Weekly Update for October 13: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

“Professor Marston and the Wonder Women”

Films About Women Opening This Week

M.F.A. — Directed by Natalia Leite; Written by Leah McKendrick (Also Available on VOD)

An art student (Francesca Eastwood) struggling with creativity is violently raped by a fellow classmate. After attempting the traditional routes to cope with her trauma, she impulsively confronts her attacker — a decision that has deadly repercussions. Her world is turned upside down as a chilling reality is uncovered: she is one of many silenced sexual assault survivors on campus. A vigilante is born — and retribution is the inspiration she’s been waiting for. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Natalia Leite.

Find screening info here.

For Ahkeem (Documentary) (Opens in NY; Opens in LA October 20)

Beginning one year before the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, “For Ahkeem” is the coming-of-age story of Daje Shelton, a Black 17-year-old girl in North St. Louis. She fights for her future as she is placed in an alternative high school and navigates the marginalized neighborhoods, biased criminal justice policies, and economic devastation that have set up many young people like her to fail. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

How to Break Up with Your Douchebag — Co-Written and Directed by Gabriela Tagliavini

Amanda (Mariana Treviño), a therapist specializing in helping women end destructive relationships, lives away from men and commitment, focused on her work and protecting her sister Natalia (Camila Sodi). When she discovers that her sister is in a relationship with a jerk, she will embark on a plan that will lead her to face her greatest fear: love. (Press materials)

Happy Death Day

A college student (Jessica Rothe) relives the day of her murder with both its unexceptional details and terrifying end until she discovers her killer’s identity. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

The Secret Scripture

Roseanne McNulty (Vanessa Redgrave), an elderly Irishwoman living in a mental institution, recounts her past to a psychiatrist (Eric Bana). Rooney Mara plays a young McNulty in flashbacks that detail her love triangle with a fighter pilot (Jack Reynor) and a priest (Theo James). (Press materials)

Swing Away — Co-Written by Julia Wall (Also Available on VOD)

Following a meltdown that leads to a suspension, professional golfer Zoe Papadopoulos (Shannon Elizabeth) travels to her grandparents’ village in Greece to escape the harsh spotlight of the international sports world. Between baking bread and eating baklava, she meets and mentors a 10-year-old girl who is determined — against all odds — to become the next golf sensation. Along the way, Zoe rediscovers her Greek heritage, her love of the game, and the hidden strength within herself as she inspires the townspeople in an epic showdown against a greedy American developer. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Gnome Alone — Co-Directed by Shelly Shenoy; Co-Written by Zina Zaflow

A teenage girl (Becky G.) moves to a new town and discovers her house is under attack by underground beasts. After making the discovery, she finds that she and the house gnomes are the only ones who can offer protection to the town. (Press materials)

Bad Blood (Also Available on VOD)

Returning home from college, Victoria Miller (Mary Malloy) finds herself in a loveless home with her broken mother, her cruel stepfather, and her snot-nosed stepbrother. When she escapes one full moon night in her stepfather’s car, she is nearly mauled to death by an amphibious “werefrog.” Soon Victoria herself transforms into the hideous frog monster and wreaks havoc on her family and town. (Press materials)

Secret Superstar (Opens October 19)

Insu (Zaira Wasim), a young Muslim girl, aspires to become a singer but faces restrictions from her conservative father. She happens to cross paths with a musician, which unfolds into an exciting journey. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

The Florida Project
La Barracuda — Co-Directed by Julia Halperin
Una
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (Documentary)
Trafficked
Dina (Documentary)
So B. It
My Little Pony: The Movie — Co-Written by Meghan McCarthy and Rita Hsiao
Bad Grandmas
Better Watch Out
Signature Move — Directed by Jennifer Reeder; Written by Lisa Donato and Fawzia Mirza
Blood Stripe — Co-Written by Kate Nowlin
Chavela (Documentary) — Directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi
Te Ata — Written by Esther Luttrell
Battle of the Sexes — Co-Directed by Valerie Faris
Woodshock — Written and Directed by Kate Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy
Unrest (Documentary) — Directed by Jennifer Brea; Written by Jennifer Brea and Kim Roberts
Victoria & Abdul
Bobbi Jene (Documentary) — Directed by Elvira Lind
Friend Request
mother!
Home Again — Written and Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer
The Unknown Girl
Napping Princess
Dolores (Documentary)
Tulip Fever
Polina — Written and Co-Directed by Valérie Müller
Leap! — Co-Written by Carol Noble
The Villainess
The Teacher
Marjorie Prime
Patti Cake$
The Glass Castle
Ingrid Goes West
Annabelle: Creation
Kidnap
Step (Documentary) — Directed by Amanda Lipitz
The Midwife
Girls Trip — Co-Written by Tracy Oliver
Wish Upon — Written by Barbara Marshall
Lady Macbeth — Written by Alice Birch
The Little Hours
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
Beatriz at Dinner
Moka
Wonder Woman — Directed by Patty Jenkins
Love, Kennedy
The Women’s Balcony — Written by Shlomit Nehama
Hidden Figures — Co-Written by Allison Schroeder

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

“Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman”

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women — Written and Directed by Angela Robinson

In a superhero origin tale unlike any other, “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women” is the incredible true story of what inspired Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans) to create the iconic Wonder Woman character in the 1940s. While Marston’s feminist superhero was criticized by censors for her “sexual perversity,” he was keeping a secret that could have destroyed him. Marston’s muses for the Wonder Woman character were his wife, Elizabeth Marston (Rebecca Hall), and their lover, Olive Byrne (Bella Heathcote), two empowered women who defied convention: working with Marston on human behavior research — while building a hidden life with him that rivaled the greatest of superhero disguises. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

The Party — Written and Directed by Sally Potter (Opens in the UK)

“The Party” — a comedy wrapped around a tragedy — unfolds in real time in a house in London in the present day. Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas) is hosting an intimate gathering of friends to celebrate her promotion to Shadow Minister of Health in the party of opposition. Her husband, Bill (Timothy Spall), seems preoccupied. As their friends arrive, some of whom have their own dramatic news to share, the soirée gradually unravels. An announcement by Bill provokes a series of revelations that rapidly escalate into all-out confrontation. As people’s illusions about themselves and each other go up in smoke, along with the canapes, “The Party” becomes a night that began with champagne but ends with blood on the floor. (Press materials)

The Departure (Documentary) — Co-Written and Directed by Lana Wilson (Opens in in NY; Opens in LA October 20)

A 44-year-old Tokyo native, Ittetsu Nemoto loves riding his motorcycle and dancing all night in clubs. But he’s also a Rinzai Zen priest, who lives with his wife, mother, and baby son at a temple in the remote countryside of Gifu prefecture, Japan. There, over the last 10 years, he has become famous for his work in combating suicide. But this work has come increasingly at the cost of his own family and health, as he refuses to draw lines between the people he counsels and himself. Nemoto eventually comes to crossroads when his growing self-destructive tendencies lead him to confront the same question his patients ask him: what makes life worth living? (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Lana Wilson.

Find screening info here.

Kingdom of Us (Documentary) — Directed by Lucy Cohen (Available on Netflix)

How does a family deal with memories of a traumatic event? “Kingdom of Us” is a delicate, powerfully effective exploration of grief, identity, and family bonds. For over three years, Lucy Cohen filmed a mother and her seven children — whose father’s suicide left them financially ruined. Incorporating family archive footage and capturing the surrounding West Midlands landscape, “Kingdom of Us” records the siblings’ emotional recovery, piecing together their broken past and contemplating fears and aspirations for their future. (Press materials)

Wasted! The Story of Food Waste (Documentary) — Directed by Anna Chai and Nari Kye (Also Available on VOD)

“Wasted! The Story of Food Waste” aims to change the way people buy, cook, recycle, and eat food. Through the the eyes of people like Anthony Bourdain, Dan Barber, Mario Batali, Massimo Bottura, and Danny Bowien, audiences will see how the world’s most influential chefs make the most of every kind of food, transforming what most people consider scraps into incredible dishes that create a more secure food system. “Wasted!” exposes the criminality of food waste and how it’s directly contributing to climate change and shows how each of us can make small changes — all of them delicious — to solve one of the greatest problems of the 21st century. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Anna Chai and Nari Kye.

Find tickets and screening info here.

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Faces Places (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Agnès Varda
Maineland (Documentary) — Directed by Miao Wang
The Cadillac Tramps: Life On The Edge (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Jamie Sims Coakley
The Pathological Optimist (Documentary) — Directed by Miranda Bailey
Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton (Documentary) — Directed by Rory Kennedy (Also Available on VOD)
The Tiger Hunter — Co-Written and Directed by Lena Khan
Loving Vincent — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Dorota Kobiela
Trophy (Documentary) — Co-Directed Christina Clusiau
School Life (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Neasa Ní Chianáin (Also Available on VOD)
Viceroy’s House — Written and Directed by Gurinder Chadha; Co-Written by Moira Buffini
Beach Rats — Written and Directed by Eliza Hittman
Lemon — Co-Written and Directed by Janicza Bravo (Also Available on VOD)
Whose Streets? (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Sabaah Folayan
Detroit — Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (Documentary) — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Catherine Bainbridge
Pop Aye — Written and Directed by Kirsten Tan

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

Sylvio — Co-Written by Meghan Doherty

It’s the story of a small town gorilla, Sylvio (Sylvio Bernardi), who is stuck in his job at a debt collection agency. Deep down he just wants to express himself with his hand puppet, Herbert Herpels, and his experimental puppet show that highlights the quiet moments of life. He accidentally joins a local TV program and a series of on-air mishaps threaten to shatter his identity, sending him on an adventure of self-discovery where reality and fantasy start to blend. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

Earth: One Amazing Day (Documentary) — Co-Written by Geling Yan
Bending the Arc (Documentary) — Written by Cori Shepherd Stern
Kingsman: The Golden Circle — Co-Written by Jane Goldman
Logan Lucky — Written by Rebecca Blunt
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

TV Premieres This Week

Acceptable Risk (Premieres October 16 on Acorn)

When her husband, Lee, is murdered, Sarah Manning (Elaine Cassidy) comes to realize that she knows nothing about his past. Sarah begins to question who Lee (Paul Popowich) actually was and what he did in his work for a powerful global organization. And why did Lee, a salesman, need to carry a gun? (Press materials)

Motherland (Documentary) — Directed by Ramona S. Diaz (Premieres October 16 on PBS)

Childbirth is often a communal process, with a team of nurses, doctors, and loved ones simultaneously witnessing the miracle of life. In one Philippines hospital, “communal” is an understatement. Ramona S. Diaz’s “Motherland,” takes us into one of the busiest maternity wards on Earth. Filled with warmth, humor, and heartache, “Motherland” is a vérité portrait of childbirth — with all its joys and challenges depicted onscreen. It is also a fascinating study of a country where conservative Catholic ideas about childbirth and contraception prevail, making the film an ideal starting point for conversations about reproductive healthcare policy. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Ramona S. Diaz.

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

Ballerina I’m Not (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Francesca Zappitelli (VOD, October 16)
Girls Trip — Co-Written by Tracy Oliver (VOD/DVD, October 17)
Lady Macbeth — Written by Alice Birch (VOD/DVD, October 17)
Landline — Directed by Gillian Robespierre; Written by Gillian Robespierre and Elisabeth Holm (VOD/DVD, October 17)
The Midwife (DVD, October 17)
Red Christmas (DVD, October 17)
A Very Sordid Wedding (DVD, October 17)

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