Women and Hollywood


Melissa Silverstein is the founder and editor of Women and Hollywood, one of the most respected sites for issues related to women and film as well as other areas of pop culture. Women and Hollywood educates, advocates, and agitates for gender parity across the entertainment industry.

She is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of The Athena Film Festival. The 4th annual festival will take place from February 6-9, 2014 at Barnard College in NYC.

Melissa recently published the first book from Women and Hollywood, In Her Voice: Women Directors Talk Directing, which is a compilation of over 40 interviews that have appeared on the site.

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Women and Hollywood

Weekly Update May 24: Women Centric, Directed and Written Films Playing Near You

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  • May 24, 2013 3:00 PM
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Julianne Moore on Women and Aging in Hollywood

We didn't think that it was possible for Julianne Moore to be even more incredible. The acclaimed actress recently did an interview with DuJour magazine for their June issue. In it the interviewer asks Moore some apparently standard lady celebrity questions about aging and motherhood.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • May 24, 2013 1:30 PM
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New Trailer: Byzantium - Starring Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton

IFC Films has just released a new trailer for Byzantium, based on Moira Buffini's play which she also adapted for the screen. The film follows Clara (Gemma Arterton) and Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) a mother-daughter vampire pair who relocate to a coastal town to try to start over. This ends up with deadly results for the both the pair and the town they inhabit.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • May 24, 2013 12:30 PM
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Females Make Up Only 22% of Top Film Critics

In a new study released today by the Center for Study of Women in Television and Film, the stats about female critics at the top sites, newspapers and outlets shows that the business is still very male centric.  
  • By Melissa Silverstein
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  • May 24, 2013 11:38 AM
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Sue Kramer to Direct Amy Fine Collins' 'The God of Driving'

Sue Kramer, director of Gray Matters, is set to direct her adaptation of Amy Fine Collins' The God of Driving: How I Overcame Fear and Put Myself in the Driver's Seat (with the Help of a Good and Mysterious Man).
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • May 24, 2013 11:30 AM
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Fill The Void- Written and Directed by Rama Burshtein

I saw Fill the Void back in September at the Toronto Film Festival. It's been making its way around the country on the film festival circuit before opening in limited release this weekend.
  • By Melissa Silverstein
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  • May 24, 2013 10:30 AM
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Trailer Watch: As Cool As I Am - Starring Claire Danes and Sarah Bolger

  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • May 23, 2013 3:30 PM
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The Importance of Changing Perspective

Since I write on the web, I spend a lot of time, as you can imagine, in front of my computer. Most days all day (except for a couple of dog walking breaks.) But this spring due to the fact that I had a book to promote...BTW, have you gotten your copy of In Her Voice: Women Directors Talk Directing yet?
  • By Melissa Silverstein
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  • May 23, 2013 2:27 PM
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Lake Bell On Women Directors: If You Happen to Have a Vagina, That's Okay

Lake Bell, director of the anticipated summer film In A World, spoke in an interview for her latest film that she acts in, Black Rock, directed by Katie Aselton, about being a woman director in Hollywood.
  • By Melissa Silverstein and Kerensa Cadenas
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  • May 23, 2013 1:30 PM
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Forbes Names World's 100 Most Powerful Women

Forbes has just named the World's 100 Most Poweful Women of 2013. And it's a very impressive list. It includes women in politics like Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany who was number one, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, women in technology like Marissa Mayer and Sheryl Sandberg and many other areas like philanthropy, business and fashion.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • May 23, 2013 12:41 PM
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