Women in the World and IFC Center on Thursday unveiled the lineup for their inaugural female-focused 51Fest event in New York City next month.
Highlights include the New York premiere of the Harvey Weinstein documentary Untouchable and a sneak preview of the upcoming Netflix movie Otherhood, written and directed by Sex and the City alum Cindy Chupack in her narrative feature debut, as well as the New York premieres of Kathy Griffin’s Hell of a Story, which will serve as the opening night film, and the Amazon movie Brittany Runs a Marathon.
Hell of a Story focuses on the fallout from Griffin’s infamous Donald Trump mask photo, and its screening will be followed by a conversation between the comedian and Women in the World founder Tina Brown.
“The inaugural 51Fest leaves no doubt that a woman’s place is at the center of the story,” Brown said in a statement. “Griffin’s film is a cautionary tale of what happens when a thin-skinned authoritarian, aided by a media pile-on, attempts to silence an artist for exercising her First Amendment rights. We are proud to open 51Fest with Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story and I look forward to talking with Kathy after the screening.”
The Untouchable screening, set for July 21, will be followed by a conversation with director Ursula Macfarlane and subjects Hope D’Amore and Erika Rosenbaum. The Hulu doc about the rise and fall of Weinstein, including his decades of alleged sexual misconduct, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Related Stories
Otherhood, a comedy about longtime friends who move in with their grown-up sons in New York City until they reconcile their relationships, stars Angela Bassett, Patricia Arquette and Felicity Huffman. The sneak peek, ahead of the film’s Aug. 2 Netflix release date, will also include a discussion with Chupack and producers Cathy Schulman and Jason Michael Berman.
The festival will also feature the New York premieres of After the Wedding, followed by a post-screening talk with producer and star Julianne Moore; British thriller Official Secrets, starring Keira Knightley as an Iraq War whistleblower; and Brittany Runs a Marathon, with the latter two films followed by post-screening discussions featuring the films’ real-life subjects.
51Fest will also include the New York premieres of Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins and For Sama; the North American premiere of A Girl From Mogadishu; and the New York premiere of the first episode of the limited series Unbelievable, starring Toni Collette, Merritt Wever and Kaitlyn Dever.
“From intense documentaries like For Sama and Untouchable to fun, uplifting narratives like Brittany Runs a Marathon and riveting performances in After the Wedding and Unbelievable, our inaugural 51Fest features women’s stories from a variety of viewpoints and methods of storytelling,” said 51Fest program director Anne Hubbell.
The event will also feature a conversation with Cecile Richards and Ai-Jen Poo, co-founders of the women’s activist and organizing group Supermajority.
51Fest is set to run July 18-21.
