#Women Directors
Anticipating Sundance: Sundance Lineup is a Win for Women Directors and for Everybody Who Cares About Movies
This post was originally published on November 29, 2012. For the last couple of years (the time that I have written this blog) I have lived in a world full of disappointment when it comes to...
Trailer Watch: Life Is But A Dream – Directed by Beyonce
Be prepared to bow down everyone. One of my personal queens, Beyonce, has self-directed a documentary about who she is behind the scenes. Stripping away the glamour of the stage, the doc looks at...
New York Times Says ‘Female Directors Gain Ground, Slowly.’ Should We Wait That Long?
The great Carrie Rickey published a piece in the New York Times this past weekend with the depressing headline ‘Female Directors Gain Ground, Slowly’. The piece reported that in 2012, by...
Lauren Greenfield and Alison Klayman Receive DGA Nominations for Best Documentary
Earlier this week, the Directors Guild of America announced their nominees for best documentary. They’ve previously announced the nominees for film and television. Two women were nominated out...
Watch This: New Trailer for Athena Film Festival – February 7-10
Check out the new trailer for the Athena Film Festival (co-founded by our own Melissa Silverstein), hosted at Barnard College, on February 7-10. The new trailer incorporates clips from the films...
Women Directors and Women-Centric Films Win Big at Palm Springs Film Festival
Women and women-centric films were big winners at the 24th annual Palm Springs Film Festival. The fest began on January 3rd and ends today. The Sapphires, about an Aboriginal girl group in the 1960s,...
Critics and Film Lovers Respond to Kathryn Bigelow Snub
After Kathryn Bigelow’s name wasn’t announced for Best Director during yesterday’s Oscar nominations, film and entertainment critics as well as movie lovers were outraged causing a...
2 of 15 Films in Berlin Competition Line Up Directed by Women
The Berlin International Film Festival announced their full competition line up for the Golden Bear. Two of the nine films from this most recent announcement are directed by women. As we previously...
DGA Announces Television and Commercial Award Nominees
Earlier this week the Directors Guild of America announced their film nominees. In addition, they also announced nominees for television and commercials. There are quite a few women nominated...
2013 BAFTA Nominees Include Kathryn Bigelow, Judi Dench, Lynne Ramsay
On the heels of learning that 4 out of the 5 nominated for BAFTA’s Rising Star Award are women, comes the full list of the 2013 BAFTA awards nominees. Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal and Zero...
The Academy Snubs Kathryn Bigelow for History Making Second Best Director Nomination
I sit here ruminating, fulminating and seething, thinking about how Kathryn Bigelow could have been overlooked for a second best director nomination. I'm pretty sure the people who thought...
New Trailer: Ginger & Rosa – Directed by Sally Potter
Sally Potter's gorgeous Ginger & Rosa was one of my favorite films from last year's AFI Film Festival. A coming of age story, set during the Cold War, best friends Ginger (Elle Fanning)...
Kathryn Bigelow Nominated for DGA Award
The Directors Guild of America announced their nominees for film today. Kathryn Bigelow was nominated for Zero Dark Thirty. Bigelow previously won the DGA in 2009 for The Hurt Locker and was the...
Kathryn Bigelow and Zero Dark Thirty Win Big at EDA Awards
Zero Dark Thirty has swept, yet again, another awards ceremony, this time around at the EDA Awards, from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Bigelow received the award for best director, Mark...
Athena Film Festival Announces 2013 Line Up
I am so very proud to be sharing with you the line-up for the 3rd Athena Film Festival, a celebration of women and leadership, which will take place this upcoming February 7-10 on the campus on...
Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal Defend Film at NY Film Critics Circle Award Ceremony
Over the last several weeks the steady drumbeat against Zero Dark Thirty has grown louder and louder. There's been the discussion that Boal was a bully and Bigelow defered to him on the set...
Guest Post: A Response to “This Woman is Too Fat for Hollywood?”
Recently Melissa Silverstein at Women and Hollywood wrote a blog entitled "This Woman is Too Fat For Hollywood?" Consider this a response to the aforementioned article. There's a lot...
Watch This: Best of 2012: Women in Film
Check out this extremely cool trailer mashup of women in film from 2012 from Pawn Takes Queen Productions. It features both performances and behind the scenes from some of the best moments women...
Cinema Eye Honors Audience Choice Prize Has No Women Nominees
The Cinema Eye Honors for Non Fiction Filmmaking have announced their 2013 nominees for outstanding achievements in documentary filmmaking. We were troubled to note that their Audience Choice...
Senate Committee to Investigate Zero Dark Thirty
Zero Dark Thirty is a film that has had its fair share of controversy questioning its politics, blatant sexism toward director Kathryn Bigelow and whether or not the film is pro-torture. Next to...
2012 The Year in Review
We took a look back on the news for women in and around Hollywood in 2012 and here are the topics we think resonated this past year. Let us know what you think and if we missed any big news of...
Cross Post: Heroines of Cinema: An A-Z of Women in Film in 2012
Since this column began in August, it has profiled a wide variety of women – fictional and real, contemporary and historic – whose achievements in film have been considered worthy of...
The Women Directed Movies of 2012
We here at Women and Hollywood want to salute the women who directed films in 2012. We have compiled a list of features and docs (and foreign films) that were released in US theatres in...
Sexism Pushes Its Way Into the Oscar Campaign
In the last week the screws have really been tightening in this bizarre world of Oscar campaigning, and Kathryn Bigelow and her film Zero Dark Thirty are the recipients of what is referred to a...
Interview with Director Amy Berg and Producer Lorri Davis – West of Memphis
West of Memphis is a film that makes you realize that our justice system is not blind. That if you look different or are poor that you can be caught up in a witch hunt of epic proportions and...
3 of 5 2012 Kroll Film Fund Recipients are Women Directed
The Foundation for Jewish Culture granted $80,000 in finishing funds to 5 documentary films under their Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film. The grants range from $10,000 to...
Interview with Anne Fletcher – Director of The Guilt Trip
Barbra Streisand has not had the lead in a film since The Mirror Has Two Faces (which she directed) in 1996. She's back onscreen as Joyce Brewster, Seth Rogan's mom in the road comedy...
Video Interview: Grrls Guide To Filmmaking
I had a great time talking with filmmaker Rolla Selbak for their Grrls Guide to Filmmaking monthly videocast. Your bonus is getting to meet my dog Duke. Enjoy.
Cross Post: Breaking Into the Film Business
So, recently I've been gaining a little modest traction in this oh-so-fickle business. And as I try to figure out what the next phase of my career will hold, I've been finding myself...
3 of 25 Films Inducted into National Film Registry Directed by Women
The Librarian of Congress, James Billington, picked the next batch of 25 films to be inducted into the National Film Registry. 3 of the 25 films chosen by Billington are directed by women. There are...
Angelina Jolie to Direct Unbroken for Universal
Angelina Jolie is set to direct Unbroken, her first major studio film. The film is for Universal and Walden Media. Based on Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling 2010 book, Unbroken looks at...
6 of 12 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab Project Picks Written by Women
The Sundance Institute has picked 12 projects to participate in their January Screenwriters Lab. The workshop provides writers the opportunity to find financing and other resources for their films....
Final Trailer for Zero Dark Thirty
Zero Dark Thirty hits theatres in NY and LA tomorrow. In anticipation here is the final trailer for the must talked about (even before it is released) film. I got the chance to see Zero...
The Women Directed Films That Are Qualified for 85th Academy Awards
On Friday the Academy released the list of the 282 films that have qualified for best picture. Animated, Documentaries and Foreign language films are also eligible for best picture if they meet...
Chicken & Egg Pictures Awards $220,000 in Grants to Women Filmmakers
Chicken & Egg Pictures, one of our favorite nonprofits supporting women filmmakers, announced $220,000 in grant funds to 25 documentaries directed by women. And while we usually...
No Women Directors Included in First Seven Films in 2013 Berlin International Film Festival
The 63rd annual Berlin International Film Festival has just announced the first six films in their competition line up. Thus far, it’s not looking good for women. Of the 7 films announced...
The NAACP Image Awards Nominations Ignore Ava DuVernay
Dear Nominators of the NAACP Image Awards: With all due respect, what the fuck were you thinking? It's 6am here on the east coast and I am finally getting to read the nominations for the 44th...
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics and AFI Announce Picks of 2012
We are officially in the center of awards season and yesterday both the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association and the American Film Institute announced their winners in film (AFI also...
Variety Announces 10 Directors and Screenwriters to Watch, 4 are Women
Variety announced 10 directors and screenwriters to watch for the upcoming year. Out of the 20, 4 women were included, 2 for each. The directors will be profiled in the January 3rd issue of...
UK’s Women in Film and Television Awards Honors 15 Women
At the U.K.’s 22nd annual Women in Film and Television Awards, fifteen women were honored from all aspects of television and film. Amongst the winners were Clare Balding, a sports presenter,...
Interview with Nancy Buirski – Director of The Loving Story
The Loving Story is a powerful and beautifully wrought film about two people – Richard and Mildred Loving – who just wanted to be married and live in their home state of Virginia. ...
Zero Dark Thirty Wins Big with the National Board of Review
Kathryn Bigelow is on a roll. After receiving Best Director, Best Film and Best Cinematography (for Greig Fraser) for Zero Dark Thirty from the New York Film Critics Circle on Monday, the film...
Sarah Polley, Deepa Mehta, Nisha Pahuja Named to the Top 10 Films of Canada
Canada’s 12th Annual Top 10 Film list was announced this week. Films by Sarah Polley, Deepa Mehta and Nisha Pahuja were included on the list. TIFF will screen the films in Toronto from...
AFI Review: The Central Park Five – Co-Directed by Sarah Burns and West of Memphis – Directed by Amy Berg
Los Angeles’ AFI Film Festival gave me the chance to see two documentary films directed by women: The Central Park Five co-directed by Sarah Burns, Ken Burns and David McMahon and West of...
Jane Campion and Naomi Foner Included in Sundance Premieres Lineup
Sundance announced the films in their Premieres and Documentary Premieres categories. With films directed by Jane Campion and Naomi Foner amongst many women-centric films and a documentary...
3 of 15 Documentaries on Oscar Shortlist Directed by Women
Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences released the 15 films on the short list in the Documentary feature category for this year’s Oscars. Only three films on the shortlist are...
Kathryn Bigelow Becomes First Woman to Win Two Best Director Nods from New York Film Critics Circle
Yesterday, the New York Film Critics Circle, a group of 35 critics (but just 8 women) named Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty the best film of the year. Bigelow also picked up the best...
Sight & Sound’s Best of 2012 Includes No Women Directed Films
Sight & Sound released their Best of 2012 list over the weekend. In similar fashion to the summer rage over the update of their top 50 list and then the expansion of that to 250 films,...
Jennifer Lee Named Director of Disney’s Frozen
Last week, Disney announced that Jennifer Lee, writer of the hit Wreck-It Ralph, will be co-directing their 53rd full length animated feature film, Frozen. Lee will become the 2nd woman to helm...
Interview with Liz Garbus – Director of Love, Marilyn
Liz Garbus takes a well worn subject — Marilyn Monroe — and brings a whole new substance and understanding to this woman through her own words. Using material that has never before...
The Hollywood Reporter’s Director Roundtable Omits Women
Yesterday was a good day with the Sundance numbers news. But we were reminded not to get overexcited about those numbers since women directors only made up 17% of the worldwide competition and...