ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

Festivals

Festivals Reviews 

MARGUERITE’S THEORY (Cannes 2023) – Review by Nadine Whitney

Nadine Whitney , , , , , , ,

In Anna Novion’s Marguerite’s Theory, for brilliant student Marguerite Hoffman (Ella Rumpf) theoretical mathematics have been a way for her to “find order in infinity.” At the age of twenty-five she is ensconced in academia at the prestigious École Normale Supérieure and about to deliver a thesis she has been working on for three years with her taciturn supervisor Laurent Werner (Jean-Pierre Darroussin). Like most elite institutions it is intensely competitive at all levels and the world of theoretical mathematics is small and filled with rivalry and resentment. Marguerite has nothing in her life outside her work. She is the epitome of single-mindedness.

Read more
Festivals Reviews 

ALL TO PLAY FOR (Cannes 2023) – Review by Nadine Whitney

Nadine Whitney , , , , , ,

The English language title of Delphine Deloget’s debut feature is almost the opposite to its original French title. All to Play For does not match up with the direct translation of Rien à perdre which means nothing to lose, and yet both titles are fitting for the tense drama about a single mother dealing with overzealous child protection services. Sylvie (Virginie Efria) gets to a point where she is playing for everything to reclaim her eight-year-old son, Sofiane (Alexis Tonetti) but with every dehumanising wall she encounters the boiling point will be reached where she has nothing left to lose.

Read more
Festivals 

HotDocs2023: Feminist Festival Wrap – Emma Badame reports

Emma Badame , , , ,

Hot Docs International Film Festival has long been a fabulous showcase of work from female filmmakers, and its 2023 line-up was no different. After achieving gender parity in 2018, this year the festival hosted a slate of world and North American premieres, director panel discussions, and networking events, there was plenty for film fans and industry members alike to take in as part of the festival’s 30th anniversary. The yearly, Toronto-based festival has been transparent about their goals of equity and inclusion, especially over the last 10 years. Hot Docs pledged “commitment to equity and inclusiveness in all aspects of the organization.” While they talk the talk, the organization clearly walks the walk when it comes to their programming too.

Read more
Festivals Interviews 

Maite Alberdi on THE ETERNAL MEMORY (HotDocs2023) – Liz Braun interviews

Liz Braun , , , , , ,

The Eternal Memory is a love story that covers 25 years in the relationship between Chilean journalist Augusto Gongora and his wife, actress Paulina Urrutia. Augusto and Pauli have lived with his Alzheimer’s for the last decade. The heartrending movie reflects the intimate observational style of award-winning filmmaker Maite Alberdi, whose close focus on individual stories is often a door to larger national issues. We spoke to Alberdi when she was in Toronto with The Eternal Memory at the Hot Docs Film Festival.

Read more
Festivals 

TRIBECA FILM FEST 2023: Women and Horror – Preview by Alexandra Heller Nicholas

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas , , , , , , , , , , ,

If you are looking for tangible evidence that film festivals are taking equity seriously, the stats surrounding the forthcoming 2023 Tribeca Festival are a good place to start. With 68% of films in competition directed by women and 36% of all features directed by BIPOC filmmakers, when these numbers are weighed up next to the high calibre names it’s frankly hard not to be impressed.

Read more
Festivals 

Vancouver International Women In Film Fest (2023): Awards – Jennifer Green Reports

Jennifer Green , , ,

The Vancouver International Women in Film Festival (VIWFF) returned to an in-person event this year for its 18th annual edition at the VIFF Centre in the British Columbian city March 7-11. The festival, organized around International Women’s Day on March 8, ended it’s in person run on March 12, but offers online viewing of film — including this years award winners — through March 25. In the 2023 program, some 37 films from 14 countries competed for a line-up of awards, running alongside a sidebar short film competition. Of the 19 films from home base Canada, nine were made by local British Columbia filmmakers.

Read more
Festivals Reviews 

PARACHUTE (SXSW2023)- Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , , , , ,

When director Brittany Snow introduced the SXSW world premiere of her directorial debut film Parachute, she acknowledged its autobiographical elements. As co-writer, along with Becca Gleason, Snow delivers an honest representation of what too many women in our appearance obsessed society find impossible to avoid; that is, comparison to other women perceived always as more perfect resulting in harmful emotional and physical denigration of self, too often leading to eating disorders.

Read more
Festivals Reviews 

LOVE TO LOVE YOU, DONNA SUMMER (SXSW2023) – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , , , , , , ,

In the documentary Love to Love You, Donna Summer, directors Roger Ross Williams and Donna Summer’s daughter Brooklyn Sudano celebrate Donna Summer, including her eight year involvement with German avant-garde music, as lead singer of the psychedelic bank Crow, and, back in the U.S., her dominance of the dance scene from the mid-70s on. Through candid photographs, a wealth of home video footage, personal audio recordings, her paintings, and numerous clips from her performances, this superstar’s life in front of and behind the cameras is revealed.

Read more
Festivals Interviews 

Rosemary Rodriguez on HAIL MARY, Love and Little Miracles – Leslie Combemale interviews (SXSW2023)

Leslie Combemale , , , ,

Rosemary Rodriguez, known for her award-winning indie features Acts of Worship and Silver Skies, is no stranger to horror, fantasy, and sci-fi. She’s been directing episodic shows on the small screen for over a decade, including Jessica Jones, The Walking Dead, and Peacemaker. She premiered her new genre-busting Hail Mary at SXSW2023. the film has been called a biblical fantasy, but that’s a very narrow description. It’s a supernatural drama tinged with horror, action, and a little humor that is framed around the story of Belizean virgin Maria (newcomer Natalia del Diego) who finds herself pregnant at a time when the “Herod” virus is killing all the babies being born.

Read more
Festivals Reviews 

JOAN BAEZ I AM A NOISE (SXSW2023) – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , , , , , ,

Assured by Joan Baez that she committed to taking an unflinching look at her life, the good and the bad, directors Karen O’Connor and Miri Navasky began work on the documentary Joan Baez I Am a Noise. What they then discovered astonished them and Baez: a storage room holding home movies, photos, diaries, artwork, letters, and audio recordings. Wanting to leave an honest legacy, Baez gave O’Connor and Navasky permission to tear into the hundreds of hours chronicling Baez’s unexplored, previously hidden life. Complementing judicious selections from all that, backstage and on stage footage juxtaposes Baez, in her 70s, performing on her magnificent farewell tour.

Read more