It's spooky season and we're bringing in the treats: brand new work, rolling out from all corners of our community! Put aside the ghost stories, because we have content about everything from training babies to boxing ring dancing. As an extra bonus, we even threw in the best features and shorts (directed by Mexican Indigenous women!) from the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM). Please hold your applause until after you've watched all of the work (it'll be hard, but you'll pull through, we believe in you).
This list is alphabetical, so don’t forget to scroll all the way down to the bottom!
See your work on the list? Let’s celebrate! Share across social media—tag us at @FreeTheWork and use the hashtags #FreeTheWork and #HeresTheWork!
Want to have your work featured? Send it over to [email protected].
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 and released over the months we’ve been away. 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 DOPs. A commitment to freeing the work doesn’t just stop at hiring a woman director—enrich your crews with underrepresented creators across production roles!
The following commercials, branded content, short films, and music videos were directed by directors from our database, released this past month.
FILM & TV NEWS
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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)
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The trailer for Lauren Greenfield's Imelda Marcos doc The Kingmaker is out. (LINK)
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Kat Coiro is directing the new comedy film "Marry Me" starring J.Lo and comedian Michelle Buteau. (LINK)
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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)
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Universal’s global talent development and inclusion group on Monday 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)
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28 International Feature Oscar submissions were directed by women. (LINK)
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The trailer for Floria Sigismondi's "The Turning" has been released – in theaters January 24. (LINK)
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The official trailer for Mati Diop's "Atlantics" has been released – in select theaters November 15 and on Netflix November 29. (LINK)
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Barbara Kopple's Desert One is included in the lineup for AFI Fest 2019 – November 14-21 in LA. (LINK)
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River Gallo's film Ponyboi screened at Newfest in NYC, 10/25-27. (LINK)
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Jennifer Kent’s revenge thriller The Nightingale scored a whopping 15 nominations for the 2019 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA). (LINK)
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Kantú Lentz will be a member of the fifth annual Through Her Lens: Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program, which provides mentorship and financing for female-led short film projects and kicks off Nov. 4-6 in New York. (LINK)
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New HBO show Mrs. Fletcher premiered October 27th. The pilot was directed by Nicole Holofcenter and the season also features an episode directed by Gillian Robespierre. (LINK)
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Writer-director Lulu Wang’s indie box office breakout The Farewell has scored Chinese distribution via leading local ticketing firm Maoyan Entertainment. (LINK)
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Wanjiru M Njendu was a shadow director on the seventh episode of the new Netflix show Daybreak. (LINK)
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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)
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Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has acquired all worldwide rights, excluding the Philippines, to Yellow Rose, directed by Diane Paragas. (LINK)
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Director Crystal Kayiza's film See You Next Time took home the grand prize in TheWrap’s Telling Our Stories short film competition. It will be distributed on Starz. (LINK)
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San Francisco Transgender Film Festival (November 7-10) features "Femenina," starring Nava Mau, and "Protect Black Trans Women" directed by Seyi Adebanjo (among the program of other trans and non-binary creators). (LINK)
MORELIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (FICM)
For the first time since the establishment of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) in 2007, the festival hosted an Indigenous People Forum, which dedicated two days to the work of the following Mexican Indigenous women filmmakers:
María Sojob | Feature Film | "Tote/Abuelo"
Luna Marán | Feature Film | "Tío Yim"
Dinazar Urbina Mata | Feature Film | "We Are Always Walking"
Ingrid Eunice Fabián González | Feature Film | "People of Wind and Sea"
Ángeles Cruz | Short Film | "Arcángel"
Yolanda Cruz | Short Film | "Reencuentros: 2051 migrantes"
Magda Cacari | Short Film | "Kárapani Tsínharhini"
María Candelaria Palma Marcelino | Short Film | "Rojo"
Dolores Santiz | Short Film | "Pox, la bebida sagrada"
Iris Belén Villalpando López | Short Film | "Yolem Jammut"
SIGNED DIRECTORS
Jaci Judelson – Park Pictures
Allie Avital – Smuggler – LINK
Gillian Zinser – Lief – LINK
AD
Rachel McDonald | Thinx "MENstruation" | BBDO | Biscuit Filmworks | 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
Annie Saunders | Santander, "The Hidden Truth About Domestic Violence #InSomeoneElsesShoes" | Arnold | Helo | LINK
Merete Mueller | Ford Motor Company, "Angela Bassett" | Uniworld Group | Smartypants | LINK
Agostina Gálvez | Women have moustaches too – Billie Movember | LINK
Maya Margolina | MCM x BAPE | Visual Country | LINK
Sophie Edelstein | PINK Shirtmakers, "Matthew Goode in A life in the Pink" | RSA Films | LINK
Zia Mandviwalla | Bank of New Zealand | Colenso BBDO | Finch | LINK
Ayse Altinok | Unilever x Pure Line | Wunderman Thompson | PTOT Films | LINK
Pam Thomas | PERIOD, "See Red" | BBDO San Francisco | Community Films | LINK
Erica Eng | Baseball for All | Carousel | Tomorrow | LINK
Keryn Nossal | First Stories – MITS / MUMA / Museums Victoria | Fancy Films | LINK
Nina Aaldering | Against Breast Cancer, "Most Precious Stone" | BETC | Quad, Quad Stories | LINK
Marysia Makowska | Michael Blume's "In Between" | Papaya Films | LINK
Sam Taylor-Johnson | Michael Stipe – "Your Capricious Soul" | LINK
Giulia Grossmann | Acid Arab ft. Cheikha Hadjla – "Malek Ya Zahri" | Shelter Studio / Crammed Discs | LINK
Nadira Amrani | Denai Moore – "To The Brink" | BLINK PRODUCTIONS | LINK
BRANDED CONTENT
Sonja Phillips | Entelechy Arts, "Ted’s Story" | Knucklehead | LINK
Sonia Malfa | Vogue Italia, "Simone: a survivor's story" | Good Company | LINK
Kristen Lepore | Belvedere x Janelle Monae, "Natural History Museum" | LINK
Megan Brotherton | Funny or Die, "New Parents Sleep Training Their Babies Go So Hard" | LINK
SHORT FILMS
Lena Tsodykovskaya | “Luisa and Anna’s First Fight" | Homage Arts & Productions | LINK
Libby Burke Wilde | "Mettle" | LINK
That's a wrap for now, but please stay tuned on social media, where we give constant updates on the latest and greatest from our members. See you next month!
