Ah, Fall. The time of year when the pumpkin-crazed emerge from hibernation, and Michael Bublé is left out to thaw before the holidays. For the creative community, this season is also the time when some of the best films, freshly blessed from their festival runs, are finally released to the public. While the holiday season is on the horizon, there’s still a ways for us to go and a lot of work to keep on our radar. Luckily, we compiled the best work from underrepresented directors just for you.

We’re also introducing a new section of Film & TV News to keep you updated on all of the awards buzz, biggest film releases, and more major scoops to stay in the conversation.

Here are the biggest film festivals of the past couple months. Be sure to keep an eye out for the official selections and winners!

What is “Here’s The Work”?

This newsletter represents a curated selection of the commercials, branded content, short films, and music videos that were directed by the talented directors in FREE THE WORK’s global database. Moving forward, we will be integrating film, television, webseries, documentaries, and short-form projects from our directors as well.

Bear in mind, too, that while this list showcases the work of FREE THE WORK directors, our site also is a one-stop-shop for discovering writers, editors, colorists, composers, and DPs. A commitment to freeing the work doesn’t just stop at hiring a woman director—enrich your crews with underrepresented creators across production roles!

See your work on the list? Let’s celebrate! Share across your social media—tag us at @FREETHEWORK and use the hashtags #FREETHEWORK and #HeresTheWork!

Want to submit your work for feature consideration? Email us: [email protected]

FILM & TV NEWS

Must-See Upcoming Film Releases

*Please note that the following dates are specific to the United States.

• FREE THE WORK Founder, Alma Har'el's debut feature Honey Boy releases in theaters on November 8. Without a doubt, mark your calendars and watch ASAP! (LINK)

• Lauren Greenfield's documentary The Kingmaker will get a U.S. theatrical run via Greenwich Entertainment. Come out to theaters November 8 for an eye-opening time. (LINK)

• Elizabeth Banks' Charlie's Angels reboot will be hitting theaters on November 15. (LINK)

• Mati Diop's Atlantics will hit select theaters on November 15 and on Netflix November 29. (LINK)

• Minhal Baig's feature film debut, Hala, will have a limited theatrical release on November 22, and be globally available on the Apple TV app December 6. (LINK)

• Watch Melina Matsoukas' Queen & Slim as soon as it drops in theaters November 27. (LINK)

• Chinonye Chukwu’s death row drama, Clemency, is officially in theaters December 27. (LINK)

Streaming Now

• Comedy miniseries Mrs. Fletcher is airing now on HBO. The pilot was directed by Nicole Holofcenter and the season also features an episode directed by Gillian Robespierre. (LINK)

• Modern Love (Amazon Prime) features episodes directed by Sharon Horgan and Emmy Rossum. (LINK)

• Writer-Director Stella Meghie's rom-com The Weekend (starring Sasheer Zamata) is now available to rent on Amazon Prime. (LINK)

• Watch Joey Soloway's Transparent: Musicale Finale on Amazon Prime. (LINK)

• Season 2 of Abstract: The Art Of Design (Netflix) features an episode directed by E. Chai Vasarhelyi. (LINK)

Oscar Buzz

Updates on possible Oscar nominees from the most recent Hollywood Reporter Feinberg Forecast:

• Destin Daniel Cretton's Just Mercy (Best Picture, Major Threat ; Best Adapted Screenplay, Frontrunner)

• Greta Gerwig's Little Women (Best Picture, Frontrunner ; Best Director, Major Threat ; Best Adapted Screenplay, Frontrunner)

• Alma Har'el's Honey Boy (Best Picture, Major Threat ; Best Director, Possible ; Best Original Screenplay, Major Threat)

• Melina Matsoukas and Lena Waithe's Queen and Slim (Best Original Screenplay, Possibility)

• Lorene Scafaria's Hustlers (Best Adapted Screenplay, Major Threat)

• Lulu Wang's The Farewell (Best Picture, Frontrunner ; Best Director, Major Threat ; Best Original Screenplay, Frontrunner)

• Olivia Wilde, Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Susan Haskins & Katie Silberman's Booksmart (Best Original Screenplay, Major Threat)

Awards Chatter

• The Chambermaid (La Camarista), directed by Lila Aviles, made history as the first woman-directed film to be submitted by Mexico for consideration in the best international feature film Oscar category. (LINK)

• 28 International Feature Oscar submissions were directed by women. (LINK)

• Ava DuVernay and other creators speak out against the disqualification of Nigeria's Oscar Entry Lionheart. The film was disqualified by the Academy due to its predominantly English dialogue, even though Nigeria's national language is English. (LINK)

• Jennifer Kent’s revenge thriller The Nightingale scored a whopping 15 nominations for the 2019 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA). The AACTA will take place on December 1. (LINK)

On Your Radar

• BAFTA-winning British filmmaker Amma Asante is set to direct two episodes of FX's nine-episode project Mrs. America, premiering in 2020. (LINK)

• Filming has begun on Billie Piper and Lucy Prebble’s new Sky original drama series I Hate Suzie, which will be directed by Georgi Banks-Davies. (LINK)

• Kat Coiro is directing the new comedy film Marry Me starring J.Lo and comedian Michelle Buteau. (LINK)

• Ava DuVernay and Westworld executive producer Roberto Patino are developing an HBO Max series based on DC Comics title DMZ, a futuristic drama set in an American civil war. (LINK)

• Universal’s global talent development and inclusion group announced the participants, including Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Rhys Ernst, Carly Usdin, and Numa Perrier, in the studio’s 2019 Directors Initiative, now in its third year. (LINK)

• Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has acquired all worldwide rights, excluding the Philippines, to Yellow Rose, directed by Diane Paragas. The film is set for a 2020 release. (LINK)

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  Dawn Porter will direct episodes of Apple's upcoming untitled docuseries about mental health, executive produced by Oprah and Prince Harry. (LINK)

• Joey Soloway is set to direct Ride, a biopic about Sally Ride, the first American woman to journey to space, which is in development at Lionsgate. (LINK)

• Director Gaysorn Thavat's feature film debut, The Justice Of Bunny King, is currently shooting in New Zealand. (LINK)

Festival News

• The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival (November 7-10) featured Femenina, starring Nava Mau, and Protect Black Trans Women directed by Seyi Adebanjo (among the program of other trans and non-binary creators). (LINK)

• Premiering at DOC NYC are films that center on queer/trans/gender non-conforming perspectives, like Nicole Costa's The Journey of Monalisa (screening November 7) and Christopher Street's Pier Kids (screening Nov 8 and 13). (LINK)

• 61 percent of the films selected for this year’s Nitehawk Shorts Festival (running November 11-18 in Brooklyn) were directed by women, including work from A.V. Rockwell, Savannah O’Leary & Renee Mao, Crystal Kayiza, and Blair Waters. (LINK)

• Barbara Kopple's Desert One, which premiered at TIFF, is on the lineup for AFI Fest 2019, from November 14-21 in Los Angeles. (LINK)

COMMERCIALS

Nina Aaldering | Against Breast Cancer, "Most Precious Stone" | BETC | Quad, Quad Stories | LINK

Ayse Altinok | Unilever x Pure Line | Wunderman Thompson | PTOT Films | LINK

Sophia Banks | Stein Mart, "Light Humor, Lots of Looks" | BODEGA, Banks Films | LINK

Sophia Banks | VRC (The Melbourne Cup), "Go and Let Go" | Finch Company | LINK

Lisa Boostani | Desigual, "Manifesto Campaign" | We Are Pi | Sauvage.tv | LINK

Justine Puren Calverley | Unilever BRUT, "Brut" | The Hardy Boys | FirstPencil | LINK

Karien Cherry | Sanlam Investments, "A Whole New World" | King James/Cape Town | Giant Films | LINK

Lesley Chilcott | AdventHealth “Feel Whole Challenge” | 22squared | BODEGA | LINK

MJ Delaney | Kinder Chocolate, "Dino Boy" | krow | Merman | LINK

Nicole Dorsey | MakeLoveNotPorn, "The New Language of Love" | Someplace Nice | LINK

Sara Dunlop | Fujifilm Instax, "Don’t just take, give." | McCann NY | The Corner Shop | LINK

Sara Dunlop | “Dark Balloons" | Duncan Channon | The Corner Shop | LINK

Sophie Edelstein | PINK Shirtmakers, "Matthew Goode in A life in the Pink" | RSA Films | LINK

Erica Eng | Baseball for All | Carousel | Tomorrow | LINK

Basak Erol | Confused.com x Rugby World Cup Idents, " | Karmarama | Blink Productions | LINK

Ariel Fisher | W Hotels, "Whatever Whenever" | Instrument | Little Ugly | LINK

Agostina Gálvez | Women have moustaches too – Billie Movember | LINK

Sofia Garza-Barba | Commercial Director’s Diversity Program, "Toyota – Daddy" | Saatchi & Saatchi | Hungry Man | LINK

Kim Gehrig | Apple, "iPhone 11" | Somesuch & ANORAK Film | LINK

Lisa Gunning | Kaiser Permanente, "To Them We Say" | Campbell Ewald | Imperial WoodPecker | LINK

Lisa Gunning | Kaiser Permanente, "Long Live" | Campbell Ewald | Imperial WoodPecker | LINK

Georgia Hudson | Zalando, "Free to Be" | Grey London | Park Pictures | LINK

Malia James | Wrangler, "ICONS" | Mother NY | Strike Anywhere | LINK

Andrea Kapos | Sunbites, "Sharing bag: Bigger bag. More reasons to share." | Dark Energy Films | LINK

COMMERCIALS (continued)

Director Kit | Easy Waves, "The Detective" | FCB/Johannesburg | Darling | LINK

La Dulce Liberal | Beck's, "Cerveza Beck’s #HaceloDiferente Episodio Iva" | Mutato | LINK

La Dulce Liberal | Beck's, "Cerveza Beck’s #HaceloDiferente TVC 15" | Mutato | LINK

Vicky Lawton | Govida, "Wonder Awaits" | McCann London | Rebecca Wilford Production Company | LINK

Katia Lewkowicz | Orange International, "We all have great power. We all have great responsibility." | Publicis Conseil | Grand Bazar | LINK

Zia Mandviwalla | Bank of New Zealand | Colenso BBDO | Finch | LINK

Maya Margolina | MCM x BAPE | Visual Country | LINK

Rachel McDonald | Thinx "MENstruation" | BBDO | Biscuit Filmworks | LINK

Raine Allen Miller | Virgin Media, "I can do anyth-ing" | Adam & Eve/DDB | Somesuch | LINK

B.Monét | Estee Lauder, "Estee Lauder w/ Sloane Stephens" | Guggenheim Productions | LINK

Ramaa Mosley | Visit California, "Born to be Wild" | Mering Carson/Sacramento | Station Film | LINK

Merete Mueller | Ford Motor Company, "Angela Bassett" | Uniworld Group | Smartypants | LINK

Keryn Nossal | First Stories – MITS / MUMA / Museums Victoria | Fancy Films | LINK

Gracie Otto | Seafolly, "Own your Folly – Swimwear Australia 2019" | Thinkerbell | Playtime | LINK

Melissa Rossi | Bank of America, "Cheeky Monkey Home" | Gray Cat Films | LINK

Annie Saunders | Santander, "The Hidden Truth About Domestic Violence #InSomeoneElsesShoes" | Arnold | Helo | LINK

Similar But Different | Diesel FW19 – "Enjoy Before Returning" | Publicis-Italy | Smuggler, Division7 | LINK

Stef Smith | The Kids' Cancer Project, "I don't want to be an angel" | Saatchi & Saatchi Australia | Playtime | LINK

Pam Thomas | PERIOD, "See Red" | BBDO San Francisco | Community Films | LINK

Tiny Bullet | McDonalds, "How To Do Beef" | Leo Burnett UK | Thomas Thomas Films | LINK

Georgia Tribuiani | BOSS | Hugo Boss Eyewear, "Sharpen Your Focus" | Collateral Films | LINK

Los Perez – Tania Verduzco | "We Deliver" McDonald's | Leo Burnet & Fallon London | Blink Productions, Magic | LINK

Leonn Ward | Intimissimi, "Bra Twist with Sarah Jessica Parker" | 72andSunny Amsterdam | RSA Films | LINK

Leonn Ward | Tu at Sainsbury's | Portas | RSA Films | LINK

Theresa Wingert | NorthShore University Health System, "2019 Science of Understanding" | Camp + King | Fiona Media Company | LINK

Sandra Winther | Toyota, "The Road" | New Land | LINK

Sandra Winther | ADP, " Imagine" | Havas NY | Sibling Rivalry | LINK

Christine Yuan | Reebok, "Go Bold / Yurino" | SAGA Studio | Push Media | LINK

Christine Yuan | Reebok, "Go Bold / Zico" | SAGA Studio | Push Media | LINK

MUSIC VIDEOS

Nadira Amrani | The Japanese House – "Something Has To Change" | LINK

Nadira Amrani | Denai Moore – "To The Brink" | BLINK PRODUCTIONS | LINK

Clara Aranovich | K. Flay – "Not In California"Reprobates | Little Ugly | LINK

Ximena Prieto, Lorenza Clapp | Robert Laser – 'Showmeuwantme" | Hermanas Sacófago Production | LINK

Gia Coppola | Yves Tumor ft. Hirakish & Napolian – "Applaud" | LINK

Carolina Cortella | Openside – "FCK U" | LINK

Adinah Dancyger and Kaya Wilkins | Okay Kaya – "Ascend and Try Again" | LINK

Hannah Lux Davis | Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Rey – "Don't Call Me Angel" (Charlie's Angels) | London Alley | LINK

Hannah Lux Davis | Hailee Steinfield – "Afterlife" | London Alley | LINK

FKA Twigs, Nick Walker | FKA Twigs ft. Future – "Holy Terrain" | Object & Animal | LINK

FKA Twigs | FKA twigs – "home with you" | Object & Animal | LINK

Susie Francis | MF Tomlinson – "Sum Of Nothing" | LINK

Patricia Gloum | Blu DeTiger – "Tangerine" | LINK

Giulia Grossmann | Acid Arab ft. Cheikha Hadjla – "Malek Ya Zahri" | Shelter Studio / Crammed Discs | LINK

Adi Halfin | S-Type – "Waiting" |True Motion Pictures, Lief | LINK

Maegan Houang | Vagabon – "Water Me Down" | We Make Movies Productions | LINK

Martina Hoogland Ivanow | Mambo Noir Trio – "Noir" | LINK

Ashleigh Jadee | IYKZ ft. Maleek Berry – "Show Me Mercy" | LINK

Ashleigh Jadee | Lioness ft. J.F.L.O.W.S – "XOX" | LINK

Leire Aguilera Kelly | Gert Taberner – "Georgia" | Madrefoca | LINK

MUSIC VIDEOS (continued)

Savanah Leaf | Mowtown Records, Marvin Gaye – "What's Going On" | Doomsday Entertainment | LINK

Marysia Makowska | Michael Blume's "In Between" | Papaya Films | LINK

Eva Michon | Kazu Makino – “Come Behind Me, So Good!” | Lief | LINK

Wendy Morgan | Lous and The Yakuza, "Dilemme"Scheme Engine | LINK

Sophie Muller | Shakespears Sister ft. Richard Hawley – "When She Finds You" | LINK

Julie Rohart | Ozlo – "Yin & Yang" | LINK

Charlotte Rutherford | Lil Miquela – "Money"Brud. Inc | LINK

Astrid Salomon | HOLY HOLY – "Maybe You Know" | LINK

Jennifer Juniper Stratford | Turnover – "Much After Feeling" | Telefantasy Studios Production | LINK

Jennifer Juniper Stratford | Jennifer Vanilla – "Space Time Motion" | Telefantasy Studio | LINK

Cara Stricker | Tei Shi ft. Blood Orange – "Even If It Hurts" | LINK

Sam Taylor-Johnson | Michael Stipe – "Your Capricious Soul" | LINK

Leonn Ward | Michael Kiwanuka – "You Ain’t The Problem" | LINK

Emma Westenberg | Princess Nokia – "Sugar Honey Iced Tea (S.H.I.T.)" | Partizan | LINK

Rianne White | Aurora – "Apple Tree" | Partizan | LINK

Libby Burke Wilde | Lewis Capaldi – "Bruises" (Live Orchestral Version) | Alibi | LINK

Christine Yuan | Summer Walker w/ Bryson Tiller – "Playing Games" | Object & Animal | LINK

Zia Anger | Jenny Hval – "Accident" | LINK

BRANDED CONTENT

Shimmy Ahmed | Alexa Chung, "Style Challenge! 5 Looks In 5 Minutes" | Little Dot Studios | LINK

AnAkA | Vogue's 24 Hours With, "FKA twigs Gets Ready for Afropunk With Swordplay, Pole Dancing, and More" | West of Ivy | LINK

Vanessa Black | Peach Pack, "For All Bleeding People" | Fox & Leopard | LINK

Megan Brotherton | Funny or Die, "New Parents Sleep Training Their Babies Go So Hard" | LINK

Nadia Lee Cohen | Maison Margiela x Vogue Italia, "#MyMutiny" | 3RD SOL | LINK

River Gallo | Maison Margiela x Vogue Italia, "#MyMutiny" | 3RD SOL | LINK

Corinne Ladeinde | Bonjela | NERD Productions | LINK

Kirsten Lepore | Belvedere x Janelle Monae, "Natural History Museum" | LINK

Sonia Malfa | Vogue Italia, "Simone: a survivor's story" | Good Company | LINK

Rachel McDonald | Uniting | DDB | RemedyRabbit Content | LINK

Emily McDonald and Christo Geoghegan | Queer Nostalgia for Netflix x YouTube, "A Look At Queer TV Icons inc Drag Race, Ugly Betty and Sex Education" | Social Life | LINK

Emily McDonald and Christo Geoghegan | Queer Nostalgia for Netflix x YouTube, "A Look At Gay TV Icons inc Queer As Folk, Grace & Frankie + Star Trek" | Social Life | LINK

Sonja Phillips | Entelechy Arts, "Rosaline’s Story" | Knucklehead | LINK

Sonja Phillips | Entelechy Arts, "Ted’s Story" | Knucklehead | LINK

Mélodie Roulaud/ MÉLO | Nevs Model Agency, "Meet the #nevsfamily" | PI Film Network | LINK

Katy Wang | Mailchimp's Outer Monologue, "Joy Bryant" | The California Sunday Magazine, BLINKINK | LINK