#Women Directors
TIFF 2022 Preview: Indigenous Icons, Women Warriors, Heroic Sisters, and More
Summer is winding down just as chatter about awards contenders is starting to heat up. The 46th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is nearly upon us, and the fest’s...
TIFF 2022 Women Directors: Meet Sophie Jarvis – “Until Branches Bend”
Sophie Jarvis studied at Simon Fraser University, where she made her short film “The Worst Day Ever,” which premiered at TIFF in 2012. Since then, she has gone on to direct primarily...
Doc from Saelyx Finna, Mia Imani, & Laurie Polisky Wins Gamechanger-Sandbox Accelerator Award
Director-producers Saelyx Finna, Mia Imani, and Laurie Polisky will make a documentary about dream technology and surveillance with the backing of Gamechanger Films and Sandbox Films. According to a...
Olympian & Grammy Nominee Savanah Leaf Teams with A24 on Her Feature Debut “Earth Mama”
Savanah Leaf is getting backing from A24 on the next chapter of her remarkably varied career. The former Olympian is making her feature directorial debut with “Earth Mama,” a...
Nell Tiger Free Will Lead “Omen” Prequel with Arkasha Stevenson Directing
Nell Tiger Free has boarded another hair-raising project. Deadline reports that the “Servant” actress, who plays a creepy nanny on the Apple TV+ psychological thriller, has booked...
Teaser Watch: Sally El Hosaini Spotlights Refugee Sisters & Olympic Hopefuls in “The Swimmers”
Set to open this year’s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, “The Swimmers” depicts two refugees’ epic journey from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics. A...
Pick of the Day: “Loving Highsmith”
“Loving Highsmith” assumes that you are familiar, to some degree, with the work of author Patricia Highsmith — or at least the numerous screen adaptations of her novels, such as...
Linda Mendoza to Direct Michelle Buteau-Led Netflix Comedy Series “Survival of the Thickest”
Linda Mendoza has been tapped to helm the first two episodes of Netflix’s Michelle Buteau-starrer “Survival of the Thickest.” A press release announced the news. Created by Buteau...
September 2022 Film Preview
The festival scene is heating up this month, with Venice, Telluride, and Toronto premiering a bevy of potential awards contenders. Thankfully, there’s also plenty to look forward to screening...
Venice 2022 Women Directors: Meet Georgia Oakley – “Blue Jean”
Georgia Oakley is a screenwriter and director with a particular fondness for convention-defying, female-led narratives. Her shorts have screened at dozens of international festivals, including SXSW,...
September 2022 Television Preview
Whether September means returning to school or returning to work, there are a number of shows premiering that our Women and Hollywood readers are sure to devour. From documentaries and dramas to...
Trailer Watch: Anna Diop Is a “Nanny” Who Is Being Haunted in Nikyatu Jusu’s Debut Feature
“The spirits are trying to warn you. Do not ignore the signs,” Anna Diop is told in a new trailer for “Nanny.” Nikyatu Jusu’s award-winning feature debut sees the...
Venice 2022 Women Directors: Meet Soudade Kaadan – “Nezouh”
Soudade Kaadan is a Syrian director based in London. Her first feature fiction film, “The Day I Lost My Shadow,” was awarded the Lion of The Future for best debut at the 2018 Venice Film...
Jessica Barden to Lead Soccer Drama from Mandie Fletcher
Weeks after the launch of Prime Video’s “A League of Their Own” adaptation, word comes that another story about women in sports is on the way. Jessica Barden, perhaps best known for...
Cynthia Lowen’s Abortion Rights Doc “Battleground” to Be Released by Abramorama & ROCO Films
Most Americans support the legal right to abortion, and people from all backgrounds have abortions — so why is it such a polarizing issue? Why do anti-choicers have so much influence and...
Diane Davis’ Weinstein-Inspired Play “Complicity” to Make World Premiere This Fall, Illana Stein Directs
“Complicity,” Diane Davis’ play about the system that enables and protects sexual abuse in Hollywood — specifically the women who play a part in upholding that system —...
Trailer Watch: Jamila C. Gray Is a Rapper “On the Come Up” in Sanaa Lathan’s Feature Directorial Debut
“Once upon a time there was a girl named Bri/That’s me,” newcomer Jamila C. Gray informs us, via improvised spoken word, in the trailer for Sanaa Lathan’s Toronto Film...
Rosa Ruth Boesten’s SXSW Winner “Master of Light” Acquired by HBO Documentary Films
HBO Documentary Films has landed worldwide rights to “Master of Light,” which took home SXSW’s top non-fiction prize earlier this year. Deadline confirmed the news. Rosa Ruth...
Maria Bakalova to Topline and Produce Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s “Triumph”
Maria Bakalova is returning to her Bulgarian film roots. She’s set to topline and produce “Triumph,” the first pic she’s made in her native Bulgaria following her...
Pick of the Day: “Everything I Know About Love”
“Everything I Know About Love” is a platonic love story as full of longing and heartbreak as any romance. The series adaptation of Dolly Alderton’s best-selling memoir charts the...
Sally El Hosaini and Hildur Guðnadóttir to Receive TIFF Tribute Awards
Egyptian filmmaker and screenwriter Sally El Hosaini and Academy Award-winning Icelandic artist and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir are set to be honored with TIFF Tribute Awards. The former will be...
Kay Cannon to Direct Wedding Comedy from Taylor Jenkins Reid and Ashley Rodger
“Blockers” helmer Kay Cannon is teaming up with best-selling author Taylor Jenkins Reid on a new original comedy for Sister. Variety reports that Cannon will direct the pic, with Jenkins...
“Jane” Director Sabrina Jaglom Talks Depicting Teen Mental Health On-Screen
Sabrina Jaglom is an LA-native writer and director. This year, she released two scripted podcasts — QCode’s Rachel Brosnahan-starring “Listening In” and iHeartRadio’s...
Early Patricia Rozema Films Line Up Restoration/Distribution Deals at Kino Lorber and MUBI
Less than six months after her renowned debut feature, “I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing,” received a 4K restoration and new theatrical run, there’s word that several other early...
Trailer Watch: Kate Hudson & Jeon Jong-seo Lead Ana Lily Amirpour’s “Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon”
Kate Hudson befriends a fugitive who has escaped from the Home of Mentally Insane Adolescents in “Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon.” A trailer just dropped for Ana Lily Amirpour’s...
Vanessa Paradis & Nina Hoss Will Resist the Nazi Occupation of Jersey in Vanessa Filho’s “Trespassers”
Vanessa Paradis and Nina Hoss will portray stepsisters, lovers, artists, and agents of the resistance in Vanessa Filho’s next feature. Screen Daily reports the actresses will star in...
Trailer Watch: Sandra Alvarez Takes a Look at the “InHospitable” U.S. Hospital System
“Today, what we see is that everyone but the one percent is at risk of financial disaster, from even a relatively minor healthcare encounter,” we are told in the new trailer for...
Margarethe von Trotta to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at European Film Awards
Trailblazing German filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta is set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Film Academy for her outstanding body of work. A press release announced the...
Cathy Yan Will Direct “Paprika” Series
Cathy Yan is up for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series at this year’s Emmy Awards for her TV directing debut, an episode of “Succession’s” third season, and now...
Trailer Watch: Allison Janney & Jurnee Smollett Team Up to Rescue a Child in Anna Foerster’s “Lou”
“We all have a past. We all have secrets,” says Allison Janney in a new trailer for “Lou.” Anna Foerster’s action pic sees the Oscar winner playing Lou, a woman who is...
Trailer Watch: Isabella Carbonell’s “Dogborn” Follows Refugee Siblings Struggling to Survive
A trailer has arrived for Isabella Carbonell’s debut feature. Set to make its world premiere at Venice Critics’ Week, “Dogborn” tells the story of a refugee brother and sister...
Array Releasing Lands Iliana Sosa’s SXSW Winner “What We Leave Behind”
Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing has secured U.S., Canadian, U.K., Australian, and New Zealand rights to “What We Leave Behind.” From director Iliana Sosa, the doc made its world...
Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” Acquired by Neon Ahead of Venice Premiere
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” has yet to make its world premiere at Venice Film Festival or its subsequent outings at Toronto and New York Film Festivals, but it’s already been...
Trailer Watch: Abigail Disney & Kathleen Hughes Investigate “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales”
“The American Dream teaches us that if you work hard enough, anything is possible. It’s magical thinking,” says Abigail Disney in a new trailer for “The American Dream and...
Awkwafina, Debra Granik, and Arianna Bocco Among Woodstock Film Festival Honorees
Awkwafina, Debra Granik, and Arianna Bocco are set to receive honorary awards at the 23rd edition of Woodstock Film Festival, per Deadline. “Crazy Rich Asians” breakout star Awkwafina...
Pick of the Day: “Bad Sisters”
I’m pleased to confirm Sharon Horgan has made yet another slam-dunk of a show. She’s following up “Catastrophe,” “This Way Up,” “Motherland,”...
Pick of the Day: “The Legend of Molly Johnson”
At first blush, “The Legend of Molly Johnson” comes across as a white feminist story. It sets itself up as a Western about a heavily pregnant woman who can shoot as well as any man and...
Ariana DeBose Teams Up with Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy for “House of Spoils”
Oscar-winning “West Side Story” breakout Ariana DeBose is going from singing to shrieking. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Broadway star will lead “House of Spoils,”...
Lone Scherfig To Be Honored at Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival
Lone Scherfig is set to be honored at the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival (EMIFF), per Screen Daily. The award-winning Danish filmmaker, who is currently in post-production on her...
Trailer Watch: Natascha McElhone Leaves the Church & Gets a Fresh Start in Valerie Buhagiar’s “Carmen”
“Why don’t you have anyone?” Natascha McElhone is asked in a new trailer for “Carmen.” From writer-director Valerie Buhagiar, the pic, set in 1980s Malta, tells the...
Production Underway on “A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow,” Katherine Fairfax Wright Directing
Production on “A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow” has commenced in Yorkshire, England. The adaptation of Laura Taylor Namey’s YA bestseller hails from director Katherine...
Lise Akoka & Romane Gueret’s Cannes Winner “The Worst Ones” Lands North American Distribution
Kino Lorber has landed worldwide rights in U.S. and anglophone Canada to “The Worst Ones” ahead of its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Lise Akoka and...
TIFF Adds Docs From Laura Poitras & Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Expands Contemporary World Cinema Slate
The program for the 47th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival continues to grow. The fest has added new titles to its TIFF Docs and Contemporary World Cinema sections. The former...
Trailer Watch: Emily Watson Squares Off Against Her Beloved Son in “God’s Creatures”
The prodigal son returns and sends his mother’s life into a tailspin in “God’s Creatures,” Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer’s follow-up to “The Fits.” A new...
“She Said” Pic About the Journalists Who Took Down Harvey Weinstein to Make World Premiere at NYFF
“She Said” will make its world premiere at the 2022 New York Film Festival. From Emmy-winning “Unorthodox” helmer Maria Schrader, the drama revisits how New York Times...
Trailer Watch: Elizabeth Banks Fights for Reproductive Rights in Phyllis Nagy’s “Call Jane”
“You want to end up in prison?” Elizabeth Banks is asked in a new trailer for “Call Jane.” The “Hunger Games” alumna toplines the historical drama from...
Quinta Brunson and “Abbott Elementary” Dominate Black Reel TV Awards
Hot on the heels of signing an overall deal with Warner Bros. TV, “Abbott Elementary” creator, star, and exec producer Quinta Brunson made a major splash at the sixth annual Black Reel TV...
Ashley Williams Teams Up with Hallmark to Launch Reciprocal Director Mentorship Program
Thanks to an idea from veteran character actress Ashley Williams, Hallmark Media is upping its support of women directors. A press release announced that Make Her Mark, a reciprocal director mentor...
Adamma and Adanne Ebo Sign Overall Deal with 20th Television & 20th Television Animation
Weeks ahead of the launch of her feature directorial debut, “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.,” Adamma Ebo and her identical twin, Adanne Ebo, a producer on the pic, have signed a...
Women Photojournalist Doc “No Ordinary Life” to Premiere on CNN
“No Ordinary Life” is coming to the small screen. The Tribeca Film Festival documentary about women photojournalists is set to premiere on CNN at 10:00 p.m. EST on Labor Day, September...
Pick of the Day: “Girl Picture”
I wish I had come of age in the world of “Girl Picture.” Alli Haapasalo’s Sundance award winner follows three 17- or 18-year-old young women as they begin to figure out who they are...