Commentaries – Page 3 – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

In Memoriam: Julia Reichert (1946-2022)

December 9, 2022December 12, 2022 Marilyn Ferdinand (Archived Contributor) american factory, documentaries, in memoriam, Julia Reichert, Marilyn Ferdinand., new day films, oscars, steven bognar

Moviemakers, movie lovers social justice advocates are mourning the loss of the great Julia Reichert, known to those who admired and adored her as the “Godmother of American independent documentaries.” When she and In her partner Steven Bognar accepted the Robert and Anne Drew Award for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking at DOC NYC’s 2019 Visionaries Tribute, Julia Reichert, then fighting the disease that eventually took her life, tweaked the audience a bit with a teaser about “stumbling upon the secret to great documentary cinematography.” A full four minutes later, she finally revealed the answer: “Editing.”

Commentaries Festivals

My TIFF 2022 Diary: Highlighting Day-to-Day ‘IRL’ – Johanna Schneller reports (Exclusive)

October 3, 2022July 28, 2024 Johanna Schneller cameron bailey, covid, elton john, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Polley, TIFF 2022, toronto international film festival, viola davis

After two minutes, I realize I’m levitating an inch from my seat with happiness. This movie is everything I’d hoped and more. There is not one wasted syllable. I keep swatting away tears of anger (on behalf of the characters, and their real-life counterparts). I can feel the emotion rolling up and down the rows, that feeling you can only get in a theatre full of people who are having a collective experience. I won’t know this until a few days later, but Women Talking sets the tone for my whole TIFF: brilliant women directors, squaring their sites on the patriarchy. And experiencing their work in public again, finally.

Commentaries

10 International Animated Films That Showcase World Cultures – Dana Ziyasheva reports (Guest Post)

September 1, 2022June 5, 2023 Guest Post animated films, Crocodile Gena and Cheburashka, Dana Ziyasheva, disney pixar, encanto, guest posts, Kirikou and the Sorceress, Uproar in Heaven, World Cultures

The United States has always been a culturally diverse country, and it will become even more so in the future. In 2019, more than half of Americans under age 16 identified as a racial or ethnic minority for the first time – so not really a minority after all! Young audiences want to relate to what they’re watching, explore their heritage, and learn about their friends’ cultural background. And Hollywood has started to take notice: Moana, Mulan, Coco, and Encanto added ethnic diversity to Disney/Pixar’s time-tested formula, with action-packed, broad-stroke narratives centered on their title characters’ identity search.

Commentaries

Mid-Life Women Trend in European Films and Series – Jennifer Green Comments

July 21, 2022July 21, 2022 Jennifer Green 100 Days with Tata, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Borgen, emma thompson, European Audiovisual Observatory, Good Luck to You, Grace and Frankie, I Love America, Intimacy, Itziar Ituño, Leo Grande, netflix, Olivia Colman, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Sophie Marceau, the lost daughter

The European films and series mentioned here all end on a promising note of self-empowerment for their female characters. The message shared across these stories seems to be that there is plenty of life left to be explored and a realm of new experiences – physical, emotional, spiritual and professional – still to be had for women well into and even past middle age. The market for their stories is wide open.

Commentaries

Suzanne Bauman (1945-2022): A Life in Film – Profile by Marilyn Ferdinand

February 14, 2022February 17, 2022 Marilyn Ferdinand (Archived Contributor) against wind and tide: a cuban odyssey, female filmmakers, la belle epoch, shadow of afghanistan, suzanne bauman

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists mourns the passing of Suzanne Bauman, a producer, director, and writer of more than 80 documentary and feature films, as well as a teacher of documentary filmmaking. Bauman succumbed to cancer on January 2, 2022, surrounded by family in her home in Wrightwood, California.

Commentaries

Oscars 2022 by the Rules – Susan Granger reports

January 31, 2022January 31, 2022 Susan Granger academy of motion picture arts and sciences, Oscars 2022

Oscar hopes are high in Hollywood – but – first come the Oscar nominations. Ballots have gone out to all members of the 17 branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and the results will be announced early on Tuesday, February 8th. Right now, there are 9,487 active Oscar voters eligible to nominate and vote in the 94th annual Academy Awards, plus an additional 914 Emeritus members, making the total 10,487. All members can nominate Best Picture. ..and the Board has declared there will be 10 nominees this year.

Commentaries

Maggie Gyllenhaal: from ‘difficult’ roles to director – Wendy Ide reports

December 13, 2021December 18, 2021 Wendy Ide maggie gyllenhaal, the lost daughter

With a string of plaudits for portraying complex characters, the actor is now focusing her ‘quiet fire’ behind the cameras with a stunning debut film. From her breakthrough role in Secretary, wearing stilettos, a pencil skirt and manacles and attempting to operate a stapler with her chin, to her directorial debut which digs into the messy truths about motherhood, Maggie Gyllenhaal has always been attracted to what she has described as “troubled women. The ones that are a real challenge. They really need me.”

Commentaries

Horror Movies and Kids: A Scary Combination — Betsy Bozdech, Brandy McDonnell, Jennifer Merin, Nell Minow and Liz Whittemore comment

October 14, 2021October 14, 2021 Betsy Bozdech age appropriate, betsy bozdech, brandy mcdonnell, halloween, jennifer merin, liz whittemore, nell minow, scary movies

Research shows that, on average, kids see horror movies as young as 7 years old. And we’ve all noticed members of the PG crowd at decidedly R-rated movies — in fact, when my daughter was in the second grade, she had multiple classmates who’d seen “It.” It’s not realistic to expect that we can shield kids from scary or gory content forever. And, in fact, it can be counterproductive to prevent children from seeing any kind of conflict, loss, or trauma on screen. Far better to use these moments, when they come, as opportunities to help them through hard stuff in a safe place.

Commentaries

Note to Hollywood: Fight Scenes Are Not Foreplay – Nell Minow comments

August 26, 2021August 29, 2021 Nell Minow combat scenes concluding with sex, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, The Protégé

I was disappointed to see the same obsolete trope in two Hollywood films this month. In The Protégé and in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings we see a man and a woman in an all-out mixed martial arts fight. At least comparatively speaking, in these two very intense, full-on fight scenes, the women are the good guys and the men are extremely dangerous killers. And in both scenes, the fights are concluded not with one combatant defeating the other but with the couple having sex.

Commentaries Festivals

Assessing the Film Festival Scene – Pamela Powell comments

August 24, 2021August 24, 2021 Pamela Powell covid-19 pandemic, film distribution, film festivals, sundance, sxsw, TIFF, Tribeca

In 2020, after the Sundance Film Festival squeezed in its 12-day celebration and the U.S. recognized and reacted to the dangers of Covid-19, most festivals either cancelled or went the virtual route with limited success. For critics who attended these events, this new viewing format created a void and a distancing from filmmaking. With no true end to the pandemic in site, how will this effect the future of festivals and critics’ attendance?