NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
Serena Williams and Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth Carter are partnering up on a biopic of the pioneering fashion designer Ann Lowe, who was the first Black woman to own a shop on Madison Avenue, and designed mid-century wardrobe items for some of the biggest names in American society. A key focus of the story will be Lowe’s commission to design Jackie Bouvier’s wedding dress worn at her 1953 wedding to John F. Kennedy. Sony’s TriStar Pictures acquired the pitch for the project; the screenplay will be based on Piper Huguley’s book “By Her Own Design.” Williams and Caroline Currier will produce through Nine Two Six Productions, while Carter will exec produce and serve as costume designer on the film. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news.
Kate Winslet, Kerry Washington, Annette Bening, and Joey King are among those set to be recognized at WIF’s 2024 Honors event, taking place October 24, and celebrating industry leaders “who demonstrate that strength in collaboration, inclusion, and uplifting stories can change culture for the better.” Winslet is to receive the Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film alongside her “Lee” director, Ellen Kuras, in recognition of their collaboration. Their biopic of American war correspondent and photographer, Lee Miller (Winslet) is now in theaters.
Trailer watch: in “Mediha,” the 15-year-old titular subject, Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad, is in control of the camera that documents the devastating aftermath of her escape and survival after being captured by ISIS and sold into sex slavery at age nine. The Yazidi girl processes her trauma through intimate, poignant video diaries from a refugee camp in Northern Iraq as she seeks legal justice, fights for healing, and attempts a search for her missing mother. The doc, which counts Emma Thompson among its exec producers, opens at Film Forum October 11.
Apply Now: Open Call for Artemis Rising Foundation Filmmaker Fellows (Academic Year 2025-26) - each year, Barnard College welcomes up to six established film/video makers as Artemis Rising Foundation Filmmaker Fellows. For the 2025-26 Academic Year, they are soliciting applications from makers interested in teaching a course in one of the following areas: writing for television, animation, sound design, directing, production (lighting theory and practice) and post-production (video editing, color correction), as well as the future of the field. The application deadline is November 15, 2024.
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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.
Todo el Tiempo en el Mundo – Written and Directed by Stephanie Ibarra (Short)
“Todo el Tiempo en el Mundo” (meaning “all the time in the world”) is a creation of Brooklyn-based filmmaker Stephanie Ibarra, who was inspired by her experience farming in Chile at Lago Rupanco in 2019. The film’s production will return to the same location, where the narrative will follow a latine woman who lives in peaceful isolation until unexpected outsiders arrive. Through the lens of magical realism, Ibarra hopes to offer a meditation on the isolated self in relation to migration, identity, and land, describing the landscape she will feature – including a dense forest, a lake, and a volcano – as a main character in the story. Currently in pre-production, with most of the US/Chilean crew assembled, Ibarra and her producers are looking to raise $10,000 in production funds. You can learn more and make a pledge via the campaign’s Seed&Spark page.
All synopses are courtesy of press materials, unless otherwise noted.
FILMS ABOUT WOMEN AND NON-GENDERED PERSONS OPENING AND COMING TO STREAMING/VOD
Lee – Directed by Ellen Kuras; Written by Liz Hannah and Marion Hume & John Collee (Now in theaters)
“Lee” portrays a pivotal decade in the life of American war correspondent and photographer, Lee Miller (Kate Winslet). Miller's singular talent and unbridled tenacity resulted in some of the 20th century's most indelible images of war, including an iconic photo of Miller herself, posing defiantly in Hitler's private bathtub. Miller had a profound understanding and empathy for women and the voiceless victims of war. Her images display both the fragility and ferocity of the human experience. Above all, the film shows how Miller lived her life at full-throttle in pursuit of truth, for which she paid a huge personal price, forcing her to confront a traumatic and deeply buried secret from her childhood.