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.

Email Melissa

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Blog Roll

Trouble Between the Mary Pickford Foundation and the Mary Pickford Institute

Blogs

I know a bit about Mary Pickford from reading Cari Beauchamp's biography of Frances Marion Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. Suffice it to say she was a very important person in early Hollywood. She was one of the 36 founders of the Academy, and she was one of the founders of United Artists studio along with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and (her soon to be husband) Douglas Fairbanks. She was a leading actress in the silent era and a significant producer. She founded the Motion Picture Relief Fund that helped actors in need.

By Melissa Silverstein
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March 30, 2012 12:52 PM
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6 Comments

Reviews

By Melissa Silverstein
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March 30, 2012 11:34 AM
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0 Comments

Blogs

I just wanted to thank all of you for the amazing the comments on the site this week. While I might not be the biggest responder to comments, I do read each and every one and try to comment on the ones that need answers. I love the fact that you all talk to each other.

By Melissa Silverstein
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March 30, 2012 11:30 AM
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4 Comments

Blogs

The first installment of the highly anticipated The Hunger Games trilogy finally made its way to the silver screen, earning an historic $155 million its opening weekend. While fans cheered on Katniss Everdreen—the strong and self-sufficient blue-eyed, blond hair Anglo heroine fighting for her survival, others were disturbed by the casting of Rue, a 13-year-old-girl also competing in the futuristic gladiator-type games. Their distress wasn't because the adorable Amandla Stenberg's acting was subpar—it was because of the color of her skin.

By Mariana Ashley
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March 30, 2012 10:45 AM
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6 Comments

Television

Thanks to Shonda Rhimes next week will be a milestone week. It will be the first time in 30 years that a single African American woman will be the lead on a network TV show. (Jada Pinkett Smith was the lead on Hawthorne on cable) The show -- Scandal -- is based on the life of Washington "fixer" Judy Smith who in the past also worked for President George H.W. Bush.

By Melissa Silverstein
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March 30, 2012 10:00 AM
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0 Comments

Blogs

This is a repost of a review written after seeing the film at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. The film opens in NY today.

By Melissa Silverstein
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March 30, 2012 9:27 AM
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1 Comment

Blogs

As of two days ago The Hunger Games' domestic gross was up above $173 million dollars. It will clearly be above $200 million before the weekend. It's a success so the nitpicking has started. We've seen the posts on the racist tweets and now there are people complaining that Jennifer Lawrence looked a bit too healthy playing a character who was supposed to be poor and hungry.

By Melissa Silverstein
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March 29, 2012 12:20 PM
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30 Comments

Blogs

If you've been wondering where Cate Blanchett has been over the last couple of years you are not alone. She's been working -- hard -- running the very prestigious Sydney Theatre Company with her husband writer Andrew Upton.

By Melissa Silverstein
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March 29, 2012 11:24 AM
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0 Comments

Television

I couldn’t sleep the other night so I decided to get into the new ABC series Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (It had been pre-released online in advance on its April 11th network premiere). When that was over, I started on the new Texas housewife comedy GCB. By the time I’d gotten through both series’ pilots, I still couldn’t nod off, only now I was up because I was good and mad.

By Emilie Spiegel
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March 29, 2012 10:45 AM
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6 Comments

Blogs

Apparently Columbia University's film school doesn't think so. They are holding a panel at their 25th anniversary film festival on May 9 entitled: What Glass Ceiling? The Remarkable Success of Columbia’s Women Filmmakers.

By Melissa Silverstein
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March 29, 2012 9:52 AM
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4 Comments

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