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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AFI Review: The Central Park Five - Co-Directed by Sarah Burns and West of Memphis - Directed by Amy Berg

Features

Los Angeles’ AFI Film Festival gave me the chance to see two documentary films directed by women: The Central Park Five co-directed by Sarah Burns, Ken Burns and David McMahon and West of Memphis, directed by Amy Berg. Despite initial Oscar buzz for both films, sadly they have both been snubbed in the documentary feature race.

By Kerensa Cadenas
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December 5, 2012 12:20 PM
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Video

Recently nominated for a 2012 IDA Documentary Award for Best Feature and on the roster for the upcoming 2012 AFI Film Festival, The Central Park Five is based on Sarah Burns' best-selling book. In 1989, five black and Latino teens were arrested and charged for brutally raping a white woman in Central Park. After the five had spent years in prison for a crime they didn't commit, the truth finally came out about what happened that night.

By Kerensa Cadenas
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October 24, 2012 12:39 PM
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News

The International Documentary Association announced their nominees for their 2012 IDA Documentary Awards. It’s really exciting to note that 4 of the 5 shorts are directed by women as well as 2 of the 5 features (and one of the other features nominated is The Invisible War).

By Kerensa Cadenas
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October 23, 2012 9:45 AM
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Features

William Blake once wrote that exuberance is beauty. Despite the success of Ben Affleck’s Argo here, this fest seems to be driven by women filmmakers. This is most surprising, since we just came out of such a bad year for women. But three of them were the major forces behind their projects that told important stories, sometimes personal, sometimes not. I came here feeling the pressure of time and age – and frankly feeling some despair about the state of things for women. I never expected I would leave here feeling hopeful not just for women this year but for the doors they creaked open this year, how they managed to do it, how well they did it, and how successful they’ve become doing it.

By Sasha Stone
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September 5, 2012 11:00 AM
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