Weekly Update for August 11: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

The Glass Castle

Chronicling the adventures of an eccentric, resilient, and tight-knit family, “The Glass Castle” is a remarkable story of unconditional love. Oscar-winner Brie Larson brings Jeannette Walls’ best-selling memoir to life as a young woman who, influenced by the joyfully wild nature of her deeply dysfunctional father (Woody Harrelson), found the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Ingrid Goes West (Opens in NY and LA)

Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) is an unhinged social media stalker with a history of confusing “likes” for meaningful relationships. Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) is an Instagram-famous “influencer” whose perfectly curated, boho-chic lifestyle becomes Ingrid’s latest obsession. When Ingrid moves to LA and manages to insinuate herself into the social media star’s life, their relationship quickly goes from #BFF to #WTF. “Ingrid Goes West” is a savagely hilarious dark comedy that satirizes the modern world of social media and proves that being #perfect isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Planetarium — Co-Written and Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski

Sisters with the ability to communicate telepathically with ghosts (played by Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp) meet an influential film producer (Emmanuel Salinger) after traveling to France for a performance. (Press materials)

Annabelle: Creation

Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, who soon become the target of the dollmaker’s possessed creation, Annabelle. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Once Upon a Time

Based on the best-selling fantasy novel “Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms,” “Once Upon a Time” is a story of epic battles, deep passion, and the powerful forces that drive mortals and gods alike toward revenge, loyalty, and eternal love. Bai Qian (Yifei Liu), a goddess and monarch from the Heavenly Realms, is sent to the mortal world to undergo a trial to become a High Goddess. There, she meets Ye Hua (Yang Yang), with whom she falls in love and marries. When an old enemy reappears in her life, everything Bai Qian holds dear is threatened. (Press materials)

A Life in Waves (Documentary) (Also Available on VOD)

“A Life in Waves” explores the life and innovations of composer and electronic music pioneer Suzanne Ciani. From her earliest days learning the piano to her multi-million dollar advertising ventures to her successes in the world of New Age music to her recent re-connection with her beloved Buchla synthesizer, the film is a journey into Suzanne’s mind, offering a glimpse into the often complicated world of electronic music. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

In This Corner of the World — Co-Written by Chie Uratani (Opens in Limited Release)

Set in Hiroshima during World War II, 18-year-old girl Suzu (voiced by Rena Nounen) gets married and has to find a way to feed her family despite the rationing and lack of supplies. As she struggles with the daily loss of life’s amenities, Suzu must force herself to maintain the will to live. (Press materials)

Catastrópico

Things take a startling turn for Audrey Swanson (Brie Gabrielle), Hollywood’s most bankable actress, when she discovers she’s been targeted in an illicit conspiracy while shooting her latest blockbuster in the Caribbean. Marked for death by a skilled hitman (Jimmy Jean-Louis), the spoiled, high-maintenance superstar and her irritating assistant (Johnny Sky) have no choice but to join forces with their inept hijacker pilot (William Liriano), setting out on an unsought misadventure through the Dominican Republic. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

Kidnap
Fun Mom Dinner — Directed by Alethea Jones; Written by Julie Yaeger Rudd (Also Available on VOD)
Step (Documentary) — Directed by Amanda Lipitz
Atomic Blonde
From the Land of the Moon — Co-Written and Directed by Nicole Garcia
Women Who Kill — Written and Directed by Ingrid Jungermann
The Girl Without Hands
The Untamed
The Midwife
Landline — Directed by Gillian Robespierre; Written by Gillian Robespierre and Elisabeth Holm
Girls Trip — Co-Written by Tracy Oliver
Wish Upon — Written by Barbara Marshall
Lady Macbeth — Written by Alice Birch
Birthright: A War Story (Documentary) — Directed by Civia Tamarkin; Written by Civia Tamarkin and Luchina Fisher
The Little Hours
The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Documentary (Documentary)
Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge — Directed by Marie Noelle; Written by Marie Noelle and Andrea Stoll
The Beguiled — Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola
The Bad Batch — Written and Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour
Rough Night — Co-Written and Directed by Lucia Aniello
Maudie — Directed by Aisling Walsh; Written by Sherry White
47 Meters Down (Also Available on VOD)
Lost in Paris — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Fiona Gordon
Whitney: Can I Be Me (Documentary) (UK)
Megan Leavey — Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite; Co-Written by Pamela Gray and Annie Mumolo
Beatriz at Dinner
Moka
Wonder Woman — Directed by Patty Jenkins
Letters from Baghdad (Documentary) — Directed by Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum
Love, Kennedy
Hermia & Helena
The Women’s Balcony — Written by Shlomit Nehama
Everything, Everything — Directed by Stella Meghie
Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Linda Saffire
Snatched — Written by Katie Dippold
Paris Can Wait — Written and Directed by Eleanor Coppola
The Wedding Plan — Written and Directed by Rama Burshtein
Manifesto
Like Crazy — Co-Written by Francesca Archibugi
Hidden Figures — Co-Written by Allison Schroeder

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

Whose Streets? (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Sabaah Folayan (Opens in Limited Release)

Told by the activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, “Whose Streets?” is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising. When unarmed teenager Michael Brown is killed by police and left lying in the street for hours, it marks a breaking point for the residents of St. Louis, Missouri. Grief, long-standing racial tensions, and renewed anger bring residents together to hold vigil and protest this latest tragedy. Empowered parents, artists, and teachers from around the country come together as freedom fighters. As the National Guard descends on Ferguson with military grade weaponry, these young community members become the torchbearers of a new resistance. (Press materials)

Read Women & Hollywood’s interview with Sabaah Folayan.

Find screening info here.

The Farthest (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Emer Reynolds

It is one of humankind’s greatest achievements. More than 12 billion miles away a tiny spaceship is leaving our Solar System and entering the void of deep space — the first manmade object ever to do so. Dying within its heart is a nuclear generator that will beat for perhaps another decade before the lights on Voyager 1 finally go out. But this little craft will travel on for millions of years, carrying a Golden Record bearing recordings and images of life on Earth. In all likelihood, Voyager will outlast humanity. “The Farthest” celebrates these magnificent machines, the men and women who built them, and the vision that propelled them farther than anyone could ever have hoped. (Press materials)

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

“Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World”

Detroit — Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Bonni Cohen
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (Documentary) — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Catherine Bainbridge
False Confessions — Co-Directed by Marie-Louise Bischofberger
Swim Team (Documentary) — Directed by Lara Stolman
Pop Aye — Written and Directed by Kirsten Tan
Hare Krishna! The Mantra, The Movement and the Swami Who Started It All (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Jean Griesser and Lauren Ross
Band Aid — Written and Directed by Zoe Lister-Jones (Also Available on VOD)
Obit. (Documentary) — Directed by Vanessa Gould

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

None.

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

After Love — Co-Written by Fanny Burdino and Mazarine Pingeot
The Fencer — Written by Anna Heinämaa
13 Minutes — Co-Written by Léonie-Claire Breinersdorfer
The Big Sick — Co-Written by Emily V. Gordon
Cars 3 — Co-Written by Kiel Murray
Churchill — Written by Alex von Tunzelmann
Smurfs: The Lost Village — Written by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon

TV Premieres This Week

Atypical — Created by Robia Rashid; Written by Jen Regan and Ava Tramer (Premieres August 11 on Netflix)

When a teen on the autism spectrum (Keir Gilchrist) decides to get a girlfriend, his bid for more independence puts his whole family on a path of self-discovery. (Press materials)

True and the Rainbow Kingdom (Premieres August 11 on Netflix)

True and the Rainbow Kingdom follows eight-year-old True and her best friend, Bartleby the Cat, as they help the whimsical citizens of the Rainbow Kingdom, a wondrous, colorful universe filled with delightful and fantastical citizens. True is the only one with the ability to activate the magical powers of The Wishes of the wishing tree, solve problems in the Rainbow Kingdom, and empower viewers with her imagination, mindfulness, and empathy. (Press materials)

Diana: In Her Own Words (Documentary) (Premieres August 14 on National Geographic)

Princess Diana: Nick Parfjonov/Wikimedia Commons

Princess Diana lived her life in front of the cameras. Now, on the 20th anniversary of her untimely death in 1997, revisit her emotional journey from childhood through her rocky marriage to Prince Charles and subsequent emergence as the “People’s Princess.” This touching tribute relies solely on archival footage and recordings to explore her profound impact on the world and on the future of Britain’s monarchy. (Press materials)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

Fallen — Co-Written by Kathryn Price and Nichole Millard (VOD, Available Now)
Blind — Co-Written by Diane Fisher (DVD, August 15)
Bluebeard — Written and Directed by Soo-youn Lee (DVD, August 15)
Eva Hesse (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Marcie Begleiter (DVD, August 15)
Everything, Everything — Directed by Stella Meghie (VOD/DVD, August 15)
Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators (Documentary) — Directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki (VOD, August 15)
The Switch (TV Series) — Created by Amy Fox; Directed by Jem Garrard; Written by Wren Handman and Shevon Singh (VOD, August 15)

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