#Women Directors
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Ramona S. Diaz – “A Thousand Cuts”
Ramona S. Diaz’s award-winning films include “Imelda,” “The Learning,” “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey,” and...
HBO Max Lands Rights to YA Novel About Korean-American K-Pop Hopeful, Nahnatchka Khan May Direct
Lyla Lee’s YA novel “I’ll Be the One” hasn’t hit shelves yet, but Hollywood seems certain that the story about an aspiring K-Pop star will strike a chord with readers...
Sundance: ACLU Doc “The Fight” Goes to Magnolia Pictures, Elyse Steinberg Co-Directs
Another woman-directed film has secured distribution out of Sundance. “The Fight,” from Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, and Eli Despres, has been acquired by Magnolia Pictures in “a...
Women and Hollywood’s Picks of the Week for January 30
Picks of the Week offers Women and Hollywood’s top recommendations — women-driven and women-made movies, series, VOD releases, and more — and tells you why they are worth your time and...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Cristina Costantini – “Mucho Mucho Amor”
Cristina Costantini’s first feature documentary, “Science Fair,” won audience awards at both the Sundance and SXSW Film Festivals in 2018, as well as an Emmy and Critics’ Choice...
Submit Now: Breaking Through the Lens Financing Event at Cannes
Cannes Film Festival is notorious for its lack of women-directed programming, but Breaking Through the Lens is working towards making the fest, and the film industry, more inclusive. The grassroots...
Sundance Deals: “Identifying Features” and “I Carry You With Me” Find Homes
Two more women-directed films have secured distribution out of Sundance. Kino Lorber snagged North American rights to Fernanda Valadez’s “Identifying Features” and Sony Pictures...
Berlinale 2020: 33 Percent of Competition Titles Are Women-Directed
The Berlin International Film Festival has announced its 2020 Competition lineup. The program is composed of 18 titles, and six of them, or 33 percent, are directed or co-directed by women. Last...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Verónica Chen – “High Tide”
Verónica Chen was born in Buenos Aires and raised in Texas. Her films have screened at festivals such as Venice, Sundance, and San Sebastián, among others. Her films include “Smokers...
Director Ulrike Ottinger Will Be Honored at Berlinale 2020
Ulrike Ottinger will soon have another Berlinale award to go with Special Teddy she won at the film festival in 2012. The filmmaker and artist is set to receive the Berlinale Camera at the...
“Zola” Secures International Distribution via Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions
Florida was just the first stop on Zola’s epic adventure. A24 has sold international distribution rights to “Zola” to Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA). SPWA will...
Ashley Williams to Topline Adaptation of Female Butcher Memoir “Killing It,” Pamela Fryman to Direct
“How I Met Your Mother” alumni Ashley Williams and Pamela Fryman are teaming up for a new project. The former portrayed recurring fan favorite Victoria and the latter directed almost...
“Rafiki” Writer-Director Wanuri Kahiu Will Helm Gotham Group’s Adaptation of “The Black Kids”
“Rafiki” writer-director Wanuri Kahiu is revisiting an important chapter in American history. The Gotham Group has tapped the Kenyan filmmaker to direct “The Black Kids,” a...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Kim A. Snyder – “Us Kids”
Kim A. Snyder directed the Peabody Award–winning documentary “Newtown,” which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival before screening at festivals worldwide, being released...
Phyllida Lloyd’s “Herself” Acquired by Amazon Studios
“Herself” has found a home. Phyllida Lloyd’s latest made its world premiere at Sundance to strong reviews just days ago, and now word comes that Amazon Studios has snagged North...
Zawan Mahmoud & Viviane Charlestin Receive Horizon Award for Emerging Women Directors at Sundance
Zawan Mahmoud and Viviane Charlestin are the winners of the 2020 Horizon Award for rising female filmmakers. Prize founders Christine Vachon, Lynette Howell Taylor, and Cassian Elwes presented the...
Research: More WOC Festival Programmers Means More WOC Directors Screening Films
We’re smack dab in the middle of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where 46 percent of competition directors are women and 38 percent are people of color. Given that Sundance is ongoing and that...
Celine Song Will Write and Direct A24’s Korean Romance “Past Lives”
Celine Song is set to make her feature directorial debut. The “Endings” playwright will write and direct Korean romance “Past Lives” for A24. Collider broke the...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Liz Garbus – “Lost Girls”
Liz Garbus is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker whose film “What Happened, Miss Simone?” opened the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, received a Peabody Award, and was nominated for an...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Zeina Durra – “Luxor”
Zeina Durra’s directorial debut, “The Imperialists Are Still Alive!,” premiered in US Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2010. A British born of...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Shana Feste – “Run Sweetheart Run”
Shana Feste’s first feature, “The Greatest,” premiered at Sundance 2009 and went on to be nominated for a Humanitas Prize. Her second writing and directing effort, “Country...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Kirsten Johnson – “Dick Johnson Is Dead”
Kirsten Johnson’s most recent film “Cameraperson” premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. Her short “The Above” premiered at...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Amanda Kernell – “Charter”
Amanda Kernell has made several award-winning short films as a writer and director. “Sami Blood,” her feature film debut, premiered at the 2016 Venice Film Festival and won the Europa...
Weekly Update for January 24: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING The Turning – Directed by Floria Sigismondi Inspired by Henry James’ landmark novel, “The Turning” takes us to a mysterious estate in the Maine countryside,...
“Congratulations To Those Men” Film Series Spotlighting Women Directors to Screen at Nitehawk Cinema
“Congratulations to those men,” said Issa Rae after announcing the 2020 Oscar nominees for Best Director on a live telecast. The “Insecure” co-creator and star was emphasizing...
Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s “The Friend” Snagged by Roadside Attractions and Gravitas Ventures
Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s latest has found a home. Roadside Attractions and Gravitas Ventures are joining forces on the U.S. distribution of “The Friend,” a tearjerker inspired by a...
Trailer Watch: Truth Is the Only Agenda in Agnieszka Holland’s “Mr. Jones”
A Welsh journalist travels to Soviet Russia to interview Stalin and cover “the story no one is talking about” in “Mr. Jones.” A trailer for Agnieszka Holland’s new film...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Romola Garai – “Amulet”
Romola Garai is a writer, director, and actor, whose directorial debut, “Scrubber,” was nominated for Sundance Best Short Film in 2013. As a performer, her extensive film, TV, and stage...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Tara Miele – “Wander Darkly”
Tara Miele is a writer and director in both film and television. Her directorial work includes the backdoor pilot “Green Arrow and The Canaries,” episodes of “Arrow,”...
Apply Now: Boyish’s #RaiseYourVoice Female Filmmaker Competition
Boyish, a digital media company spotlighting content created by women, is teaming up with In The Know and Malka Media for a female filmmaker contest. Boyish will award five women-identifying...
Trailer Watch: Anne Hathaway Is a Journalist in Peril in Dee Rees’ “The Last Thing He Wanted”
“In a perfect world, we make perfect choices. In the real world, we make real choices,” says Anne Hathaway in a new trailer for “The Last Thing He Wanted.” Dee Rees’...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Ekwa Msangi – “Farewell Amor”
Ekwa Msangi is a Tanzanian-American filmmaker who has written and directed several drama series for mainstream broadcasters in Kenya and South Africa, including “The Agency,” MNET’s...
Women Directors Call On DGA to Update Parental Leave Policy in Open Letter
Ava DuVernay, Greta Gerwig, Reese Witherspoon, Brie Larson, and Lena Waithe are among the Hollywood heavyweights joining filmmaker Jessica Dimmock in urging the Directors Guild of America (DGA) to...
Megan McDonnell to Write “Captain Marvel 2,” Marvel Looking to Hire a Female Filmmaker to Direct
Megan McDonnell is writing the next chapter of Carol Danvers’ epic journey, taking Brie Larson “higher, further, faster” than ever before. Already part of the Marvel family, the...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Eleanor Wilson – “Save Yourselves!”
Eleanor Wilson is a writer, director, and producer from Adelaide, Australia. Her award-winning short films have played at festivals throughout the world, with her first, “Possum,” winning...
Issa López Will Write and Direct “Lost Souls” for Fox Searchlight
Issa López’s profile continues to rise. The award-winning “Tigers Are Not Afraid” filmmaker has been tapped to write and direct “Lost Souls” for Fox Searchlight....
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Fernanda Valadez – “Identifying Features”
Director and producer Fernanda Valadez’s short “400 Maletas” was nominated for a Silver Ariel and a finalist for a Student Academy Award. She produced Astrid Rondero’s...
Rosario Dawson Will Topline Ava DuVernay’s “DMZ” Adaptation at HBO Max
Rosario Dawson is joining another comic adaptation. The “Luke Cage,” “Iron Fist,” and “Defenders” alumna is set to topline “DMZ,” an HBO Max pilot...
Trailer Watch: Taylor Swift Embraces Her True Voice in “Miss Americana”
“A nice girl doesn’t force their opinions on people. A nice girl smiles and waves and says thank you. I became the person everyone wanted me to be,” explains Taylor Swift in a new...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Radha Blank – “The 40-Year-Old Version”
Radha Blank is performer, writer, and director. A Helen Merrill Award recipient, Blank’s acclaimed play “Seed” was deemed “fresh, lively…and poetic” by the Huffington...
Trailer Watch: Unlikely Friends Bond Over Their Love of the Rodeo in Annie Silverstein’s “Bull”
A trailer has dropped for “Bull,” Annie Silverstein’s portrait of the unlikely friendship between two neighbors in Texas: Abe (Rob Morgan), a black, aging ex-bullfighter, and Kris...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Josephine Decker – “Shirley”
Josephine Decker’s feature “Madeline’s Madeline” made its world premiere at Sundance 2018 and went on to receive a nomination for Best Picture at IFP’s Gotham Awards as well as two...
Gal Gadot and Vanessa Roth Are Teaming Up for Nat Geo Doc Series About Inspiring Young Women
Gal Gadot is helping pay tribute to other heroines. The “Wonder Woman” star is signed on to exec produce a Nat Geo short-form doc series that “follows the stories of young women...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Phyllida Lloyd – “Herself”
Phyllida Lloyd is known for her award-winning work in theater, opera, and film. In 2008, she directed the film version of “Mamma Mia,” which went on to make over $600 million worldwide....
Chicken & Egg Announces 2020 Award Recipients and Introduces Project: Hatched
Chicken & Egg Pictures is ringing in the new year by naming the recipients of its 2020 Chicken & Egg Awards and introducing its newest programs, Project: Hatched and the Chicken & Egg...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Kitty Green – “The Assistant”
Kitty Green is an award-winning Australian filmmaker. Her debut documentary feature, “Ukraine Is Not a Brothel,” explored a provocative feminist movement in Ukraine. After making its...
Sundance 2020 Women Directors: Meet Brenda Chapman – “Come Away”
Brenda Chapman began her career at Walt Disney Feature Animation, working on films that include the Academy Award–nominated “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King,” for...
Trailer Watch: Blake Lively Transforms into an Assassin in Reed Morano’s “The Rhythm Section”
“I’m gonna do this my way,” says Blake Lively in a new trailer for Reed Morano’s “The Rhythm Section.” The action-packed thriller sees Lively’s grieving...
Sundance 2020 Preview: #MeToo Stories, a Gloria Steinem Biopic, Biased Technology, & More
The 2020 Sundance Film Festival kicks off Thursday and its slate is packed with titles by and about women. Women and Hollywood has put together a rundown of some of the buzziest films screening in...
Chelsea Winstanley Forms New Production Company, Will Make Her Feature Directorial Debut
Chelsea Winstanley is flying high. She recently made history as the first indigenous woman producer to score an Oscar nod for Best Picture, for “Jojo Rabbit.” Now she’s launched a...
The Roles We Play: Crowdfunding Picks
Figuring out who you are — and who you want to be — can be a difficult process, especially in a world so eager to put limitations on which identities are considered acceptable. This is an...