Femme Film Fridays

Every week we will post a great film directed by a woman and opening that weekend..

The lifespan of a film is determined opening weekend at the box office. Most major studios don't invest in women filmmakers, wrongly assuming their films don't sell tickets. So we support women filmmakers the best we know how, by seeing their films in theaters opening weekend.

Join us by buying a ticket and prove to studios that women filmmakers can sell tickets!

Sadly, I think some of that talk was true,” Judd Apatow said. “There are a lot of female-driven comedies on the bubble at the studios and they do look to measure how well these things do, and what levels of interest there are in certain genres. One of the reasons there was pressure is because the studios knew this movie came out very well, and if nobody bothered to go see it, they could say, ‘Even when you make a really good one, nobody comes.’ But because people came, the opposite lesson was learned, which is, there’s an enormous neglected community of moviegoers who want to see films like this.

—Judd Apatow talks about the success of BRIDESMAIDS at the Critics Choice Awards in this Huffington Post article: Judd Apatow to Jerry Lewis, “Fuck You” for “Women Aren’t Funny” At Critics Choice Awards 2012 

THIS WEEKEND WE ARE SEEING: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

Opens NY January 13, 2012
Opens LA January 20, 2012
Nationwide in February 2012
http://www.oscilloscope.net/kevin/

Synopsis: A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, Lynne Ramsay’s WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN explores the fractious relationship between a mother and her evil son. Tilda Swinton, in a bracing, tour-de-force performance, plays the mother, Eva, as she contends for 15 years with the increasing malevolence of her first-born child, Kevin (Ezra Miller).

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN explores nature vs. nurture on a whole new level as Eva’s own culpability is measured against Kevin’s innate evilness. Ramsay’s masterful storytelling simultaneously combines a provocative moral ambiguity with a satisfying and compelling narrative, which builds to a chilling, unforgettable climax.

Why You Should See It: Because Tilda Swinton is brilliant, Ezra Miller is super creepy and Lynne Ramsay is awesome. Read this.

Directed By: Lynne Ramsay

Written By: Rory Stewart Kinnear

Oscilliscope Labs

THE IRON LADY: JANUARY 6 2012

Directed by Phyllida Lloyd

Produced by Damian Jones

Written by Abi Morgan

Distributed by Weinstein Company

Synopsis: A look at the life of Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a focus on the price she paid for power.

Why Were Seeing It: Hello? It’s Meryl Streep!

http://www.theironladymovie.co.uk/blog/

Twitter.com/IronLadeFilm

PARIAH

Now playing in New York, L.A. and San Francisco. Opening in additional cities January 6, 2012. Find a theater.

Directed by: Dees Rees

Written by:Dees Rees

Produced by: Nekisa Cooper

Distributor: Focus Features

Synopsis: A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.

Why We’re Seeing It: Pariah was so awesome as a short film in 2007 that writer/director Dees Rees expanded it into a full length film, and premiered it at Sundance 2011. Spike Lee is among the feature’s executive producers and at it’s Sundance premiere, the film’s cinematographer Bradford Young was honored with the Excellence in Cinematography Award. The ladies from Chicken and Egg are also among the Executive Producers and we love everything they do. If that’s not enough, then the stellar acting, a rarely talked about subject and seeing the Wayans sister in a serious role should get you there.

Hmmm. Any female directors out there wear this while directing? honesttoblr: “Sexy Director” Halloween costume, courtesy of eagle-eyed Jezebel. I don’t know many filmmakers who actually wear the slate, but the tiny DIRECTOR megaphone is spot on! I bet this chick could crash any production and start DeMille-ing around uncaught. Can’t decide if it would horrific or kind of amazing to show up on set wearing this.

Hmmm. Any female directors out there wear this while directing?

honesttoblr:

“Sexy Director” Halloween costume, courtesy of eagle-eyed Jezebel. I don’t know many filmmakers who actually wear the slate, but the tiny DIRECTOR megaphone is spot on! I bet this chick could crash any production and start DeMille-ing around uncaught.

Can’t decide if it would horrific or kind of amazing to show up on set wearing this.

Nobody tells an actor, ‘you’re playing a strong-minded man.’ We assume that men are strong-minded. A strong-minded woman is a different animal.

—

Meryl Streep, on being told that she often plays “strong-minded women.”

(via andyouhavetogivethemhope)

(Source: leahblaine, via feministfilm)

We’re kicking off the blog and movement with IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY. A film that is not only getting fantastic reviews, and tells an important story about a shameful time in history, but was directed by someone we all know.

Directed by: Angelina Jolie

Written by: Angelina Jolie

Produced by: Simon Crane, Holly Goline, Tim Headington, Angelina Jolie and Tim Moore

http://www.inthelandofbloodandhoney.com/OfficialSite

Set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War that tore the Balkan region apart in the 1990s, In the Land of Blood and Honey tells the story of Danijel and Ajla, two people from different sides of a brutal ethnic conflict. Danijel, a soldier fighting for the Serbs, and Ajla, a Bosnian held captive in the camp he oversees, knew each other before the war, and could have found love with each other. But as the armed conflict takes hold of their lives, their relationship grows darker, their motives and connection to one another ambiguous, their allegiances uncertain.

Opens in Select Cities December 30, 2012

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