EDITOR’S NOTE: some minor spoilers below With the recent remake of The Invisible Man, writer/director Leigh Whannell presents modern take on the original story from 1933, in which a chemist (played by Claude Rains) develops a formula for invisibility, and ultimately falls into a downward spiral of betrayal and murder as a result of his discovery. The new version presents some key differences to the story: the invisible man is not driven to violence because of his newfound power, but actually invents a high-tech invisibility suit for the purpose of carrying out acts of violence. And, more importantly, the protagonist…
Author: Jessica Hobbs
Jessica Hobbs
Jessica Hobbs spent the early part of her career working in technical theater, opera, and film festivals while earning her film degree at the University of Colorado. She spent a year touring with a Vaudeville show, which included a 3-week run at the New Victory Theater in New York. After five years working in Reality TV as a writer’s assistant and Associate Producer, she made the move to Los Angeles and took a job with the Sundance Institute, while also working as a freelance writer and producer for film, theatre, and TV.
Writer/Director Diana Galimzyanova presents a modern film noir with The Lightest Darkness, a mystery unafraid to pose questions about the evolution of morality in a modern era. Though the film is set in the present, it exhibits features of the past: men wear long coats and hats, women wear gloves and style their hair with soft pin curls, and a classic black and white aesthetic provides a connection to another world, one that is more rigid and seemingly less complicated than the one we know. The plot unravels the mystery of a killer on the loose, an investigator searching for…
**Warning: mild spoilers ahead** In the world of fiction, storytellers base their work on the world we know, and sometimes elect to tell true stories based the experiences of others. Such is the case for a new Netflix limited series, Unbelievable. The series, based on the Pulitzer prize winning article An Unbelievable Story of Rape, tells the gut-wrenching tale of a teenaged victim of a horrific crime, the police who dismissed her, and the female detectives who eventually uncovered the truth – after the assailant had tortured and traumatized many more women. It’s a harrowing account of the massive flaws…
Paisley Smith is a Canadian filmmaker & virtual reality creator based in Los Angeles, California and Vancouver, British Columbia. She grew up on the Unceded Territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Her latest project, Unceded Territories, is a provocative VR experience created in collaboration with First Nations artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, and presents an interactive landscape that grapples with colonialism, climate change and indigenous civil rights. The project had its world premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, and will be shown at the Vancouver International Film Festival this month. When did you become interested in VR…
**Warning: Contains Spoilers** Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the 9th feature film from director Quentin Tarantino, is the latest in a trend of historical period pieces to flip the script on the genre known as historical fiction. As I sat in the theater and watched the climax of the film – a violent fight scene that ended with members of the Mason family dead and their real-life victims safe and unharmed – I couldn’t help but feel fascinated by the recent trend of historical fiction re-imagining not just what did happen in the past, but what should have happened.…
The gender pay gap. That stubborn, persistent, and downright insulting gulf that still exists between men and women performing the same work. It’s been in the news a lot lately, and for good reason: in the age of skyrocketing student debt, high costs of living, and wages that have barely budged in 20 years, working women today are fed up with being paid less than their male counterparts for reason other than a blatant gender bias. This gap is a cavern in the sexist entertainment industry. Along with the data, endless books and think pieces float around the internet trying…
Fractured Shakespeare creator Charissa J. Adams curated multiple lines from the works of William Shakespeare for her short film, Was it Rape, Then? to explore the subject of consent. Now, Adams has expanded the concept into a new play at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival. Speak I Will, created by Adams and directed by Jessica Erin Martin, Benjamin McFadden, and Carly D. Weckstein, is a creative collection of monologues pieced together from excerpts of Shakespeare’s extensive collection of works: the world famous Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo & Juliet, and Taming of the Shrew; the less famous King John, Coriolanus, and…
The Simpsons was on our TV a lot when I was kid – as it was in tens of millions of households across America. I remember an episode in which Bart did something cruel to Lisa, and Lisa snapped. She lunged at him with tears in her eyes, at which point Marge caught her and urged her to calm down. Lisa told her mother how angry she was about the incident. “You’re a woman,” Marge replied. “You can hold onto it forever.” Sex and the City was on my TV a lot when I was a young adult. When a…
Alma Har’el is a director of acclaimed films such as Bombay Beach, LoveTrue, and the short film JellyWolf, a hybrid of story and branded content for CHANEL. She is also the founder of Free The Bid, a non-profit aimed at staffing more women in the Advertising industry. Her latest film, Honey Boy, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Amazon, with a release date set for November 8th. You did a short film, JellyWolf, for Chanel, which Elle Magazine described as “the trippiest fashion film ever made.” What inspired you to bring such a unique approach…
In its opening weekend, Captain Marvel destroyed every sexist myth about women in Hollywood: that female fronted movies will not make any money at the box office (Captain Marvel raked in $455 million its opening weekend), that men will not see a movie with a female lead character (57% of ticket buyers so far have been men), that foreign audiences will have even less interest than American males ($302 million of the opening weekend haul coming from other countries); and that female directors can’t handle mega big-budget movies (Captain Marvel is co-directed by Anna Boden and written by a team…
When I was 18 years old and a senior in high school, I volunteered for a local film festival. I attended a documentary screening and the subsequent reception afterwards and struck up a conversation with the director. I told him I was on my way to college with a Film Studies major and asked for advice. He kindly gave me his phone number and we made plans to talk once the festival was over. A week or so later, I gave him a call. He gave me various pieces of insight on making it work as a freelancer and dealing…
**Warning: Mild Spoilers Ahead! For Mary, Queen of Scots coming soon to VOD** Mary, Queen of Scots is the latest in an encouraging trend of beautiful, powerful, female-directed historical dramas that further reminds Hollywood: we need WAY more historical period pieces directed by women. Director Josie Rourke makes a stunning directorial debut with the film about the deep affection and fierce rivalry between two of history’s most powerful women: Mary, and her first cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. What makes the film stand out among other historical dramas is not just the flawless production design, costuming, and make up, or the…
The entertainment industry has always been a paradox in American culture, revered for its glamour and impact on the world, and simultaneously hated for its narcissism and superficiality. And though audiences throughout the country have some pretty strong opinions about the insular community that shapes so much of popular culture, no one is more aware of Hollywood’s perpetual contradictions than those who live and breathe the constant hustle of making it in the industry. The one antidote for the effects of the Hollywood grind is stepping away from it and finding another place to recharge and reflect for a while.…
Art imitates life, life imitates art. Since the dawn of the entertainment industry, film, television, and radio have shaped American culture and the way we see one another. It’s a big responsibility, and also a very delicate process to navigate: media changes America, but as America changes, so too does the industry. 2018 has found the entertainment industry in a very unique position, having to juggle a constant barrage of heavily biased content from every conceivable media platform, and somehow determine what to market to which demographics in a polarized culture. Many Americans are suffering, and the media is slowly…