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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Trailer Watch: New Trailer for Haywire

Video

It's been a while since I saw this and I forgot how much I like it. Film opens January 20.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 5, 2012 9:23 AM
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The Producer's Guild of America announced their nominees for top awards yesterday and four women are included on the list for the top honor which is the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer Of The Year Award In Theatrical Motion Pictures.

Here are some things I noticed:

Kathleen Kennedy is nominated for both best feature (War Horse) and best animated feature (The Adventures of Tin Tin).

Kung Fu Panda 2 was produced by a single woman - Melissa Cobb (as was Cars 2) so that means that film is directed and produced by a woman and the film is the top grossing female directed film of the year.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 4, 2012 12:31 PM
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1 Comment

Festivals

The program for the 2012 Berlinale is rolling out. 20 international films have been announced for inclusion in the Panorama section. Five are directed by women. Keeping count that is just 20%.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 4, 2012 11:39 AM
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2 Comments

When I was in Paris in October you could not escape the posters for Maiwenn's Polisse which premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. The film was made for about $7 million and it has already grossed almost $20 million in France where it actually beat The Adventures of Tin Tin for two weeks. It is now rolling out through other territories and will be released in the US by Sundance Selects.

Maiwenn is included in the five directors vying for France Lumiere Award. The film is also up for best screenplay (but not best picture.)

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 4, 2012 10:45 AM
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Trailer Watch: The Return Directed by Liza Johnson

I've been wating for this one since it premiered at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes. It will open in limited release on Feb 10 and on VOD Feb. 28. Linda Cardellini plays a soldier returning from war hoping to pick up her life where she left off, only to realize that it very difficult. It is produced by Meredith Vieira.

h/t Cinemablend

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 4, 2012 10:00 AM
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Some good news for Meryl Streep and The Iron Lady. First, the box office for the film which opened December 30 was terrific. It grossed $280,409 in four theatres (in NY and LA) for an amazing total of $70,102 per screen. Not surprising, the film skewed female and older. 54% of the attendees were women and 72% were over 35. The movie will expand further of January 13.

The other good news is that Berlin will show her some love on Valentines Day. She will receive an Honorary Golden Bear on February 14 and The Iron Lady will be screened. They will also screen several other of her films including: Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice, Out of Africa, The Bridges of Madison County and A Prairie Home Companion

Meryl Streep's 'The Iron Lady' off to strong box-office start (LA Times)

Berlin Film Festival Will Honor Meryl Streep (Indiewire)

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 3, 2012 11:45 AM
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Dee Rees' debut film, Pariah, has rightfully been celebrated for its tender coming-out and coming-of-age story of a shy yet sexually curious 17-year-old African-American girl, Alike (Adepero Oduye).

An unprecedented black LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) success at the Sundance Festival in January, the film was immediately picked up by Focus Features for distribution and has since received two nominations for the Spirit Awards, which recognize independent film. In November, Rees was awarded breakthrough director of the year at the Gotham Awards.

Clearly, the movie's positive critical reception owes much to the brilliant dramatic performances of newcomers Oduye and Pernell Walker, veterans Charles Parnell and Kim Wayans, Bradford Young's beautiful cinematography and Rees' subtle yet sophisticated depiction of Alike and her middle-class African-American family's coming to terms with her lesbian identity.

By Salamishah Tillet
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January 3, 2012 10:40 AM
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Happy new year everyone. Thanks so much for the great support over the last year.

As we start the new year, I thought it would be interesting to look at the narratives that dominated the conversation over the past year. Would love to hear if you have any thoughts on other topics that dominated the conversations.

Here is what I came up with:

The success of Bridesmaids and the realization that women can be funny. (duh)

Winter's Bone and The Kids are All Right get best picture nominations for 2011.

Women directors not being in the conversation for the 2012 Oscar.

The breakout success of Jessica Chastain

The Help polarizes yet still succeeds at the box office.

Patty Jenkins gets hired and fired from Marvel's Thor 2.

Women make up only 33% of speaking parts in films and less than 10% of writers and directors.

Jennifer Yuh Nelson becomes the highest grossing women director with King Fu Panda 2.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 3, 2012 9:27 AM
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