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

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

Lena Dunham’s Big Week: DGA Win, New Show and Entertainment Weekly Cover Story

Things for Lena Dunham are showing absolutely no signs of slowing down—within the past week, she’s won a DGA, is developing a new show for HBO, is Entertainment Weekly’s cover girl and had a truly terrific episode of Girls air.  
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • February 4, 2013 2:00 PM
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  • 3 Comments

Guest Post: A Response to "This Woman is Too Fat for Hollywood?"

Recently Melissa Silverstein at Women and Hollywood wrote a blog entitled "This Woman is Too Fat For Hollywood?" Consider this a response to the aforementioned article.
  • By Liz Manashil
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  • January 8, 2013 10:50 AM
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  • 13 Comments

Trailer Watch: Girls - Season 2

Watch the second trailer for season two of Girls from Lena Dunham. It'll be interesting to see if the show has changed after some of the criticism that season one received. All of us at Women and Hollywood are very excited for this upcoming season.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • January 2, 2013 1:00 PM
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  • 0 Comments

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics and AFI Announce Picks of 2012

We are officially in the center of awards season and yesterday both the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association and the American Film Institute announced their winners in film (AFI also includes television). Bigelow and Zero Dark Thirty continue to rack up the awards, Jessica Chastain walked away with Best Actress and Anne Hathaway nabbed Supporting Actress.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • December 11, 2012 12:54 PM
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  • 0 Comments

Lena Dunham Named one of Entertainment Weekly's Entertainers of the Year

Entertainment Weekly named Lena Dunham one of their 2012 Entertainers of the Year in their recent issue. Considering the massive success Dunham had this year, she's very deserving of this recognition.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • December 3, 2012 3:12 PM
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  • 0 Comments

Hollywood Gets Political

With only eight days left before the upcoming Presidential election, more and more of our favorite actors, writers and directors are releasing content in support of Obama. We’ll continue to post interesting political pieces in the remaining days to the election.
  • By Kerensa Cadenas
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  • October 29, 2012 1:22 PM
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  • 0 Comments

Cross Post: Ry Russo-Young Discusses John Krasinski's First Sex Scene and Collaborating With Lena Dunham for 'Nobody Walks'

Ry Russo-Young may have worked with her highest profile cast to date for her third directorial offering Nobody Walks, but that doesn't mean she's softened up. Working off an incisive and surprising screenplay co-written by Girls sensation Lena Dunham, Nobody Walks explores rocky emotional terrain much like to her breakout sophomore feature You Won't Miss Me, while making no apologies for the wayward heroine at its center.
  • By Nigel Smith
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  • October 19, 2012 11:00 AM
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Lena Dunham at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit and New Book Proposal

Lena Dunham is on a roll that looks like it cannot be stopped. Despite getting shut out of the Emmys, Dunham has been busy with season 2 of Girls (airing in January), publishing essays in The New Yorker and co-writing the film Nobody Walks (out October 12).
  • By Melissa Silverstein and Kerensa Cadenas
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  • October 4, 2012 12:15 PM
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  • 1 Comment

Trailer Watch: Nobody Walks - directed by Ry Russo-Young and written by Ry Russo Young and Lena Dunham

The film premiered at Sundance 2012 and will open in theatres on October 12
  • By Melissa Silverstein
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  • August 8, 2012 9:45 AM
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  • 0 Comments

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