gia coppola – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

SPOTLIGHT March 2026: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Cinematographer Supreme, SINNERS

March 1, 2026March 2, 2026 Leslie Combemale afi, American Society of Cinematographers, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, black panther, cinematography, gia coppola, Kate Herron, Loki, ryan coogler, Sinners, wakanda forever

First after first, award after award, Autumn Durald Arkapaw has shown she is artistically up to the task for any genre or project. Her career offers great inspiration for women, especially women of color, who feel passionately about cinematography, or really any below the line career. In an interview with Variety, she said, “It means the world when young girls, or film students of similar heritage, come up to me and express their gratitude, not just for the work, but for the fact that they can see someone like themselves behind the camera”.

Reviews

THE LAST SHOWGIRL – Review by Diane Carson

January 7, 2025January 10, 2025 Diane Carson Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Billie Lourd, Brenda Song, gia coppola, jamie lee curtis, Kiernan Shipka, las vegas, motw, Pamela Anderson, the Last Showgirl

The Last Showgirl follows the fading fortunes of a Las Vegas star, Those who still associate Pamela Anderson with Baywatch, and discount her talent, have a surprise treat in store with director Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl. In it, she plays the aging rhinestone-and-feathers dancer Kelly, a Las Vegas star with her thirty-year career about to end when the hotel/casino unexpectedly decides to cancel her show, Le Razzle Dazzle. Kelly’s already struggling emotionally with her teenage daughter Shelly’s reappearance, ageism, and women’s exploitation. As Shelly, Billie Lourd incorporated memories from her grandmother Debbie Reynold’s Las Vegas shows and her mother Carrie Fisher’s experiences.

Movie of the Week

MOVIE OF THE WEEK December 13, 2024: THE LAST SHOWGIRL

December 8, 2024 Jennifer Merin Autumn Durald Arkapaw, betsy bozdech, Billie Lourd, Brenda Song, Dave Bautista, gia coppola, jamie lee curtis, jennifer merin, Kiernan Shipka, las vegas, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, motw, Movie of the Week, nell minow, Pam Grady, Pamela Anderson, sandie angulo chen, sherin nicole, the Last Showgirl

She’s been working pretty steadily since she first hung up her red swimsuit after Baywatch aired its last episode in the late 1990s, but with director Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, Pamela Anderson may have finally found the role that will put the image of her running down a beach in slow-mo to rest once and for all. She’s unforgettably vulnerable as Shelly, an aging Las Vegas dancer whose life is thrown into turmoil when her long-running burlesque show closes.

Reviews

THE LAST SHOWGIRL – Review by Loren King

December 2, 2024December 16, 2024 Loren King Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Billie Lourd, Brenda Song, gia coppola, jamie lee curtis, Kiernan Shipka, las vegas, motw, Pamela Anderson, the Last Showgirl

Who would have thought that one of the most revelatory and moving movies about entertainment, women and aging would come courtesy of Pamela Anderson and director Gia Coppola? The Last Showgirl combines grit and glitz as it pulls back the curtain on a fading Las Vegas act called “Le Razzle Dazzle,” a “Follies”-like extravaganza (based on the Jubilee, the last show of its kind in Vegas that closed in 2016 after 35 years) featuring scantily clad chorus girls in giant headdresses. Coppola turns The Last Showgirl into an elegy for entertainment past and for women who paid their dues and refuse to go gently.

Festivals

Middleburg FF 2024 Female Focus Wrap – Leslie Combemale reports

October 23, 2024January 23, 2025 Leslie Combemale B. Monét, Black Box Diaries, Bolanie Austen Peters, Danielle Deadwyler, gia coppola, Loren Hudson, Marielle Heller, Middleburg FF 2024, Middleburg Film Festival, zoe saldana

The Middleburg Film Festival is one fest that has leaned into its support for female filmmakers from its inception 12 years ago. It has always not only premiered and featured a wide variety of female-helmed documentaries and narrative features from all over the world, it has also made sure to invite those filmmakers to the fest for panels and Q&As, so that fans, film lovers, and press can learn what inspired them and their unique process for their projects. 2024 is no different in terms of highlighting female filmmakers and craftspeople, although this year there were more filmmakers and below the line artists in residence than ever before.

Festivals Reviews

THE LAST SHOWGIRL (TIFF 2024) – Review by Rachel West

September 16, 2024September 17, 2024 Rachel West Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Billie Lourd, Brenda Song, Dave Bautista, gia coppola, jamie lee curtis, Kate Gersten, Kiernan Shipka, las vegas, the Last Showgirl, TIFF 2024

Gia Coppola give Pamela Anderson the best role she’s ever had in The Last Showgirl. Like Shelley, Anderson hasn’t been taken seriously as an actress or in her personal life, and here, she gets to prove decades of her critics wrong. It is a heartbreaking story to watch but Shelley remains optimistic throughout, even in the face of despair. She retains an idealized and romanticised vision associated with old Vegas that cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw captures so brilliantly.

Festivals

TIFF 2024: Female Filmmaker Preview – Rachel West reports

August 21, 2024August 21, 2024 Rachel West angelina jolie, Coralie Fargeat, elizabeth lo, Female Filmmaker, gia coppola, Halina Reijn, Julie Delpy, Marielle Heller, mati diop, rachel morrison, Sydney Freeland, TIFF 2024

Of the 278 films playing at TIFF in 2024, according to our calculations, approximately 25% are directed or co-directed by women – a number down from the festival’s all-time high of 45% women-directed films in the pandemic-era 2020 online-only festival. Women-helmed films comprised 36% of the festival lineup in 2019 and 2023. Though TIFF may have to make leaps and bounds to reach gender parity, there are still a number of women-helmed films directed by cinematic stalwarts, up-and-comers, and award winners scheduled to hit the screen at the 2024 festival. With more than 65 films, series, and shorts directed by women, there are many opportunities to take in female-helmed films this festival, which runs September 5th through 15th.

Reviews

THE SEVEN FACES OF JANE – Review by Rachel West

January 11, 2023April 25, 2023 Rachel West Boma Iluma, gia coppola, Gillian Jacobs, Julian Acosta, Ryan Heffington, The Seven Faces of Jane, Xan Cassavetes

In The Seven Faces of Jane, eight directors and eleven screenwriters tell a story about the titular Jane (Gillian Jacobs) as she goes about the course of her week after dropping her young daughter off at camp. The catch is that each of the filmmakers has imagined an entirely different day – and different Jane – to tell their story, not knowing what events come before or after their chapter. Though an innovative and interesting approach, the results are a confusing mishmash that doesn’t quite work to tell a coherent story.

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Gia Coppola’s Sophomore Directorial Project is MAINSTREAM – Brandy McDonnell reports

November 7, 2018November 5, 2018 Brandy McDonnell 0 Comments gia coppola, mainstream, the week in women, twiw, week in women

Filmmaker Gia Coppola will follow her acclaimed directorial debut, the 2013 drama Palo Alto, with Mainstream, a drama which she is slated to direct and co-write (with Tom Stuart). Mainstream, expected to begin filming by the end of the year, will star Andrew Garfield, Maya Hawke, Nat Wolff and Coppola’s cousin Jason Schwartzman.