Weekly Update for December 8: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

I, Tonya (Opens in NY and LA)

Based on the unbelievable but true events, “I, Tonya” is a darkly comedic tale of American figure skater Tonya Harding and one of the most sensational scandals in sports history. Though Harding (Margot Robbie) was the first American woman to complete a triple axel in competition, her legacy was forever defined by her association with an infamous, ill-conceived, and even more poorly executed attack on fellow Olympic competitor Nancy Kerrigan. “I, Tonya” is an absurd, irreverent, and piercing portrayal of Harding’s life and career in all of its unchecked — and checkered — glory. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

The Rape of Recy Taylor (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Nancy Buirski (Opens in LA; Opens in NY December 15)

Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator, Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Nancy Buirski here.

Find screening info here.

Hollow in the Land

With her father in jail and her mother having left when she was young, Alison Miller (Dianna Agron) is the matriarch of the family and the one watching over her only sibling, Brandon (Jared Abrahamson). But on the anniversary of their father’s crimes, their family is pushed to its limits: a dead man has been found in a trailer park and Brandon is missing. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

D-Love — Directed by Elena Beuca

A couple with longstanding marital issues lands at LAX after a getaway in Europe. For a few years now, Stefania (Elena Beuca) has been working a job she detests and Dan (Dave Rogers) hasn’t worked at all. Their palpable strain is only made worse when a Danish vagabond (Ditlev Dharmakaya), asks for a ride to the busiest freeway in Los Angeles. Stefania doesn’t want to have anything to do with the wanderer, but Dan — much to his wife’s horror — offers to bring this total stranger to their home. Through Stefania’s eyes, “D-Love” invites you on a three day journey, to view and discover that change doesn’t always come in the package that we want or expect. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

The Shape of Water — Co-Written by Vanessa Taylor
The Tribes of Palos Verdes — Written by Karen Croner
Love Beats Rhymes — Written by Nicole Jefferson Asher
Daisy Winters — Written and Directed by Beth LaMure
The Dancer — Directed by Stéphanie Di Giusto; Written by Stéphanie Di Giusto and Sarah Thiebaud
32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide (Documentary) — Directed by Hope Litoff
Inoperable
Kepler’s Dream — Directed by Amy Glazer; Co-Written by Amy Glazer and Sylvia Brownrigg
Slumber
Drawing Home — Co-Written by Donna Logan
Rosa Chumbe
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Documentary) — 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)
I Am Not a Witch — Written and Directed by Rungano Nyoni (UK)
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
Friend Request
Leap! — Co-Written by Carol Noble
The Teacher
Lost in Paris — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Fiona Gordon

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

Arthur Miller: Writer (Documentary) — Directed by Rebecca Miller (Opens in NY and LA)

Rebecca Miller’s film is a portrait of her father, his times and insights, built around impromptu interviews shot over many years in the family home. This celebration of the great American playwright is quite different from what the public has ever seen. It is a close consideration of a singular life shadowed by the tragedies of the Red Scare and the death of Marilyn Monroe; a bracing look at success and failure in the public eye; an honest accounting of human frailty; a tribute to one artist by another. “Arthur Miller: Writer” invites you to see how one of America’s sharpest social commentators formed his ideologies, how his life reflected his work, and, even in some small part, shaped the culture of our country in the 20th century. (Press materials)

Just Within Reach — Co-Written and Directed by Anna Bamberger

Grace and Vincent (Estella Warren and Geoff Reeves) are beautiful, young, and married, but are forced to engage in underground illegal activities in an attempt to keep their family business and marriage alive. Struggling with the pressures of wealth and social recognition, the innocent couple and their best friend Mike (Alex Cubis) will soon all surrender to the burdens of prosperity and success. (Press materials)

Company Town (Documentary) — Directed by Natalie Kottke-Masocco and Erica Sardarian (Opens in LA)

“How many people have to die in Crossett, AR in order to have one job?” This question is at the heart of “Company Town,” a groundbreaking, investigative film that tells of story of Pastor David Bouie’s journey to save his hometown, and the whistleblower who steps forward with a damning revelation: a massive cover up was made to obscure the 45 million gallons of wastewater that Georgia-Pacific dumps into the Ouachita River every day. (Press materials)

Interior Teresa (Short) — Written and Directed by Meredith Alloway (Available on Girls in Film)

“Interior Teresa” is a modern-day re-imagining of St. Teresa of Avila. It centers on Teresa (Kara Young) and Major (Jake Cannavale), two teenagers who both don’t really know how they feel about God, especially Teresa, who’s started having strange spiritual visions. When they meet on a Sunday afternoon, both stuck cleaning the church sanctuary, they start to find common ground. Teresa hooks up with dudes while Major quells his problems with booze. They spend the afternoon opening up about their experiences with religion and sex. As the day progresses, both move toward their own epiphanies, encompassing their vices and also the free price of love. (Press materials)

Miss Kiet’s Children (Documentary) — Written and Co-Directed by Petra Lataster-Czisch (Opens December 13)

Kiet Engels is the kind of teacher one wishes every child could have. Many of Miss Kiet’s pupils are refugees who have just arrived in Holland. Everything is new and confusing. Some are quarrelsome and headstrong. But Miss Kiet’s firm but loving hand brings calm and awakens interest. By observation alone, without interviews or voice-over, the film focuses on four refugee children of different nationalities. Pursuing their perspective, the camera follows at close hand their struggles to learn a new language, their fights, their friendships, and their first loves. (Press materials)

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Badsville — Directed by April Mullen
The White King — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Alex Helfrecht
Bill Frisell: A Portrait (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Emma Franz
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

None.

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

Gwen Stefani’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas (Variety Special) (Premieres December 12 on NBC)

“Gwen Stefani’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas” is a modern take on the traditional Christmas specials that we all grew up with and love. Featuring musical performances and fun holiday sketches, this one-hour primetime special will capture Stefani’s infectious spirit and iconic style. It will take her accessible joie de vivre and the love in her heart and share it with audiences around the country. (Press materials)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

The Doll — Written and Directed by Susannah O’Brien (VOD, December 8)
Behind the Curtain: Todrick Hall (Documentary) — Directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright (VOD, December 12)
Detroit — Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (VOD/DVD, December 12)
Home Again — Written and Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer (VOD/DVD, December 12)
Kingsman: The Golden Circle — Co-Written by Jane Goldman (VOD/DVD, December 12)
Ma’ Rosa (DVD, December 12)
The Unknown Girl (VOD/DVD, December 12)
Viceroy’s House — Directed by Gurinder Chadha; Co-Written by Moira Buffini (VOD/DVD, December 12)

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