Of all the categories at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, the one that voters seem to get right year after year is the one devoted to promising young talent. In past years, the Breakthrough Performer prize has gone to such indelible actors as Amy Adams […]
During a time when women’s bodies are being used as a political agenda, it is so refreshing to see a film that elevates female sensuality through the lens of consent. This film is “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, and is based on the classic book by D.H. Lawrence. […]
“Sisters Rising” is an intimate portrait of 6 Native women who have survived sexual violence and/or domestic violence in their lives, and how that has transformed them. Through their trauma, they have become inspiring women who are fighting to help other women in their communities […]
Last week Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema Film Festival wrapped up its 15th season showing eight Hong Kong productions. I was fortunate to interview one of the filmmakers behind one of these movies, Hoi Yeung, about the coming-of-age gem “The First Girl I Loved”, which he […]
I was very fortunate to interview “recovering journalist” and producer (“The Square”) Dina Amer about her feature directorial debut “You Resemble Me,” inspired by a story she first got wrong. The story is about a Muslim woman in France named Hasna who got mixed up […]
What do film producers do? If you’ve ever been confused about the ambiguous distinction between executive producers, line producers, or even development producers, you’re not alone. Producers take on a variety of different roles within the film industry, but it’s not always clear what those […]
With the release of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” coming this Friday (11/11/22) we bring back snippets of our January 2019 Black Panther issue and our interview with Oscar-Winning Production Designer Hannah Beachler. Earlier this year, we chose “Black Panther” to be our film focus for […]
“The world stands out on either sideNo wider than the heart is wide;Above the world is stretched the sky,—No higher than the soul is high.The heart can push the sea and landFarther away on either hand;The soul can split the sky in two,And let the […]
Filmmaker Abigail Fuller (“Chef’s Table”, “Do You Dream in Color?”) was the recipient of the 2019 The North Face’s Move Mountains Film Makers Grant that empowered her to hire female department heads in her newest documentary, “Shepherd’s Song”. This female-backed film focuses on Jenya, a […]
I’m going to be 40 next month. For a while I couldn’t think or say that without flinching a bit. I have had it instilled in me there are certain markers you hit at certain ages of certain life experiences. Once you pass that age, […]
When 19-year-old actress Maria Schneider agreed to perform the leading role in Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 film, “Last Tango in Paris”, there was no rape scene in the original script. The actress told The Daily Mail in 2007 that the particularly brutal scene was added last-minute […]
Buy your tickets: https://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/film/art-and-pep/ Cinema Femme kicks off its 2022 ChiFilmFest coverage by speaking with filmmaker Mercedes Kane about her doc “Art and Pep”. We talked about why this film is so important, especially now as our government has been stripping away some of our […]