Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
This whole thing started with a mission: support female led films on opening weekend whenever possible.* If you want to read more about why, you can read that post here.
The fall can be a depressing time for movies. With the summer blockbusters now wrapped and the award hungry titles waiting for the winter, there is usually a shortage of compelling stories to pick from. However, it’s a full month for female directors who both write and direct their films. It’s practically a cinematic prozac.
SEPTEMBER 2:
White Girl (Written and Directed by Elizabeth Wood. Starring Morgan Saylor)
Summer, New York City. A college girl falls hard for a guy she just met. After a night of partying goes wrong, she goes to wild extremes to get him back.
SEPTEMBER 9:
Ithaca (Directed by and Starring Meg Ryan)
During the summer of 1942, a 14-year-old looks after his widowed mother and two siblings while working as a bicycle messenger.
SEPTEMBER 16:
Bridget Jones’s Baby (Directed by Sharon Maguire, Written by Helen Fielding and Starring Renee Zellweger)
The continuing adventures of British publishing executive Bridget Jones as she enters her 40s. This time, she’s pregnant!
Miss Stevens (Written and directed by Julia Hart)
A comedy focused on a teacher who chaperones a group of high schoolers to a state drama competition.
Wild Oats (Written by Claudia Myers and Starring Jessica Lange, Demi Moore and Shirley MacLaine)
Everything changes for EVA when she receives a life insurance check accidentally made out for $5,000,000 instead of the expected $50.000. She and her best friend take the money and head out for the adventure of a lifetime.
SEPTEMBER 23:
Girl Asleep (Directed by Rosemary Myers and Starring Bethany Whitmore)
The world is closing in on Greta Driscoll. On the cusp of turning fifteen she can’t bear to leave her childhood, it contains all the things that give her comfort.
The Dressmaker (Written and Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and Starring Kate Winslet)
In 1950s Australia, beautiful, talented dressmaker Tilly returns to her tiny hometown to right wrongs from her past. As she tries to reconcile with her mother, she starts to fall in love while transforming the fashion of the town.
My Blind Brother (Written and Directed by Sophie Goodhart)
Robbie, a blind athlete, is loved and adored as a local sports hero, and his brother, Bill, has never received the same adoration, which leads to a rivalry that boils over when they both fall for the same girl.
SEPTEMBER 30:
Queen of Katwe (Directed by Mira Nair and Starring Lupita Nyong’o)
A young girl from Uganda trains to become a world chess champion.
American Honey (Written and Directed by Andrea Arnold)
A teenage girl with nothing to lose joins a traveling magazine sales crew, and gets caught up in a whirlwind of hard partying, law bending and young love as she criss-crosses the Midwest with a band of misfits.
Generation Startup (Directed by Cheryl Miller Houser and Cynthia Wade)
Generation Startup takes us to the front lines of entrepreneurship in America, capturing the struggles and triumphs of six recent college graduates who put everything on the line to build startups in Detroit. Shot over 17 months, it’s an honest, in-the-trenches look at what it takes to launch a startup. Directed by Academy Award winner Cynthia Wade and award-winning filmmaker Cheryl Miller Houser, the film celebrates risk-taking, urban revitalization, and diversity while delivering a vital call-to-action-with entrepreneurship at a record low, the country’s economic future is at stake.
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One additional note before I go: I am not able to tell you if these movies are objectively good or feminist friendly, as I have not seen all of them. The point of this list is to give you a place to start. The truth is that we don’t have a lot to choose from, but part of the battle is giving you the information. Information is power. However, shared knowledge is also key. So if you see one of these films or have seen an early screening, please let us know if you recommend it or not in the comments.
This whole thing started with a mission: support female led films on opening weekend whenever possible.* If you want to read more about why, you can read that post here.
When it comes to women in Hollywood, we get three identities: mom, daughter and romantic lead. Maybe it’s because it’s February. Maybe it’s the stereotype. But whatever it is, this is the month of women falling in love. I would love to see this kind of movie from a man’s perspective, but alas. This month, we’ll settle for Gilly’s attitude and a film on being single as our reprieve.
FEBRUARY 5TH:
All Roads Lead to Rome (Directed by Ella Lemhagen; Screenplay by Cindy Myers; Starring Sarah Jessica Parker)
Logline: Maggie is an uptight, single mother and college writing teacher from New York City. In an effort to reconnect with her troubled teen daughter Summer, she decides to embark on a journey to a Tuscan village where she frequented in her younger days. Upon arrival, Maggie runs into Luca, a handsome former lover who is still a bachelor and lives with his eighty-year-old mother, Carmen. Summer (missing her “bad boy” boyfriend in NYC) and Carmen (secretly planning a wedding against Luca’s wishes to Marcelino, her one true love in Rome) impulsively steal Luca’s car and race off to Rome. Maggie and Luca quickly pursue allowing the two mismatched couples to spend some time together and develop a new understanding of each other.
FEBRUARY 12TH:
How to be Single (Screenplay by Dana Fox and Abby Kohn; Starring Rebel Wilson and Allison Brie)
Logline: New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, and what Alice, Robin, Lucy, Meg, Tom and David all have in common is the need to learn how to be single in a world filled with ever-evolving definitions of love.
Tumbledown (Screenplay by Desiree Van Til; Starring Rebecca Hall)
Logline: A young woman struggles to move on with her life after the death of her husband, an acclaimed folk singer, when a brash New York writer forces her to confront her loss and the ambiguous circumstances of his death.
Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (Directed and Written by Emily Ting)
Logline: An attraction forms when a Chinese American girl visiting Hong Kong for the first time meets an American expat who shows her the way, but timing may not quite be on their side. A walk and talk romance set in the beautiful city of Hong Kong, the film asks the question - what happens when you meet the right person at the wrong time?
FEBRUARY 19TH:
The Great Gilly Hopkins (Starring Sophie Nelisse and Kathy Bates)
Logline: 12-year-old wisecracking Gilly Hopkins finds herself shuffled from foster home to foster home until she meets Maime Trotter.
FEBRUARY 26TH:
Marguerite and Julien (Directed and Written by Valérie Donzelli)
Logline: An aristocratic brother and sister embrace passion and hope as they flee from society. A story of desire, love and death beyond all morality.
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One additional note before I go: I am not able to tell you if these movies are objectively good or feminist friendly, as I have not seen all of them. The point of this list is to give you a place to start. The truth is that we don’t have a lot to choose from, but part of the battle is giving you the information. Information is power. However, shared knowledge is also key. So if you see one of these films or have seen an early screening, please let us know if you recommend it or not in the comments.
This whole thing started with a mission: support female led films on opening weekend whenever possible.* If you want to read more about why, you can read that post here.
It’s a rough month at the theaters for women. When I say I’m stretching to give you this list, I mean that. But with the Oscars coming and awards season dictating that anything truly good has already hit the theaters, it’s not a huge surprise we don’t have much to choose from. However, we do have Natalie Dormer in a starring role and she is always worth seeing. Always.
JANUARY 8TH:
The Forest (Co-Written by Sarah Cornwell and Starring Natalie Dormer)
Logline: A young woman searches for her twin sister in a Japanese forest only to find herself surrounded by paranormal forces.
JANUARY 22ND:
The Fifth Wave (Written by Susannah Grant and Starring Chloe Grace Moretz)
Logline: Four waves of increasingly deadly alien attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Cassie is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother.
JANUARY 29TH:
Kung Fu Panda 3 (Directed by Jennifer Yuh and Starring Angelina Jolie)
Logline: Continuing his “legendary adventures of awesomeness”, Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to his home.
Jane Got a Gun (Starring Natalie Portman)
Logline: A woman asks her ex-lover for help in order to save her outlaw husband from a gang out to kill him.
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One additional note before I go: I am not able to tell you if these movies are objectively good or feminist friendly, as I have not seen all of them. The point of this list is to give you a place to start. The truth is that we don’t have a lot to choose from, but part of the battle is giving you the information. Information is power. However, shared knowledge is also key. So if you see one of these films or have seen an early screening, please let us know if you recommend it or not in the comments.
When I was 16, I saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (1) for the first time. To my creative mind: there is my life before I saw that movie. And there is what my life became BECAUSE I saw that movie. It was like a glaring sun that set fire to an iron and burnt an image on my brain: the bed on the beach. I watched it over and over and over again. I showed it to all my friends. I waited patiently, slogging through the pains of rural dial up internet to get online and find out two things: one, where is Montauk? And two, who wrote this impossibly sensical and relatable, yet completely nonsensically beautiful movie?
Charlie Kaufman.
One could say that after that, I became a disciple of the filmmaking school of Kaufman. I read all his scripts. I saw all his movies. I read every newspaper article I could find that ever mentioned his name. I devoured every interview. I even looked at pictures of him and tried to figure out what about his face made him… him.
It wasn’t a crush. It wasn’t love. It was complete and total professional admiration.
Today, I truly believe I have the bed on the beach to thank for my entire career. I knew how screenplays were written because of the bed on the beach. I knew I wanted to make beautiful imagery because of the bed on the beach. I fell in love with movies because of the bed on the beach.
In the summer of 2013, I even convinced my friends to steal a mattress with me from a local furniture retailer and we hauled it to a field in northern Minnesota in the dark of night. Humid and cold at the same time, we laid on the mattress and stared at the stars. My friends thought it was just a fun adventure. It was my reenactment of the bed on the beach. (2)
In my career, I’ve been to many a film festival, but never one of the premiere elites where all the big name stars and makers go to connect and watch and revel. So when my trip to Italia coincided with the Venice Film Festival, I knew I had to do everything in my power to acquire a pass. La Biennale de Venezia, as they call it, is the oldest film festival in the world dating back to the birth of cinema. It happens on the tiny island of Lido just off of Venice and it’s less glamorous and more real and honest in ways you wouldn’t even expect. Sure there are red carpets. But there are mostly just people who love cinema from all parts of the world trying to create an ounce of excitement about the work that they do. Truth was so resonant for me that it quickly overshadowed any sense of fame-grabbing. Just two weeks before I left for my trip, I finished production on my first narrative film. Suddenly, the reality of the WHY I put myself through that process was so obvious. This is where I’ve always wanted to be.
I have always wanted my own bed on the beach.
And because everything needs to come full circle when you’re telling a story like this, you must know that at this particular moment in time, Charlie Kaufman’s new film, Anomalisa, was having its world premiere at the Venice Festival. This was profound because Kaufman hasn’t put out a new film in 7 years. It felt as if I was meant to be there, even though it had been public knowledge for months. A girl can believe what she needs to believe to be happy. My entire mission at the Fest became finding a way to see the premiere. And indeed, I got my ass in.
Anomalisa is not my favorite Charlie Kaufman movie. But it is most certainly a Charlie Kaufman movie in every way a story could be owned by one mind. It’s about a motivational speaker sort who longs for some kind of connection in a world full of people who aim for very little other than the status quo. It’s done with a strange and jarring stop motion technique that is smooth and yet breathing, ugly and yet has all kinds of dark charm to it. You can almost smell it. Truly. In my mind, the film smells like burning felt. I may forget the details of that movie, but here is what I’ll never forget:
I’ll never forget sitting at the Venice Film Festival in the Grande Theater, watching the world premiere of a Charlie Kaufman film with him sitting only 8 rows behind me.
I’ll never forget how every single person in that theater sat there until the very last credit rolled, because they wanted to pay respects to the people that made the experience they just took in. I will never forget it because it’s what I do every time I see a movie. And I’ll never forget it because I loved being around people who I could just tell are doing that every time they see a film, even if that usually means they are doing it all by themselves as the theater staff sweeps up popcorn around their feet.
I’ll never forget giving Charlie Kaufman a standing ovation. Not just for Anomalisa. But for giving me the bed on the beach.
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*1* Fun fact about that movie, Ellen Kuras was the cinematographer. She did a beautiful job and is one of very few female cinematographers in Hollywood.
*2* I really hope the statute of limitations is up on that behavior. Either way, it was worth it.
This whole thing started with a mission: support female led films on opening weekend whenever possible.* If you want to read more about why, you can read that post here.
The fall is one of my favorite times to go to the theaters. I don’t know why but it seems so cozy to put on a sweater, grab your favorite date and hit up the theaters for a popcorn and a cozy, public snuggle in the dark. If you want to expose your date to some ladies opening this weekend… then here’s your picks. However, one thing to note: there are a few items on this list that are questionable in their nature. (The Final Girls and Jem and the Holograms are important call-outs… we shall see how friendly to women they really are when they open.)
OCTOBER 2ND:
Freeheld (Starring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page)
Logline: Diagnosed with terminal cancer, decorated New Jersey detective Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) wishes to leave her pension benefits to domestic partner Stacie Andree (Ellen Page). Denied by local county officials, Laurel receives help from hard-nosed colleague Dane Wells (Michael Shannon) and activist Steven Goldstein (Steve Carell), who unite to rally fellow police officers and ordinary citizens to support the couple’s fight for equality.
He Named Me Malala (Starring Malala)
Logline: After the Taliban tries to kill her for speaking out on behalf of girls’ education, Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai emerges as a leading advocate for children’s rights and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
Addicted to Fresno (Directed by Jamie Babbit - Written by Karey Dornetto - Starring Judy Greer and Natasha Lyonne)
Logline: Follows the lives two co-dependent sisters who work as hotel maids in Fresno.
OCTOBER 9TH:
Big Stone Gap (Written and directed by Adriana Trigiani and Starring Ashley Judd)
Logline: In a small town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, self-proclaimed spinster Ave Maria Mulligan finds her life shaken up and forever changed after learning a long-buried family secret.
The Final Girls (Starring Taissa Farmiga, Nina Dobrev and Malin Ackerman)
Logline: Max, recently orphaned, goes to see a screening of a B-horror movie her mother made twenty years earlier. When Max and her friends find themselves in the world of the film itself, they must apply their knowledge of horror tropes to survive.
Victoria (Written by Olivia Neergard-Holm and Starring Laia Costa)
Logline: While on holiday in Berlin, a young woman finds her flirtation with a local guy turn potentially deadly as their night out with his friends reveals its secret: the four men owe someone a dangerous favor that requires repaying that evening.
OCTOBER 16TH:
Room (Written by Emma Donoghue and Starring Brie Larson)
Logline: After 5-year old Jack and his Ma escape from the enclosed surroundings that Jack has known his entire life, the boy makes a thrilling discovery: the outside world.
OCTOBER 23RD:
Jem and the Holograms (Starring Stefanie Scott)
Logline: As a small-town girl catapults from underground video sensation to global superstar, she and her three sisters begin a journey of discovering that some talents are too special to keep hidden.
I Smile Back (Written by Paige Dylan and Starring Sarah Silverman)
Logline: Laney Brooks does bad things. Married with kids, she takes the drugs she wants, sleeps with the men she wants, disappears when she wants. Now, with the destruction of her family looming, and temptation everywhere, Laney makes one last desperate attempt at redemption.
Suffragette (Directed by Sarah Gavron - Written by Abi Morgan - Starring Meryl Streep, Helena Bonham Carter and Carey Mulligan)
Logline: The foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.
Nasty Baby (Starring Alia Shawkat and Kristen Wiig)
Logline: A close-knit trio navigates the idea of creating life, while at the same time being confronted with a brutal scenario that causes them to take a life.
OCTOBER 30TH:
Our Brand is Crisis (Written by Rachel Boynton and Starring Sandra Bullock and Zoe Kazan)
Logline: A feature film based on the documentary “Our Brand Is Crisis”, which focuses on the use of American political campaign strategies in South America.
The Wonders (Written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher)
Logline: Nothing will be the same at the end of this summer for Gelsomina and her three younger sisters.
The Armor of Light (Directed by Abigail Disney)
Logline: What price conscience? The Armor of Light follows the journey of an Evangelical minister trying to find the courage to preach about the growing toll of gun violence in America.
Bare (Written and Directed by Natalie Leite and starring Dianna Agron and Paz de la Huerta)
Logline: A young girl in Nevada becomes romantically involved with a female drifter who introduces her to a life of stripping, drugs, and metaphysical experiences that teach her what happens when real life catches up with dark fantasy.
