#Women Directors
AFI Fest 2020 Preview: A Romance That Transcends Borders, Rachel Brosnahan on the Run, & More
Over 50 percent of the titles set to screen at AFI Fest 2020 are directed by women. Slated to run until October 22, this year’s reimagined virtual festival kicks off today with Rachel...
Pick of the Day: “Time”
Even as it turns an unwavering eye on the criminal justice system, “Time” is an extremely hopeful film. Garrett Bradley’s documentary feature debut is the story of Fox Rich, a woman...
Ava DuVernay Writing, Directing, & Producing Netflix Feature Based on Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste”
Ava DuVernay received an Oscar nomination and two Emmys for “13th,” her investigation into the ties between slavery and modern-day mass incarceration. Now she’s set to make another...
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson to Direct “Strangers” for Netflix
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson has another Netflix pic on the way. She’ll follow up her feature debut, Gina Rodriguez-starrer “Someone Great,” with another comedy for the streamer,...
Trailer Watch: A Political Outsider Challenges the Democratic Party in “How to Fix a Primary”
In 2018, Abdul El-Sayed set out to be the Democratic candidate in Michigan’s gubernatorial race. As a young Muslim man and a political outsider — he is a doctor who ran Detroit’s...
Yalitza Aparicio & Daniela Vega Team Up on Docuseries About Latin American Women “Who Defied Wars and Violence”
Two trailblazers are teaming up on a four-part documentary series paying tribute to Latin American women “who have survived state and gender violence.” Variety reports that...
NYWIFT Announces 2020 Creative Workforce Summit: Documentary Makers, Industry, & Funders in Conversation
New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) has announced the dates and theme for the second annual New York Women in Film & Television Creative Workforce Summit. Set to take place virtually...
Trailer Watch: Rachel Brosnahan Learns to Shoot a Gun in Julia Hart’s “I’m Your Woman”
Rachel Brosnahan goes on the lam in Julia Hart’s latest. A trailer just dropped for “I’m Your Woman,” a drama led by the “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” star that’s...
Trailer Watch: “Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult” Sees a Survivor Speaking Out
HBO will air the ninth and final episode of “The Vow” this Sunday, but viewers interested in continuing their NXIVM studies are in luck: Starz has a docuseries about the headline-making...
“Beginning” Named Georgia’s Pick for Oscars’ International Feature Category
Cleaning up at the San Sebastian Film Festival was just the beginning for Dea Kulumbegashvili’s latest. “Beginning” has been named as Georgia’s submission for the 2021 Academy...
Nathalie Biancheri’s “Wolf” Acquired by Focus Features
Nathalie Biancheri’s latest has found a home. Focus Features acquired worldwide distribution rights to “Wolf,” a drama about a man convinced that he’s a wolf. Focus Features...
Nina Menkes to Investigate Sexist Cinema Techniques with Doc “Brainwashed”
Nina Menkes is taking on the male gaze. The “Queen of Diamonds” director is working on “Brainwashed,” a documentary outlining the omnipresent cinematic techniques that...
Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins Will Reunite for “Cleopatra”
Gal Gadot is set to play another iconic woman. The “Wonder Woman” actress is switching gears from comic books to history books, and has signed on to topline “Cleopatra,” a...
Weekly Update for October 9: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD The Forty-Year-Old Version – Written and Directed by Radha Blank A struggling playwright decides to reinvent herself as a rapper in...
Alice Winocour’s Astronaut Drama “Proxima” Gets a Release Date, New Trailer
Alice Winocour’s space mission is coming stateside. Vertical Entertainment snagged North American rights to the French filmmaker’s latest, “Proxima,” an astronaut drama led by...
Diane Paragas on Her Portrait of an Aspiring Country Singer, “Yellow Rose”
Diane Paragas is an award-winning director, editor, cinematographer, and producer of narrative features, documentaries, and commercials. She owns and operates Civilian Studios, a Brooklyn-based...
Trailer Watch: Carey Mulligan Preys on Predators in “Promising Young Woman”
“It’s a day of reckoning for everyone,” Carey Mulligan announces in a new trailer for “Promising Young Woman.” Emerald Fennell’s feature directorial debut sees the...
Reed Morano to Direct Adaptation of “The Memory Police”
Reed Morano has yet another project in the works. The prolific, Emmy-winning director has signed on to direct an adaptation of “The Memory Police” for Amazon Studios. Deadline broke the...
Pick of the Day: “The Forty-Year-Old Version”
A struggling playwright decides to reinvent herself as a rapper in “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” this year’s winner of Sundance’s Directing Prize. Written and directed by Radha Blank, the...
Trailer Watch: Alexandra Pelosi Takes a Bleak “American Selfie”
“America’s trying to find itself but it’s too late,” we’re told in Alexandra Pelosi’s new documentary. “It’s over, baby.” A trailer has arrived...
Warsaw 2020 Women Directors: Meet Lili Horvát – “Preparations to Be Together For an Unknown Period of Time”
Lili Horvát grew up in Budapest. She studied audio-visual arts at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris and film directing at the University of Theatre and Film in Budapest. “The Wednesday...
Tamra Davis to Direct “Slinky” Movie About Female Inventor and Businesswoman
Everyone loves a Slinky — Tamra Davis included. After making a memorable cameo in “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls,” the toy is getting the star treatment in “Slinky,” a...
“Lumberjanes” Animated Series in the Works at HBO Max from Noelle Stevenson
Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thilstle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types is coming to HBO Max. The streamer scored rights to a series adaptation of “Lumberjanes” in a bidding...
Quote of the Day: Isabel Coixet Encourages Emerging Filmmakers to “Embrace the Fog” in Awards Speech
The Spanish Ministry of Culture honored Isabel Coixet with its National Cinematography Prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival last month. While accepting the prestigious award, which recognizes...
Barbara Kopple Docuseries “The Supermodels” Lands at Apple TV+
Barbara Kopple is adding another project to her eclectic resume. The Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker is shifting her focus from the Iran hostage crisis to the catwalk. Deadline reports that the...
Pick of the Day: “Aggie”
Before “Aggie” was selected for Sundance 2020, I had never heard of Agnes Gund. Unless you’re very tuned into the worlds of art and social justice, you probably haven’t...
Trailer Watch: Blackpink Revisit Their Meteoric Rise and Plan Their Next Move in “Light Up the Sky”
Netflix is paying tribute to a global pop sensation. The streamer just released a trailer for “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky,” a doc charting the meteoric rise of the chart-topping K-pop...
Guest Post: How 2020 Changed Our Distribution Plans for Our Doc About Lesbian Icon Franco Stevens
By Jen Rainin and Rivkah Beth Medow Shivering at 4 a.m. in an empty drive-in theater parking lot was not how we expected to spend the day before our film “Ahead of the Curve’s” world...
Trailer Watch: Heidi Schreck Pushes America to Be Better in “What the Constitution Means to Me”
When she was a teenager, Heidi Schreck toured the country giving speeches about the U.S. Constitution in order to earn scholarship money for college. She revisits those speeches and reexamines her...
Trailer Watch: “Totally Under Control” Exposes the United States’ Mishandling of COVID-19
The new trailer for “Totally Under Control” sees clips of the world’s most famous COVID-19 patient stressing that the pandemic is NBD. “It’s, uh, gonna be just...
Premiere Dates Set for Alexandra Pelosi’s “American Selfie” and Tania Cypriano’s “Born to Be”
Documentaries from Alexandra Pelosi and Tania Cypriano have both scored distribution. The former, “American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself,” premieres October 23 on Showtime. The latter,...
Women Directors Sweep Main Prizes at Zurich Film Festival
Women-directed films made a major mark at this year’s Zurich Film Festival, taking home all three main prizes. According to Swiss News Channel, Fernanda Valadez won the Golden Eye for best...
Trailer Watch: “I Carry You With Me” Tells a Cross-Border Love Story
“When you dream, it happens so fast. The American dream happens in slow motion. It takes years. I came here to do something. Don’t lose faith in me,” says Iván (Armando Espitia) in...
Weekly Update for October 2: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD Once Upon a River – Written and Directed by Haroula Rose “Once Upon a River” Based on the best-selling novel by Bonnie Jo...
Pick of the Day: “Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead” sees a filmmaker struggling to come to terms with her father’s mortality the best way she knows how: by making a movie. “Just the idea that I might ever lose this...
Haroula Rose on Telling a Story of Healing and Survival in “Once Upon a River”
Haroula Rose works in both fiction and nonfiction filmmaking. Rose’s pilot “Lost & Found” premiered at Tribeca, and her most recent short film starring Maya Hawke premiered on...
Pick of the Day: “The Great American Lie”
Burnt out educators, activists fighting for minimum wage in the restaurant industry, unemployed factory workers voting against their own best interests, single parents holding down four jobs to get...
Projects About Trailblazing Women, Essential Workers in NYC in Dev at Emergence Films
Emergence Films, a production company dedicated to supporting women and underrepresented filmmakers, has two new projects in development. A press release has announced that “Fearless &...
“Modern Persuasion” Lands at Samuel Goldwyn Films
“Modern Persuasion” has secured U.S. distribution. A press release announced that Samuel Goldwyn films acquired rights to the modern-day rom-com based on Jane Austen’s...
October 2020 Film Preview
By Tatiana McInnis and Shayna Maci Warner This month, audiences can be entertained, intrigued, troubled, and inspired by a slate of diverse narratives and documentaries. October features the releases...
All-Female Directing Team Assembled for Peacock’s “Dr. Death”: Maggie Kiley, Jennifer Morrison, & So Yong Kim
Maggie Kiley, Jennifer Morrison, and So Yong Kim are teaming up to tell the story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, better known as “Dr. Death.” The trio comprise the all-female directing...
Trailer Watch: Gretchen Sorin and Ric Burns Explore What “Driving While Black” Means in America
Driving, mobility, travel — these are essential elements of the American identity. But they’re also ones that have historically been denied to Black Americans. “What it means to be...
NYFF 2020 Women Directors: Meet Heidi Ewing – “I Carry You With Me”
Heidi Ewing’s documentary credits include “Jesus Camp,” which received an Oscar nomination, “One of Us,” and “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.” She...
Trailer Watch: A New Generation of Witches Learns the Power of Four in “The Craft: Legacy”
There’s a new coven in town. A trailer for “The Craft: Legacy” introduces the next generation of witches and pays tribute to their foremothers. A sequel to 1996’s “The...
Aisling Walsh and Lucinda Coxon Team Up for Holocaust Drama “One Life”
After tackling the life of Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis, Aisling Walsh is set to tell another tale based on a true story. Deadline reports that the “Maudie” filmmaker is in...
Ava DuVernay and ARRAY Will Receive Inaugural Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award
MacDowell, the Peterborough, New Hampshire, artist residency, is the latest organization to honor Ava DuVernay. The Associated Press reports the Oscar-nominated filmmaker will receive the first...
Trailer Watch: A Secret Society Helps Find a Missing Kid in “A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting”
A high school freshman finds herself squaring off against monsters and joining a 1,000-year-old secret society in a new trailer for Rachel Talalay’s “A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster...
Trailer Watch: Alexandra Kotcheff and Hannah Leder Take Care of Business in “The Planters”
Martha Plant (Alexandra Kotcheff) buries knick-knacks and tchotchkes in cookie tins and — without fail — the lucky folks who stumble upon this “treasure” leave cash in...
Dea Kulumbegashvili’s “Beginning” Wins Best Film & Other Top Honors at San Sebastian Fest
Dea Kulumbegashvili’s debut feature made a major impression at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival. “Beginning” scored four of the jury’s seven competition prizes: the...
Eva Longoria to Direct and Star in Sony Pictures’ “Spa Day”
Eva Longoria has lined up another high profile directing gig. The “Desperate Housewives” alumna is already signed on to direct “24/7,” a re-imagined version of “9 to...
Weekly Update for September 25: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Opening
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD The Glorias – Directed by Julie Taymor; Written by Julie Taymor and Sarah Ruhl Journalist, fighter, and feminist Gloria Steinem is an...