Women and Hollywood's Weekly Newsletter
September 6
NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
Lupita Nyong’o is launching a new podcast, “Mind Your Own With Lupita Nyong’o,” which will center storytelling from the African diaspora, Deadline has exclusively revealed. Nyong’o will be sharing personal stories from her own life, and making space for others to tell their own tales about finding their respective way in cities including Nairobi, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, and Toronto. The first two episodes will launch September 19 on all podcast platforms.
Trailer watch: documentary “The Herricanes,” directed by Olivia Kuan, tells the unknown story of The Houston Herricanes, who were a part of the first women's full tackle football league in the 1970s. Despite all the adversity and hardship they faced off the field, the team played for four years, making history in the process. “The Herricanes” comes to select theaters in October.
A trailer has also been released for “The Last of the Sea Women,” which follows the haenyeo divers of South Korea’s Jeju Island, women - mostly in their 60s, 70s, and 80s - renowned for their centuries-long tradition of diving to the ocean floor without oxygen to harvest seaweed for their livelihoods. The doc, directed by Sue Kim, counts Malala Yousafzai among its producers. It premieres at TIFF this weekend, then debuts globally on Apple TV+ October 11.
CROWDFUNDING PROJECT OF THE WEEK
On the Women and Hollywood blog, we regularly featured crowdfunding projects for films - be they features or shorts - that center and/or are made by women and non-binary people. We’ve decided to continue spotlighting a project each week in this newsletter, and encourage our readers to take a look and join us in building community around filmmaking. If you would like for your own crowdfunding project to be considered, you can reach out via email.
Aunti-Ji (Short) – Directed by Milli Bhatia
A short film about love, loss, and hope, “Aunti-Ji” is a collaboration between two critically acclaimed British South Asian creatives: theatre director Milli Bhatia, twice nominated for an Olivier Award for her productions of “seven methods of killing kylie jenner” and “Blue Mist,” and writer Mohamed-Zain Dada (“Blue Mist"). Their vision is to celebrate and center an uplifting, hopeful representation of a 60+ older South Asian Muslim woman's journey, through their main character, Kulsoom, who is preparing for her daughter’s birthday but made to feel small and insignificant as she attempts to complete simple shopping tasks in west London. The filmmaking team has a stretch crowdfunding goal of £9,000 (approx $11,850 USD); further funding will enhance their camera and lighting equipment options, go towards postproduction, and enable them to offer more entry level production roles to those starting their careers in the industry. You can learn more and support the project via their campaign page here.
All synopses are courtesy of press materials, unless otherwise noted.
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN AND NON-GENDERED PERSONS OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Now in theaters)
Beetlejuice is back! After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's (Winona Ryder) life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic, and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it's only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice's name three times, and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.