Weekly Update for October 17: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening

Dear White People

Sam White (Tessa Thompson) is a media studies major and student filmmaker determined to tell the world that things are far from where they should be. She and three other black students at her Ivy League college struggle to discover who they are — and what they want to say — while a group of white students attend a blackface party on campus. In my review at TheWrap, I wrote, “It wasn’t the film’s faults that stayed with me for days after, but its compassion, its moral and narrative sophistication, and its rare ability to offer genuine catharsis.” (Inkoo Kang)

The Golden Era — Directed by Ann Hui

This film traces the life of Xiao Hong, one of China’s most famous essayists and novelists, who reflected the progressive thinking of her era. Set in 1930s China, the film uses personal accounts and the author’s own writings in piecing together a turbulent life in a turbulent time. (IMDb)

Camp X-Ray

A young woman (Kristen Stewart) joins the military to be part of something bigger than herself and her small-town roots. But she ends up as a new guard at Guantanamo Bay instead, where her mission is far from black and white. Surrounded by hostile jihadists and aggressive squadmates, she strikes up an unusual friendship with one of the detainees. A story of two people on opposite sides of a war, struggling to find their way through the ethical quagmire of Guantanamo Bay. (Press materials)

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Legendary Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko) revisits Japan’s most famous folktale in this gorgeous, hand-drawn masterwork, decades in the making. Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter (James Caan) and his wife (Mary Steenburgen), a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady (Chloë Grace Moretz). The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her, but ultimately she must confront her fate: the punishment for her crime. From the studio that brought you Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and The Wind Rises comes a powerful and sweeping epic that redefines the limits of animated storytelling and marks a triumphant highpoint within an extraordinary filmmaking career for director Isao Takahata. (Press materials)

Films About Women Currently Playing

You’re Not You — Co-Written by Shana Feste

Addicted — Co-Written by Christina Welsh

Kite

Gone Girl

A Good Marriage

Annabelle

The Supreme Price (doc) — Directed by Joanna Lipper

Waiting for August (doc) — Directed by Teodora Ana Mihai (Opens in NY)

Bjork: Biophilia Live (doc)

Tracks

No Good Deed — Written by Aimee Lagos

Wetlands

The Congress

If I Stay

Lucy

Tammy — Co-Written by Melissa McCarthy

Maleficent — Written by Linda Woolverton

Films Directed by Women Opening

Life Inside Out — Directed by Jill D’Agnenica; Written by Maggie Baird and Lori Nasso

Life Inside Out tells the story of Laura (Maggie Baird), the mother of three teenage boys, and her youngest son Shane (Finneas O’Connell), the family misfit and a disappointment to his father. When Laura stumbles upon her long-forgotten guitar, she is taken under its spell and rediscovers her love for songwriting. When she impulsively flies off to her first open-mic night, she takes an unhappy Shane along for the ride. Despite a rocky entry into the late-night mélange of musicians and unusual characters that populate the club, Laura starts to blossom and Shane seems oddly at home. Soon, following his mother’s lead and with a little help from YouTube, Shane begins to discover musical gifts of his own. Although the family struggles under financial pressure and the bumpy path to creative expression, together, through the power of music, they’re finally able to make sense of a world in which they’ve felt so lost. (Press materials)

Read Women and Hollywood’s guest post from screenwriter and star Maggie Baird.

Watchers of the Sky (doc) — Directed by Edet Belzberg

With his provocative question “Why is the killing of a million a lesser crime than the killing of an individual?” Raphael Lemkin changed the course of history. The Sundance Award-winning film Watchers of the Sky examines the life and legacy of the Polish-Jewish lawyer and linguist who coined the term “genocide.” Before Lemkin, the notion of accountability for war crimes was virtually non-existent. After experiencing the barbarity of the Holocaust first-hand, he devoted his life to convincing the international community that there must be legal retribution for mass atrocities targeted at minorities. An impassioned visionary, Lemkin confronted world apathy in a tireless battle for justice, setting the stage for the Nuremberg trials and the creation of the International Criminal Court. Inspired by Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book A Problem From Hell, this multi-faceted documentary interweaves Raphael Lemkin’s struggle with the courageous efforts of four individuals keeping his legacy alive. (Press materials)

The Hacker Wars (doc) — Directed by Vivien Lesnik Weisman

Get ready to be shuttled between storylines at lightning speed — mirroring life on the Internet. The Hacker Wars is a film about the targeting of (h)ac(k)tivists and journalists by the US government. Hacktivists are either terrorists or freedom fighters, depending on one’s perspective on who should control information. These hacktivists are the rock stars of the Internet — modern-day folk heroes. (Press materials)

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Awake: The Life of Yogananda (doc) — Directed by Paola di Florio and Lisa Leeman

The Decent One (doc) — Directed by Vanessa Lapa

The Little Bedroom (doc) — Co-Directed by Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond

Art and Craft (doc) — Co-Directed by Jennifer Grausman

Honeymoon — Written and Directed by Leigh Janiak

I Am Eleven (doc) — Directed by Genevieve Bailey

Land Ho! — Co-Directed by Martha Stephens

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

The Good Lie — Written by Margaret Nagle

Men, Women & Children — Co-Written by Erin Cressida Wilson

The Hero of Color City — Co-Written by Jess Kedward and Kirsty Peart