Weekly Update for April 7: Women Centric, Directed, and Written Films Playing Near You

Films About Women Opening This Week

Their Finest — Directed by Lone Scherfig; Written by Gaby Chiappe

“Their Finest” sees Gemma Arterton as Catrin, a young woman hired to write lines for women in British war propaganda movies. It’s a movie within a movie dealing with gender roles in the ’40s that at times feels all-too-relevant. Catrin’s paid less, she’s treated like a second class citizen, yet she endears herself to the operation which is vital to the morale of the British citizens during the war. Arterton, one of the finest young actresses working, infuses Catrin with some serious spunk in her endeavor to be taken seriously. (Melissa Silverstein)

Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Lone Scherfig.
Read Women and Hollywood’s interview with Gemma Arterton.

Find tickets and screening info here.

Colossal

Gloria (Anne Hathaway) is a mess. She gets kicked out of the apartment she shares with her boyfriend (Dan Stevens) — which served as a way station for her partying friends — and she winds up on the floor of her childhood house in the town everyone tries to escape from. She re-meets a childhood friend (Jason Sudeikis), starts to work in his bar, and then discovers that she is fueling a Godzilla-like monster wreaking havoc on Seoul, South Korea. The premise is crazy, but the movie works. There is a twist, which I won’t reveal, that illuminates a great gender discussion and sets Gloria on the path to taking her life back. (Melissa Silverstein)

Find screening info here.

Queen of the Desert (Opens in NY and LA) (Available on VOD April 14)

Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman) chafes against the stifling rigidity of life in turn-of-the-century England, leaving it behind for a chance to travel to Tehran. So begins her lifelong adventure across the Arab world, a journey marked by danger, a passionate affair with a British officer (James Franco), and an encounter with the legendary T.E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson). Stunningly shot on location in Morocco and Jordan, “Queen of the Desert” reveals how an ahead-of-her-time woman shaped the course of history. (Press materials)

Bethany (Also Available on VOD)

Claire (Stefanie Estes) and her husband (Zack Ward) find themselves moving back into Claire’s childhood home only to have the abusive and traumatic memories of her mother come back to haunt her. As her husband starts to get more work, Claire finds herself mixed up in a fog of past and present with a mysterious figure haunting her memories. What is this small figure that is trying to reach out to her, and what does it want? (Press materials)

The Assignment (Also Available on VOD)

Hitman Frank Kitchen (Michelle Rodriguez) is given a lethal assignment, but after being double-crossed, he discovers he’s not the man he thought he was — he’s been surgically altered and now has the body of a woman. Seeking vengeance, Frank heads for a showdown with the person (Sigourney Weaver) who transformed him, a brilliant surgeon with a chilling agenda of her own. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

Films About Women Currently Playing

The Zookeeper’s Wife — Directed by Niki Caro; Written by Angela Workman (Opens in Wide Release)
Carrie Pilby — Directed by Susan Johnson; Written by Kara Holden (Also Available on VOD)
Ghost in the Shell
The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Also Available on DirecTV)
Despite the Falling Show — Written and Directed by Shamin Sarif (Also Available on VOD)
All This Panic (Documentary) — Directed by Jenny Gage
Girl Unbound (Documentary) — Directed by Erin Heidenreich
Here Alone (Also Available on VOD)
God Knows Where I Am (Documentary)
Naam Shabana
The Levelling — Written and Directed by Hope Dickson Leach
Dig Two Graves (Also Available on VOD)
Beauty and the Beast
A Woman, a Part — Written and Directed by Elisabeth Subrin
Personal Shopper
Raw — Written and Directed by Julia Ducournau
The Women’s Balcony — Written by Shlomit Nechama
Before I Fall — Directed by Ry-Russo Young; Written by Maria Maggenti
The Last Word
Table 19
Sophie and the Rising Sun — Written and Directed by Maggie Greenwald (Also Available on VOD)
Lovesong — Co-Written and Directed by So Yong Kim
The Lure — Directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
20th Century Women
Hidden Figures — Co-Written by Allison Schroeder
Toni Erdmann — Written and Directed by Maren Ade
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Julieta
Jackie
Moana — Co-Written by Pamela Ribon
Elle
The Eagle Huntress

Films Directed by Women Opening This Week

Alive and Kicking (Documentary) — Directed by Susan Glatzer; Written by Susan Glatzer and Heidi Zimmerman (Also Available on VOD)

“Alive and Kicking” is a feature-length documentary that takes an inside look into the culture of Swing dancing and the characters who make it special. It explores the culture surrounding Swing dance from the emergence of the Lindy Hop to the modern day international phenomenon. The film follows the growth of Swing dance from its purely American roots as an art form, to countries all over the world. “Alive and Kicking” looks at the lives of the Swing dancers themselves to find their personal stories and why this dance fills them with joy. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

i hate myself 🙂 (Documentary) — Directed by Joanna Arnow (Opens in NY) (Available on VOD April 11)

Nebbishy filmmaker Joanna Arnow documents her yearlong relationship with racially charged poet-provocateur James Kepple. What starts out as an uncomfortably intimate portrait of a dysfunctional relationship and protracted mid-twenties adolescence quickly turns into a complex commentary on societal repression, sexuality, and self-confrontation through art. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Glory — Co-Written and Co-Directed by Kristina Grozeva (Opens April 12)

Tsanko Petrov (Stefan Denolyubov), a railroad worker, finds millions of leva on the train tracks. He decides to turn the money over to the police, for which the state rewards him with a new wristwatch that soon stops working. Meanwhile, Julia Staikova (Margita Gosheva), head of the PR department of the Ministry of Transport, loses Petrov’s old watch, a family relic. Here starts his desperate struggle to recover both his old watch and his dignity. (Press materials)

Films Directed by Women Currently Playing

David Lynch: The Art Life (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Olivia Neergaard-Holm
For Here or to Go? — Directed by Rucha Humnabadkar
The Prison — Written and Directed by Na Hyun
Cezanne and I — Written and Directed by Danièle Thompson
Karl Marx City (Documentary) — Co-Directed by Petra Epperlein
Bluebeard — Written and Directed by Soo-youn Lee
Tickling Giants (Documentary) — Directed by Sara Taksler
Viceroy’s House — Directed by Gurinder Chadha; Co-Written by Moira Buffini (UK)
Jasper Jones — Directed by Rachel Perkins (Australia)
The Last Laugh (Documentary) — Directed by Ferne Pearlstein
A United Kingdom — Directed by Amma Asante

Films Written by Women Opening This Week

Smurfs: The Lost Village — Written by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon

In this fully animated, all-new take on the Smurfs, a mysterious map sets Smurfette (Demi Lovato) and her friends Brainy (Danny Pudi), Clumsy (Jack McBrayer), and Hefty (Joe Manganiello) on an exciting race through the Forbidden Forest leading to the discovery of the biggest secret in Smurf history. (Press materials)

Find tickets and screening info here.

The Ticket — Co-Written by Sharon Mashihi (Also Available on VOD)

After James (Dan Stevens), a blind man, inexplicably regains his vision, he becomes possessed by a drive to make a better life for himself. However, his new improvements — a nicer home, a higher paying job, tailored suits, luxury car — leave little room for the people who were part of his old, simpler life: his wife (Malin Akerman) and close friend (Oliver Platt). As his relationships buckle under the strain of his snowballing ambition, it becomes uncertain if James can ever return from darkness. (Press materials)

Find screening info here.

Films Written by Women Currently Playing

Phillauri — Written by Anvita Dutt
A Dog’s Purpose — Written by Cathryn Michon
The Red Turtle — Co-written by Pascale Ferran
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them — Written by J.K. Rowling

TV Premieres This Week

Casey Anthony: An American Murder Mystery (Miniseries) (Premieres April 9 on ID)

Lies, betrayal, and murder. What happened to Caylee Anthony? This three-part special looks inside one of the most controversial murder cases in American history. Explore the captivating investigation with interviews from the family at the center of it all. (Press materials)

The Great War (Documentary Miniseries) — Co-Directed and Co-Produced by Amanda Pollak (Premieres April 10 on PBS)

Drawing on unpublished diaries, memoirs, and letters, “The Great War” tells the rich and complex story of World War I through the voices of nurses, journalists, aviators, and the American troops who came to be known as “doughboys.” The series explores the experiences of African-American and Latino soldiers, suffragists, Native American “code talkers,” and others whose participation in the war to “make the world safe for democracy” has been largely forgotten. It is a story of heroism and sacrifice that would ultimately claim 15 million lives and profoundly change the world forever. (Press materials)

Hollywood Darlings — Executive Produced by Layla Smith (Premieres April 12 on Pop)

Pop’s new original comedy series turns the camera on real-life friends who are bonded by a sisterhood only they can share as former child stars who grew up in the ’90s limelight: Jodie Sweetin (“Full House,” “Fuller House”), Christine Lakin (“Step By Step”), and Beverley Mitchell (“7th Heaven”). In this improvised comedy, the three actresses play exaggerated versions of themselves in their current Hollywood lives. With the support of one another, this girl squad can take on anything when it comes to parenting, marriage, friendship, and revived careers in Hollywood. (Press materials)

VOD/DVD Releasing This Week

3 Hikers (Documentary) — Written and Directed by Natalie Avital (VOD, Available Now)
Running Wild — Co-Written by Christina Moore (DVD, Available Now)
Silver Skies — Written and Directed by Rosemary Rodriguez (VOD/DVD, Available Now)
National Bird — Directed by Sonia Kennebeck (DVD, April 8)
Brimstone (DVD, April 11)
The Bye Bye Man — Directed by Stacy Title (VOD/DVD, April 11)
Hidden Figures (VOD/DVD, April 11)
Ovum — Written by Sonja O’Hara (VOD/DVD, April 11)
Toni Erdmann — Written and Directed by Maren Ade (VOD/DVD April 11)

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