Jennifer Merin
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Jennifer Merin currently interviews directors, reviews films and DVDs for New York Press and covers nonfiction film for Documentaries.About.com. She edits Women On Film, the online magazine of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, of which she is President. She has written about entertainment for USA Today, US Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Endless Vacation Magazine, Daily News, New York Post, SoHo News and other publications.
After receiving her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts (Grad Acting), Jennifer performed at the O'Neill Theater Center?s Playwrights Conference, Long Wharf Theater, American Place Theatre and LaMamma, where she worked with renown Japanese director, Shuji Terayama. She subsequently joined Terayama's theater company in Tokyo, where she also acted in films.
Her journalism career began when she was asked to write about Terayama for The Drama Review. She became a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor after writing an article about Marketta Kimbrell's Theater For The Forgotten, with which she was performing at the time. She was an O'Neill Theater Center National Critics' Institute Fellow, and the institute's Coordinator.
While teaching at the Universities of Wisconsin and Rhode Island, she wrote "A Directory of Festivals of Theater, Dance and Folklore Around the World," published by the International Theater Institute.
Denmark's Odin Teatret's director, Eugenio Barba, wrote his manifesto in the form of a letter to "Dear Jennifer Merin," which has been published around the world, in languages as diverse as Farsi and Romanian.
Jennifer's culturally-oriented travel column began in the LA Times in 1984, then moved to The Associated Press, LA Times Syndicate, Tribune Media, Creators Syndicate and (currently) Arcamax Publishing. She's been news writer/editor for ABC Radio Networks, on-air reporter for NBC, CBS Radio and, currently, for Westwood One's America In the Morning.
Read Merin's recent articles below. For her Women On Film archive, type "Jennifer Merin" in the Search Box (upper right corner of screen).
Articles by Jennifer Merin
“Ramona and Beezus,” based on Beverly Cleary’s beloved book, is likely to be the family film success of the summer season. The film is all about sisterhood and the love that develops between and binds siblings.
Cleary’s novel is a kids’ classic, so well-known and beloved, adapting it for the big screen could be problematic. Director Elizabeth Allen says she was actually quite concerned about doing it the right way — especially because she feels so personally connected to the book. Read the rest of this entry »
Interviews and Profiles,
Women on Film
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will honor Karhryn Bigelow at its third annual Film Benefit, to be held on November 10, and with a retrospective of her work to be presented in June, 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
Women on Film
Without comment or personal intervention, filmmakers Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, who were embedded with a soldiers deployed to Afghanistan, show just what it’s like to be at war. The extreme stress and terror are constant. This is one of the year’s most important films, to date. Read more>>
Reviews and Criticism,
Women on Film
Let’s praise Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) curator Sally Berger for putting together a remarkable and well-deserved retrospective (July 7 to 24) of the films and video of Sally Potter, the brilliant British feminist moviemaker with a genuinely unique and fascinating vision. Read the rest of this entry »
Essays and Features,
Interviews and Profiles,
News and Previews,
Women on Film
Frenzied Twihard fans are so eagerly awaiting this third installment that it’s become Fandango and Movietickets.com’s top advance ticket-seller of the year. And it’s certainly better than the first two. Read the rest of this entry »
Reviews and Criticism,
Women on Film
8: The Mormon Proposition sets the record straight about Mormon initiatives to reverse legislation allowing same sex marriages in California. Directors Reed Cowan and Steven Greenstreet not only reveal Mormon elders’ manipulations, they show the devastating effects the Mormon-lead anti-gay campaign has had on LGBT couples, their parents and extended families — many of whom are or were Mormon. Read more>>
Reviews and Criticism,
Women on Film
Filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg follow comedienne Joan Rivers as she assails the seasons of her 75th year. With fly-on-the-wall observations and close-up-and-personal interviews, they reveal that Rivers flows deeper than her brashly funny truth-and-trash-talking face-lifted blonde public persona normally allows audiences to see. Read more>>
Reviews and Criticism,
Women on Film
Filmmaker Leon Gast turns his camera on Ron Galella, the famous celebrity photographer who stalked his subjects and supplied the tabloids with their hottest shots of famous people who wanted their privacy. By reputation and from some of the commentary in the film, you might expect Galella to be extremely rude and crude, a borderline sociopath. Surprisingly, he’s quite funny, sort of charming and appealingly honest about his lifestyle, goals and foibles. Read more>>
Reviews and Criticism,
Women on Film
Filmmakers Barbara Brancaccio and Joshua Zeman’s documentary shows that the creepy urban legend that haunted their childhood dreams is actually true. Read more
Reviews and Criticism,
Women on Film
In following three teenagers who excel in their high school science research projects, Whiz Kids shows how individual initiatives can bring tremendous rewards to talented students, and also focuses the spotlight on how America’s system of education, which encourages competition, has fallen behind other nations in student achievement rankings. Read more
Reviews and Criticism,
Women on Film
