Weekly Update for July 28: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

Atomic Blonde

Oscar-winner Charlize Theron explodes into summer in “Atomic Blonde,” a breakneck action-thriller that follows MI6’s most lethal assassin through a ticking time bomb of a city simmering with revolution and double-crossing hives of traitors. The crown jewel of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service, Agent Lorraine Broughton (Theron) is equal parts spycraft, sensuality, and savagery, willing to deploy any of her skills to stay alive on her impossible mission. Sent alone into Berlin to deliver a priceless dossier out of the destabilized city, she partners with embedded station chief David Percival (James McAvoy) to navigate her way through the deadliest game of spies. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

The Incredible Jessica James (Available on Netflix)

Jessica Williams (“The Daily Show”) stars as a young, aspiring playwright in New York City who is struggling to get over a recent breakup. She is forced to go on a date with the recently divorced Boone, played by Chris O’Dowd (“Bridesmaids”), and the unlikely duo discover how to make it through the tough times in a social media obsessed post-relationship universe. Lakeith Stanfield (“Atlanta,” “Get Out”) and Noël Wells (“Master of None”) co-star. (Press materials)

Strange Weather — Written and Directed by Katherine Dieckmann (Also Available on VOD)

Academy Award winner Holly Hunter gets behind the wheel in this engrossing story of a woman’s quest for rectitude in the wake of harrowing loss. Steeped in a strong sense of place and peopled by convention-defying characters, Katherine Dieckmann’s “Strange Weather” draws you into its sultry Southern milieu and takes you on a backroads trek you won’t soon forget. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Katherine Dieckmann.

From the Land of the Moon — Co-Written and Directed by Nicole Garcia

In 1950s France, Gabrielle (Marion Cotillard) is a passionate, free-spirited woman in a loveless marriage, and falls for another man when she is sent away to the Alps to treat her kidney stones. Gabrielle yearns to free herself and run away with André (Louis Garrel). (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

It Stains the Sands Red

In the throes of a zombie apocalypse, Molly (Brittany Allen) — a troubled woman from Las Vegas with a dark past — finds herself stranded in the desert with a lone and ravenous zombie on her tail (Juan Riedinger). Easily able to outpace her un-dead pursuer at first, things quickly become a nightmare when it dawns on her that the zombie will never need to stop and rest. This is the epic story of one woman’s journey to outrun not only the immediate threat that follows her, but the demons who have chased her all her life. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Imperfections (Also Available on VOD)

Cassidy Harper (Virginia Kull) is a struggling actress sleeping on her mother’s couch (Marilu Henner) and grinding out auditions, fearing that any chance at stardom may have already passed her by. Desperate to save enough money to move to Hollywood, she takes a job working as a runner for her mother’s boyfriend (Ed Begley Jr.), an importer in Chicago’s diamond district. When she realizes the money is trickling in too slowly for her to put a stake together, she conspires with the owner’s son (Ashton Holmes) to stage a robbery and keep the diamonds — using her former boyfriend (Zach McGowan) as the fall guy. Their hare-brained scheme only gets more complicated when she realizes she’s still in love with her volatile ex. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Films About Women Currently Playing

Women Who Kill — Written and Directed by Ingrid Jungermann
Kékszakállú
The Girl Without Hands
Scales: Mermaids Are Real
The Untamed
The Midwife
Landline — Directed by Gillian Robespierre; Written by Gillian Robespierre and Elisabeth Holm
Girls Trip — Co-Written by Tracy Oliver
Footnotes
Wish Upon — Written by Barbara Marshall
Birthright: A War Story (Documentary) — Directed by Civia Tamarkin; Written by Civia Tamarkin and Luchina Fisher
Lady Macbeth — Written by Alice Birch
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
The Beguiled — Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola
The Bad Batch — Written and Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour
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
Hidden Figures — Co-Written by Allison Schroeder

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

Detroit — Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Opens in Select Cities; Opens Wide August 4)

“Detroit” tells the gripping story of one of the darkest moments during the civil unrest that rocked Detroit in the summer of ’67. John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, and Algee Smith star. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Bonni Cohen

A decade after “An Inconvenient Truth” brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. Vice President Al Gore continues his tireless fight, traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy. Cameras follow him behind the scenes — in moments private and public, funny, and poignant — as he pursues the empowering notion that while the stakes have never been higher, the perils of climate change can be overcome with human ingenuity and passion. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Bonni Cohen.

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

500 Years (Documentary) — Directed by Pamela Yates
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (Documentary) — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Catherine Bainbridge
The Wrong Light (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Josie Swantek
False Confessions — Co-Directed by Marie-Louise Bischofberger
Swim Team (Documentary) Directed by Lara Stolman
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
Band Aid — Written and Directed by Zoe Lister-Jones (Also Available on VOD)
Obit. (Documentary) — Directed by Vanessa Gould

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

None.

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

The Fencer — Written by Anna Heinämaa
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
Smurfs: The Lost Village — Written by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon

TV Premieres This Week

Daughters of Destiny (Documentary Series) — Directed by Vanessa Roth (Premieres July 28 on Netflix)

“Daughters of Destiny” follows five young women, all of whom are past or current Shanti Bhavan students. Beginning with a depiction of the extreme poverty that each young woman faced throughout childhood, the docuseries recounts the ways in which Shanti Bhavan has equipped the young women with the education, mentorship, and supportive network needed to break out of the cycle of poverty. (Press materials)

Baroness von Sketch Show — Created by Aurora Brown, Meredith MacNeill, Carolyn Taylor, and Jennifer Whalen; Directed by Aleysa Young and Yael Stavv (Premieres August 2 on IFC)

Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne, and Jennifer Whalen star in this six episode series that takes a comedic look at our narcissistic contemporary culture. Fast paced and irreverent, “Baroness von Sketch Show” is a single-camera comedy, shot on location, that offers a witty take on everyday concerns. From the politics of ordering a coffee to entitled coworkers to open relationships, this satirical sketch show holds a funhouse mirror up to modern life. (Press materials)

The Sinner (Premieres August 2 on USA)

An eight episode close-ended series, “The Sinner” follows a young mother (Jessica Biel) who, when overcome by an inexplicable fit of rage, commits a startling act of violence and to her horror has no idea why. The event launches an inverted and utterly surprising crime thriller whose driving force is not the “who” or the “what” — but the “why” — as an investigator (Bill Pullman) finds himself obsessed with uncovering the woman’s buried motive. Together they travel a harrowing journey into the depths of her psyche and the violent secrets hidden in her past. (Press materials)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

Colossal (VOD/DVD, August 1)
Wakefield — Written and Directed by Robin Swicord (VOD/DVD, August 1)
The Drowning — Directed by Bette Gordon (DVD, August 1)
House on Willow Street — Co-Written by Catherine Blackman (DVD, August 1)
Good Fortune (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Rebecca Harrell Tickell (iTunes, August 1)
The Layover (VOD, August 3)

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