#Films
Locarno 2019: Women-Directed Films Comprise 28% of Main Lineup
The Locarno International Film Festival has revealed its 2019 program. According to Screen Daily, 10 women-directed pics — including the previously-announced opener, Ginevra Elkann’s...
Weekly Update for July 12: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Farewell – Written and Directed by Lulu Wang “The Farewell” solidifies Awkwafina as a multi-faceted actress. The “Crazy Rich Asians”...
Lulu Wang Talks “The Farewell,” Representation, and Working with Awkwafina
Writer-director Lulu Wang’s new film, “The Farewell,” began as a 2016 episode of “This American Life.” Wang wrote and narrated the segment “What You Don’t Know,” the story of...
Apply Now: NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre
Attention, New York City women working in the arts: the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre is now accepting applications. Per a press release, the grant program — previously known...
Trailer Watch: Liza Mandelup’s “Jawline” Documents a Teen’s Quest for Social Media Fame
“I’m not going to settle in this small, little town I live in,” 16-year-old Austyn Tester announces in the trailer for “Jawline.” “I got to go explore the world, I...
Weekly Update for July 5: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING My Days of Mercy – Directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer (Also Available on VOD) Two sisters, Lucy and Martha, regularly protest capital punishment at state executions. Lucy...
BlackStar Film Fest Announces 2019 Lineup, Will Honor Marcia Smith
The BlackStar Film Festival has announced its 2019 lineup. A celebration of black, brown, and indigenous films from around the world, the Philadelphia-based fest also revealed the recipient of this...
Home Away from Home: VOD and Web Series Picks
Home is the place you’re meant to feel most comfortable. For many people, it’s with their families, their belongings, and their own space. But that isn’t always possible, particularly for those...
Weekly Update for June 28: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Ophelia – Directed by Claire McCarthy; Written by Semi Chellas (Available on VOD July 2) Something is rotten in medieval-era Denmark, where political intrigue swirls...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Mary McGuckian – “A Girl from Mogadishu”
Mary McGuckian is an Irish writer, director, and producer known for her collaborative approach to working with actors. She has worked on 12 films, including “The Price of Desire,” “The Bridge...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Lydia Dean Pilcher – “Liberté: A Call to Spy”
Lydia Dean Pilcher is an Academy Award-nominated and two-time Emmy-winning producer, with over 35 feature films with directors including Gina Prince-Bythewood and Mira Nair. Her credits include...
Lindsey Beer to Pen New Line’s “Hello Kitty” Pic
The long-in-the-works “Hello Kitty” movie has landed its screenwriter. Deadline confirms “Sierra Burgess Is a Loser” scribe Lindsey Beer has been tapped to pen the project for...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ásthildur Kjartansdóttir – “The Deposit”
Ásthildur Kjartansdóttir is a director, writer, and producer. Her films have screened at film festivals around the world. Two of her documentaries were nominated for Best Documentary by the...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Susanne Heinrich – “Aren’t You Happy?”
Susanne Heinrich is a German filmmaker and author. She published four books between the ages of 19 and 25 and was nominated for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Following her first short film,...
Trailer Watch: A First Date Goes Sideways in Lena Waithe & Melina Matsoukas’ “Queen & Slim”
Queen and Slim’s first date seems to be going pretty well, even if starts off a bit shakily. Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith, “Nightflyers”) decided to go out with Slim (Daniel Kaluuya,...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Greta Bellamacina – “Hurt By Paradise”
Greta Bellamacina is an actress, filmmaker, and poet. She was born in London and made her acting debut in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” at the age of thirteen. She trained at The...
“Wild Rose” Screenwriter Nicole Taylor on Country Music & Crafting Mother-Daughter Stories
Screenwriter Nicole Taylor hails from Glasgow, where her new film “Wild Rose” takes place. A huge fan of country music, her film, directed by Tom Harper, is about a burgeoning country singer...
Weekly Update for June 21: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Endzeit – Ever After – Directed by Carolina Hellsgård; Written by Olivia Vieweg (Opens in NY; Opens in LA June 28) A zombie apocalypse provides the backdrop for...
EIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ruth Platt – “The Black Forest”
Ruth Platt co-created a theater company which was nominated twice for Time Out Critics Choice runs. Her short film featuring Maxine Peake, “The Heart Fails Without Warning.” was selected...
Weekly Update for June 14: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING American Woman In a blue-collar town in Pennsylvania, a 32-year-old woman’s (Sienna Miller) teen daughter goes missing and she is left to raise her infant grandson alone....
Trailer Watch: Shonda Rhimes, Geena Davis, & More Talk Gender Inequality in “This Changes Everything”
“The door has to be open. We just want inclusion,” says Meryl Streep in a new trailer for “This Changes Everything.” The documentary explores gender inequality in Hollywood,...
Under the Radar: “A Woman’s Work” Tackles Gendered Notions of Labor
How many hours of practice does it take to become an NFL cheerleader? In Lacy Fields’ case, approximately 10,560 over 18 years. Yet after she finally accomplished that feat, joining the Oakland...
Ofra Bloch’s “Afterward” Lands at Abramorama
Abramorama has claimed North American theatrical rights to Ofra Bloch’s feature debut, “Afterward.” The doc examining the emotional and psychological wounds of victims and...
Weekly Update for June 7: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Late Night – Directed by Nisha Ganatra; Written by Mindy Kaling (Opens in Select Theaters; Opens Wide June 14) “Late Night” is the movie I have been...
Trailer Watch: Michelle Williams & Julianne Moore Have Unfinished Business in “After the Wedding”
In a new trailer for the English-language remake of Susanne Bier’s “After the Wedding,” Michelle Williams’ Isabel has spent her life working with children in a Calcutta...
Trailer Watch: A Beekeeper’s Way of Life Is Upended in Sundance Winner “Honeyland”
“We only take half,” Hatidze Muratova, the last in a long line of Balkan beekeepers, explains to a young boy as she removes a honeycomb from a hive. “Half for them. Half for...
Trailer Watch: 16 Years After Losing an Arm, Surfer Bethany Hamilton Is Still “Unstoppable”
In 2003, 13-year-old competitive surfer Bethany Hamilton was attacked by a tiger shark. She lost her left arm but not her love of surfing. “It wasn’t like that passion had been taken...
June 2019 Film Preview
The summer movie season is kicking off with dozens of films helmed by and centered on women. From Sundance pics to mega blockbusters, June promises to be a month chock-full of exciting...
Weekly Update for May 31: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Too Late to Die Young – Written and Directed by Dominga Sotomayor (Opens in NY; Opens in LA June 7) “Too Late To Die Young” Set in post-Pinochet Chile in...
Karlovy Vary Film Fest’s 2019 Main Competition Lineup Is 25% Women-Directed
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 54th edition. Cineuropa confirms 12 titles have been selected for the fest’s Main Competition. Three of those...
Weekly Update for May 24: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Booksmart – Directed by Olivia Wilde; Written by Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, Katie Silberman, and Emily Halpern “Booksmart” is one of the best movies I...
Jill Magid on Exploring Art, Accessibility, and Legacy in “The Proposal”
Jill Magid is an artist, writer, and filmmaker whose work includes performance art and large and small-scale installations. She has been commissioned to make work for the Whitney Museum of American...
Cannes: Annabelle Attanasio’s “Mickey and the Bear” Lands at Utopia
Father-daughter story “Mickey and the Bear” has found a home. Utopia acquired worldwide rights to Annabelle Attanasio’s feature debut just after it screened in Cannes’ ACID...
Trailer Watch: Aisling Franciosi Is on a Quest for Revenge in Jennifer Kent’s “The Nightingale”
“You know what it’s like to have a white fella take everything you have, don’t ya?” Clare (Aisling Franciosi) asks her traveling companion, Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), in the...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Alice Furtado – “Sick, Sick, Sick”
Alice Furtado is a Brazilian filmmaker and editor. She worked as an editor on Eduardo Williams’“El auge del humano,” and Tiago Mata Machado’s “Os sonâmbulos.” She directed the short film...
Cannes: Rosa Salazar to Star in and Exec Produce Lauren Schacher’s Feature Debut
Best known for playing an ass-kicking cyborg in “Alita: Battle Angel,” Rosa Salazar will take on the role of a chemistry teacher in “The Bang Bang Girls.” World rights to the...
Weekly Update for May 17: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Sun Is Also a Star – Directed by Ry Russo-Young; Written by Tracy Oliver College-bound romantic Daniel Bae (Charles Melton) and Jamaica-born pragmatist Natasha...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Maryam Touzani – “Adam”
Maryam Touzani is a director, screenwriter, and actress. Her first short film, 2012’s “When They Slept,” was selected by a number of prestigious international festivals and received...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sofía Quirós – “Ceniza Negra”
Sofía Quirós is a director and writer. Her short film “Selva” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Critic’s Week in 2017. Since then, it has screened in more than 40 cities around the world...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Shahrbanoo Sadat – “The Orphanage”
Shahrbanoo Sadat is an Afghan writer and director based in Kabul. Her first feature film, “Wolf and Sheep,” was developed with the Cannes Cinéfondation Residence in 2010. Twenty years old at the...
Watch: A Woman Gets a Text from Her Missing Lover in Clips of Mati Diop’s Cannes Pic “Atlantics”
Mati Diop’s “Atlantics” is making history as the first film directed by a black woman to screen in Cannes’ main Competition. The drama centers on Ada (Mame Bineta Sane), a young woman...
Cannes 2019 Women Directors: Meet Danielle Lessovitz – “Port Authority”
Danielle Lessovitz is a New York-based writer and director in film and advertising. Her most recent screenwriting effort, “Mobile Homes,” which she co-wrote with Vladimir de Fontenay,...
Teaser Watch: “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” Is No Fairy Tale
Maleficent is back and as acerbic as ever. A teaser trailer has dropped for “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” a sequel to 2014’s “Sleeping Beauty” reimagining,...
Trailer Watch: Waad Al-Kateab Shares a Story of Family, Love, and War in “For Sama”
Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts’s “For Sama” sees Kateab shooting footage of the Syrian revolution and war while speaking directly to her young daughter, Sama, via narration....
Weekly Update for May 10: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Poms – Directed by Zara Hayes It is always nice to see women over 40 on-screen, as central characters. “Poms” takes us into a retirement community where...
Embracing the Surreal: Crowdfunding Picks
Surrealism allows the mundane and the exotic to coexist, woven together in a way that creates a new reality unbound by the limitations of our world. It represents a potent force for creativity and...
Rachel Ward’s “Palm Beach” Will Open 2019 Sydney Film Festival
Rachel Ward’s latest will kick things off at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. The Sydney Morning Herald confirms “Palm Beach,” an ensemble comedy about a group of friends...
Writer to Watch: Katie Silberman of “Booksmart” and “Set It Up”
Katie Silberman has an affinity for romantic comedies. She penned 2018’s Netflix hit “Set It Up,” a story about two assistants falling in love while plotting to get their terrible...
Trailer Watch: A Warrior Stays True to Herself in Cannes’ “Joan of Arc”
Lyanna Mormont fans, take note. Cannes will see the arrival of another strong-willed, self-assured, pint-sized female warrior. A trailer has arrived for “Joan of Arc,” in which a...
Weekly Update for May 3: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Tell It to the Bees – Directed by Annabel Jankel; Written by Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth (Also Available on VOD) “Tell It to the Bees” Dr. Jean...
Newport Beach Film Festival Women Directors: Meet Stephanie Turner – “Justine”
Stephanie Turner is an actress, writer, and director. Her acting credits include “First Man,” “Monster-in-Law,” and “Surrogate.” She is developing a television...