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

Watch The Top 3 WNBA Picks Talk Sports and Sexuality

Video

While we have made great progress on gay marriage, we stil live in a world where there is not a single professional out male athlete that is currently playing a major sport. They are there, they are scared, but that's it's a really big, important step that hopefully is coming.

By Melissa Silverstein and Kerensa Cadenas
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April 22, 2013 10:00 AM
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0 Comments

Features

So what is it that makes a movie a lesbian movie? Does it require lesbians playing the roles of the characters? Does the director have to be gay? Is there a quota of girl on girl “action” that determines the “gayness” of the film? If it had been directed by men like the Bound (the former Wachowski Brothers), Lianna (John Sayles), or Personal Best, (Robert Towne), would A Perfect Ending have had a different trajectory?

By Nicole Conn
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February 5, 2013 10:00 AM
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7 Comments

Video

Film will open in the US on November 2.

By Melissa Silverstein
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July 26, 2012 9:42 AM
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0 Comments

Blogs

Wish Me Away is the incredibly moving coming out story of country music star Chely Wright. When I read a little over a year ago that Wright (who I did not know at the time) had come out my first reaction was "big deal." After you watch the film you realize how difficult this process was for Wright mostly because of where she worked -- Nashville. Don't forget how horribly the Dixie Chicks were treated in Nashville not too long ago for public statements they made about the rush to got to war with Iraq. It's a tough and very conservative town. Chely was the first high profile country performer to come out, something she had to do to save her life, and sadly, not for her, but for country music, she has now been forced to embark on a new life post Nashville. She's not getting the invites to the Grand Ole Opry House but she is showing up at gay and lesbian centers across the country standing up for herself and the gay community.

By Melissa Silverstein
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June 1, 2012 11:54 AM
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1 Comment

Blogs

This is a repost of the interview I did at the premiere of the film last summer at Newfest in NYC. The film opens in NYC today and is also available on demand. Info here.

By Melissa Silverstein
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June 1, 2012 10:15 AM
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0 Comments

Video

This will open in theatres in the summer but New Yorkers can catch it at the Athena Film Festival on February 11. Details here.

By Melissa Silverstein
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February 2, 2012 10:42 AM
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0 Comments

Blogs

Aurora Guerrero debuted her feature film 'Mosquita Y Mari' at Sundance 2012 and I had a chance to talk to her near the end of a hectic but exciting festival. She shared the secret of her $80,000 Kickstarter campaign success, and the importance of telling stories from the queer, Chicana and immigrant communities she belongs to.

By Therese Shechter
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January 30, 2012 12:15 PM
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0 Comments

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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0 Comments

Love and Risk in Iran: Circumstance Written and Directed by Maryam Keshavarz

Here is a piece I wrote on Circumstance written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz for the Human Right Campaign's Equality Magazine, for their Summer 2011 Issue.

By Melissa Silverstein
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August 23, 2011 4:39 AM
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4 Comments

NewFest Crowns Winners

NewFest wrapped up at the end of last week and female directors got a bunch of surprises.

By Melissa Silverstein
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August 1, 2011 2:30 AM
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1 Comment

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