NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
Happy International Women’s Day! If you’re in the U.K., we recommend you check out Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s new documentary “Copa 71,” which we just opened Athena Film Festival with last week. It tells the story of the 1971 Women’s Football World Cup, attended by record crowds, and erased from history until now. This is a real audience favorite, not just for soccer fans. Find tickets here.
The Academy Awards take place this weekend, and we’ll soon learn which winners will make history. In advance of the ceremony, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative have published the Oscars edition of their Inclusion List: they found that while the percentage of female nominees for this year’s awards equals the record high, it “still falls far below proportional representation” at only 32%, and women of color comprise just 5.7% of all nominees this year. You can read the full findings here.
Elsewhere, the latest UCLA Hollywood Diversity report looked at how audiences drive box office success - notably, BIPOC moviegoers bought the majority of opening weekend, domestic tickets for seven of the top 10 films and 14 of the top 20 films released in theaters in 2023. Read the full report here.
All synopses are courtesy of press materials, unless otherwise noted.
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN AND NON-GENDERED PERSONS OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD
Love Lies Bleeding – Directed by Rose Glass; Written by Rose Glass and Weronika Tofilska
Reclusive gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart) falls hard for Jackie (Katy O'Brian), an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
“Love Lies Bleeding” is now in theaters.