Films About Women Opening This Week
A Little Chaos — Co-Written by Alison Deegan
A drama following Sabine (Kate Winslet), a strong-willed and talented landscape designer who is chosen to build one of the main gardens at King Louis XIV’s new palace at Versailles. In her new position of power, she challenges gender and class barriers while also becoming professionally and romantically entangled with the court’s renowned landscape artist Andre Le Norte (Matthias Schoenaerts). (Press materials)
Find tickets to “A Little Chaos.”
What Happened, Miss Simone? (doc) — Directed by Liz Garbus (Also available on Netflix)
There couldn’t be a more painfully appropriate time for a documentary portrait of brilliant, troubled jazz musician and activist Nina Simone. I mean, her civil rights anthem “Mississippi Goddam,” with just a geographical tweaking, would play just as pointedly today. Read more. (Sara Stewart)
Read our interview with “What Happened, Miss Simone?” director Liz Garbus.
Find tickets to “What Happened, Miss Simone?”
Felt — Co-Written by Amy Everson
Amy (Amy Everson) is hanging on by a thread. Struggling to cope with past sexual trauma and the daily aggressions of a male-dominated society, she creates grotesquely costumed alter-egos that reappropriate the male form. (Press materials)
The Midnight Swim — Written and Directed by Sarah Adina Smith (Also available on VOD)
Spirit Lake is unusually deep. No driver has ever managed to find the bottom, though many have tried. When Dr. Amelia Brooks (Beth Grant) disappears during a deep-water dive, her three daughters travel home to settle her affairs. They find themselves unable to let go of their mother and become drawn into the mysteries of the lake. (Press materials)
Read our interview with “The Midnight Swim” writer and director Sarah Adina Smith.
Find tickets to “The Midnight Swim.
Runoff — Written and Directed by Kimberly Levin
The beauty of the land cannot mask the brutality of a farm town. As harvest draws near, Betty (Joanne Kelly) confronts a terrifying new reality and will go to desperate lengths to save her family when they are threatened with being forced from their land. An old friend, struggling to keep his own farm profitable by any means necessary, offers Betty a way out. She refuses to get involved, but as the pressures mount for her family and they are on the brink of eviction, her husband, Frank (Neal Huff), reveals that he is seriously ill. How far will one go to take care of one’s own? (Press materials)
Read our interview with “Runoff” writer and director Kimberly Levin.
Advantageous — Directed by Jennifer Phang; Written by Jennifer Phang and Jaqueline Kim (Available on VOD)
Set in the near future, “Advantageous” focuses on Gwen Koh (Jaqueline Kim), a single mother, whose aspirations for her daughter drive her to the precipice of a fraught decision. Gwen works as a spokesperson for the Center for Advanced Health and Living (an innocuous-sounding organization that is, in fact, a corporate behemoth) and finds that she is in danger of losing her job. That would make it impossible for her to send her daughter, Jules (Samantha Kim), to private school, an “advantage” that in actuality is more a necessity to shield Jules from this future society’s brutal economic disparities. The Center’s newest and untested health procedure offers Gwen a dangerous, life-altering chance to continue her career. To weigh her options, Gwen attempts to reconnect with an estranged relative (Ken Jeong), but as seems standard for all in this dystopian landscape, Gwen remains alienated and alone. (Press materials)
Read our interview with “Advantageous” co-writer and director Jennifer Phang.
Reversal
A young girl (Tina Ivlev), chained in the basement of a sexual predator (Richard Tyson), escapes and turns the tables on her captor.
Films About Women Currently Playing
Madame Bovary — Directed and Co-Written by Sophie Barthes (Available on VOD)
It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong — Directed and Written by Emily Ting
L.A. Slasher — Co-Written by Abigail Wright and Elizabeth Morris
The 11th Hour
Spy
I Believe in Unicorns — Written and Directed by Leah Meyerhoff
Barely Lethal
Tomorrowland
When Marnie Was There
The Divergent Series: Insurgent
I’ll See You In My Dreams
Pitch Perfect 2 — Directed by Elizabeth Banks; Written by Kay Cannon
In the Name of My Daughter
Marie’s Story
The Age of Adaline
Clouds of Sils Maria
Woman in Gold
Iris (doc)
Films Directed by Women Opening This Week
Batkid Begins (doc) — Directed and Co-Written by Dana Nachman
On November 15, 2013, a 5-year-old boy fighting leukemia transformed the city of San Francisco and the nation for a day. The Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation helped Miles Scott become a superhero for a day — Batkid — and more than a billion people took to social media to cheer him on, including President Obama. This wish and this little caped crusader resonated with so many people, and there has never been anything quite like it in the history of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (Press materials)
Read our interview with “Batkid Begins” director and co-writer Dana Nachman.
Find tickets to “Batkid Begins.”
Films Directed by Women Currently Playing
Infinitely Polar Bear — Directed by Maya Forbes
Eden — Directed and Co-Written by Mia Hansen-Løve
Phantom Halo — Directed and Co-Written by Antonia Bogdanovich; Co-Written by Anne Heffron
The New Rijksmuseum (doc) — Directed by Oeke Hoogendijk
The Yes Men Are Revolting — Co-Directed by Laura Nix
The Wolfpack (doc) — Directed by Crystal Moselle
An Open Secret (doc) — Directed by Amy Berg
One Cut, One Life (doc) — Co-Directed by Lucia Small
Films Written by Women Currently Playing
The Face of An Angel — Co-Written by Barbie Latza Nadeau
Jurassic World — Co-Written by Amanda Silver
VOD/DVD Releasing This Week
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (DVD)
