News

Exclusive: The Writers Lab has set Shari Albert (Fishtown), Stephanie Bast (FrankenFamily), Kelly Campbell (Pyramid Scheme), Shari Lynette Carpenter (Translate), Nic Cohen (Artemis One), Rebecca Dreyfus (Men), Gwen Goodkin (The Plant), Tamara Maloney & Maeve McQuillan (Darkened Room), Arianna Ortiz, Zuri Rice (Green Hill), Roses Urquhart (This Is My Body) and Robin Shanea Williams (Adrienne Is Always Single) as the participants and projects for its eighth annual lab, supporting women screenwriters over the age of 40.

Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman have renewed their support for The Writers Lab, which will return to its in-person format for script development in 2022. The Lab has re-doubled its efforts to amplify the voices of women writers, calling for greater inclusion of their stories in film and television, in response to growing threats to women’s rights, with genre scripts (particularly comedies) and historical stories about pioneering women being seen most...

The 31st Inside Out Toronto 2Slgbtq+ Film Festival this week unveiled its full lineup for its virtual edition, which will run May 27-June 6. A total of 143 films including 33 features and five episodic series will unspool, according to new executive director Lauren Howes and director of programming Andrew Murphy. A total of 70% of this year’s selected films are by women/trans/non-binary directors

Natalie Morales’ directorial debut Language Lessons, which won the audience award at this year’s SXSW, will open the festival, with the Charli Xcx documentary Alone Together set to close. Highlights of the slate include Sundance winner Ma Belle, My Beauty, Wes Hurley’s Potato Dreams of America and Mari Walker’s See You Then, along with the world premiere of Shelley Thompsons’ trans family drama Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor. Docs include the Zachary Quinto-narrated Yes I Am: The Ric Weiland Story and Drag Invasion,...

Fest runs entrely online from May 27-June 6.

Natalie Morales’ Language Lessons will open the 31st annual Inside Out Toronto 2Slgbtq+ Film Festival running entirely online from May 27-June 6.

The festival will showcase 143 films including 33 feature films and five episodic series, as well as the fifth edition of the annual 2Slgbtq+ Film Finance Forum.

Closing the festival will be the Charli Xcx documentary Alone Together – a SXSW selection like the opening film, which premiered in Berlin. Both films will stream live in the evening.

For all films in Premieres, the films will be available at a specific indicated date and time,...