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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Blog Roll

TV Trailer Watch: Steel Magnolias

Television

A full cast of African American women in this version of Steel Magnolias. Queen Latifah takes on the Sally Field lead role. Also stars Alfre Woodard, Jill Scott, Phylicia and Condola Rashad and Adepero Oduye.

By Melissa Silverstein
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July 3, 2012 10:22 AM
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2 Comments

News

At least they are all dressed. But all the satin kind of reminds me of a brothel. Thw women on the power panel which is the actual cover are Rooney Mara, Mia Wasikowska, Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain. And Jennifer Lawrence is in the top center. Smart of them to include the awesome Adepero Oduye.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 31, 2012 9:10 AM
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3 Comments

Video

Meryl Streep won best actress in a drama for The Iron Lady. In her speech she acknowledged all her fellow nominees and the other terrific female performances from this year. And how about her shout out to Adepero Oduye.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 16, 2012 10:10 AM
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4 Comments

Pariah - written and directed by Dee Rees

Most of this review was written after screening the film at the Toronto Film Festival. It has been augmented.

The movie is just so good. Well written, well acted, emotional, devastating and liberating. I gotta say that Dee Rees is the real deal. The film tells the story of Alike an African American high school senior who is struggling with how to make her family come to terms with her being a lesbian. Ailke played with fierceness and vulnerability by Adepero Oduye knows she's gay but she lives two lives. One where she wears t-shirts with sparkles and earrings to please her mother, and one where she wears a baseball cap and baggy shirts. She's two different people but as she is growing up and becoming more comfortable with herself, she doesn't want to play the game anymore. She doesn't want to wear the pink sweater her mom bought because it's not her. But she' s also not comfortable being the hard ass dyke that seems to be the other side of the coin. She's trying to make her way in a world with very few role models for her. [SPOILERS BELOW]

By Melissa Silverstein
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December 28, 2011 10:25 AM
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1 Comment

This is the week when Pariah starts to roll out and I can't say emphatically enough that when this film comes to your town, you must see it.

I was able to speak with the star of the film Adepero Oduye last September at the Toronto Film Festival. Here is our interview.

Women and Hollywood: How did you get into acting?

Adepero Oduye: I was in college and pre-med on track to be a doctor and I realized I didn’t want to do that anymore. I thought about what I wanted to do and I took an acting class my senior year and loved it. It was the kind of thing where it was challenging but I still wanted to do more. I graduated and was like I’m going to be an actor. My mother did not understand. It was as if I was an entirely different person.

I didn’t know anyone who was an actor so I just started looking at Backstage. My first audition was an open call and I had no picture and no resume – that’s how clueless I was. I just thought I could show up. Slowly but surely I gathered information and just learned and did a lot of things to get experience.

By Melissa Silverstein
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December 26, 2011 10:17 AM
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1 Comment

I just got back from a meeting and broke open the list of indie spirit nominees for 2012 and I am utterly dispirited at the lack of female voices throughout the categories.

I am looking back at the list from last year and two female directed films -- Winter's Bone and The Kids Are All Right -- got multiple nominations.

This year not so much.

A variety of these lists that will be coming at us over the next months and they will be very male centric. If people were under the illusion that this was a good year for female voices, this list is an indicator of how much work needs to be done. This so makes me want to start the female film awards. Who is in?