Weekly Update for April 28: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

The Circle

When Mae (Emma Watson) is hired to work for the world’s largest and most powerful tech and social media company, she sees it as an opportunity of a lifetime. As she rises through the ranks, she is encouraged by the company’s founder, Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), to engage in a groundbreaking experiment that pushes the boundaries of privacy, ethics, and ultimately her personal freedom. Her participation in the experiment, and every decision she makes, begin to affect the lives and future of her friends, family, and that of humanity. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Below Her Mouth — Directed by April Mullen; Written by Stephanie Fabrizi

“Below Her Mouth” is a bold, uninhibited drama that begins with a passionate weekend affair between two women. Dallas (Erika Linder), a roofer, and Jasmine (Natalie Krill), a fashion editor, share a powerful and immediate connection that inevitably derails both of their lives. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with April Mullen.

Find tickets and screening info here.

Window Horses — Written and Directed by Ann Marie Fleming (Screening April 30 in LA)

Rosie Ming, a young Canadian poet, is invited to perform at a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran, but she’d rather be in Paris. She lives at home with her over-protective Chinese grandparents and has never been anywhere by herself. Once in Iran, she finds herself in the company of poets and Persians, all who tell her stories that force her to confront her past, the Iranian father she assumed abandoned her, and the nature of poetry itself. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Ann Marie Fleming.

Find screening info here.

Rupture

Renee Morgan (Noomi Rapace) is a single mom who is deathly terrified of spiders. While en route to meet up with a friend, she is violently abducted by a group of strangers. After enduring intense yet strange questioning and examinations, some about her fear of spiders, Renee soon discovers that she is now the subject of an underground experiment. Her captors explain to her that she has a genetic abnormality that can potentially allow her to “rupture” and reveal her alien nature, and Renee realizes she must find a way to escape before it is too late. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Voice from the Stone (Also Available on VOD)

Set in 1950s Tuscany, “Voice from the Stone” is the haunting and suspenseful story of Verena (Emilia Clarke), a solemn nurse drawn to aid a young boy (Edward Dring) who has fallen silent since the sudden passing of his mother. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Danger Close (Documentary) — Co-Written by Alex Quade

Freelance war reporter Alex Quade covers U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) on highly classified combat missions. Since 2001, she has embedded with elite SOF, including the U.S. Army Special Forces or Green Berets, Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, and CIA clandestine operatives to tell their stories from the front lines. “Danger Close” follows Alex as she lives alongside these highly trained forces on some of the most daring missions ever documented in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

A Moving Image (Opens in London; Opens in Wider Release May 5)

Tanya Fear (“Kick-Ass 2”) stars as Nina, a young artist, who returns to her community after a long absence, and soon questions whether she is part of the problem of gentrification that she witnesses around her. As she struggles with her own complicity, she embarks on a mission to create a piece of art that can bring her community together. The film follows her journey, and fact and fiction merge as the lives of real Brixton residents affected by gentrification are brought into focus. (Press materials)

Displacement (Opens in LA) (Also Available on VOD)

A young physics student (Courtney Hope) must find a way to reverse a deadly quantum time anomaly and solve the murder of her boyfriend (Christopher Backus) while battling short-term memory loss and time slips caused by the event. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Nise: The Heart of Madness — Co-Written by Flávia Castro, Maria Camargo, Chris Alcazar, and Patrícia Andrade

Upon getting out of prison, Dr. Nise da Silveira (Glória Pires) goes back to work at a psychiatric hospital in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro and refuses to use electroshock therapy or lobotomy to treat schizophrenic patients. Outcast by the doctors, she is left to take over the abandoned Occupational Therapy Department, where she begins a revolution guided by love, art, and madness. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

Noor — Co-Written by Ishita Moitra Udhwani, Althea Kaushal, and Shikhaa Sharma
Letters from Baghdad (Documentary) — Directed by Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum (UK)
Citizen Jane: Battle for the City (Documentary)
Unforgettable — Directed by Denise Di Novi; Co-Written by Christina Hodson
A Quiet Passion
Maudie — Directed by Aisling Walsh; Written by Sherry White (Canada)
The Outcasts — Written by Dominique Ferrari and Suzanne Wrubel (Also Available on VOD)
Colossal
Their Finest — Directed by Lone Scherfig; Written by Gaby Chiappe
The Zookeeper’s Wife — Directed by Niki Caro; Written by Angela Workman
Ghost in the Shell
All This Panic (Documentary) — Directed by Jenny Gage
God Knows Where I Am (Documentary)
The Levelling — Written and Directed by Hope Dickson Leach
Beauty and the Beast
A Woman, a Part — Written and Directed by Elisabeth Subrin
Personal Shopper
Raw — Written and Directed by Julia Ducournau
The Women’s Balcony — Written by Shlomit Nechama
Before I Fall — Directed by Ry-Russo Young; Written by Maria Maggenti
The Last Word
Sophie and the Rising Sun — Written and Directed by Maggie Greenwald (Also Available on VOD)
Lovesong — Co-Written and Directed by So Yong Kim
The Lure — Directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska
20th Century Women
Hidden Figures — Co-Written by Allison Schroeder
Toni Erdmann — Written and Directed by Maren Ade
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Julieta
Jackie
Moana — Co-Written by Pamela Ribon
The Eagle Huntress

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

Buster’s Mal Heart — Written and Directed by Sarah Adina Smith

In this bold thriller peppered with dark humor and interlocking mystery, an eccentric mountain man is on the run from the authorities, surviving the winter by breaking into empty vacation homes in a remote community. Regularly calling into radio talk shows — where he has acquired the nickname “Buster” — to rant about the impending Inversion at the turn of the millennium, he is haunted by visions of being lost at sea, and memories of his former life as a family man. Buster (Rami Malek) was once Jonah, a hard-working husband and father whose job as the night-shift concierge at a hotel took its toll on his psyche and, consequently, his marriage to the sensitive Marty (Kate Lyn Sheil) — until a chance encounter with a conspiracy-obsessed drifter (DJ Qualls) changed the course of their lives forever. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Sarah Adina Smith.

Find tickets and screening info here.

Mr. Chibbs (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Jill Campbell (Opens in NY May 3)

Ten years after retirement from a career as a professional athlete, Kenny Anderson finds that basketball is easy, it’s life that’s hard. Still reeling from his mother’s death, the former New York City high-school prodigy and NBA All-Star loses a cherished coaching position, sending him into a midlife crisis. Facing his personal demons head-on, the charismatic Anderson must come to terms with his past in order to find a way forward. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Jill Campbell.

Find screening info here.

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Obit. (Documentary) — Directed by Vanessa Gould
The Penguin Counters (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Harriet Gordon Getzels
Tomorrow (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Mélanie Laurent
Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Lydia Tenaglia
Maurizio Cattelan: Be Right Back (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Maura Axelrod
Heal the Living — Co-Written and Directed by Katell Quillévéré
Alive and Kicking (Documentary) — Directed by Susan Glatzer; Written by Susan Glatzer and Heidi Zimmerman (Also Available on VOD)
Glory — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Kristina Grozeva
David Lynch: The Art Life (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Olivia Neergaard-Holm
The Prison — Written and Directed by Na Hyun
Cezanne and I — Written and Directed by Danièle Thompson
Karl Marx City (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Petra Epperlein
Viceroy’s House — Directed by Gurinder Chadha; Co-Written by Moira Buffini (UK)
Jasper Jones — Directed by Rachel Perkins (Australia)
The Last Laugh (Documentary) — Directed by Ferne Pearlstein
A United Kingdom — Directed by Amma Asante

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

Love Off the Cuff — Co-Written by Yee-sum Luk

In 2010, Jimmy (Shawn Yue) and Cherie (Miriam Chin Wah Yeung) fell in love in the back alleys of Hong Kong. In 2012, they each found a new love in a new city, but they ultimately chose to stay together. In 2017, Cherie and Jimmy will brave the stormy seas and save their relationship. Can Cherie and Jimmy overcome their seven-year itch? The path to finding out the answer is filled with laughs and tears. (Press materials)

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

The Promise — Co-Written by Robin Swicord
Free Fire — Co-Written by Amy Jump
Little Boxes — Written by Annie J. Howell (Also Available on VOD)
Tommy’s Honour — Co-Written by Pamela Marin
Smurfs: The Lost Village — Written by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon
A Dog’s Purpose — Written by Cathryn Michon
The Red Turtle — Co-written by Pascale Ferran

TV Premieres This Week

“Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner”

Cable Girls — Co-Created by Teresa Fernández-Valdéa and Gema R. Neira (Premieres April 28 on Netflix)

In 1920s Madrid, four women at the National Telephone Company ring in revolution as they manage romance, friendship, and the modern workplace. (Press materials)

Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (Comedy Special) — Hosted by Samantha Bee (Premieres April 29 on TBS)

Samantha Bee, noted purveyor of FAKE NEWS™, will host a gala affair, welcoming journalists and non-irritating celebrities from around the world. We suspect some members of the press may find themselves unexpectedly free that night, and we want to feed them and give them hugs. Though unrelated, Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner will happen at the exact same time as the official White House Correspondents’ Dinner. What an incredible coincidence. (Press materials)

Sexual Assault in College: Tamron Hall Investigates (Documentary Special) (Premieres April 30 on ID)

Tamron Hall sits down with two sexual assault survivors from the University of Minnesota and the University of Maryland to listen to their stories of survival, the aftermath of their attacks, and what they’re doing to reduce sexual assault on college campuses. “Sexual Assault in College” also features interviews with key activists and experts on the topic, including Democratic Senator Bob Casey, who led the Campus SaVE Act designed to help educate college students about relationship and sexual violence; Mahroh Jahangiri, executive director of Know Your IX, an organization dedicated to empowering students to end sexual violence; and Steven Healy, an expert on campus public safety who specializes in sexual violence. (Realscreen)

Warning: This Drug May Kill You (Documentary) — Directed by Perri Peltz (Premieres May 1 on HBO)

“Warning: This Drug May Kill You” takes an unflinching look at the devastating effects of opioid addiction in the U.S., profiling four families whose lives have been decimated by addictions that all began with legitimate prescriptions to dangerous painkillers. Through the personal and emotional stories of people on the front lines of this epidemic, the film sheds light on the struggles of ordinary people who were prescribed highly addictive opioid pain medications, which are often the gateway to a very similar opioid, heroin. Featuring home videos and photos that humanize this public health crisis, along with important statistics and information about opioid use and treatment, “Warning: This Drug May Kill You” is an eye-opening look at a terrifying epidemic that is devastating communities across this country, and the toll it has taken on its victims and their families. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Perri Peltz.

Jackson (Documentary) — Directed by Maisie Crow (Premieres May 2 on Showtime)

An intimate documentary look into the lives of three women caught up in the complex issues surrounding access to reproductive healthcare in the Deep South: Shannon Brewer, director of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi; Barbara Beaver, a leader of the anti-abortion movement, who runs the Center for Pregnancy Choices; and April Jackson, a young mother of four faced with another unplanned pregnancy. (Press materials)

Maria Bamford: Old Baby (Comedy Special) (Premieres May 2 on Netflix)

Maria Bamford performs a rapid-fire, playful stand-up set for crowds at park benches, bowling alleys, and LA theaters in this roving comedy special. (Press materials)

Truth & Iliza (Late-Night Talk Show) — Hosted by Iliza Schlesinger; Co-Executive Produced by Iliza Schlesinger, Kim Gamble, and Kara Baker (Premieres May 2 on Freeform)

Each episode of “Truth & Iliza” will center on a themed question that the host will try to answer using audience interaction, field pieces, commentary and, of course, jokes. Shlesinger will draw from her decade of stand-up experience to focus on the sociopolitical issues of the day, providing a forum for viewers to discuss everything from the necessary to the inane to the taboo. (Deadline)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

Blood on the Mountain (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Mari-Lynn Evans (Netflix, May 1)
Casting JonBenet (Documentary) — Directed by Kitty Green (Netflix, May 1)
Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table (Documentary) — Directed by Leslie Iwerks (Netflix, May 1)
Losing Sight of Shore (Documentary) — Directed by Sarah Moshman (Netflix, May 1)
A Dog’s Purpose — Co-Written by Cathryn Michon, Audrey Wells, and Maya Forbes (VOD/DVD, May 2)
The Red Turtle — Co-Written by Pascale Ferran (DVD, May 2)
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone — Written by Andrea Gyertson Nasfell (VOD/DVD, May 2)
Rings (VOD/DVD, May 2)

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