Weekly Update for May 12: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

Snatched — Written by Katie Dippold

After her boyfriend dumps her on the eve of their exotic vacation, impetuous dreamer Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) persuades her ultra-cautious mother, Linda (Goldie Hawn), to travel with her to paradise. Polar opposites, Emily and Linda realize that working through their differences as mother and daughter — in unpredictable, hilarious fashion — is the only way to escape the wildly outrageous jungle adventure they have fallen into. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Katie Dippold.

Find tickets and screening info here.

Paris Can Wait — Written and Directed by Eleanor Coppola

Eleanor Coppola’s feature film directorial and screenwriting debut stars Academy Award nominee Diane Lane as a Hollywood producer’s wife who unexpectedly takes a trip through France, which reawakens her sense of self and her joie de vivre. Anne (Lane) is at a crossroads in her life. Long married to a successful and driven but inattentive movie producer (Alec Baldwin), she finds herself taking a car trip from Cannes to Paris with a business associate of her husband (Arnaud Viard). What should be a seven-hour drive turns into a journey of discovery involving mouthwatering meals, spectacular wines, and picturesque sights. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

The Wedding Plan — Written and Directed by Rama Burshtein

At 32, Michal (Noa Koller) is finally looking forward to the comfort and security of marriage when she is blindsided by her fiancé’s decision to call off the wedding with only a month’s notice. Unwilling to return to lonely single life, Michal decides to trust in fate and continue with her wedding plans, believing Mr. Right will appear by her chosen date. Confident she will find a match made in heaven, she books a venue, sends out invitations, and buys a wedding dress, as her skeptical mother (Irit Sheleg) and sister look on with trepidation. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Tracktown — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Alexi Pappas (Also Available on VOD)

Twenty-one-year-old Plumb Marigold (Alexi Pappas) is a famous but lonely distance runner preparing for the biggest race of her life: the Olympic Trials. But when an injury forces her to take an unexpected day off, Plumb wanders into a bakery where the aimless boy behind the counter catches her eye. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Alexi Pappas.

Find screening info here.

Urban Hymn (Also Available on VOD)

A redemptive coming of age story about wayward teen Jamie (Letitia Wright), who is encouraged by an inspiring and unconventional social worker, Kate (Shirley Henderson), to use singing as an escape from her troubled background. Jamie’s loyalties soon become torn between Kate and her possessive and volatile best friend, Leanne (Isabella Laughland). (Press materials)

Dead Awake

Kate Bowman (Jocelin Donahue) is a straight-laced, by-the-books social worker who finds herself plunged into a world of supernatural terror while investigating a series of deaths involving people who died in their sleep. The victims all reported being terrorized by a dark entity that paralyzed and tormented them, before eventually killing them. Kate is joined in this quest by Evan (Jesse Bradford), an artist who is slow to believe that something supernatural is occurring. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Hounds of Love (Also Available on VOD)

In suburban Perth during the mid 1980s, people are unaware that women are disappearing at the hands of serial killer couple John and Evelyn White (Stephen Curry and Emma Booth). After an innocent lapse in judgment, Vicki Maloney (Ashleigh Cummings) is randomly abducted by the disturbed couple. With her murder imminent, Vicki realizes she must find a way to drive a wedge between Evelyn and John if she is to survive. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Films About Women Currently Playing

Manifesto
Lady Bloodfight
Like Crazy — Co-Written by Francesca Archibugi
A Woman’s Life — Co-Written by Florence Vignon (Opens in LA)
Tomorrow Ever After — Written and Directed by Ela Thier
The Circle
Below Her Mouth — Directed by April Mullen; Written by Stephanie Fabrizi
Voice from the Stone (Also Available on VOD)
A Moving Image (UK)
Displacement (Also Available on VOD)
Letters from Baghdad (Documentary) — Directed by Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum (UK)
Citizen Jane: Battle for the City (Documentary)
Unforgettable — Directed by Denise Di Novi; Co-Written by Christina Hodson
A Quiet Passion
Maudie — Directed by Aisling Walsh; Written by Sherry White (Canada)
Colossal
Their Finest — Directed by Lone Scherfig; Written by Gaby Chiappe
The Zookeeper’s Wife — Directed by Niki Caro; Written by Angela Workman
Ghost in the Shell
God Knows Where I Am (Documentary)
The Levelling — Written and Directed by Hope Dickson Leach
Beauty and the Beast
A Woman, a Part — Written and Directed by Elisabeth Subrin
Personal Shopper
Raw — Written and Directed by Julia Ducournau
Before I Fall — Directed by Ry-Russo Young; Written by Maria Maggenti
The Last Word
The Lure — Directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska
20th Century Women
Hidden Figures — Co-Written by Allison Schroeder
Toni Erdmann — Written and Directed by Maren Ade
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Julieta
The Eagle Huntress

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe — Co-Written and Directed by Maria Schrader

“Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe” charts the years of exile in the life of Stefan Zweig, one of the most read German-language writers of his time, between Buenos Aires, New York, and Brazil. As a Jewish intellectual, Zweig (Josef Hader) struggles to find the right stance towards the events in Nazi Germany, while searching for a home in the new world. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Maria Schrader.

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

The Drowning — Directed by Bette Gordon
Risk (Documentary) — Directed by Laura Poitras
3 Generations — Directed by Gaby Dellal; Written by Gaby Dellal and Nikole Beckwith
Buster’s Mal Heart — Written and Directed by Sarah Adina Smith
Mr. Chibbs (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Jill Campbell
Obit. (Documentary) — Directed by Vanessa Gould
Tomorrow (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Mélanie Laurent
Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Lydia Tenaglia
Heal the Living — Co-Written and Directed by Katell Quillévéré
Alive and Kicking (Documentary) — Directed by Susan Glatzer; Written by Susan Glatzer and Heidi Zimmerman (Also Available on VOD)
Glory — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Kristina Grozeva
David Lynch: The Art Life (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Olivia Neergaard-Holm
The Prison — Written and Directed by Na Hyun
Cezanne and I — Written and Directed by Danièle Thompson
Karl Marx City (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Petra Epperlein
Viceroy’s House — Directed by Gurinder Chadha; Co-Written by Moira Buffini (UK)
Jasper Jones — Directed by Rachel Perkins (Australia)
A United Kingdom — Directed by Amma Asante

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

None

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

Illicit — Co-Written by Lanett Tachel
Love Off the Cuff — Co-Written by Yee-sum Luk
The Promise — Co-Written by Robin Swicord
Free Fire — Co-Written by Amy Jump
Tommy’s Honour — Co-Written by Pamela Marin
Smurfs: The Lost Village — Written by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon
A Dog’s Purpose — Written by Cathryn Michon
The Red Turtle — Co-written by Pascale Ferran

TV Premieres This Week

Anne With an “E” — Created and Co-Written by Moira Walley-Beckett (Premieres May 12 on Netflix)

“Anne with an ‘E’” is a coming-of-age story about an outsider who, against all odds and many challenges, fights for love, acceptance, and her place in the world. Set on Prince Edward Island in the late 1890s, the series centers on Anne Shirley (Amybeth McNulty), a young orphaned girl who, after an abusive childhood spent in orphanages and the homes of strangers, is mistakenly sent to live with an aging sister and brother. Over time, 13-year-old Anne will transform the lives of Marilla (Geraldine James), Matthew Cuthbert (R.H. Thomson), and eventually the entire small town in which they live with her unique spirit, fierce intellect, and brilliant imagination. Anne’s adventures will reflect timeless and topical issues including themes of identity, feminism, bullying, and prejudice. (Press materials)

I Love Dick — Created by Sarah Gubbins and Jill Soloway (Premieres May 12 on Amazon)

Adapted from the lauded feminist novel, “I Love Dick” is set in a colorful academic community in Marfa, Texas. It tells the story of a struggling married couple, Chris and Sylvere (Kathryn Hahn and Griffin Dunne), and their obsession with a charismatic professor named Dick (Kevin Bacon). Told in “Rashomon”-style shifts of POV, “I Love Dick” charts the unraveling of a marriage, the awakening of an artist, and the deification of a reluctant messiah. (Press materials)

Mommy Dead and Dearest (Documentary) — Directed by Erin Lee Carr (Premieres May 15 on HBO)

Things are not always as they appear, especially in the case of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Child Abuse, mental illness, and forbidden love converge in this mystery involving a mother and daughter who were thought to be living a fairy tale life that turned out to be a living nightmare. What starts out as a grisly tale of matricide morphs into a rabbit hole of deception and unrelenting abuse, journeying towards the truth about what happened that night. Featuring exclusive access to Gypsy from prison and a trove of police interrogation tapes, medical records, and secret conversations, this HBO Documentary Film is a disturbing, first-hand look at a life arrested and the consequences of trying to keep someone young forever. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Erin Lee Carr.

Downward Dog (Premieres May 17 on ABC)

Based on a web series, “Downward Dog” follows the day-to-day life of Nan (Allison Tolman), as told by her increasingly lonely and philosophical dog, Martin (voiced by Samm Hodges). Just one session at obedience school makes them realize that even at their worst, they may be the best thing for each other. (Press materials)

First in Human: The Trials of Building 10 (Docuseries) — Co-Executive Produced by Dyllan McGee; Co-Produced by Beth Wichterich (Premieres May 18 on Discovery)

“First in Human” gives viewers unprecedented access inside the National Institutes of Health’s Building 10, the largest hospital in the world devoted solely to research. Previous trials in the building led to the development of modern chemotherapy treatments, the first treatments for HIV/AIDS, and the first successful gene therapy. “First in Human” explores the lives of the doctors, researchers, and patients who together make progress possible in this cutting-edge testing ground. The docuseries represents the first time cameras have embedded in Building 10 and is the product of nearly 20 years of filmmaking. (Deadline)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

Stag (Short) — Written by Donna Di Novelli (iTunes, Available Now)
Don’t Knock Twice (DVD, May 12)
I Am Jane Doe — Written and Directed by Mary Mazzio (VOD, May 12)
Danger Close (Documentary) — Co-Written by Alex Quade (VOD, May 16)
Lovesong — Co-Written and Directed by So Yong Kim (DVD, May 16)
A Mermaid’s Tale (DVD, May 16)
The Outcasts — Written by Dominique Ferrari and Suzanne Wrubel (DVD, May 16)
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (VOD/DVD, May 16)

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