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Actress Geena Davis may be best known for her iconic feminist role in Thelma and Louise, but today she’s working to improve the types of roles actresses across the industry are cast in. Davis says, “[Hollywood] is the one sector in society with a big imbalance that can change overnight.” Watch Video…
So interdependent, and yet utterly distinct, are the three principal players in “Hidden Figures” that it wasn’t immediately apparent which, if any, would be singled out by major awards groups for attention. All three are given plenty to chew on in director Theodore Melfi’s rousing, true-but-little-known story of three female African American mathematicians promoted from NASA’s racially segregated computing division to vitally assist the space race in the mid-1960s. But it’s Octavia Spencer who has nailed down Golden Globe and SAG supporting nominations, five years after winning an Oscar for her turn as a memorably vengeful domestic worker in “The Help.” Read More…
California-based Genius Brands International has appointed renowned kids TV exec Margaret Loesch (pictured) to the newly created role of executive chairman of its Kid Genius VOD toon channel, while also upping the channel’s GM, Debra Pierson, to president. During her more than four decades in the kids entertainment business, Loesch has held senior roles at The Jim Henson Company, Fox Kids Network, Marvel Productions and Hanna-Barbera Productions. Read More…
Geena Davis is ready to talk. And, more than ever in 2016, she’s not alone. The Oscar winner and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media has spent years advocating for women in Hollywood and improving gender representation in film. In a December 7 piece for The Hollywood Reporter, Davis made a case for women to “create the future” where women are strongly visible, especially now that Donald Trump is president-elect. That future, Davis told Vanity Fair, would be quite different from the industry when Davis was starting out. Read More…
The Women Film Critics Circle has announced its 2O16 nominations for the best movies this year by and about women, and outstanding achievements by women, who get to be rarely honored historically, in the film world. The Women Film Critics Circle is an association of 80 women film critics and scholars from around the country and internationally, who are involved in print, radio, online and TV broadcast media. They came together in 2004 to form the first women critics’ organization in the United States, in the belief that women’s perspectives and voices in film criticism need to be recognized fully. Read More…
Batter up! Actress, athlete and women’s advocate Geena Davis steps up to the plate to reveal 25 things you may not know about her (she’s fluent in Swedish!) in this week’s issue of Us Weekly. #21: 20. I run a film festival every May in Bentonville, Arkansas, called BFF. It was created to champion women and diverse voices in film and other media. Read More…
A woman did not make it to the White House this year, but two other famous ladies, Thelma Dickinson and Louise Sawyer, have entered another Washington institution — the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Ridley Scott’s feminist manifesto Thelma & Louise (1991), starring Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise, is among the 25 motion pictures selected this year to be preserved for future generations, it was announced today. Thelma & Louise became a symbol of feminism and a cultural flashpoint that landed the film’s stars, in character, on the cover of Time magazine. Anchored by career-defining performances from Sarandon and Davis (and a breakout early appearance by Brad Pitt), Scott’s Thelma & Louise skillfully contrasts action-movie themes with a social commentary before building to an unforgettable climax. Read More…
The Goldhirsh Foundation announced winners for its annual My LA2050 Grants Challenge Tuesday, a $1 million grant competition to source creative ideas about shaping the future of Los Angeles. The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a research-based organization working with the entertainment industry to improve gender balance in media to empower women and girls, will receive $25,000 to provide scholarships and mentorship opportunities for 50 girls ages 13-18 to participate in their See Jane Salon Series. Read More…
Thelma and Louise are back together again! Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, who starred as the titular characters in 1991’s classic flick, Thelma & Louise, reunited at The Hollywood Reporter’s Annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast in Los Angeles on Wednesday. This Hollywood power breakfast was pretty much the perfect place for the longtime friends to get in a bonding sesh — both women are serious advocates for promoting gender equality in Hollywood. Read More…
All About Women returns to the Sydney Opera House on March 5, 2017. In its fifth year, All About Women is one of Sydney Opera House’s flagship festivals and occurs as a prelude to International Women’s Day on March 8. It’s a full day of talks and discussions about ideas that matter to women today, and features over 20 guests from Australia, Iceland, Germany, Malaysia, France, Norway, and the United States, and more. Gene Davis will speak on Women and Media. She has has a rare insight into Hollywood and the global film industry – and she knows how far we still need to travel before girls can see the variety of women they want to become in the films they watch, the shows they stream and the media they absorb every day. How does film and TV culture reproduce gender stereotypes? And how can we change the industry so that it reflects and celebrates real women and girls? Read More…
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