The Documentary Summit on Nov. 3-4 in Toronto
(Speakers include filmmaker Michèle Hozer, Program Manager Marcia Douglas (Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund), Stephanie McArthur of Doc Ignite, and more)

Venevision International Enters Initiative for Female-Created Programs
at World Screen

BAFTA Study: Young People ‘Discouraged’ From Careers in Film, TV and Gaming
at The Hollywood Reporter

Sexism In Cinema: Where Are The Women In Argo?*
at Thought Catalog

(*As I mentioned in a facebook post today, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, writers of the new Hobbit movies, created a female character that wasn’t in The Hobbit (the book), but in keeping with Tolkien’s world, so as to avoid the crushing masculinity that the film was suffering from with 13 dwarves, a hobbit, a wizard, etc. — all male — in lead and supporting roles.  This new character, “Tauriel,” played by Evangeline Lilly, was mentioned in a video of a Comic-con panel I saw but can’t locate it now.  You can google it, though.  I will say I am terribly disappointed in the utter lack of a positive look at the creation of a female character, and disappointed in Geek Girls Network which posted a piece called “Tauriel, Shmauriel,” in which the writer states she’s a feminist, but goes on to express her feelings that it’s unnecessary and ridiculous to have more “feminine energy,” in the film, as Boyens herself has stated as a reason for the creation of Tauriel in the first place.  Fans of the Middle Earth stories  (and I am a hardcore one, and yes, have even read the oft-claimed “inaccessible” book, The Silmarillion, and think it’s the best of all the Middle Earth books), have a right to be disappointed or surprised by changes occurring during the book-to-screen adaptation process, but fans can oftentimes become so invested in the authenticity of the movies, comparing them to how they follow the books, that they forget that there have already been numerous changes by Jackson, Walsh and Boyens from the books to the screen.  Why should the creation of “Tauriel” be treated any less acceptingly than the changes we’ve already witnessed with The Fellowship, The Two Towers and The Return of the King when adapted from books to films?)

The new ‘Star Wars’ and women: Female sci-fi directors on Leia, Amidala, and what lies ahead
at Inside Movies

Question Time: Women & Screenplays
at Wellywood Woman

Feminine mystique (The Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival)
at CS Indy

2012 Houston Cinema Arts Festival Focuses on Women Directors
at Women and Hollywood

British woman, 79, becomes martial-arts action hero
at the Los Angeles Times

Preview Stark ‘Living/Building’ (A Thorough Look At Technological Change In A Remote Part Of Chad) — by filmmaker Clemence Ancelin
at Shadow and Act

War on Women, Waged in Postcards: Memes From the Suffragist Era
at Collectors Weekly  (Note: some disturbing content)

TIFF: Interview with Margarethe von Trotta and Barbara Sukowa – Director and Star of Hannah Arendt
at Women and Hollywood