Weekly Update for February 23: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

Annihilation

After her husband disappears, a biologist (Natalie Portman) signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition in an environmental disaster zone where the laws of nature don’t apply. The expedition team is made up of the biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, a surveyor, and a linguist. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, and Oscar Isaac also star. (Press materials)

Find screening info and tickets here.

Half Magic — Written and Directed by Heather Graham (Also Available on VOD)

Three women (Heather Graham, Stephanie Beatriz, and Angela Kinsey) use their newly formed sisterhood to fight against sexism and low self-esteem. Through embracing their wild adventures, they learn the secret to ultimate fulfillment. (Press materials)

Dark River — Written and Directed by Clio Barnard (Opens in the UK)

Following the death of her father, Alice (Ruth Wilson) returns home to Yorkshire for the first time in 15 years to claim the tenancy of the family farm she believes is rightfully hers. Once there she encounters her older brother, Joe (Mark Stanley), a man she barely recognizes, worn down by years of struggling to keep the farm going whilst caring for their sick father. Joe is thrown by Alice’s sudden arrival, angered by her claim, and finds her presence increasingly impossible to deal with. Battling to regain control in a fraught and fragile situation, Alice must confront traumatic memories and family betrayals to find a way to restore the farm and salvage the bond with her brother before both are irrevocably lost. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Clio Barnard.

Hannah

“Hannah” is the intimate portrait of a woman’s loss of identity as she teeters between denial and reality. Left alone grappling with the consequences of her husband’s imprisonment, Hannah (Charlotte Rampling) begins to unravel. Through the exploration of her fractured sense of identity and loss of self-control, the film investigates modern day alienation, the struggle to connect, and the dividing lines between individual identity, personal relationships, and societal pressures. (Press materials)

Finding Your Feet — Co-Written by Meg Leonard (Opens in the UK)

On the eve of retirement a middle class, judgmental snob (Imelda Staunton) discovers her husband has been having an affair with her best friend and is forced into exile with her bohemian sister, who lives at an impoverished inner-city council estate. (Press materials)

Broken Ceiling

When Angela Walker (Karan Kendrick) is passed over for yet another promotion, she decides she’s going to have to break through the invisible corporate barriers once and for all. (Press materials)

Curvature (Also Available on VOD)

A scientist (Lyndsy Fonseca) must break into a top-secret facility in order to travel back in time and prevent a murder after receiving a mysterious phone call from herself. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

November

Based on Andrus Kivirähk’s novel “Rehepapp,” “November” is set in a pagan Estonian village where werewolves, the plague, and spirits roam. A young farm girl named Liina (Rea Lest) is hopelessly and forlornly in love with a village boy named Hans (Jörgen Liik). Estonian pagan and European Christian mythologies come together in this film. Both mythologies look for a miracle, for an ancient force that gives one a soul. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

The Boy Downstairs — Written and Directed by Sophie Brooks
The Housemaid (Also Available on VOD)
The Silent Child (Short) — Written by Rachel Shenton
Heroin(e) (Short Documentary) — Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon
Traffic Stop (Short Documentary) — Directed by Kate Davis
Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405 (Short Documentary)
The Scent of Rain & Lightning
A Wish for Giants
The Female Brain — Directed by Whitney Cummings; Co-Written by Whitney Cummings and Louann Brizendine (Also Available on VOD)
La Boda de Valentina — Co-Written by Issa López
Double Lover
Tehran Taboo
Winchester
A Fantastic Woman
Please Stand By
Like Me
Mary and the Witch’s Flower — Co-Written by Riko Sakaguchi
Mama Africa: Miriam Makeba (Documentary)
Ridge Runners
The Post — Co-Written by Liz Hannah
Proud Mary
Vazante — Co-Written and Directed by Daniela Thomas
Pitch Perfect 3 — Directed by Trish Sie; Co-Written by Kay Cannon
In the Fade
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Insidious: The Last Key
In Between — Written and Directed by Maysaloun Hamoud
Molly’s Game
I, Tonya
The Shape of Water — Co-Written by Vanessa Taylor
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
Thelma
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Lady Bird — Written and Directed by Greta Gerwig
Jane (Documentary)
The Florida Project

Films Directed By Women Opening This Week

None.

Films Directed By Women Currently Playing

The Party — Written and Directed by Sally Potter
Western — Written and Directed by Valeska Grisebach
Negative Space (Short Animation) — Co-Directed by Ru Kuwahata
Watu Wote: All of Us (Short) — Directed by Katja Benrath; Written by Julia Drache
Edith + Eddie (Short Documentary) — Directed by Laura Checkoway
Forever My Girl — Written and Directed by Bethany Ashton Wolf
Faces Places (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Agnès Varda
Loving Vincent — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Dorota Kobiela

Films Written By Women Opening This Week

None.

Films Written By Women Currently Playing

The 15:17 to Paris — Written by Dorothy Blyskal
Before We Vanish — Co-Written by Sachiko Tanaka
The Insult — Co-Written by Joëlle Touma
The Greatest Showman — Co-Written by Jenny Bicks

TV Premieres This Week

“Seven Seconds”: David Giesbrecht/Netflix

Seven Seconds — Created by Veena Sud; Co-Written by Evangeline Ordaz and Francesca Sloane (Premieres February 23 on Netflix)

In an instant, life is forever changed for Brenton Butler and his family. After a white cop accidentally hits and critically injures a black teenager, a northeastern city explodes with racial tensions, an attempted cover up and its aftermath, and the trial of the century. KJ Harper (Clare-Hope Ashitey), a black assistant prosecutor assigned to the incident grapples with the weight of the case and what it will mean to bring justice not only for Brenton, but for the Black community. KJ works closely with the teen’s mother Latrice Butler (Regina King), who realizes there may be more to her son than she and her husband (Russell Hornsby) were aware of, and becomes consumed with finding out what happened. (Press materials)

Notes from the Field (TV Movie) — Directed by Kristi Zea; Written by Anna Deavere Smith (Premieres February 24 on HBO)

Tony and Pulitzer Prize nominee Anna Deavere Smith brings her acclaimed one-woman show of the same name to the screen. The HBO Film presentation dramatizes accounts of students, parents, teachers, and administrators caught in America’s school-to-prison pipeline, which pushes underprivileged, minority youth out of the classroom and into incarceration. (Press materials)

Good Girls — Created by Jenna Bans (Premieres February 26 on NBC)

When three suburban moms (Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman) get tired of trying to make ends meet, they decide it’s time to stick up for themselves by robbing the local grocery store. But when the manager catches a glimpse of one of them and the loot is far more than they expected, it doesn’t take long for the three best friends to realize the perfect getaway will be harder than they think. (Press materials)

Ackley Bridge (Premieres February 26 on Acorn TV)

Ackley Bridge is a Yorkshire mill town, home to largely divided white and Asian populations. Like the communities, the school systems have also become segregated. However as two formerly isolated comprehensives are merged into a brand new academy, Ackley Bridge College, the lives and cultures of each are set to collide, which causes plenty of problems for headmistress Mandy Carter (Jo Joyner). (Press materials)

Shoot the Messenger — Co-Created by Jennifer Holness (Premieres February 26 on WGN America)

A gritty political-crime thriller that centers on the complex relationships between crime reporters and the police, “Shoot the Messenger” follows Daisy Channing (Elyse Levesque), a young reporter trying to balance a messy personal life with a burgeoning career. Things begin to go sideways for Daisy when she witnesses a murder she thinks is gang related, only to find herself slowly drawn into an interconnected web of criminal and illicit sexual activity that reaches into the corridors of corporate and political power. It’s the kind of story that will destroy lives, including those of her own family. (Press materials)

Jonestown: The Women Behind the Massacre (Documentary Special) (Premieres February 26 on A&E)

“Jonestown: The Women Behind The Massacre” focuses on four women in Jim Jones’ inner circle who helped plan the 1978 Jonestown Massacre: Jones’ wife Marceline Jones and mistresses Carolyn Layton, Maria Katsaris, and Annie Moore. Drawing on exclusive interviews with Jonestown survivors and family members, including Jones’ biological son, as well as never-before-seen archival footage, photos, audio recordings, and the women’s personal letters, the documentary gives an intimate look into their roles within The People’s Temple from its earliest days in Indiana to its expansion into northern California and finally its disastrous end in the secluded jungle of Guyana. (Press materials)

Trouble No More (Documentary) — Directed by Jennifer Lebeau (Premieres February 26 on Cinemax)

“Trouble No More” consists of live footage of Bob Dylan performing gospel music during a 1980 tour. The film also features actor Michael Shannon in the part of evangelical preacher giving sermons that appear between songs throughout the film. (Press materials)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (VOD/DVD, February 27)
Let There Be Light — Co-Written by Sam Sorbo (VOD/DVD, February 27)

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