Weekly Update for December 15: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Rey (Daisy Ridley) develops her newly discovered abilities with the guidance of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who is unsettled by the strength of her powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares to do battle with the First Order. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Permanent — Written and Directed by Colette Burson (Also Available on VOD)

Set in 1982 small-town Virginia, “Permanent” centers around 13-year-old Aurelie Dixon (Kira McLean) and her parents Jeanne and Jim (Patricia Arquette and Rainn Wilson). In this hilariously awkward and unique telling of a hairstyle gone wrong, the Dixons are struggling through major life changes together all the while trying desperately to emerge intact on the other side. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Soufra (Documentary) (Opens in NY)

“Soufra” follows the inspirational story of intrepid social entrepreneur Mariam Shaar — a refugee who has spent her entire life in the 69-year-old Burl El Barajneh refugee camp south of Beirut, Lebanon. The film chronicles Mariam and a diverse team of fellow refugee women from throughout the Middle East as they set out to change their fate by launching a catering company, “Soufra,” and then expanding its reach — thanks to an astonishing Kickstarter campaign — outside the camp with a food truck business. Together, they heal the wounds of war through the unifying power of food while taking their future into their own hands. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Christmas Inheritance — Written by Dinah Eng (Available on Netflix)

Before ambitious heiress Ellen Langford (Eliza Taylor) can inherit her father’s gift business, she must deliver a special Christmas card to her dad’s former partner in Snow Falls, the hometown she never knew. When a snowstorm strands her at the town inn, she’s forced to work for her keep, and in the process, finds romance and discovers the true gift of Christmas. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

D-Love — Directed by Elena Beuca
Hollow in the Land
The Rape of Recy Taylor (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Nancy Buirski
I, Tonya
The Shape of Water — Co-Written by Vanessa Taylor
The Tribes of Palos Verdes — Written by Karen Croner
Kepler’s Dream — Directed by Amy Glazer; Co-Written by Amy Glazer and Sylvia Brownrigg
Drawing Home — Co-Written by Donna Logan
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Alexandra Dean
The Breadwinner — Directed by Nora Twomey; Written by Anita Doron and Deborah Ellis
Big Sonia (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Leah Warshawski
On the Beach at Night Alone
Thelma
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Lady Bird — Written and Directed by Greta Gerwig
The Light of the Moon — Written and Directed by Jessica M. Thompson
A Bad Moms Christmas
Mansfield 66/67 (Documentary)
Félicité — Co-Written by Delphine Zingg
The Divine Order — Written and Directed by Petra Volpe
Novitiate — Written and Directed by Margaret Betts
Tragedy Girls
Jane (Documentary)
Happy Death Day
The Florida Project
My Little Pony: The Movie — Co-Written by Meghan McCarthy and Rita Hsiao
Chavela (Documentary) — Directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi
Battle of the Sexes — Co-Directed by Valerie Faris
Victoria & Abdul
Leap! — Co-Written by Carol Noble
The Teacher

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

Killing for Love (Documentary) — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Karin Steinberger (Opens in NY and LA) (Also Available on VOD)

March 30, 1985: Derek and Nancy Haysom are discovered brutally murdered at their home in Lynchburg, Virginia. The subsequent arrest and conviction of the couple’s daughter Elizabeth, a wealthy scholarship student at the University of Virginia, and her boyfriend Jens Soering, the brilliant son of a German diplomat, set off a media frenzy, becoming the first trial of its kind to be nationally televised. But what if the justice system got it all wrong? This gripping true crime tale untangles the web of romantic obsession and betrayal that may have led an innocent man to make the ultimate sacrifice for love: taking the fall for a murder he didn’t commit. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Spent — Written and Directed by Lisa Mikitarian (Opens in LA)

Poor Herbert…if only the brain tumor had killed him. A wife and son live it up while their miser-rat of a husband/father (Nick Nerangis) lies in a hospital bed — death by brain tumor imminent. It’s all fun and games until he experiences a miraculous Fourth of July recovery. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Miss Kiet’s Children (Documentary) — Written and Co-Directed by Petra Lataster-Czisch
Company Town (Documentary) — Directed by Natalie Kottke-Masocco and Erica Sardarian
Just Within Reach — Co-Written and Directed by Anna Bamberger
Arthur Miller: Writer (Documentary) — Directed by Rebecca Miller
The White King — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Alex Helfrecht
Bill Frisell: A Portrait (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Emma Franz
Rebels on Pointe (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Bobbi Jo Hart
The Party — Written and Directed by Sally Potter (UK)
Faces Places (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Agnès Varda
Loving Vincent — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Dorota Kobiela
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (Documentary) — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Catherine Bainbridge

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

“The Greatest Showman”: Niko Tavernise/20th Century Fox

The Greatest Showman — Co-Written by Jenny Bicks (Opens December 20)

Inspired by the imagination of P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman), “The Greatest Showman” is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

The Soul of Success: The Jack Canfield Story (Documentary) — Written by Emily Hache (Opens in LA)

“The Soul of Success” follows the extraordinary and transformative life and career of Jack Canfield, world renowned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and best-selling author of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series of books. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

The Man Who Invented Christmas — Written by Susan Coyne
Song of Granite — Co-Written by Sharon Whooley
Let There Be Light — Co-Written by Sam Sorbo
Kingsman: The Golden Circle — Co-Written by Jane Goldman

TV Premieres This Week

Morocco to Timbuktu: An Arabian Adventure (Documentary Miniseries) (Premieres December 18 on Acorn TV)

Alice Morrison, Arabist and explorer, journeys beneath the veil along Africa’s infamous salt roads from Morocco via the Sahara Desert to the legendary city of Gold, Timbuktu. (Press materials)

Supergirl (Documentary) — Directed by Jessie Auritt (Premieres December 18 on PBS)

When Naomi Kutin, an Orthodox Jewish girl from New Jersey, broke a world power-lifting record at the age of 10 — lifting 215 pounds when she herself weighed only 97 pounds — she quickly became a media sensation, earning the nickname “Supergirl.” This fascinating, intimate portrait follows her unique coming-of-age story as she fights to hold on to her title while navigating the perils of adolescence — from strict religious obligations to cyberbullying to health issues that could jeopardize her future as an athlete. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Jessie Auritt.

15: A Quinceañera Story (Documentary Miniseries) — Co-Created and Co-Directed by Thalía Sodi (Premieres December 19 on HBO)

A collection of four short documentary films following five Latina girls all observing the traditional rite of passage of the quinceañera, a celebration of their 15th birthdays. The documentaries chronicle the girls and their families as they navigate the complexities of coming of age in the U.S. (Press materials)

The Indian Detective (Miniseries) — Co-Created by Smita Bhide (Premieres December 19 on Netflix)

A Toronto police officer (Russell Peters) investigates a murder while visiting his father in India. (Press materials)

The Family I Had (Documentary) — Directed by Katie Green and Carlye Rubin (Premieres December 21 on ID)

A single mother attempts to cope with a horrific crime committed by her son in this true-crime documentary. Charity Lee opens up about the 2007 crime — the murder of her daughter Ella by her son Paris — and her relationship with the now-incarcerated Paris. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Katie Green and Carlye Rubin.

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