Interviews
Jane Gillooly is a director, producer, writer, and editor. A Guggenheim fellow, Gillooly is a nonfiction and narrative filmmaker committed to the art of narrative. Her work has screened at museums...
An educator and facilitator, Vivian Vázquez Irizarry ran educational and youth leadership development programs at the Coro Foundation and BronxWorks, and is currently the director of...
Sahra Mani is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, university lecturer, and founder of Afghanistan Documentary House. Her films include “Kaloo School” and “Beyond the Burka.” “A...
Patrizia Landi is a Brazilian director, focused on documentaries and documentary series. “Ressaca” is her second feature film. In 2012, she directed “Hijas del Monte,” which...
News
The Athena Film Festival at Barnard, in partnership with the Stephens College Master of Fine Arts in Television and Screenwriting and WIST (Women in the Script Trade, formerly IRIS), will once again...
Jennifer Trainer is an award-winning journalist and author of 19 books that have been translated into ten languages. She wrote the first story about Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art for The...
Awards
The Film Independent Spirit Awards were held this past Saturday, and the ceremony was memorable not just because of the nominees and winners but because of the honorees’ celebration of women in...
Lone Scherfig is an award-winning writer and director. Her first feature, “The Birthday Trip,” screened at the 1991 Berlinale and won several awards at festivals worldwide. Her more recent...
Writer-director May el-Toukhy worked in theater before moving to film. In addition to her feature directorial debut “Long Story Short,” she has directed radio dramas, stage plays, and...
Cristina Ibarra has been making award-winning films that explore the U.S.-Mexico border for the past 16 years. Her PBS-broadcast documentary “Las Marthas” premiered on “Independent...
Kyra Sedgwick’s Big Swing Productions is teaming up with SeriesFest to broaden opportunities for women writers with the “Women Writing Competition,” which is seeking new series and...
Festivals
More fests are showing support — and agreeing to do their part — in making the film industry more inclusive. Heartland Film Inc., the nonprofit organizer of the Heartland International...
Petra Costa is a Brazilian filmmaker whose work encompasses both fiction and nonfiction. Her first film, “Elena,” premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Her...
Cristina Gallego is a producer, editor, and director. Through her production company Ciudad Lunar she produced “La Sombra del Caminante,” “The Wind Journeys,” and “Embrace of the...
Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann are a married writing and directing duo. Their short films “The Mink Catcher” and “Canary” were screened at Telluride, SXSW, Palm Springs Shortsfest, and...
Gurinder Chadha’s award-winning films have earned over $300 million at the international box office. Her film credits include “Bhaji on the Beach,” “Bend It Like Beckham,” and...
Minhal Baig is a writer and director. In 2017, she was chosen as a directing mentee for Ryan Murphy’s Half Foundation Directing Mentorship. Currently, she is a story editor on Netflix’s...
Irene Taylor Brodsky is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker. Her first feature film, “Hear and Now,” won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award in 2007 as well as a...
Rachel Lears is a director, writer, producer, and cinematographer. She is a 2013 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow and director of the Emmy-nominated documentary “The Hand That Feeds,” which was...
Chinonye Chukwu is a filmmaker, educator, and social justice advocate. “Clemency” is her second feature film. The script was a 2017 Athena List winner for best feature script featuring a female...
A three-time Oscar winner, Thelma Schoonmaker is set to be recognized with another prestigious honor. The “Raging Bull” editor will receive a BAFTA Fellowship at the EE British Academy...
Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe are an award-winning writing and directing team. DeBoer and Luebbe recently directed two episodes of TruTV’s “Adam Ruins Everything,” and in 2017, they sold a...
Tayarisha Poe is a storyteller from West Philly. She was chosen as one of the “25 new faces of independent film” by Filmmaker magazine in 2015, and in 2016 she received the Sundance...
Sacha Polak is an award-winning director and screenwriter. Her feature films “Hemel” and “Zurich” were both screened ata range of international film festivals. “Hemel” was awarded the...
Nisha Ganatra is a director and producer of “Transparent,” which won a Golden Globe for best television series, musical or comedy, and received numerous Emmy nominations. She recently...
Martha Stephens is a writer and director. Her micro-budget feature films “Passenger Pigeons” and “Pilgrim Song” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival. She co-wrote and co-directed “Land...
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,...
Films
Hannah Marks’ feature directorial debut hit theaters less than a week ago and she just lined up her next gig. She’ll follow up “After Everything” with “The Swimsuit...
A number of women-helmed projects have found homes in recent days. A24 acquired North American distribution rights to Claire Denis’ English-language debut, “High Life”; Netflix...
Eva Husson is a writer and a director. Her short “Hope to Die” gained international recognition, including nominations at the Student Academy Awards, the American Society of...
“Is God Is” is heading to the big screen. Aleshea Harris will adapt her award-winning play about twin sisters on the revenge trail for Scott Rudin and A24, Broadway World...
Trailers
“An artist develops. You do things by instinct, but we learn, we suffer, we mature. I have to feel what I do,” says Maria Callas in a trailer for a new doc about the iconic opera singer....
“Do you think I’m afraid of a jail sentence?” asks Susan Sarandon in the first trailer for Maryam Keshavarz’s “Viper Club.” The drama sees the Oscar winner playing...
Soudade Kaadan is a Syrian director who was born in France. Her films have screened at several venues nationally and internationally and have received international awards. Her latest documentary,...
Karyn Kusama broke out in 1999 with her written-and-directed debut feature film “Girlfight,” which won the Grand Jury Prize and Director’s Prize at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, as well as...
After her start as a theater actress, Lila Avilés moved into directing. Her work as a theater director includes “Gardenia Club,” “Microdermoabrasión,” “Antígona,” and “The...
Bai Xue was born in China and obtained her MFA from the Beijing Film Academy. After competing in the CFDG China Youth Film Director Support Program, she made “The Crossing,” her first...
Shannon Service is an independent reporter and filmmaker whose work has appeared in The New York Times, the BBC, and The Guardian. She primarily focuses on crimes at sea, but her stories covered...
Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian was born in Awash, Ethiopia. She has directed the short films “Transitions” and “Facing the Wall.” “Fig Tree” is her feature directorial...
Imogen Thomas’ short film “Mixed Bag” premiered at the Montreal Film Festival in 2008 and received the Gold Award at the Australian Cinematographers Society Awards . The film was also a...
Patricia Rozema’s first comedy feature, “I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing,” screened at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, where it won the Prix de la Jeunesse. It then...
Features
While the summer movie season is winding down, the release of films by and about women is not. September features a bevy of women-driven indies and star-studded studio releases. The month kicks off...
Nicole Palo’s credits include the 2005 short “Anna Doesn’t Know” and the 2008 feature “Get Born.” “Emma Peeters” will premiere at the 2018 Venice Film...
Elsa Amiel previously directed two short films, “Ailleurs seulement” and “Faccia d’Angelo.” “Pearl” is her feature debut. “Pearl” will premiere...
Sarah Marx previously directed “Fatum,” a 2012 short about about a man struggling to reintegrate into society after serving time in jail. She later shot a documentary in a prison in...
Viola Davis is left cleaning up her husband’s mess in a new trailer for “Widows.” Her late love died during a job turned bad, and now it’s up to her to figure out how to pay...
Research
Last month a headline-making study from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative revealed just how overrepresented white male film critics were among the reviews of 2017’s top movies. (Spoiler...
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING THIS WEEK What Will People Say – Written and Directed by Iram Haq Sixteen-year-old Nisha (Maria Mozhdah) lives a double life. When out with her...
Tiffany Haddish has managed to pencil in yet another project. The “Girls Trip” breakout will star in “Limited Partners,” a comedy about platonic life partners scheduled to...
“Sometimes a lady likes to have some fun,” says Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) in a new teaser for “The Favourite.” Set in early 18th century England, the comedy re-teams Weisz and...
“Wanda” is back. The influential 1970 portrait of a housewife experiencing an existential crisis has been newly restored and will return to theaters in a limited run. Written, directed,...
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