Female Film Critics 24/375
Keira Knightley shines as the star of Wash Westmoreland’s “Colette,” a beautifully realized biopic about the early years of the celebrated French writer. Knightly immerses herself in the role, bringing Colette’s personal struggles — and self-awakening — vividly to life within the lavish Belle Epoche environs established with gorgeous sets, costumes and cimenatography.
Masterfully bewitching storytelling, a superb performances by first-time actor Maggie Mulubwa and a fine ensemble cast, exquisite cinematography that reveals nuanced emotions in close ups and captures broad sweeps of the arid landscape, and outstanding editing skills that balance satire and serious social commentary have brought ;I Am Not A Witch; into contention for Oscar gold as the UK’s submission for best foreign film. Rungano Nyoni’s cinematic style is unique and fascinating. <;em> Am Not A Witch<;/em> is a must see. And, it warrants a second watch, as well.
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Glenn Close delivers a brilliant performance in Bjorn Runge’s The Wife. Based on Meg Wolitzer’s eponymous novel about the wife of a newly minted Nobel Prize-winning writer, this closely observed drama follows Close’s Joan and her husband, Joe (Jonathan Pryce), as they travel to Stockholm for his anointing — but will their marriage survive the trip?
Abigail Disney’s Fork Films is dividng $625,000 in grants among 16 new documentaries that align with the company’s dedication to promoting peacebuilding, human rights, and social justice. All are directed and or produced by women. Selected from 500 applicants, the chosen films address topics ranging from refugee and immigration stories, to incarceration, civil rights, disability rights and media depictions of transgender people, as well as other timely topics. The unprecedented number of applications indicates growing demand for nonfiction storytelling in this turbulent time
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Developing audiences for documentaries is a daunting task for even well-established filmmakers. Successful documentary distribution depends on audience demand, on
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Dr. Martha M. Lauzen‘s latest study, Thumbs Down 2018: Film Critics and Gender, and Why It Matters, conducted and published
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Filmmaker Maggie Hadleigh-West’s retrospective (Brooklyn, NY July 26-29) includes a screening of Player Hating: A Love Story, the 2012 documentary
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Paula Eiselt’s documentary follows Rachel ‘Ruchie’ Freier, an Orthodox Jewish wife, mother and lawyer, as she launches an all-female ambulance corps to serve women of NY’s Hasidic community in Brooklyn. The result is a compelling glimpse inside an insular community and a fascinating portrait of a determined feminist.
If you’re already feeling cynical about the current state of our country, fair warning: Dark Money isn’t going to lighten your mental load. Kimberly Reed’s intelligent documentary is an important, timely expose of the dangers that shady funding of political campaigns poses to the democratic ideals that many Americans hold dear.
Kimberly Reed’s documentary is an explosive expose about the tremendous threat the influence of concealed corporate funding of political campaigns
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