Films About Women Opening This Week
A Ballerina’s Tale (Documentary) — Opens October 14
There are not enough words to describe the joy and sheer feeling of inspiration watching Misty Copeland’s journey to the pinnacle of the ballet world. Watching her stand on her toes is awe-inspiring in this wonderful documentary portrait. On top of that, she takes us on a journey of growth and leadership as she makes her way as an African-American woman in the lily-white world of ballet. I am a fan for life. (Melissa Silverstein)
Dukhtar — Written and Directed by Afia Nathaniel
Set in Pakistan, “Dukhtar” (“Daughter”) is a dramatic story of a mother (Samiya Mumtaz) who kidnaps her ten-year-old daughter (Saleha Aref) to save her from the fate of a child bride. Their daring escape triggers a relentless hunt and as their pursuers close in on them, mother and daughter meet a cynical truck driver (Mohib Mirza) who offers unlikely hope. (Athena Film Festival)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Afia Nathaniel.
The Final Girls
Taissa Farmiga stars as Max, a high-school student transported into an ’80s horror movie starring her mom (Malin Akerman). Max and her friends are trapped inside the super campy — but violent and corpse-heavy — “Camp Bloodbath,” but even with a machete-wielding, blood-thirty mass murderer on the loose, the situation isn’t exactly a nightmare for Max — it’s actually kind of a dream come true. In real life, her mom is dead, but in this celluloid world, Max can spend time with her again. What — and who — will Max risk to make this deranged fairy tale last? SXSW and TIFF audiences loved this horror/comedy for its self-reflexive humor and its clear affection for the genre it spoofs and plays homage to. (Laura Berger)
Victoria
“Birdman” who? “Victoria” one-ups this year’s Best Picture Oscar winner by shooting a 138-minute movie in a single take, instead of splicing together scenes to make it look like one continuous shot. Centering on a young woman (Laia Costa) visiting Berlin to flee her troubles back home, this romance-turned-heist thriller surprises with its unexpected tenderness. In my review for TheWrap, I wrote, “Set in real time, ‘Victoria’ is immersive but rarely insightful about its protagonist. The title is a misnomer anyway; this uneven but funny and engrossing drama is less about Victoria than about time itself: how it slows down in the bleary middle of the night, how it speeds up relationships between strangers when no one else is around, how capacious it is in containing the most unexpected of swerves and stumbles.” (Inkoo Kang)
Big Stone Gap — Written and Directed by Adriana Trigiani
Ave Maria Mulligan (Ashley Judd), the town’s self-proclaimed spinster, has resigned herself to a quiet life of singlehood and being useful. She works in her family’s pharmacy, delivers the prescriptions herself and directs the town’s annual outdoor drama, until one day she learns of a long-buried family secret that changes the course of her life forever. (Rotten Tomatoes)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Adriana Trigiani.
A Woman Like Me (Hybrid Documentary) — Directed by Elizabeth Giamatti and Alex Sichel; Written by Alex Sichel
“A Woman Like Me” is a hybrid documentary that interweaves the real story of director Alex Sichel, diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2011, with the fictional story of Anna Seashell (Lili Taylor), who tries to find the glass half full when faced with the same diagnosis. The documentary follows Alex as she uses her craft as a filmmaker to explore what is foremost on her mind while confronting a terminal disease: parenting, marriage, faith, life and death. When we are stuck between a rock and hard place, can our imagination get us out? (Press materials)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti.
Homemakers
The tale of one chaotic punk singer, Irene McCabey (Rachel McKeon), who moves from Austin to Pittsburgh to claim her inheritance — her grandfather’s dilapidated house — and finds herself conflicted when her drunken binges and fits of destruction clash with her urge to settle down and make the home her own. (Press materials)
Films About Women Currently Playing
Freeheld
Addicted to Fresno — Directed by Jamie Babbit; Written by Karey Dornetto
He Named Me Malala (Documentary)
Shout Gladi Gladi (Documentary)
The Keeping Room — Written by Julia Hart
A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story (Documentary) — Directed by Sara Hirsh Bordo
Wildlike (Also available on VOD)
Misunderstood/Incompresa — Directed by Asia Argento; Written by Asia Argento Barbara Alberti
Sleepless in New York (Documentary)
Sicario
Breathe — Written and Directed by Mélanie Laurent
The Second Mother — Written and Directed by Anna Muylaert
Grandma
Learning to Drive — Directed by Isabel Coixet; Written by Sarah Kernochan
Mistress America — Co-Written by Greta Gerwig
Ricki and the Flash — Written by Diablo Cody
The Diary of a Teenage Girl — Written and Directed by Marielle Heller
Phoenix
Trainwreck — Written by Amy Schumer
Inside Out
Spy
Tangerine
Testament of Youth -Written by Juliette Towhidi
Films Directed by Women Opening This Week
In My Father’s House (Documentary) — Directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg
This film explores identity and legacy in the African-American family, as Grammy award-winning rapper Che “Rhymefest” Smith and his long-lost father reconnect and try to build a new future in Chicago’s turbulent South Side. Himself a child of a broken home, Che hasn’t seen his father in over 20 years, and presumes him dead. But after buying his father’s childhood home, Che sets out to find him, and learns that he is now a homeless, alcoholic living only several blocks away. (Press materials)
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg.
Films Directed by Women Currently Playing
Sherpa (Documentary) — Directed by Jennifer Peedom
Northern Soul — Written and Directed by Elaine Constantine
The Wine of Summer — Written and Directed by Maria Matteoli
(T)ERROR (Documentary) — Co-Directed and Co-Written by Lyric R. Cabral
The Intern — Written and Directed by Nancy Meyers
Endgame — Directed and Co-Written by Carmen Marron
Mississippi Grind — Co-Directed and Co-Written by Anna Boden
Prophet’s Prey (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Amy J. Berg
Sleeping With Other People — Written and Directed by Leslye Headland
Meet the Patels (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Geeta Patel
Goodnight Mommy — Co-Directed and Co-Written by Veronika Franz
Rosenwald (Documentary) — Directed by Aviva Kempner
Meru (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelvi
Infinitely Polar Bear — Written and Directed by Maya Forbes
The Wolfpack (Documentary) — Directed by Crystal Moselle
Films Written by Women Opening This Week
None
Films Written by Women Currently Playing
Partisan — Co-Written by Sarah Cyngler
Labyrinth of Lies/Im Labyrinth des Schweigens — Co-Written by Elisabeth Bartel
Straight Outta Compton — Co-Written by Andrea Berloff
Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation — Co-Written by Laeta Kalogridis
Jurassic World — Co-Written by Amanda Silver
VOD/DVD Releasing This Week
Demon on Wheels (Documentary) (VOD) — Directed by Christina Eliopoulos
Tomorrowland (DVD)
My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games (DVD)
