Weekly Update for July 14: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

To the Bone — Written and Directed by Marti Noxon (Available on Netflix)

Based on the real-life experiences of writer-director Marti Noxon, “To the Bone” shares the story of 20-year-old Ellen (Lily Collins) and her battle with anorexia. Ellen enters a group home run by an unconventional doctor (Keanu Reeves) where she and the other residents go on a sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing journey — navigating their addictions and finding the path to choosing life. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Marti Noxon.

Lady Macbeth — Written by Alice Birch

Rural England, 1865. Katherine (Florence Pugh) is stifled by her loveless marriage to a bitter man twice her age, whose family is cold and unforgiving. When she embarks on a passionate affair with a young worker on her husband’s estate, a force is unleashed inside her, so powerful that she will stop at nothing to get what she wants. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Birthright: A War Story (Documentary) — Directed by Civia Tamarkin; Written by Civia Tamarkin and Luchina Fisher (Opens in NY; Opens in LA July 28)

“Birthright: A War Story” is a feature length documentary that examines how women are being jailed, physically violated, and even put at risk of dying as a radical movement tightens its grip across America. The film tells the story of women who have become collateral damage in the aggressive campaign to take control of reproductive health care and to allow states, courts, and religious doctrine to govern whether, when, and how women will bear children. This is the real-life “Handmaid’s Tale.” (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Wish Upon — Written by Barbara Marshall

Twelve years after discovering her mother’s suicide, 17-year-old Clare Shannon (Joey King) is bullied in high school, embarrassed by her manic, hoarder father, Jonathan (Ryan Phillippe), and ignored by her longtime crush. All that changes when her father comes home with an old music box whose inscription promises to grant its owner seven wishes. While Clare is initially skeptical of this magic box, she can’t help but be seduced by its dark powers, and is thrilled as her life radically improves with each wish. Clare finally has the life she’s always wanted and everything seems perfect — until the people closest to her begin dying in violent and elaborate ways after each wish. Clare realizes that she must get rid of the box, but finds herself unable and unwilling to part with her new-and-improved life — leading her down a dark and dangerous path. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Footnotes

“Footnotes” is a whimsical and original musical comedy about Julie (Pauline Etienne), a young woman struggling to make ends meet in France’s radically changing economy. Living out of a backpack, Julie spends her days jumping from job to job until she’s finally offered a temporary stockroom position at a women’s luxury shoe factory. After making friends with the boss’ spunky receptionist Sophie (Julie Victor) and the ever-charming factory truck driver Samy (Olivier Chantreau), Julie thinks the hard times are behind her. But Julie’s dreams of stability collapse when management threatens to close down the factory. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Desert Hearts (Theatrical Re-Release) — Directed Donna Deitch; Written by Natalie Cooper (Opens July 19 in NY)

Based on Jane Rule’s 1964 novel, Donna Deitch’s narrative feature debut centers on a burgeoning lesbian romance between libertine casino worker Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau) and repressed university professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) in Reno, Nevada in the late 1950s, a climate wherein being queer was… complicated. Landmark in its positive portrayal of sapphic romance and celebrated for its passionate, sensual bedroom scenes that nearly fog the camera’s lens, Deitch’s vision for Cay and Vivian’s nuanced onscreen relationship explores the tension inherent in a sheltered woman accepting her newfound sexual self. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Films About Women Currently Playing

Bronx Gothic (Documentary) (Opens in LA July 28)
Austin Found — Written by Brenna Graziano (Also Available on VOD)
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
Reset
7 From Etheria (Anthology) — Written and Directed by Karen Lam, Heidi Lee Douglas, Arantxa Echevarria, Martha Goddard, Anna Elizabeth James, Barbara Stepansky, and Rebecca Thomson
The Beguiled — Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola
The Bad Batch — Written and Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour
Okja (Also Available on Netflix)
Souvenir (UK)
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
Past Life
Love, Kennedy
The Women’s Balcony — Written by Shlomit Nehama
Hermia & Helena
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
A Quiet Passion
Colossal
Beauty and the Beast
Hidden Figures — Co-Written by Allison Schroeder

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

False Confessions — Co-Directed by Marie-Louise Bischofberger (Opens in NY; Opens in LA July 21)

Isabelle Huppert commands the screen as Araminte, the wealthy widow who unwittingly hires the smitten Dorante (Louis Garrel) as her accountant. Secrets and lies accumulate as Dorante and his accomplice, Araminte’s manservant Dubois (Yves Jacques), manipulate not only the good-hearted Araminte, but also her friend and confidante, Marton (Manon Combes). Dorante, by turns pitiable and proficient, but always deferential to his social better, walks a fine line in his quest to arouse an equal desire in the object of his affections. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Swallows and Amazons — Directed by Philippa Lowthorpe; Written by Andrea Gibb

Four children dream of escaping the tedium of a summer holiday with their mother. When finally given permission to camp on their own on an island in the middle of a vast lake, they are overjoyed. But when they get there they discover they may not be alone… The battle for ownership of a lonely island teaches them the skills of survival, the value of friendship, and the importance of holding your nerve. (Press materials)

The Wrong Light (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Josie Swantek (Opens in NY; Opens in LA July 21)

In “The Wrong Light,” a charismatic activist leads a globally-regarded NGO that provides shelter and education for girls rescued from brothels in Northern Thailand. But as the filmmakers meet the girls and their families, discrepancies begin to emerge and the story takes an unexpected turn. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Julius Caesar (Filmed Stage Production) — Directed by Phyllida Lloyd (UK)
500 Years (Documentary) — Directed by Pamela Yates
The Rehearsal — Directed by Alison Maclean; Written by Alison Maclean and Emily Perkins
Swim Team (Documentary) Directed by Lara Stolman (Opens in LA July 21)
Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Laura Dunn
All the Rage (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Suki Hawley
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
Raising Bertie (Documentary) — Directed by Margaret Byrne
Band Aid — Written and Directed by Zoe Lister-Jones (Also Available on VOD)
Risk (Documentary) — Directed by Laura Poitras
Buster’s Mal Heart — Written and Directed by Sarah Adina Smith
Obit. (Documentary) — Directed by Vanessa Gould

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

Chasing Coral (Documentary) — Co-Written by Vickie Curtis (Available on Netflix)

Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers, and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world. (Press materials)

Blind — Co-Written by Diane Fisher

A novelist blinded in the car crash (Alec Baldwin) that killed his wife rediscovers his passion for both life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife (Demi Moore) of an indicted businessman (Dylan McDermott). (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

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
Champion — Written by Missy Reed and Sarah Inabnit
Smurfs: The Lost Village — Written by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon

TV Premieres This Week

Friends from College — Co-Created by Francesca Delbanco (Premieres July 14 on Netflix)

Twenty years after graduation a tight-knit group of college friends reconnects and discovers that love hasn’t gotten easier with age. Starring Keegan-Michael Key (“Key and Peele”), Cobie Smulders (“How I Met Your Mother”), Annie Parisse (“Person of Interest”), Nat Faxon (“Married”), Fred Savage (“The Grinder”), and Jae Suh Park (“Adam Ruins Everything”). (Press materials)

Remember Me (Miniseries) — Created and Written by Gwyneth Hughes (Premieres July 16 on PBS)

Tom Parfitt (Michael Palin) stages a fall in his eerie Yorkshire home in order to escape into residential care, which leads to a chilling and macabre mystery. This miniseries originally aired in 2014 in the UK. (Press materials)

Presenting Princess Shaw (Documentary) (Premieres July 17 on PBS)

By day, Samantha Montgomery cares for the elderly in New Orleans. By night, she writes and sings her own songs as Princess Shaw on her confessional YouTube channel. Little does she know that her fiery-red hair and soulful voice have captured the attention of a video artist 7,000 miles away on an Israeli kibbutz. In an unexpected musical mash-up, Princess Shaw finds herself at the center of a viral video hit by Israeli producer Ophir Kutiel, known as Kutiman on YouTube, whose video mixes of amateur YouTube performers have graced the halls of New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. (Press materials)

Aditi Mittal: Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say (Comedy Special) — Directed by Fazila Allana (Premieres July 18 on Netflix)

Trailblazing comic Aditi Mittal mixes topical stand-up with frank talk about being single, wearing thongs, and the awkwardness of Indian movie ratings. (Press materials)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

The Ring Cycle (Short) — Written and Directed by Erin Cramer (YouTube, Available Now)
Good Fortune (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Rebecca Harrell Tickell (DVD, July 14)
Buster’s Mal Heart — Written and Directed by Sarah Adina Smith (DVD, July 18)
Free Fire — Co-Written by Amy Jump (VOD/DVD, July 18)
Pray for Rain — Written by Christina Moore and Gloria Musca (DVD, July 18)
Tommy’s Honour — Co-Written by Pamela Marin (DVD, July 18)

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