I attended this afternoon's Sundance Film Festival press conference, with exec director Keri Putnam, before introducing the panel, saying that organizers had noticed “a disturbing blind spot” in the festival's history of giving out press credentials: “Diversity isn’t about who is making the films,” Putnam said. “It’s about how they enter the world.” She said, adding that they were admitting “mostly white male critics.” Which, consequentially influenced the kind of films that were being championed by these 'mostly white male critics.
Read moreDGA Criticized for Women Director Shut Out
Here's an undisputed fact: The studio and independent system is white-male dominated, all of this hoopla that a bunch of black and female filmmakers deserve their fair share of 2018 awards is quite simply overreaching and a form of virtue signaling on the part of film critics. The odds are heavily stacked for white male directors making the best films of the year.
Read moreFilm Professor Celebrates Death of FilmStruck; Claims Film History “Doesn't Need Seeing" Because of “Male Gaze"
Katherine Groo, a professor of film and media studies at Lafayette College, wrote an — *ahem*, shall we say problematic — assessment of FilmStruck's demise (titled "FilmStruck wasn’t that good for movies. Don’t mourn its demise"). She believes it to be a good thing that the Criterion streaming service shut down last week. Her reasoning for the anti-FilmStruck analysis stems from the first 100 years of cinema being too patriarchal for her tastes.
Read moreRobert De Niro Actually Called Out for Not Working With Enough Female Directors
Robert De Niro was actually called out at a press conference for the lack of female directors he's worked with over his 50+ year career.
French actress-turned-director Maiwenn asked De Niro that question during a recent masterclass at the Marrakech Film Festival (via Variety), the actor replied with a simple “I don’t know,” only adding, “I don’t have a problem working with a woman. If it’s a good script I’d do it.”
De Niro has worked with three female filmmakers in his career: Penny Marshall("Awakenings"), Agnes Varda ("One Hundred and One Nights"), and Nancy Meyers ("The Intern").
Rachel Weisz Wants Journalists to Stop Asking Actresses What It’s Like to Work With Other Women
“The Favourite” actress Rachel Weisz attended the 2018 Gotham Awards, and she used her acceptance speech, for the film's Special Jury Award For Ensemble Performance award, to send a message to the press:
“I hope one day in the not-so-distant future we don’t get asked what it was like to share the screen with other women,” Weisz said “Because I don’t think you ever ask men that. But I could be wrong.”
Does she really think her male colleagues are never asked what it’s like to work with this or that guy? I'm honestly dumbfounded by what she said.
Zobel broke out with "Compliance" (excellent) and "Z for Zachariah" (fine) before building an excellent prestige TV résumé: "The Leftovers," "Westworld," "Mare of Easttown," and most recently, "The Penguin."