ALCARRAS – Review by Jennifer Green

This is a deceptively simple movie. It’s filmed with non-professional actors in a documentarian’s naturalistic, day-in-the-life style. It captures the realities of rural farm life in northwestern Spain (Alcarràs is a town in Catalonia) in a way that is rare for an international audience to see, providing accurate cultural details about the different generations of a single family. But more than its anthropological value, the film is also a beautifully shot and structured timepiece with a stealthily absorbing story.

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NY Film Fest 2022: 37.5% of Main Slate Films are Femme-Helmed – Jennifer Merin reports

The 32 films that comprise the Main Slate of the 60th New York Film Festival (NYFF), taking place September 30–October 16, 2022, at Lincoln Center and in venues across the city include 11 films directed by women and one that was co-directed by a woman — equaling 37.5 percent. In comparison, New York Film Festival’s 2021 Main Slate roster of 32 titles included eight films directed by women, two films co-directed by women — or 31.25 percent. This year’s femme helmed films represent a diverse selection of styles, genres and themes directed by filmmakers who are returning to NYFF and those whose work is being shown at NYFF for the first time.

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Despite Progress, Europe’s Film Industry Struggles with Gender Equality – Jennifer Green reports

The European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) reports that women represented fewer than one out of four film directors in Europe (23%) between 2016 and 2020. Females made up slightly more producers (33%) and screenwriters (27%), but struggled to have a significant presence in technical positions like cinematographers (10%) and composers (9%). Women directed fewer films than men and were less likely to be sole directors of feature films than their male counterparts. Female producers were involved in 44% of European feature films (alone or in teams), but on average women tended to produce slightly fewer films than men. Women also made up less than half (39%) of lead roles. The Paris-based “Femmes de cinema” Lab initiative’s 2021 study shows that “on average and even today, women are less paid, less subsidized, less programmed than men, and female characters are still too often poor or stereotypical.”

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK May 18, 2018: SUMMER 1993

motw logo 1-35Carla Simon’s debut feature tells the story of six-year-old Frida, sent to live with relatives after her mother dies of AIDS. Without overplayed emotional notes or bouts of excessive drama, Simon explores Frida’s difficult adjustment as she grapples with changes in her life. As Frida, ten year old Laia Artigas captures your heart. Continue reading…

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