#Films
Study: Just Six of 2007-2019’s Top 1,300 Films Featured an Asian/Pacific Islander Woman Lead or Co-Lead
This year, Chloé Zhao became the most decorated filmmaker in a single awards season and made history as the first Asian woman to win the Best Director Oscar. Steven Yeun was the first Asian American...
Pick of the Day: “The Perfect Candidate”
I don’t have a whole lot in common with Dr. Maryam Alsafan (Mila Al Zahrani), the titular character in Haifaa Al Mansour’s “The Perfect Candidate.” She is a doctor, while I am...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Chris J. Russo – “Lady Buds”
Chris J. Russo’s award-winning short films have screened all over the world, including at the Sundance Film Festival, and have been broadcast on Showtime, PBS, IFC, LOGO, and Netflix. She is a...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Bobbi Jo Hart – “Fanny: The Right to Rock”
Bobbi Jo Hart is an award-winning American/Canadian documentary filmmaker with Adobe Productions International, based in Montreal. Her most recent feature documentary, “I Am Not a Rock...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Shannon Walsh – “The Gig is Up”
Shannon Walsh has written and directed feature documentaries “The Gig is Up,” “Illusions of Control,” “Jeppe on a Friday,” “À St-Henri, le 26 Août,” and “H2Oil,” as well as...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Svetlana Rodina – “Ostrov – Lost Island”
Svetlana Rodina has worked as a reporter and host for various television programs on the RTR channel. In 2011, she became the editor-in-chief of the documentary department of United Media Group, one...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Luciana Kaplan – “The Spokeswoman”
Argentina-born, Mexico-based Luciana Kaplan has dedicated her career to documentary filmmaking and teaching. Her films have won support grants from the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes,...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Irene Vélez-Torres – “Bajo Fuego”
Irene Vélez-Torres is a professor at the University of Valle who specializes in socio-environmental conflicts and ethno-racial inequalities. While engaging in research, she frequently applies...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Roser Corella – “Room Without a View”
Berlin-based independent filmmaker Roser Corella started her career as video-journalist for Catalan television, but her interest in the human stories behind global issues moved her to self-produce...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Ann Shin – “A.rtificial I.mmortality”
Ann Shin is an award-winning writer and filmmaker. Her debut novel, “The Last Exiles,” was published earlier this year by Harper Collins. The book is partly based on her experience...
Danis Goulet Sci-Fi “Night Raiders” Lands at Samuel Goldwyn Films, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers Stars
Danis Goulet’s feature debut has secured distribution. Samuel Goldwyn Films snagged U.S. rights to “Night Raiders,” a dystopian sci-fi story about a Cree woman that made its world...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Celina Escher – “Fly So Far”
Celina Escher is a Swiss-Salvadorean filmmaker telling stories about women as well their pursuits of empowerment, artistic processes, and their sociopolitical contexts. Her film “Verde Olivo” was...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet the Team Behind “Only the Ocean Between Us”
Khaldiya Amer Ali is Syrian filmmaker living in Za’atari Refugee Camp, Jordan. Her short film “Another Kind of Girl” premiered at Sundance; screened at Cannes and SXSW; was featured on The New...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Mia Halme – “People We Come Across”
Director and writer Mia Halme has a background in journalism. Her documentaries have been screened in various festivals around the world. “Forever Yours” (2012) was awarded the...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Annabel Verbeke – “Four Seasons in One Day”
Annabel Verbeke is a documentary filmmaker whose film “Les Enfants de la Mer/Mère” won eight international awards and was selected by over 20 global film festivals. “We Will Remember Them”...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Maéva Ranaïvojaona – “Zaho Zay”
Maéva Ranaïvojaona is a French filmmaker with Malagasy origins, living and working in Paris and Vienna. She wrote, produced, and directed two short films that have been shown and awarded at several...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Anaïs Taracena – “The Silence of the Mole”
Documentary filmmaker and producer Anaïs Taracena has directed short films “Los Médicos de la Montaña,” “Entre Voces,” and “Desenredar el Ser,” which have been screened at...
May 2021 Film Preview
By Vicki A. Lee and Kara Headley Since 1992, the United States has observed Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month every May, paying tribute to the monumental role Asian and...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Jessica Beshir – “Faya Dayi”
Jessica Beshir is a Mexican-Ethiopian director, producer, and cinematographer based in Brooklyn, New York. She made her directorial debut with her short film “Hairat,” which premiered at...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Sheona McDonald – “Dead Man’s Switch: a crypto mystery”
Sheona McDonald is an an award-winning filmmaker who worked in the Canadian film and television industry as a writer, producer, and director for over two decades. Her recent films include “Into...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Yasmine Mathurin – “One of Ours”
Yasmine Mathurin is a Haitian-Canadian writer, director, and award-winning podcast producer. She produced the audio-fiction podcast “The Shadows,” which won Gold in the fiction category at the...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Redfearn – “Apart”
Jennifer Redfearn is an Academy Award-nominated director. She directed and produced “Sun Come Up” about a small island community losing their land to rising seas. “Sun Come...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Margaret Byrne – “Any Given Day”
Margaret Byrne is an award-winning filmmaker. She directed and produced “Raising Bertie,” a feature documentary following the lives of three African American boys growing up in rural...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Louise Detlefsen – “It Is Not Over Yet”
Louise Detlefsen’s latest documentary feature film, “Fat Front,” had its international premiere at IDFA 2019. Her films have been shown on both television and at festivals all over...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers – “Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy”
Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers is a writer, director, producer and actor. She’s a member of the Kainai First Nation — Blood Tribe, Blackfoot Confederacy — as well as Sámi from Norway. Her...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Chloe Fairweather – “Dying to Divorce”
Chloe Fairweather is an award-winning director who specializes in observational documentary and the telling of complex true stories. The Welsh-born filmmaker started out in TV production over 10...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Caitlin Durlak – “Dropstones”
Caitlin Durlak is an award-winning Canadian filmmaker whose non-fiction work has spanned media such as web series, short film, feature film, and VR storytelling. Her short film “Persistence of...
Hot Docs 2021 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Ngo – “Faceless”
Jennifer Ngo is an award-winning journalist who believes that true stories will always matter. For over five years, she wrote for the South China Morning Post, where her reporting earned her a Human...
Trailer Watch: Leyna Bloom Falls in Love & Claims Her Space in Danielle Lessovitz’s “Port Authority”
“I just think about taking back all the space that the world doesn’t give me, and just owning it,” Leyna Bloom says in the trailer for Danielle Lessovitz’s “Port...
Exclusive: Mental Health & the Criminal Justice System Collide in Trailer for Hot Docs’ “Any Given Day”
“When half the mental health clinics in Chicago closed, the jail population exploded,” director Margaret Byrne informs us in an exclusive trailer for “Any Given Day,” her...
“Nomadland” and Chloé Zhao Win Big at Dorian Film Awards
“Nomadland” was the big winner at this weekend’s Dorians Film Toast 2021, presented by GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. The tale of a modern-day nomad making her...
Pick of the Day: “Hope”
Based on writer-director Maria Sødahl’s own experiences, “Hope” is the emotionally raw story about a couple recommitting to each other under nightmare circumstances. Anja (Andrea...
Trailer Watch: A Young Doctor Makes for “The Perfect Candidate” in Haifaa Al Mansour’s Latest
“Change is a big word, and elections are the only way to have our voices heard,” Saudi physician Maryam Alsafan (Mila Al Zahrani) says in the trailer for “The Perfect...
Pick of the Day: “Slalom”
There is an intimacy between elite athletes and their coaches that can easily become a breeding ground for abuse. In order to get the best performance, to secure the next victory, the coach pushes...
Tamara Mariam Dawit’s “Finding Sally” Will Air as Part of WORLD Channel’s “AfroPoP” Series
Tamara Mariam Dawit’s investigation into a family mystery is headed to WORLD Channel. A press release has announced “Finding Sally” will debut on WORLD Channel as part of its...
Pick of the Day: “Shiva Baby”
As a fairly shy, private person who loathes being put on the spot — especially at social gatherings — I can’t tell you how tense I was during “Shiva Baby.” But it was...
April 2021 Film Preview
By Kara Headley and Vicki A. Lee Spring is around the corner, and as the world comes into bloom to offer us renewed hope after the long winter, new women-centric films are coming to the big screen to...
Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Fest Announces 2021 Lineup: “Ma Belle, My Beauty,” “Unapologetic,” & More
Outfest has released the lineup for this year’s Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) Film Festival. Set to run April 16-20 in Los Angeles, the hybrid...
Pick of the Day: “Tina”
Tina Turner has one helluva work ethic. The new HBO documentary about the icon, “Tina,” delves into her personal life, her art, and her legacy but the throughline is Turner’s...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Meet Manal Khaled – “Trapped”
Manal Khaled is an Egyptian filmmaker who studied Philosophy at the University of Alexandria. She worked at Misr International Films and has collaborated with award-winning directors such as Saad...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Meet Megan Park – “The Fallout”
Megan Park is an actress, writer, and director. She starred in seven seasons on “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.” She is the recipient of the Toronto International Film Festival’s...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Meet Sonia Kennebeck – “United States vs. Reality Winner”
Sonia Kennebeck is a Malaysian-born, New York City-based independent filmmaker and investigative journalist with 17 years of directing and producing experience. Her most recent documentary thriller,...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Mei Makino – “Inbetween Girl”
For three years, Mei Makino taught filmmaking to youth in the Austin area, inspiring her to tell honest stories about kids and teens. She’s written and directed short films that have played at The...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Meet Mallory Everton – “Recovery”
Mallory Everton is best known for being one of the original writer-actors on the sketch comedy show “Studio C” and for her role in the Purple Mattress Raw Egg Test commercial. She also...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Meet Ursula Macfarlane – “The Lost Sons”
Emmy and BAFTA-nominated director Ursula Macfarlane is known for making films which combine the epic with the intimate, often focusing on marginalized communities or victims of trauma. Her feature...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Mary Wharton – “Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free”
Mary Wharton has dedicated her career to making documentaries about music. Her work includes “Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound,” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Meet Lissette Feliciano – “Women is Losers”
Lissette Feliciano is a writer, director, producer, and a graduate of Tisch School of the Arts. She is a Tribeca Film Institute AT&T Untold Stories grant recipient, was named as one of Shoot...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Meet Emily Cohen Ibáñez – “Fruits of Labor”
Emily Cohen Ibañez is a Latinx Colombian-American filmmaker who earned her doctorate in Anthropology with a certificate in Culture and Media at New York University. Her film work pairs lyricism with...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Meet Mari Walker – “See You Then”
Mari Walker is an award-winning director, writer, and editor. Films she has worked on have been screened at numerous film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Frameline, and Outfest. Walker’s...
SXSW 2021 Women Directors: Meet Leah Purcell – “The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson”
Leah Purcell is a proud Goa-Gungarri-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland, Australia. She is an internationally acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, director, novelist, actor, cultural icon, and...
Pick of the Day: “Jumbo”
“Jumbo” is about a shy young woman who experiences a sexual awakening when she falls in love with an amusement park ride — but more than that, Zoé Wittock’s feature...