#Women Directors
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sherry Hormann – “A Regular Woman”
Sherry Hormann is a German-American writer and director. Her directorial debut, “Silent Shadow,” won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Direction, the Film Award in Silver for Outstanding...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ani Simon-Kennedy – “The Short History of the Long Road”
Ani Simon-Kennedy is a feature film, documentary, and commercial director. Her first feature, “Days of Gray,” played at top festivals around the world with an original live score by...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia – “Leftover Women”
Shosh Shlam is a director and producer. She has directed several documentaries, including “Last Journey into Silence,” “Good Garbage,” and “Web Junkie.” Hilla...
Trailer Watch: Jill Magid Blends Her Art with a Famous Architect’s Legacy in “The Proposal”
Artist and filmmaker Jill Magid’s exhibition “The Proposal” has been called “ghoulish,” “grotesque,” and a “desecration,” as well as...
Submit Now: Women In Film’s 2019 Finishing Fund
Women In Film (WIF) is now accepting submissions for its 2019 Finishing Fund. The fund offers grants to female filmmakers who have a rough cut and at least 90 percent of principal photography...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Karen Stokkendal Poulsen – “On the Inside of a Military Dictatorship”
Karen Stokkendal Poulsen is a writer and director with a background in foreign affairs and political science. Her 2014 documentary “The Agreement” was nominated for Best Nordic Documentary at the...
Trailer Watch: College Activists Help Women Find Underground Abortion Services in “Ask for Jane”
Set in 1969, just a few years before the Supreme Court’s game-changing 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, “Ask for Jane” sees college students fighting to offer women autonomy over their own...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni – “Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind”
Martha Kehoe is a writer, producer, and director who has worked on and created award-winning documentaries, series, and specials in multiple genres. Her early career focused on music, as she...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Jeanie Finlay – “Seahorse”
Jeanie Finlay is British documentary filmmaker. Her films tell small and intimate stories to international audiences, whether inviting them behind the scenes of Teesside’s last record shop...
Quote of the Day: Amy Poehler on Unpacking Misogyny and Working with Women
Actress, writer, director, producer, Upright Citizens Brigade co-founder, and Worldwide Orphans Foundation ambassador Amy Poehler is a popular dream BFF, and it’s no wonder. One of the...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Lara Jean Gallagher – “Clementine”
Lara Jean Gallagher is a writer and director. Her shorts and music videos have screened at SXSW, Palm Springs Shortfest, Mill Valley, Portland International, DC Shorts, as well as online via...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Yu Gu – “A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem”
Yu Gu is a filmmaker and visual artist born in Chongqing, China and raised in Vancouver, Canada. Her previous credits include hybrid documentary “A Moth in Spring” and feature documentary...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Michela Occhipinti – “Flesh Out”
Michela Occhipinti is an Italian director and producer. She traveled throughout South America to film and produce “Viva la Pepa! (Give Us Back the Constitution)” in 2003 and later filmed a “Sei...
“Saving Face” Writer-Director Alice Wu Sets Lesbian Teen Romance at Netflix
Alice Wu is following up her beloved 2004 romance “Saving Face” with another tale of secrets, Chinese-American culture and expectations, and LGBTQ love. According to Deadline, the...
Agnès Varda’s Last Film “Varda By Agnès” Acquired by BFI
The film community is still mourning the recent loss of Agnès Varda, but we haven’t seen the last of the acclaimed French director’s work. Her final film, “Varda By Agnès,”...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Marwa Zein – “Khartoum Offside”
Marwa Zein is a Sudanese film director and producer. Her graduation project, “A game,” was an official selection of more than 30 international festivals worldwide and was translated into five...
Phylicia Rashad to Make Broadway Directorial Debut with “Blue”
Phylicia Rashad is returning to the theater, but this time she’ll be working behind the scenes. Deadline confirms the Tony-winning actress is making her Broadway directorial debut with Charles...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Maya Newell – “In My Blood It Runs”
Maya Newell is an award-winning Australian filmmaker with a focus on social impact documentary. Her credits include short docs “Two”and “Growing Up Gayby,” as well as the...
Cannes 2019: Directors’ Fortnight Features Lineup Is Just 17 Percent Women-Directed
Another day, another disappointing Cannes announcement. The lineup for the 2019 Directors’ Fortnight sidebar has been announced, and of 24 features set to screen, just four are directed by women,...
Hot Docs 2019 Women Directors: Meet Tasha Hubbard – “nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up”
Dr. Tasha Hubbard is a writer, filmmaker, and associate professor at the University of Alberta. Her first solo writing/directing project, “Two Worlds Colliding,” premiered at imagineNATIVE in...
“Gentleman Jack’s” Sally Wainwright and Suranne Jones on Bringing Anne Lister to Life
Sally Wainwright (“Happy Valley”) has reclaimed Anne Lister in a bold way in the HBO limited series “Gentleman Jack.” Suranne Jones (“Scott & Bailey,”...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sonejuhi Sinha – “Stray Dolls”
Sonejuhi Sinha has worked as a director and editor on acclaimed feature films, documentaries, and commercials. Her first narrative short, “Love Comes Later,” premiered at the 2015 Cannes...
Trailer Watch: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Prepares to “Knock Down the House”
“If I was a rational person, I would have dropped out of this race a long time ago,” says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a newly released trailer for “Knock Down the House.”...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Anne Fontaine – “White as Snow”
Anne Fontaine started her career as a dancer and actor. She made her feature directorial debut with 1993’s “Love Affairs Usually End Badly,” which won France’s Prix Jean Vigo...
Jennifer Lopez Will Star in Kat Coiro Rom-Com “Marry Me”
Jennifer Lopez is returning to the screen — and the stage. The multi-hyphenate will portray a pop star in “Marry Me,” a rom-com from director Kat Coiro and STXfilms. According to...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy – “Blow the Man Down”
Wesleyan University graduates Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy met on a film set in Coney Island. They immediately bonded over a shared love of character-driven stories and juicy filmmaking...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin – “Scheme Birds”
Ellen Fiske is a director, writer, and producer. She directed the award-winning short films “Keep Me Safe” and “Lone Dads,” both set in Scotland. She is currently co-directing another...
Cannes 2019: Only One Woman-Directed Film Selected for Critics’ Week Feature Competition
The 2019 Cannes Film Festival continues to disappoint. Last week it was announced that only four women-helmed films will screen in the fest’s main competition. Now, per Deadline, the...
Tribeca 2019 Women Directors: Meet Lesley Chilcott – “Watson”
Lesley Chilcott is an award-winning filmmaker, documentarian, and producer. She directed the feature documentaries “A Small Section of the World” and “CodeGirl,” the latter...
Tribeca 2019 Preview: Cheerleaders Fighting Wage Theft, the USA Gymnastics Scandal, & More
Fifty percent of the film’s screening in competition sections at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival are women-directed or co-directed, and plenty more titles from female filmmakers appear in the...
Weekly Update for April 19: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Little Woods – Written and Directed by Nia DaCosta This Tribeca winner sees Tessa Thompson playing a woman facing a handful of crises in Little Woods, North Dakota....
Under the Radar: Ash Mayfair’s “The Third Wife” Explores a Complicated Coming of Age
In the opening scenes of “The Third Wife,” May (Nguyen Phuong Tra My), a 14-year-old girl, arrives at the Ninh Binh estate in rural Vietnam to be wed to a much older man. As the film’s title...
Quote of the Day: Josie Rourke on the Lack of Appreciation for Female Auteurs
Josie Rourke is sounding off on sexist double standards. The theater and film director told The Stage that “women directors are largely rewarded by critics and awards when they respectfully...
Trailer Watch: Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us” Spotlights Injustice of Central Park Five Case
“There is injustice happening here,” says an activist (Adepero Oduye, “Pariah”) in the trailer for Ava DuVernay’s Central Park Five story “When They See...
Theater Director Adrienne Campbell-Holt to Make Feature Debut with “Contested”
Adrienne Campbell-Holt is stepping behind the camera. The award-winning theater director has signed on to make her feature debut with “Contested,” a political thriller. A press release...
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson on Gina Rodriguez-Starrer “Someone Great” & Telling Women’s Stories
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson is best known for creating MTV’s “Sweet/Vicious,” a comedy about two college students who have a secret life as vigilantes targeting sexual assailants on...
Four Women-Directed Films Will Screen in Cannes’ Main Competition. That’s Not Good Enough.
The Gender Parity Pledge was launched at Cannes last year with the mission of making film festivals more inclusive and transparent. Behind-the-scenes, the Cannes Film Fest does seem to be improving:...
Yolande Zauberman Will Chair Cannes’ Golden Eye Jury
Another Cannes jury will be led by a woman filmmaker. According to Cineuropa, “M” director Yolande Zauberman has been tapped to chair the Golden Eye Jury, which evaluates the...
Trailer Watch: Stacie Passon Unearths Creepy Family History in “We Have Always Lived in the Castle”
“The Blackwoods have always lived in this house — and we will never leave here, no matter what they say, or what they do to us. Never,” says Taissa Farmiga in a trailer for...
Trailer Watch: Virginia Woolf Falls in Love in “Vita & Virginia”
Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West’s love affair apparently began before the women even met. A trailer for Chanya Button’s biopic about the lovers, “Vita &...
Peabody 2019 Documentary Honorees: “The Judge,” “The Apology,” & More
The documentary winners of the 2019 Peabody Awards have been revealed by Variety. Four of the eight titles are women-directed. Directed by Liz Garbus (“What Happened, Miss Simone?”),...
Middle Eastern Netflix Drama “AlRawabi School for Girls” On the Way, Features All-Female Cast & Crew
If “Derry Girls” left you craving more international, women-created young adult series set in all-girls schools, you’re in luck. Netflix’s newest project is “AlRawabi...
Jennifer Lawrence Is Teaming Up with Theater Director Lila Neugebauer for Her Next Pic
Jennifer Lawrence is heading back to set. A year after announcing a break from acting, the Oscar winner has signed on to star in an untitled film for IAC FILMS and A24. Theater director Lila...
Jennifer Lopez-Starrer “Hustlers” Gets a Release Date
Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B, Constance Wu, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, and Julia Stiles are currently filming Lorene Scafaria’s next pic, and now we know when to expect the star-studded drama. STX...
Sundance Film Festival: London to Open with “Late Night”
“Late Night’s” traveling across the pond. Nisha Ganatra’s comedy about a late-night host (Emma Thompson) who hires her first female staff writer (Mindy Kaling) made its world...
Cannes 2019 Official Poster Honors Agnès Varda
Cannes Film Festival is paying tribute to the late, great Agnès Varda. The fest released the official poster for its 2019 edition and it features a photograph of Varda shooting her first movie,...
Eliza Hittman Wraps Production on Latest Film “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Eliza Hittman is following up her 2017 Sundance winner “Beach Rats” with another coming-of-age story. Focus Features, Pastel, and BBC Films are joining forces for her next feature,...
Kimberly Peirce to Receive Artemis Film Fest’s Unsung Heroine Award
The Artemis Women in Action Film Festival is set to honor Kimberly Peirce. The “Boys Don’t Cry” director will be presented with the Artemis Action Unsung Heroine Award at the...
Teaser Watch: The Monterey Five Are Under a Microscope in “Big Little Lies” Season 2
“We’re kidding ourselves if we think people will stop talking,” says Nicole Kidman in a new teaser for “Big Little Lies'” highly anticipated second season. People...
Christine Crokos to Direct Horror-Thriller “The Beast”
Just days after signing on to write and direct Argent Pictures’ biopic of soccer star Hope Solo comes word that Christine Crokos is also set to helm horror-thriller “The Beast” for...
Weekly Update for April 12: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING Little – Directed by Tina Gordon; Written by Tina Gordon and Tracy Oliver “Little” is “Big” but reversed and centered on a black girl —...