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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The Year That Was

Happy new year everyone. Thanks so much for the great support over the last year.

As we start the new year, I thought it would be interesting to look at the narratives that dominated the conversation over the past year. Would love to hear if you have any thoughts on other topics that dominated the conversations.

Here is what I came up with:

The success of Bridesmaids and the realization that women can be funny. (duh)

Winter's Bone and The Kids are All Right get best picture nominations for 2011.

Women directors not being in the conversation for the 2012 Oscar.

The breakout success of Jessica Chastain

The Help polarizes yet still succeeds at the box office.

Patty Jenkins gets hired and fired from Marvel's Thor 2.

Women make up only 33% of speaking parts in films and less than 10% of writers and directors.

Jennifer Yuh Nelson becomes the highest grossing women director with King Fu Panda 2.

By Melissa Silverstein
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January 3, 2012 9:27 AM
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Reviews

I heart Young Adult. I heart it because it is an awesome and original story. I heart it because Charlize Theron hits it out of the park as the horribly bitchy Mavis a woman stuck in her high school self because that was when she was queen. You know when you look at the male football players in high school and they are so cute and so dumb but they rule the world because it is high school. But you know that those are the same guys who wind up selling vacuum cleaners and developing a beer gut by the time they are 30. The guys you were in awe of become the sad ones. Mavis is one of those guys, but she is a girl. She peaked at 16. She was the golden mean bitch who I'm sure roamed the halls spilling slushees on the plebes.

By Melissa Silverstein
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December 9, 2011 12:39 PM
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4 Comments

Charlize Theron Talks About Her Life and Young Adult

A very impressive woman. She started a foundation in her home country of South Africa to end sexual violence and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. Young Adult starts rolling out this weekend and will open wide on December 16.

By Melissa Silverstein
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December 5, 2011 9:25 AM
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Dirty Trailer for Young Adult - written by Diablo Cody

If you think you knew what Young Adult was about, this will throw a wrench in those thoughts. Just please don't play this around the kids - it's good and dirty.

Film opens in NY and LA Dec 9 and then rolls out across the country.

By Melissa Silverstein
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November 29, 2011 10:31 AM
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