Opening November 7 – 13, 2022 – Margaret Barton-Fumo reports

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 the week of November 7 to 13 that are of particular interest. Titles highlighted in red have links to full reviews:  

Thursday, November 10

• Falling for Christmas – Netflix – USA – Romantic comedy co-written and directed by Janeen Damian, starring Lindsay Lohan. In the days leading up to Christmas, a young and newly engaged heiress experiences a skiing accident. After being diagnosed with amnesia, she finds herself in the care of the handsome lodge owner and his daughter.

 

• State of Alabama vs. Brittany Smith – Netflix – USA – Documentary. The harrowing story of a woman trying to use Alabama’s Stand Your Ground law after killing a man she says brutally attacked her.

Friday, November 11

• Being Thunder – Film Movement – France – Documentary written, directed and shot by Stéphanie Lamorré. Sherente, a two spirit-genderqueer teenager from Rhode Island’s Narragansett tribe performs traditional dance in competitions at annual regional pow wows of New England tribes.

 

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Disney (Cinemas) – USA – Marvel sequel directed by Ryan Coogler, starring Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o. The nation of Wakanda is pitted against intervening world powers as they mourn the loss of their king T’Challa.

 

• A Couple – Zipporah Films (NY Cinemas) – USA – Drama directed by Frederick Wiseman, co-written by Wiseman and star Nathalie Boutefeu. ‘A Couple’ follows a long term relationship between a man and a woman. The man is Leo Tolstoy. The woman is his wife, Sophia.

 

• The Human Trial – Abramorama (VOD) – USA – Documentary co-directed by Lisa Hepner and Guy Mossman. Driven by a desire to cure Lisa Hepner of her own type 1 diabetes (T1D), the filmmakers were given unprecedented, real-time access to a clinical trial — only the sixth-ever embryonic stem cell trial in the world. What follows is an intimate journey with the patients and scientists who put themselves on the line to be first.

 

• My Father’s Dragon – Netflix – Ireland / USA – Animated film directed by Nora Twomey. Elmer Elevator searches for a captive Dragon on Wild Island and finds much more than he could ever have anticipated. Voice acting by Judy Greer and Leighton Meester.

Film descriptions are adapted from press releases. Stay tuned in for next week’s releases! Titles highlighted in red have links to full reviews. Contact us if we’ve overlooked anything.