy Droz Tragos – “The Smartest Kids in the World”
Tracy Droz Tragos is a documentary filmmaker whose credits include the HBO film “Abortion: Stories Women Tell,” about personal stories of unplanned pregnancies, which premiered at the 2016...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Ruth Leitman – “Lady Parts Justice in the New World Order”
Ruth Leitman has directed six feature length documentary films including “Alma,” which won the Documentary Feature Jury Prize at the Hamptons Film Festival. Her other credits include “Lipstick...
Nominees for 2019 Cinema Eye Honors Revealed: “Shirkers,” “Free Solo,” & More
Presented annually to celebrate nonfiction films, The Cinema Eye Honors awards nominees have been announced via a press release. Sandi Tan’s “Shirkers” is among the leaders of the...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Melody Gilbert – “Silicone Soul”
Melody Gilbert has been making feature-length independent documentaries for 15 years. Her film topics range from children who can’t feel pain (“A Life Without Pain”) to people who want...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Maxine Trump – “To Kid Or Not To Kid”
Maxine Trump directed the 2012 feature “Musicwood,” which was a New York Times Critics’ Pick. She’s directed short documentaries for TNT, Sundance Channel, BBC, and TLC. Her...
TV Host and Chef Sandra Lee Will Accept Gotham’s Made in NY Award
The Gotham Independent Film Awards will be honoring chef, Emmy-winning TV host, and best-selling author Sandra Lee. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lee will receive the Made in NY Award at the...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Deschamps – “Inside Lehman Brothers”
In 2005, Jennifer Deschamps directed “Is God in Rwanda?,” which focused on people who lost their faith after the Rwandan Genocide. As an editor of documentaries since 2015, Deschamps is...
Women’s Work: Crowdfunding Picks
In some places around the world, we are lucky enough to consider ourselves far off from the days when women had to argue for their right to contribute in male-dominated workplaces. However, this does...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Alexandra Stergiou and Lexi Henigman – “The Candidates”
Alexandra Stergiou’s work has been recognized by the Wasserman Awards, National Board of Review, and British Council. Her commercial credits as a director and cinematographer include John Frieda,...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Joy E. Reed – “Little Miss Westie”
Joy E. Reed brings over a decade of experience in documentary filmmaking as an associate editor and animator. She has been on the creative team of a number of films that have premiered at Sundance,...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Havana Marking – “The Kleptocrats”
Havana Marking is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker known for filming in dangerous locations and getting on the inside of criminal or subculture groups. She wrote and directed “Smash...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Laura Green and Anna Moot-Levin – “The Providers”
Interview by Beandrea July Laura Green’s shorts have played at numerous festivals, including Palm Springs Shortfest, Aspen Shortsfest, Sarasota Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival,...
DOC NYC 2018 Women Directors: Meet Alyssa Bolsey – “Beyond the Bolex”
Alyssa Bolsey began and writing short films as a kid. While still in high school, she directed a short documentary entitled “Wild Horses.” This work was screened at various art galleries...
DOC NYC 2018 Preview: Immigration, Trans Rights, Ursula K. Le Guin, and More
DOC NYC kicks off on Thursday, and will have tons of women-centric and women-directed offerings. We’ve put together a few of the titles that have piqued our interest — just a few. This...
1972 Aretha Franklin Doc Will Finally Receive Theatrical Release
The Queen of Soul’s “most transcendent” gospel performance will be making its way to theaters. Shot in 1972, the Aretha Franklin documentary “Amazing Grace” will receive...
Exclusive: Bliqis Abdul-Qaadir Explores “Life Without Basketball” in a Clip of the DOC NYC Film
Set to premiere at DOC NYC, “Life Without Basketball” offers an intimate look into the triumphs and struggles of Bliqis Abdul-Qaadir, a record-breaking basketball player from Springfield...