ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

the female gaze

Guest Posts 

On Career Longevity and Receiving a Retrospective – Julie Carmen comments (Exclusive Guest Post)

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As an actress, I have not been hot news for decades, so you can imagine my surprise when CinemaSFbay proposed a three night Julie Carmen retrospective to take place July 7, 8, 9th at the newly refurbished nonprofit Balboa Theater with Fogcutter Film Series Q&As moderated by author-filmmaker Robert Mailer Anderson and an after party. To be treated as relevant because I played the female lead in a catalogue of titles that were influential back in the day feels like I walked into a bright interrogation room. Suddenly people want to know Regine Dandridge’s back story and whether Linda Styles is real.

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Reviews 

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION – Review by Walker Conger (Mentorship Program Critic)

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Are rom coms back? Did they ever really go anywhere? Whatever you may think about the state of the romantic comedy film, this adaptation of Emily Henry’s popular novel, People We Meet on Vacation, is a heartfelt, funny, and summery adventure reminiscent of the classics we know and love. The “friends to lovers” trope in this film calls back to moments in other beloved rom coms like When Harry Met Sally, 13 Going on 30, and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. It’s not necessarily trying to do anything new within the genre, but rather utilizing what already works and still crafting a unique, yet familiar story.

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Commentaries Guest Posts 

BROWNSVILLE BRED: Crafting Authentic Music – Elaine Del Valle comments

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Independent filmmakers rarely have the resources to buy the music their stories deserve. Yet music often carries the emotional weight of our films — especially when the work is autobiographical, culturally specific, or rooted in family memory. As the writer and director of Brownsville Bred — an auteur, coming-of-age, music-driven story based on my own childhood in Brownsville, Brooklyn — I learned early that music wouldn’t be an accessory. It would be the heartbeat.

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Guest Posts Interviews 

Yael Melamede talks ADA: MY MOTHER THE ARCHITECT – Yael Friedman interviews (Guest Post)

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There seems to be an endless appetite for depictions of the lone genius architect, both as a mythological creature walking amongst us, and as a metaphor for just about everything. And yet one of the best movies about one may never get its due. Ada: My Mother The Architect, by Yael Melamede, about her mother, Ada Karmi-Melamede, one of Israel’s most celebrated architects, is an extraordinary film that addresses all the big questions while also portraying a human being who is very much mortal. Yael Mellamede chats with Yael Friedman about making the deeply personal documentary.

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Guest Posts Reviews 

E.1027 – EILEEN GRAY AND THE HOUSE BY THE SEA – Review by Yael Friedman (Guest Post)

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The erasure of women from the annals of history is usually figurative – they are overlooked, conveniently forgotten, somehow missing from the picture. But Eileen Gray (1878-1976), the pioneering modernist Irish designer and architect, was almost literally removed from the architectural record by one of its most looming figures – Le Corbusier himself. A lovely new docudrama, “E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea,” by Beatrice Minger, revisits a chapter that sounds like a parable of how the great men of history can ensure they alone receive credit for shaping it

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Reviews 

ADA: MY MOTHER THE ARCHITECT – Review by Yael Friedman (Guest Post)

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There seems to be an endless appetite for depictions of the lone genius architect, both as a mythological creature walking amongst us, and as a metaphor for just about everything. And yet one of the best movies about one may never get its due. Ada: My Mother The Architect, by Yael Melamede, about her mother, Ada Karmi-Melamede, one of Israel’s most celebrated architects, is an extraordinary film that addresses all the big questions while also portraying a human being who is very much mortal.

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Essays Guest Posts 

HORROR’S WARNING ABOUT IGNORING WOMEN – Essay by Stephanie Malone

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A chillingly common thread in many iconic horror movies is the refusal to believe women when they voice their fears, their suspicions, or their trauma. This narrative mirrors a grim reality rooted in history: women have long struggled to have their experiences, especially those regarding mental health and abuse, taken seriously. The implications go beyond mere storytelling. Statistics from organizations like the National Network to End Domestic Violence reveal that over 70% of domestic violence cases are never reported, often because survivors fear that they will not be believed or that they will face retribution. Let’s dive into some unforgettable horror films where disbelief in a woman’s voice escalates the terror.

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Essays Guest Posts 

A REAL PAIN, Holocaust Tourism & Gaza – Essay by Yael Friedman (Guest Post)

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A Real Pain utilizes the familiar tourist trip as a convincing canvas. Nailing down the charmingly Bohemian Benji (Kieran Culkin) by booking a conventional tour by the more conventional cousin David (Jesse Eisenberg), made sense. It was a perfect vehicle for allowing their dynamics, personalities, the themes of memory and trauma tourism, to unfold. The exposition in this screenplay was a master class, even though the actors are laying versions of themselves, or because of it. It’s a neat sleight of hand to turn a character you think you know into one entirely invented. As fun as Benji was and as envious as the more straitlaced and neurotic David got, the tragedy of Benji’s character pierced deeply. He endeared and broke and enraged you in equal measure. We never really find out why Benji has been cast adrift in life, and we don’t need to. We meet him where he is and worry for what is next. Just enough is given to make it real and utterly palpable.

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Reviews 

PUPPY LOVE – Review by Justina Walford

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Puppy Love is a loving documentary about a healthy litter of Labrador puppies that suddenly become paralyzed. Their breeder, Cindy, is advised to put them down, but she resolves to make them better, taking back every dog that falls ill from their adopters to dedicate her time and resources to their health. In fact, her goal is not only to help them walk, it is to help them thrive as intelligent and active dogs. So she and a group of tenacious women use every possible solution to bring these dogs back to health despite vets and people in the dog community having different opinions. First and foremost, if you love dogs and you love the people who go out of their way to take care of them, this is a solid film.

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Reviews 

BIRTH/REBIRTH – Review by Justina Walford

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Birth/Rebirth shows the timely end of the female archetypes of Madonna and whore. That old trope is tossed to the curb while we move forward into a domain that overlaps traditional male archetypes but is also distinctly feminine. Dr. Caspar and Celie are the new female archetypes: the untethered seeker or scientist and the mother who will do anything for her child. And through these characters, we find an unnerving exploration of motherhood, life purpose, and our place as humans in a world of chaos and fear.

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