Opening March 15 to 19 2021 – Margaret Barton-Fumo previews

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists highlights movies made by and about women. With a vigilant eye toward current releases, we maintain an interactive record of films that are pertinent to our interests. Be they female-made or female-centric productions, they are films that represent a wide range of women’s stories and present complex female characters. As such, they are movies that will most likely be reviewed on AWFJ.org and will qualify for consideration for our annual EDA Awards, celebrating exceptional women working in film behind and in front of the camera. Our members are feature writers, columnists and regular contributors to a variety of media outlets and many of us publish regularly on the festival circuit. Our critical voices are widespread and diverse. We invite you to join us in tracking weekly releases of particular interest. And we welcome information about new films that will help us to keep our records updated and our critics alert. Below is a concise list of new releases set for March 15 to 19 that are of particular interest:

Monday, March 15  

• Quo vadis, Aida? – Super LTD (VOD) – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Female-directed Bosnian drama set in 1995. Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp. Labeled a “masterpiece” by filmmaker Mike Leigh, on the Academy Awards shortlist for Best International Feature Film. Directed by Jasmila Zbanic.

  Tuesday, March 16  

• Busy Inside – America ReFramed (Public TV) – Russia – Documentary chronicling the lives of women living with Dissociative Identity Disorder; many personalities, one body. Directed by Olga Lvoff.

 

• Martha: A Picture Story – Utopia (VOD) – USA/Australia – Documentary about influential photographer and street artist Martha Cooper, who captured some of the first images of grafitti in 1970s New York City. Directed by Selina Miles.

  Thursday, March 18  

• Groomed – Discover+ (VOD) – USA – Documentary directed by and starring Gwen van de Pas, who returns to her hometown in search of answers about the man who sexually abused her as a child.

 

• Slaxx – Shudder (VOD) – Canada – Female-written and directed comedic horror about a possessed pair of jeans on a killing rampage. One of many new female-directed films released through Shudder.

Friday, March 19  

• The Fever – KimStim (VOD) – Brazil – Debut feature from Brazilian director Maya Da-Rin. A father and daughter of indigenous descent move from their community in the Amazon rainforest to the northwestern city of Manaus. As the daughter prepares to study medicine in the city, the father comes down with a mysterious fever.

 

• Food Club – Samuel Goldwyn Films (VOD) – Denmark – Danish dramedy following three longtime girlfriends since elementary school who are coming into their prime and finding a new lease on life after participating in a cooking course in Italy.

 

• Phobias – Vertical Entertainment (VOD) – USA – Horror anthology with multiple female directors/writers. Each segment focuses on a different patient suffering from extreme phobias at a sinister government testing facility.

 

• Rose Plays Julie – Film Movement (virtual cinemas, VOD) – Ireland/UK – British drama about an adopted girl who seeks out her birth mother only to be told her mother has no desire to meet her. Co-directed by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor.

 

• Wojnarowicz – Kino Lorber (virtual cinemas) – USA – Documentary about the controversial artist David Wojnarowicz, who blazed the trail for other gay image makers in New York’s 1980s scene, only to perish at the end of the decade from the AIDS virus.

Stay tuned in for next week’s releases! Contact us if we’ve overlooked anything.