Of the top 2,000 highest grossing films from the past 20 years, women accounted for only 10% of the writers and just 5% of the directors. Only 15% of all protagonists in the top grossing films of 2013 were female, and women accounted for only 30% of all speaking parts. Ireland’s Feminist Film Festival, running for the first time later this month, aims to celebrate, support and promote women working in the film industry. All profits will go to Sasane, a non-profit organisation in Nepal run by and for victims of sex trafficking and gender violence. The festival takes place August 30 and 31 in The New Theatre, Temple Bar. For more info, check out their website.
Earlier this week, Paramount Australia tweeted a publicity poster for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which combined the image of an exploding skyscrape with “September 11”, the release date of the reboot… which is set in New York City. Following a Twitter storm in response to the truly facepalm-worthy poster, Paramount have apologised and withdrawn it from their Twitter and Facebook pages.
Winner of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent, Dear White People is a new satire about “being a black face in a white place”. The film follows a group of black students in a fictional Ivy League college as they navigate post-racial fantasies, the commodification of blackness and the subtleties of race relations in the age of Obama. In the trailer, Sam White (Tessa Thompson, Veronica Mars’s Jackie) opens her radio show, “Dear White People, the amount of black friends required not to seem racist has just been raised to two. Sorry, your weed man, Tyrone, does not count.” Dear White People will be released in Ireland later this year.
Star of cult comedy Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion (1997) Mira Sorvino told E! Online that she is eager to make a sequel. She also revealed that co-star Lisa Kudrow and writer Robin Schiff are both interested. Sorvino claimed that ultimately, it’s up to Disney whether the film goes ahead, “I don’t think they realize what a cult phenomenon it has become. I mean, people dress up as us for Halloween. Disney, if you’re listening—everybody wants it!”.
Eva Green is too hot for the Motion Picture Association of America, and now she’s too hot for TV as well. After the MPAA took issue with the film poster for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, the filmmakers had to edit the images to meet the organisation’s approval. Now, the film’s trailer has been rejected by ABC, because Green again “appears to be naked”. When asked about the controversy, the former Bond girl told Vanity Fair, “You have so many more violent things in the movie business, and this is kind of soft. I’m not naked. It’s suggested.” Fans have been waiting nine years for the follow up to 2005’s hyper-stylised adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel series, and the sequel will be released in Ireland on August 29. Check out the Red Band trailer below:
