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Read our most recent issue with stories that validate, inspire, and change the way we see— and make — film.
In “Magic Hour,” filmmaker and actor Katie Aselton returns to the intimate, emotionally raw storytelling that first defined her career....
This month’s lineup leans heavily into documentaries, with “The Invite” as the lone outlier. Watching these films, I kept circling...
It’s a special kind of thrill when the greatness of an emerging filmmaker’s work hits you like a thunderbolt. That’s...
This is a living record of underrepresented brilliance in film. Dive into our archive of stories and hear from bold voices that paving the industry forward.
10 min read
by Rebecca Martin
May 8, 2026
In “Magic Hour,” filmmaker and actor Katie Aselton returns to the intimate, emotionally raw storytelling that first defined her career. Premiering last year at the South by Southwest film festival,
12 min read
by Rebecca Martin
May 5, 2026
This month’s lineup leans heavily into documentaries, with “The Invite” as the lone outlier. Watching these films, I kept circling back to my own life—each one opening up a different
24 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
April 29, 2026
It’s a special kind of thrill when the greatness of an emerging filmmaker’s work hits you like a thunderbolt. That’s precisely what happened to me upon discovering the sublimely nuanced
5 min read
by Rebecca Martin
April 23, 2026
In “Your Attention Please,” director Sara Robin explores one of today’s most pressing yet hard-to-define crises: the decline of human attention in a digital world built to capture it. What
8 min read
by Rebecca Martin
April 16, 2026
Some films invite passive observation; others refuse distance altogether, demanding a more intimate kind of surrender. The selections in the April 2026 Femme Film Series—”The Chronology of Water,” “My NDA,”
25 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
April 13, 2026
After seeing Chicago’s BDSM community turn out in huge numbers for a euphoric preview screening of Harry Lighton’s acclaimed movie “Pillion” earlier this year, it’s clear that Madison Young’s equally
18 min read
by Zachary Lee
April 11, 2026
When John Alan Schwartz’s “Faces of Death” came out in 1978, it emerged at a time when the proliferation of violent images wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is today. The
4 min read
by cinemafemme
April 6, 2026
Submissions Link: filmfreeway.com/CinemaFemme 🎬 Cinema Femme Short Film Festival Returns to the Music Box Theatre and New Festival Director Announced Cinema Femme Short Film Festival Announces 2026 Dates, Opens Film
5 min read
by Rebecca Martin
April 1, 2026
Emmy-winning filmmaker Stephanie Laing has built a career on finding humanity in unlikely places—whether through the biting satire of Veep or the emotionally layered storytelling of Physical. Now, with her
10 min read
by Rebecca Martin
May 8, 2026
In “Magic Hour,” filmmaker and actor Katie Aselton returns to the intimate, emotionally raw storytelling that first defined her career. Premiering last year at the South by Southwest film festival,
24 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
April 29, 2026
It’s a special kind of thrill when the greatness of an emerging filmmaker’s work hits you like a thunderbolt. That’s precisely what happened to me upon discovering the sublimely nuanced
5 min read
by Rebecca Martin
April 23, 2026
In “Your Attention Please,” director Sara Robin explores one of today’s most pressing yet hard-to-define crises: the decline of human attention in a digital world built to capture it. What
25 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
April 13, 2026
After seeing Chicago’s BDSM community turn out in huge numbers for a euphoric preview screening of Harry Lighton’s acclaimed movie “Pillion” earlier this year, it’s clear that Madison Young’s equally
18 min read
by Zachary Lee
April 11, 2026
When John Alan Schwartz’s “Faces of Death” came out in 1978, it emerged at a time when the proliferation of violent images wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is today. The
5 min read
by Rebecca Martin
April 1, 2026
Emmy-winning filmmaker Stephanie Laing has built a career on finding humanity in unlikely places—whether through the biting satire of Veep or the emotionally layered storytelling of Physical. Now, with her
7 min read
by Emily Jacobson
March 20, 2026
About a year ago, I sat down for what was probably my sixth movie of the day at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. My eyes were burning, my brain was
22 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
March 13, 2026
As I spent twelve hours in the hospital last week, waiting for my dad to recover from his long-belated knee replacement surgery, I found a liberating mode of escapism in
14 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
March 9, 2026
As someone who was born four decades ago, any fragments of home movie footage that exist from my childhood—most of which was recorded on a cumbersome camcorder borrowed from my
21 min read
by Anna Pattison
April 18, 2025
From writer and director Florence Bouvy, “Where We Stay” is a beautiful and touching examination of human connection and unspoken truths. The film was partially inspired by Florence’s own story
10 min read
by Peyton Robinson
April 15, 2025
Cheryl Dunye is best known for her iconic film “The Watermelon Woman” — a tale of an aspiring Black lesbian filmmaker (played by Dunye herself) who seeks to learn more
6 min read
by Davide Abbatescianni
March 6, 2025
After a successful festival run kicked off at San Sebastian and BFI London last year, Sylvia Le Fanu’s debut, titled “My Eternal Summer,” heads to the Göteborg Film Festival, one
6 min read
by Davide Abbatescianni
March 5, 2025
In her latest endeavor, “White Roses Fall!” (in Spanish: “¡Caigan las rosas blancas!”), Argentinian filmmaker Albertina Carri follows Violeta, a director known for her breakout amateur lesbian porn hit, as
29 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
February 24, 2025
One of my favorite films I saw in 2024 is finally kicking off its limited theatrical run before arriving on VOD. Last year, I had the privilege of serving on
23 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
February 21, 2025
I have always had a fondness for coming of age films that vividly recall how intense our emotions are during pivotal moments of growth and transition. In many ways, we
8 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
October 18, 2024
Valeria Golino was 18 years old when she filmed Italian director Francesco Maselli’s “Storia d’amore,” the movie that would make her an international star. She earned the Best Actress prize
6 min read
by Rebecca Martin
May 23, 2023
I had the opportunity to speak with Lillah Halla (she/her/them) about her beautiful film “Levante,” which centers on a promising 17-year-old volleyball player named Sofia, who is faced with an
7 min read
by Rebecca Martin
November 15, 2022
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
3 min read
by Rebecca Martin
October 11, 2022
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
10 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
August 11, 2022
Bringing back our Sundance interview for the film’s theater release today. One of my favorite movies I’ve seen at this year’s Sundance Film Festival is easily the Finnish coming-of-age drama,
7 min read
by Rebecca Martin
May 20, 2022
As I watched the films for Short Block 3 at our virtual film festival a few weeks ago, we just finished Heidi Neff’s “The Long Goodbye”, an animated short film
14 min read
by Rebecca Martin
May 6, 2022
With the recent news of the Supreme Court leak detailing their plan to overturn Roe vs. Wade, we wanted to bring back our interview with Kelly O’Sullivan about her film
15 min read
by Rebecca Martin
March 16, 2022
For Women’s History Month and Trans Visibility Day approaching on March 31, we bring back our interview from the Chicago International Film Festival in October 2020. We are proud to
5 min read
by Rebecca Martin
December 30, 2021
Watching “New Flesh for the Old Ceremony”, the Audience Award-winner for narrative shorts at this year’s Reeling Film Festival, I was pleasantly surprised that it opened with a passionate love
6 min read
by Rebecca Martin
December 28, 2021
Following The Chicago LGBTQ+ Reeling International Film Festival in October 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with three female filmmakers behind three selections in the Revolutions of the Heart
5 min read
by Rebecca Martin
March 31, 2020
Meet Sonja Farak. She is a 35-year-old chemist who develops an addiction for the drugs she’s testing at UMass Amherst, starting with cocaine. As her addiction blows up, it shines
6 min read
by cinemafemme
March 11, 2020
Author: Zainab Zeb Khan Iranian women’s rights have been a prime example of why personal stories are integral to understanding history. On March 1st, the Muslim American Leadership Alliance (MALA)
9 min read
by Rebecca Martin
November 21, 2019
Last year I edited a video (video also featured at bottom of this piece) with scenes from some of my favorite films I’d seen over that year correlated with my
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In “Magic Hour,” filmmaker and actor Katie Aselton returns to the intimate, emotionally raw storytelling that first defined her career. Premiering last year at the
This month’s lineup leans heavily into documentaries, with “The Invite” as the lone outlier. Watching these films, I kept circling back to my own life—each
It’s a special kind of thrill when the greatness of an emerging filmmaker’s work hits you like a thunderbolt. That’s precisely what happened to me
In “Your Attention Please,” director Sara Robin explores one of today’s most pressing yet hard-to-define crises: the decline of human attention in a digital world
Some films invite passive observation; others refuse distance altogether, demanding a more intimate kind of surrender. The selections in the April 2026 Femme Film Series—”The
After seeing Chicago’s BDSM community turn out in huge numbers for a euphoric preview screening of Harry Lighton’s acclaimed movie “Pillion” earlier this year, it’s
In “Magic Hour,” filmmaker and actor Katie Aselton returns to the intimate, emotionally raw storytelling that first defined her career. Premiering last year at the
This month’s lineup leans heavily into documentaries, with “The Invite” as the lone outlier. Watching these films, I kept circling back to my own life—each
It’s a special kind of thrill when the greatness of an emerging filmmaker’s work hits you like a thunderbolt. That’s precisely what happened to me
In “Your Attention Please,” director Sara Robin explores one of today’s most pressing yet hard-to-define crises: the decline of human attention in a digital world
Some films invite passive observation; others refuse distance altogether, demanding a more intimate kind of surrender. The selections in the April 2026 Femme Film Series—”The
After seeing Chicago’s BDSM community turn out in huge numbers for a euphoric preview screening of Harry Lighton’s acclaimed movie “Pillion” earlier this year, it’s
In “Magic Hour,” filmmaker and actor Katie Aselton returns to the intimate, emotionally raw storytelling that first defined her career. Premiering last year at the
This month’s lineup leans heavily into documentaries, with “The Invite” as the lone outlier. Watching these films, I kept circling back to my own life—each
It’s a special kind of thrill when the greatness of an emerging filmmaker’s work hits you like a thunderbolt. That’s precisely what happened to me
In “Your Attention Please,” director Sara Robin explores one of today’s most pressing yet hard-to-define crises: the decline of human attention in a digital world
Some films invite passive observation; others refuse distance altogether, demanding a more intimate kind of surrender. The selections in the April 2026 Femme Film Series—”The
After seeing Chicago’s BDSM community turn out in huge numbers for a euphoric preview screening of Harry Lighton’s acclaimed movie “Pillion” earlier this year, it’s
