Weekly Update March 15: Women-Centric, Directed, Written Movies Playing Near You

Abbie Cornish in The Girl

Ginger and Rosa - Directed by Sally Potter

After the dust settles, Ginger and Rosa is going to turn out to be one of my the highlights of the festival.  Sally Potter, the brilliant director of Orlando has written and directed a truly accessible coming of age story set during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.  It's the story of two sixteen year old girls Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert - Jane Campion's daughter) who are no longer girls but, of course, not yet women. Ginger's parents, the academic philandering narcissist Roland (Alessandro Nivola) and frustrated painter Natalie (Christina Hendricks) are progressive parents giving Ginger a lot of freedom, and while her friend Rosa spends her time exploring her budding sexuality, Ginger on the other hand, is very focused on the fact that the world is on the brink of nuclear disaster.  She attends meetings and marches which is not typical for a 16 year old and she relays the fears that everyone was feeling at that moment.  Read interview with Sally Potter.

If I Were You - Written and Directed by Joan Carr-Wiggin

If I Were You allows Marcia Gay Harden the opportunity to show us some comedy and some tragedy all wrapped up in a performance of King Lear (yes, a female King Lear!)   It all begins one evening when she spies her husband of many years out with his much younger girlfriend Lucy (Lenor Watling), and through a series of bumbles bordering on stalking she saves the much younger woman's life and then becomes her friend.  Lucy, of course, has no idea that Gay Harden is the "evil wife" of her boyfriend and their relationship over time grows into a true friendship.  Then the shit hits the fan.  The film allows Marcia Gay Harden a real opportunity to show all her talents as a woman at a crossroads.

The Girl

Abbie Cornish is one of the most talented and interesting young women working in film today.  She was introduced to the world in Cate Shortland's Sommersault but broke through in Jane Campion's Bright Star.  It is her ability to be still and convey tons of emotion that set her apart.  She takes on the role of Ashley a struggling young mother in South Texas right on the Mexican border who has lost her son to the system and lost herself in the process.  She is willing to try anything to get her son and herself back.  Her attempt has tragic consequences and in the aftermath she learns a lot of important lessons which help her on her road to get her life and her son back. Read more

The Call

When veteran 911 operator Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) receives a call from a girl who has just been abducted, she soon realizes that she must confront a killer from her past in order to save the girl's life. (From IMDB)

Spring Breakers

Four college girls who land in jail after robbing a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation find themselves bailed out by a drug and arms dealer who wants them to do some dirty work. (From IMDB)

Films About Women Currently Playing 

Electrick Children

Beyond the Hills

Girl Rising

Future Weather - Directed and Written by Jenny Deller

War Witch

Stoker

Beautiful Creatures

Lore - Directed by Cate Shortland

Side Effects

Mama

Zero Dark Thirty - Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Rust and Bone

Films Directed by Women Opening This Weekend

K-11 - Directed by Jules Stewart

K-11 is the directorial debut from Jules Stewart.  The cast includes Kate Del Castillo (Under the Same Moon, Weeds) who plays Mousey, a malicious transgendered inmate who takes charge in Los Angeles County Jail's LGBT section, and Goran Visnjic (Red Widow, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) whose drug use leads him straight into Mousey's charge after he commits a crime in the haze of drug use. The film also stars DB Sweeney, Jason Mewes, Portia Doubleday and Tommy "Tiny" Lister. (From Press Materials)

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey - Directed by Ramona S. Diaz

Gut Renovation - Directed by Su Friedrich (doc)

A Place At The Table - Directed by Kristi Jacobsen and Lori Silverbush (doc)

Hava Naglia: The Movie - Directed by Roberta Grossman (doc)

Inescapable - Directed and Written by Ruba Nadda

West of Memphis - Directed by Amy Berg

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

Emperor - Co-Written by Vera Blasi

Safe Haven - Co-Written by Dana Stevens

Films By and About Women on DVD/On Demand

Smashed - Co-Written by Susan Burke