Nell Minow on Women Writers Week 2023

Women Writers Week is one of the highlights of the year for me. It is not that we overlook women the rest of the year; we are proud to have an exceptionally diverse roster of contributors, including two women out of five on our editorial team. And it is not because women have a particular point of view. It is because we are glad to feature the distinctive voices of these brilliant women with deep knowledge and understanding of film.

Here are some of the many outstanding pieces this week—please do check out our table of contents to see them all: We are always glad to feature writers who are new to us, like twin sisters Hannah and Cailin Loesch, who interviewed the sister showrunners of this year’s buzziest series, “Poker Face,” and Mira Singer, who explores themes of Beauty and the Beast in films (and did a superb job helping out with all of the editing this week).

And we were delighted to welcome back our friends, including Sherin Nicole, who wrote about “violent and brilliant heroines,” Laura Emerick on the real conductors that may have inspired “TÁR,” Marya Gates’ illuminating discussion of women filmmakers in the silent era, Carla Renata with a sensitive essay on the way mental health challenges for Black men are reflected in media, and Sarah Knight Adamson with a peek ahead at one of the year’s biggest releases, Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

I love it when our writers bring us new insights into older films like Laura Boyes' tribute to "Corridor of Mirrors" (and to the streaming service where she found it), Peyton Robinson on "Malibu's Most Wanted," Lauren Coates on how "Re-Animator" changed horror movies, Caroline Madden on "Baby It's You," and Ally Johnson on music as an unreliable narrator in "Annihilation."

While my favorite critic has always been Roger Ebert, it meant a lot to me as a young fan who dreamed of someday writing my own movie reviews to see Judith Crist, and read Pauline Kael, Renata Adler, and especially Molly Haskell, whose book about female movie characters was inspirational and transformational for me. That’s one reason it means so much to me to be able to shine a light on some of today’s best women writers about the movies, with lively, inviting, and insightful commentary, interviews, and reviews. We are not only giving the readers we value so deeply some great writing about movies and inspiring you to visit or revisit some of the films we write about; we hope to inspire another generation of young women to dream about sharing their thoughts on the movies.