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

New Poster for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

We previously reported our excitement and lack of patience for November 22nd to roll around with the unveiling of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire trailer last month.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • May 15, 2013 2:00 PM
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  • 0 Comments

Time Unveils 2013 Most Influential People in World

Time magazine has announced it's 2013 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. And it's full of extremely inspirational women from some of our favorites in entertainment like Jennifer Lawrence, Lena Dunham and Shonda Rhimes to women who have bravely risked everything to change the world like the legendary Aung San Suu Kyi. 
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • April 22, 2013 12:00 PM
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  • 1 Comment

The First Catching Fire Trailer

Last night the trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire debuted during the MTV Movie Awards.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • April 15, 2013 12:00 PM
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  • 0 Comments

The Happy Girl vs. The Cool Girl: Why People Don't Like Anne Hathaway

People, especially women, really don't like Anne Hathaway. This isn't something that just started since Hathaway won her Oscar for Les Miserables last week--it's been long festering.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • March 6, 2013 2:00 PM
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  • 30 Comments

Oscar Commentary Round Up

With everything surrounding this year’s Oscars there has been a wealth of really great commentary out there.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • February 26, 2013 3:46 PM
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  • 3 Comments

Women Deserved Better at the 2013 Oscars

With Seth McFarlane hosting the Oscars, we here at Women and Hollywood weren’t expecting much. But the sexist, racist, homophobic and completely unfunny spree that McFarlane hosted was even worse than imagined.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • February 25, 2013 2:43 PM
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  • 27 Comments

Cross Post: My Two Favorite Golden Globe Winners: JLaw & Anne Get it Right on Body Image

As a complete movie nerd, I dragged my reluctant friends and family to my tiny local movie theater quite a few times over this past winter break. There have been just too many great movies to choose from lately, which left me feeling like a little kid in a cinematic candy shop. Lincoln and Les Miserables dazzled me with the strength of the actors' legendary performances. Life of Pi and The Hobbit amazed me with rich storytelling and eye-popping CGI. Silver Linings Playbook, hands down, my absolute favorite movie of the year, left me with a “great-movie high,” as I have recently dubbed the feeling.
  • By Rachel Pratl
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  • February 18, 2013 11:30 AM
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  • 0 Comments

Jessica Chastain Shoots Down Fabricated Feud with Jennifer Lawrence

Unsurprisingly, media outlets have created a “feud” between Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence. The Oscar-nominated actresses were apparently fighting because of Jennifer Lawrence’s joke about Chastain in her SNL monologue from weeks ago. Allegedly, Chastain was angry about the remarks.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • February 12, 2013 10:15 AM
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  • 2 Comments

Thoughts on the Golden Globes - Girls Literally Ruled

Last night, I ended up watching the Golden Globes in real time (with the commercials too.) The reason why that was possible was because of twitter and because I was having such a good time watching the show.  It felt lighter than in years past.  I am guessing a lot of that had to do with the tone that Amy Poehler and Tina Fey in their terrific opening monologue (which you can see below and is worth another watch.)  They told some really funny jokes and the one I enjoyed most was their statement of support for Kathryn Bigelow.  "When it comes to torture I trust the lady that spent 3 years married to James Cameron."  Awesome.
  • By Melissa Silverstein
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  • January 14, 2013 11:00 AM
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  • 1 Comment

Jennifer Lawrence Calls Acting Stupid, Stares at Meryl Streep, Remains Insanely Likeable

Another day, another reason to want to be best friends with Jennifer Lawrence. With Oscar nominations looming on January 10th, Lawrence, who is a nomination shoo-in for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, recently deemed acting “stupid” in her upcoming Vanity Fair cover story.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • January 4, 2013 10:00 AM
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  • 32 Comments

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