Athena Film Fest founders Melissa Silverstein and Kathryn Kolbert are building an artistic community
Every year, the FF2 Media team goes up to Barnard College for three days of women-centered films at the Athena Film Festival. You’ll be seeing all our individual takes on this year’s offerings in the first weeks of March, but before the festival happens two weeks from now, I sat down with the two founders […]
FF2 Media’s new “Watch at Home” columns list the new films written and/or directed by women filmmakers that are newly available each week on DVD, Video On Demand &/or streaming services. Here are the new films written and/or directed by women filmmakers now available at home as of 2/14/2020 (with links to FF2 Media reviews […]
There is a poignant moment about halfway through Lone Scherfig’s 10th feature film, The Kindness of Strangers, in theaters Feb. 14. Clara (Zoe Kazan) is at the end of her rope after escaping an abusive husband in upstate New York. She’s been wandering the streets of Manhattan with her two sons, looking for food, stealing […]
Now that I’ve had some time to recover from Sundance, I’d like to present the best films that I saw from female filmmakers at this year’s festival. There were some standout films from returning female filmmakers on the mountains. At the same time, it was also nice to discover some new filmmakers to keep an […]
FF2 Media’s new “Watch at Home” columns list the new films written and/or directed by women filmmakers that are newly available each week on DVD, Video On Demand &/or streaming services. Here are the new films written and/or directed by women filmmakers now available at home as of 2/17/2020 (with links to FF2 Media reviews […]
The Assistant, written and directed by Kitty Green, portrays Jane (Julia Garner) as a young assistant to a powerful entertainment executive who witnesses the abuse from within the company. This introspective and personal story allows us to walk in her shoes as Jane attempts to wrestle with her stressful job filled with moral and ethical […]
As the controversial topic about women directors and film remains ongoing (see: Rebel Wilson’s commentary on the all-male directors nominated at the BAFTAs), Hollywood is opening the doors to more female directors who will direct films ranging from animation, to documentaries to horror. Here are the most-anticipated studio films for 2020 (followed by individual studios): […]
This year’s Sundance Film Festival featured 48 percent of films (in competition) made by women, from features to shorts to documentaries. The Perfect Candidate directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, follows Maryam, a young Saudi doctor, who runs for city council after the male incumbent repeatedly ignores her request to fix the muddy road leading to her […]
The 2020 Sundance Film Festival has wrapped, announced its winners, and has once again, stayed ahead of the industry curve by getting close to, achieving, and/or surpassing gender parity in filmmaking. Statistics for this year show that 42 percent of the feature films are from women (directors and/or writers), 48 percent are features in competition, […]
I can’t believe it took us two and a half years to make a movie about #metoo, but better late than never. I had the privilege of seeing a director Q and A with Kitty Green last week, a kick-off to the press tour for her harrowing slice of life film The Assistant. The story […]
FF2 Media’s new “Watch at Home” columns list the new films written and/or directed by women filmmakers that are newly available each week on DVD, Video On Demand &/or streaming services. Here are the new films written and/or directed by women filmmakers now available at home as of 1/31/2020 (with links to FF2 Media reviews […]
Lana Wilson sat down with FF2 Media during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival to discuss the recently premiered Taylor Swift documentary, Miss Americana. Following the Sundance premiere, Miss Americana will be available to stream on Netflix on January 31, 2020. How thrilled were you that Miss Americana was selected as an opening night film during […]
Gotham and Indie Spirit nominated director Olivia Wilde (Booksmart) debuts her new short film Wake Up at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. From Anonymous Content: Wake Up comes off the heels of Olivia Wilde’s critically-acclaimed, award-winning, directorial debut, Booksmart. Wilde will next direct and star in the psychological thriller for the Time’s Up era Don’t Worry Darling for New Line. You can […]
Documentary directors Nanette Burstein and Lana Wilson discussed the premieres of their films onstage with The Atlantic’s Megan Garber at the Sundance Film Festival Monday, Jan. 27. Both women helm documentaries about the complicated and multi-faceted lives of female public figures. Wilson premiered Taylor Swift: Miss Americana on the festival’s opening night. The film will […]
The 2020 Sundance Film Festival inches closer to gender parity with 48 percent of the competition films directed by women.
FF2 Media’s new “Watch at Home” columns list the new films written and/or directed by women filmmakers that are newly available each week on DVD, Video On Demand &/or streaming services. Here are the new films written and/or directed by women filmmakers now available at home as of 1/24/2020 (with links to FF2 Media reviews […]
Netflix has released the trailer for director Lana Wilson’s highly anticipated Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana (available to stream on January 31, 2020). ***Updated as of 1/22/20*** Of the 65 directors in Sundance’s four competition categories, 46 percent are women. The lineup of the festival – which will run from January 23-February 3- was announced this week, […]
Since filmmaker Carol Dysinger found out that her documentary short was nominated for an Oscar last week, she’s been flown all over the country for press and screenings. For her short, “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl),” Dysinger spent time with Skateistan School House and Skate Park. Here, in Kabul, Afghanistan, […]
FF2 Media’s new “Watch at Home” columns list the new films written and/or directed by women filmmakers that are newly available each week on DVD, Video On Demand &/or streaming services. Here are the new films written and/or directed by women filmmakers now available at home as of 1/17/2020 (with links to FF2 Media reviews […]
You may have already seen The Woman Who Loves Giraffes (playing in NYC until 1/23 and opening in LA on 2/21), in which case you’re probably as excited as me that I got to talk to director Alison Reid and scientist Anne Innis-Dagg in a double interview! Read on to hear a documentarian and her […]
From directors Bert and Bertie and screenwriter Lucy Alibar comes the sweet and smart comedy Troop Zero, streaming on Amazon Prime Video January 17. This delightful feature not only celebrates originality as a theme for its memorable characters, but also sends a message to the audience about the value of completely original stories – especially […]
If the story told by this year’s Oscar nominations were an original screenplay, Academy members likely wouldn’t vote for its stale, predictable and entirely unoriginal narrative. Actually, the “same old” narrative probably wouldn’t matter all that much. As long as a man directs it. Nominees for the 92nd Academy Awards were announced Monday by the […]
The strive for equal recognition in the film industry continues in the two years following the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. With the overwhelming lack of nominations for female writers and directors at the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gives a bleak preview for the upcoming awards season cycle. Although the […]
Women make up about 30 percent of nominees being recognized by the Writers Guild of America for writing feature films in 2019. Of 23 total nominated screenwriters on 15 films, seven are women. Five of 10 writers nominated for Original Screenplay are female: 1917 co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns and Booksmart writers Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna […]
The 77th Golden Globe Awards were held Jan. 5 in Los Angeles, featuring a dismally male-dominant slate of nominees from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. On the film side, no women screenwriters or directors were nominated. Only one of the 10 films nominated for Best Motion Picture is written by a woman: the category’s winner […]
The number of top-grossing films directed by women reached record levels in 2019, making the percentage of female film directors (in the last 13 years) … 4.8 percent. According to a January 2020 report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, 10.6 percent of film directors in 2019 were women – a six percent increase from […]
The term “best” is all relative. What might be right for you may not be right for some (it’s right there in the Diff’rent Strokes theme song, guys). But even in the post #MeToo era, when the conversation about equality is becoming increasingly important, women are continuously being shut out of awards season – most […]
Black Christmas puts us into the world of the most stereotypical college imaginable, with the plucky protagonist Riley having to fight a cabal of patriarchal frat boys to save herself and her sisters. Thinking back to my own college experience, I don’t exactly find the same kind of Greek-centric world in my memories of NYU, […]
There were so many films released during the past year but the following are among the best women-directed films of 2019. Booksmart If there’s one film that I believe will still be talked about in a decade, it’s Booksmart. This is a film that re-defines what female friendship means for a new generation. Less than […]
Who was Jean Seberg? Jean Seberg was a prominent actress from 1957 to her untimely death in 1979 at the young age of 40. Her career and personal life were tumultuous, and many of her films were frankly major flops. You may remember her from Saint Joan, Otto Preminger’s rendition of Joan of Arc. Seberg […]
