#Films
Women In the Director’s Chair Announces 2018 Story & Leadership Participants
Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC), the Canadian organization helping advance women filmmakers, has selected eight directors for its 2018 Story & Leadership program. Anna Cooley, Penny...
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...
Ita O’Brien Is Transforming the Way Film, TV, and Theater Handle Sex Scenes
One of the many conversations #MeToo and Time’s Up have inspired has to do with the nature of creative arts professions. If you work in film, television, theater, or a related field, chances...
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...
Weekly Update for November 9: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Girl in the Spider’s Web “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” Computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy) and journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason)...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
Weekly Update for November 2: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING A Private War (Opens in NY and LA; Opens Nationwide November 16) In this world where journalism is under constant assault, watching “A Private...
Martha Conley on “Boy Erased,” Sharing Her Son’s Story, and Being Played by Nicole Kidman
When Martha Conley and her husband found out their son, Garrard, was gay 14 years ago, they consulted members of their Baptist community about what to do and were advised to send him to a conversion...
November 2018 Film Preview
As the weather gets cooler, it’s the perfect time to spend an evening indoors with a great flick. And November promises a wide selection of women-centric and women-made films for just that...
Weekly Update for October 26: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Shirkers (Documentary) – Written and Directed by Sandi Tan (Opens in NY and LA) (Also Available on Netflix) “When I was 18 the thing I wanted more than anything was...
Immigrant Women Taking Center Stage: Crowdfunding Picks
Because of the Trump administration, immigrants have become particularly vulnerable in recent years. Accordingly, art has been forced to respond to this crisis quickly and effectively. Seeing...
New Release Dates Set for “Wonder Woman 1984” and “Charlie’s Angels” Reboot
We’ll have to wait a bit longer to see two of the most highly-anticipated women-directed studio pics. Both Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman 1984” and Elizabeth Banks’...
LFF 2018: Sudabeh Mortezai’s “Joy” Takes Top Prize, Tricia Tuttle Named Head of BFI Fests
The last night of the 2018 BFI London Film Festival (LFF) was an exciting one for women. Not only did Sudabeh Mortezai’s sex trafficking drama “Joy” win Best Film, it was...
Weekly Update for October 19: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Directed by Marielle Heller; Written by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty (Opens in NY and LA) Rightly renowned for her outrageous physical...
Filmstruck and Film Movement Plus Honoring Women Directors with New Film Collections
Time to plan a movie night. Streamers Filmstruck and Film Movement Plus are both celebrating female directors with newly-added collections of women-helmed films. Filmstruck’s “Spotlight:...
Exclusive: Margarethe von Trotta to Be Honored with Retrospective at NYC’s Quad Cinema
Coinciding with the release of her latest film, “Searching for Ingmar Bergman,” the Quad will celebrate the work of Margarethe von Trotta with a retrospective. In a Women and Hollywood...
Trailer Watch: Gina Rodriguez Is Gloria the Badass in Catherine Hardwicke’s “Miss Bala”
“After my parents died, I didn’t really think I was gonna be able to come back to Tijuana,” Gloria (Gina Rodriguez) tells her best friend in the trailer for “Miss Bala,...
Weekly Update for October 12: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Kindergarten Teacher – Written and Directed by Sara Colangelo (Also Available on Netflix) Unfulfilled with her work in the classroom and her home life with...
A Family Affair: Crowdfunding Picks
It goes without saying that, for so many people, families are fulfilling and of the utmost importance. But as in any interpersonal relationship, navigating a family dynamic can be complicated. This...
Tribeca Announces Through Her Lens’ 2018 Participants
Tribeca Film Festival and Chanel have partnered once again for Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program. A mentorship program “created to provide a balance of...
Weekly Update for October 5: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Hate U Give – Written by Audrey Wells (Opens in Select Theaters; Opens Everywhere October 19) “The Hate U Give”: Erika Doss/20th Century Fox Starr...
Under the Radar: “Quiet Killing” Delves into Canada’s Mistreatment of Indigenous Women
Many people in the United States often joke about “moving to Canada,” as if doing so will free themselves of enduring legacies of capitalism and imperialism. Moving north, even in the...
Trailer Watch: RBG Uses Her Anger to Reform the Law in “On the Basis of Sex”
“One interviewer told me they hired a woman last year and what in the world would they want with two of us?” an exasperated young Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Felicity Jones) tells a mentor in...
Trailer Watch: Faith Drives a Wedge Between a Daughter and Mother in Nijla Mu’min’s “Jinn”
Seventeen-year-old Summer (Zoe Renee, “The Quad”) is having a hard time connecting with her mother, Jade (Simone Missick, “Luke Cage”), in the trailer for “Jinn.”...
October 2018 Film Preview
Halloween is nearing, so it comes as no surprise that some of this month’s films aim to deliver terrifying thrills and get audiences in the mood for the holiday. And many of the exciting new...
Weekly Update for September 28: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD WANTS YOUR INPUT Women and Hollywood strives to provide resources that are helpful to our readers and our community. We would be grateful if you took a few moments to participate...
Guest Post: How I Sought to Improve Black Representation with My First Feature “Solace”
Guest Post by Tchaiko Omawale Being a Black female filmmaker, I carry the privilege and responsibility of creating the things I wish I had seen when I was growing up. My two favorite movie genres...
Trailer Watch: An Unjust Prison Stint Tears a Family Apart in “The Sentence”
In the trailer for upcoming documentary “The Sentence,” a young girl receives a phone call from her mother. Before they are connected, an automated recording plays: “This call is...
Trailer Watch: Hilary Swank Is Determined to Help Helena Bonham Carter in “55 Steps”
“Nobody knows more about what that medicine does to me than I do,” psychiatric facility patient Eleanor Riese (Helena Bonham Carter) informs her lawyer, Colette Hughes, about her...
Mimi Leder’s RBG Biopic “On the Basis of Sex” to Open AFI Fest
The Year of RBG continues. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Mimi Leder’s highly anticipated Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic, “On the Basis of Sex,” will make its world premiere as AFI...
Trailer Watch: Elle Fanning Runs From the Past in Mélanie Laurent’s “Galveston”
The newest trailer for Mélanie Laurent’s “Galveston” eerily shares what one can only presume is the film’s overarching, psychological conflict. As a disembodied voiceover tells us,...
Weekly Update for September 21: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD WANTS YOUR INPUT Women and Hollywood strives to provide resources that are helpful to our readers and our community. We would be grateful if you took a few moments to participate...
Trailer Watch: KiKi Layne Is Determined to Save Her Man in “If Beale Street Could Talk”
“Fonny, there’s something I gotta tell you,” Tish (newcomer KiKi Layne) says to her boyfriend over the phone. But, as the next shot of “If Beale Street Could...
Foreign-Language Oscar Picks: Indonesia Selects “Marlina the Murderer,” Lebanon “Capernaum”
Another two women-directed films have been selected for the foreign-language Oscar race. Indonesia has chosen Mouly Surya’s “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts” as its submission...
Trailer Watch: Rachel Brosnahan Reinvigorates the Neighborhood in “Change in the Air”
Think of “Change in the Air” as “The Marvelous Ms. Miller.” A trailer for Dianne Dreyer’s new drama sees Rachel Brosnahan’s character, Wren Miller, enchanting...
Weekly Update for September 14: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Where Hands Touch – Written and Directed by Amma Asante “Where Hands Touch” is a coming of age story set in the most brutal of times: Germany, 1944. Leyna (Amandla...
TIFF 2018 Women Directors: Meet Paprika Steen – “That Time of Year”
Paprika Steen is an award-winning Scandinavian actress and director. She made her directorial debut in 2004 with the tragedy-drama “Aftermath” and followed it up with 2007’s...
TIFF 2018 Women Directors: Meet Pella Kågerman – “Aniara”
Pella Kågerman was educated at the Royal Institute of Art. She co-wrote Hugo Lilja’s film “The Unliving,” which won prizes at Berlinale, Stockholm Festival, and Clermont-Ferrand....