Weekly Update for January 24: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

FILMS ABOUT WOMEN OPENING

The Turning – Directed by Floria Sigismondi

Inspired by Henry James’ landmark novel, “The Turning” takes us to a mysterious estate in the Maine countryside, where newly appointed nanny Kate (Mackenzie Davis) is charged with the care of two disturbed orphans, Flora (Brooklynn Prince) and Miles (Finn Wolfhard). Quickly though, she discovers that both the children and the house are harboring dark secrets and things may not be as they appear.

Find screening info here.

Panga – Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

A forgotten kabaddi world champion who catalyzes an inner desire to give a new meaning to her existing role as a wife and mother makes an ingenious decision to come back to the sport, despite the age stereotypes and a new generation complexities. This creates upheaval in her life as she is torn between family responsibility and love for the sport.

Zombi Child (Opens in NY and Chicago)

“Zombi Child”

Haiti, 1962. A man is brought back from the dead only to be sent to the living hell of the sugarcane fields. In Paris, 55 years later, at a prestigious all-girls boarding school, Melissa (Wislanda Louimat), a young Haitian teenager, confesses an old family secret to a group of new friends — never imagining that this strange tale will convince a heartbroken classmate to do the unthinkable.

Find screening info here.

Beanpole (Opens in NY January 29)

“Beanpole”

In post-WWII Leningrad, two women, Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) and Masha (Vasilisa Perelygina), intensely bonded after fighting side by side as anti-aircraft gunners, attempt to re-adjust to a haunted world. As the film begins, Iya, long and slender and towering over everyone — hence the film’s title — works as a nurse in a shell-shocked hospital, presiding over traumatized soldiers. A shocking accident brings them closer and also seals their fates.

Find screening info here.

FILMS MADE BY WOMEN OPENING

Quezon’s Game – Written by Janice Y. Perez and Dean Rosen

In 1938, Filipino President Manuel Quezon (Raymond Bagatsing), future U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower, and several other notable figures set out to rescue Jewish refugees from the ghettos of Germany and Austria. What seems within their power at first turns out to be fraught with astronomical obstacles.

Find screening info here.

Color Out of Space – Written by Scarlett Amaris and Richard Stanley

After a meteorite lands in the front yard of their farm, Nathan Gardner (Nicolas Cage) and his family find themselves battling a mutant extraterrestrial organism as it infects their minds and bodies, transforming their quiet rural life into a technicolor nightmare.

Close Enemies – Written by Jeanne Aptekman and David Oelhoffen (Available on Netflix January 29)

Driss and Manuel are two childhood friends who end up taking opposite paths: Manuel (Matthias Schoenaerts) chooses to embrace the thug life, while Driss (Reda Kateb) becomes a cop. When Manuel’s biggest deal goes terribly wrong, the two men meet again and come to realize they both need each other to survive in their worlds.

TV PREMIERES

Shrill – Created by Aidy Bryant, Alexandra Rushfield, and Lindy West (Season 2 Premieres January 24 on Hulu)

“Shrill”

“Shrill” Season 2 kicks off with Annie (Aidy Bryant) at a crossroads. She has just quit her full-time job and is now trying to be a freelance writer. To say the journey has been humbling is an understatement. At least she has ambition, which cannot be said of her boyfriend, Ryan (Luka Jones). Annie confronts her troll, a poser who is frightened when a woman he harassed online actually dares to speak to him in real life. Yet that’s what Annie does, and it makes for a great story — but, as she finds out, writing it is not the key to her success. But her struggle for recognition is real and her commitment to claim her own power on her journey is something that everyone can relate to. As “Shrill” reminds us, life, for the most part, is not an upward trajectory — it’s highs and lows. Even though Annie is floundering, Bryant continues to shine in her lead performance. (Melissa Silverstein)

Who Will Write Our History (Documentary) – Written and Directed by Roberta Grossman (Premieres January 26 on Discovery)

“Who Will Write Our History”: Katahdin Production

In November 1940, days after the Nazis sealed 450,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, a secret band of journalists, scholars, and community leaders decided to fight back. Led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and known by the code name Oyneg Shabes, this clandestine group vowed to defeat Nazi lies and propaganda not with guns or fists, but with pen and paper. Now, for the first time, their story is told in the documentary “Who Will Write Our History.” Featuring the voices of Joan Allen and Adrian Brody, “Who Will Write Our History” mixes the writings of the Oyneg Shabes archive with new interviews, rarely seen footage, and stunning dramatizations to transport audiences inside the Ghetto and the lives of these courageous resistance fighters.