#movies
Meg Wolitzer and Jane Anderson on “The Wife’s” 14-Year Journey to the Screen
I read Meg Wolitzer’s “The Wife” about a decade ago, and it is one of those books that sticks with you. I was convinced it’d make a great movie — so much so that I...
Elizabeth Banks Will Star in & Produce Film About Wyoming Maid Who Won a Date with Prince
Elizabeth Banks is bringing one hell of an anecdote to the big screen. The director of the upcoming “Charlie’s Angels” reboot will star in Paramount Players’ adaptation of...
Trailer Watch: Maika Monroe Hears an Unusual Pickup Line in “After Everything”
Mia (Maika Monroe, “It Follows”) isn’t impressed when Elliot (Jeremy Allen White, “Shameless”) starts chatting her up at subway stop in the trailer for “After...
Weekly Update for August 10: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Crazy Rich Asians – Written by Adele Lim and Peter Chiarelli (Opens August 15) “Crazy Rich Asians” follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) as she...
Actress Lynn Chen to Make Directorial Debut with “I Will Make You Mine”
Lynn Chen is set to helm the final installment of the Goh Nakamura film trilogy. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actress will direct her first feature, indie “I Will Make You...
Chelsea Stardust Directing Horror Comedy “Satanic Panic”
Chelsea Stardust is taking the reins on “an ‘After Hours’-esque horror comedy with a dash of gore.” Deadline reports Stardust will helm “Satanic Panic” for growing...
Trailer Watch: Julianne Moore Sings for Peace in “Bel Canto”
A world renowned opera singer (Julianne Moore) is performing at a swanky birthday party for industrialist Katsumi Hosokawa (Ken Watanabe) when all hell breaks loose in the trailer for “Bel...
Tamra Davis to Direct Robot Comedy “Turned On” for FeigCo. and Fox
Tamra Davis has signed on to direct her first feature in 16 years. Deadline confirms the veteran director will helm artificial intelligence comedy “Turned On” for 20th Century Fox and...
Weekly Update for August 3: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Miseducation of Cameron Post – Directed by Desiree Akhavan; Written by Desiree Akhavan and Cecilia Frugiuele Cameron Post (Chloë Grace Moretz) looks the part of...
Refinery29 Teams Up with NEON to Distribute Women-Driven Features
Refinery29 is getting into the feature film game. The young women’s digital media and entertainment company is partnering with NEON, the studio behind “I, Tonya” and “Ingrid...
Lianne Halfon Is AFI Conservatory’s New Producing Discipline Head
Lianne Halfon will use her producing experience to teach and train the next generation of filmmakers. The American Film Institute (AFI) announced via press release that the veteran producer is AFI...
August 2018 Film Preview
If you’re looking for a respite from the hot summer days, August is looking to be an excellent month for movies helmed by women or led by women characters. One of the most highly anticipated...
Weekly Update for July 27: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING THIS WEEK Snapshots – Directed by Melanie Mayron; Written by Jan Miller Corran and Katherine Cortez (Opens in LA) Three women. Three generations. Two summers. 50 years...
Gina Prince-Bythewood to Direct Fantasy Film “The Old Guard”
Gina Prince-Bythewood is taking on another comic adaptation. Already signed on to helm “Silver & Black” based on Marvel characters Silver Sable and Black Cat, the director has been tapped to...
Zoey Deutch to Topline and Produce Tanya Wexler’s “Buffaloed”
Zoey Deutch is getting into the debt collecting business. Deadline reports that the “Set It Up” actress just kicked off production on “Buffaloed,” a dark comedy about a debt...
Brenda Chapman Launches Production Company, Signs First-Look Deal at Fox
Not only has Brenda Chapman lined up her next gig, she’s started her own production company. According to Deadline, the “Brave” co-director has launched ‘Twas Entertainment...
Guest Post: Why I Made a Documentary About Domestic “Helpers” in Hong Kong
Guest Post by Joanna Bowers I moved to Hong Kong from Los Angeles in 2011 and quickly realized that I couldn’t have chosen two cities more different than one another. Leaving the sprawling,...
Trailer Watch: M.I.A. Shows Her Story in “Matangi/Maya/M.I.A”
“You want to hear my story? I’m going to show you my story,” says M.I.A. in the first trailer for “Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.” The Sundance-winning doc features...
BAMcinématek Hosting “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers” Film Series
BAMcinématek has lined up its next feminist film series. The Brooklyn venue is teaming up with Kino Lorber and the Library of Congress for “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers,” which...
Trailer Watch: A Filmmaker and Activist Is Honored in “Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen”
According to her son Hepi, the late filmmaker Merata Mita once said, “What you see when you look at an archival film are resurrections taking place.” She explained, “A past life...
Teaser Watch: Elle Fanning Goes on the Run in Mélanie Laurent’s “Galveston”
“Are you gonna kill me?” Elle Fanning asks Ben Foster in the new teaser for “Galveston.” Roy (Foster), a terminally ill hitman with a bounty on his head, replies no. And so...
Trailer Watch: RBG Is Ready to “Topple the Whole Damn System” in “On the Basis of Sex”
“You’re a smart girl, Ruthie,” some condescending old dude tells a young Ruth Bader frickin’ Ginsburg in the trailer for “On the Basis of Sex.” “You married...
Trailer Watch: Anna Kendrick Goes Poking Around Blake Lively’s Past in “A Simple Favor”
“Wanna trade confessions? What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever done?” Blake Likely asks Anna Kendrick in a new trailer for “A Simple Favor.” Emily (Lively) and...
Tiffany Haddish to Topline BFF Comedy “Limited Partners”
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...
Kamil Oshundara Joins Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Prods. as Cultural Exec
Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions has made an unusual but very valuable hire. According to The Hollywood Reporter, activist and scholar Kamil Oshundara will serve as cultural executive at...
Weekly Update for June 29: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING THIS WEEK Woman Walks Ahead – Directed by Susanna White (Also Available on DirecTV) Based on true events, “Woman Walks Ahead” tells the story of...
Trailer Watch: Lily James Reports on “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”
For Juliet, writing is the “perfect job.” She gets to sit indoors and is “always near a teapot.” But the free spirit is desperate to write about “something...
Abigail Disney’s Level Forward Financing Hollywood Misconduct Database
This winter Abigail Disney and Killer Content launched Level Forward, a startup studio boosting projects from women and people of color. Five months after that announcement comes word that Disney...
Teaser Watch: All Hell Breaks Loose in Salem in “Assassination Nation”
“You may think that I’m exaggerating, but this is the story of how my town Salem lost its motherfucking mind,” says Lily (Odessa Young, “High Life”) in a new red-band...
Trailer Watch: Barbara Loden Leaves Her Domestic Prison Behind in “Wanda”
“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,...
Emma Dumont to Topline “Razor” Adaptation
Emma Dumont is about to gain a whole new set of superpowers. Best known for playing Polaris on Fox’s “X-Men”-inspired series “The Gifted,” the actress has signed on to...
Trailer Watch: An Aspiring DJ Lives in Minsk But Dreams of Chicago in “Crystal Swan”
Twenty-two-year-old Evelina (Alina Nasibullina), also known as Velya, is a law school grad who enjoys living in her native Minsk, Belarus. But, as Velya proudly announces in a trailer for...
Korean-American Superheroine Pic “Silk” in the Works at Sony, Amy Pascal Producing
Cindy Moon could be getting her own movie. Deadline reports a pic centering on the Marvel character, aka Silk, is in early development at Sony and Amy Pascal’s Pascal Pictures. Created by Dan...
Trailer Watch: A Friend’s Murder Spurs Amandla Stenberg to Activism in “The Hate U Give”
Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) loves her family and her neighborhood, Garden Heights. She goes to predominantly white high school, but is fine with being the non-“ghetto” “Starr,...
Laurene Powell Jobs Investing in Documentary Film Studio Startup
Businesswoman Laurene Powell Jobs is using her fortune to produce and finance documentary filmmaking. According to Bloomberg, the world’s sixth-richest woman is backing a documentary studio...
Weekly Update for June 22: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING THIS WEEK Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts – Co-Written and Directed by Mouly Surya (Opens in NY; Opens in LA July 6) In the windswept uplands of the Indonesian...
Mariette Rissenbeek Named Co-Director of Berlinale, Becomes First Woman to Lead the Fest
German Films managing director Mariette Rissenbeek will be the Berlin International Film Festival’s (Berlinale) next executive director, making her the first woman to lead the fest....
Liz Garbus to Receive San Francisco Jewish Film Fest’s Freedom of Expression Award
The Jewish Film Institute (JFI) will present Liz Garbus with the 2018 Freedom of Expression Award. The Academy Award-nominated documentarian is set to accept the prize at the 38th San Francisco...
Trailer Watch: A Peasant Travels Through Time in Alice Rohrwacher’s “Happy as Lazzaro”
A newly released trailer for Alice Rohrwacher’s Cannes winner “Happy as Lazzaro” begins and ends with the titular character’s name being whispered. This odd intro and book-end...
Study Shows Wide Gender Gap Persists on Telefilm Canada’s Big Budget Pics
The good news: Telefilm Canada’s goal of closing its movies’ off-screen gender gap by 2020 has resulted in tangible change. The bad news: the gap is still stubbornly wide on...
Jennifer Lee Named Head of Walt Disney Animation
Disney is getting a much-needed revamp. Jennifer Lee has officially been named chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Deadline confirms. The news comes following the announcement...
BAFTA Introduces New Diversity Criteria for 2019 Film Awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced new rules for films competing for the BAFTA Film Awards’ Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut by a British...
Laverne Cox Exec Producing Doc About Trans Representation On-Screen
Laverne Cox made history last year when she became the first transgender actress cast as a series regular on a broadcast show, CBS’ legal drama “Doubt.” It was a major feat for...
Films from Melanie Mayron, Valerie Buhagiar, & More Screening at 2018 Female Eye Film Fest
The upcoming Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) will include more than 90 pics directed by women, a press release has announced. Established in 2001 in response to the lack of women-helmed fare at...
Weekly Update for June 15: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING THIS WEEK The Year of Spectacular Men – Directed by Lea Thompson; Written by Madelyn Deutch “The Year of Spectacular Men” follows...
Nicole Kidman Signs First-Look Deal with Amazon Studios
Nicole Kidman has inked a first-look deal with Amazon Studios, Deadline confirms. The pact sees the Oscar winner’s Blossom Films developing original series that will be available exclusively on...
Pinar Toprak Will Score “Captain Marvel,” Marking a Major Milestone
Pinar Toprak is about to make history alongside Brie Larson and Anna Boden. “Captain Marvel” marks Marvel’s first female-centric release, with Oscar-winning “Room” star...
Turkish Culture Ministry Pulls Funding from Ankara Women’s Film Fest
The Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival in Ankara, Turkey will no longer receive funding from the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry. The ministry has been supporting the fest for...
“Americanah” Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Wins 2018 PEN Pinter Prize
Renowned author, feminist, and speaker Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is this year’s recipient of the PEN Pinter Prize. As The Guardian reports, the honor, named after the late author Harold Pinter,...
Quote of the Day: Ava DuVernay Sees Activism as “Inherently Creative”
In these turbulent times the desire to do something can be overwhelming. At the same, time many of us can feel powerless against the actions of Trump, Sessions, and the rest of their brigade of...
BFI Southbank Hosting Woman With a Movie Camera Summit This Saturday
The centerpiece of BFI Southbank’s all-June-long celebration of women in film sounds like it will be one hell of a shindig. The South Bank, London theater is hosting The Woman with a Movie...