Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. Hepburn's career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned more than 60 years. Known for her headstrong independence and spirited personality, she cultivated a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly played strong-willed, sophisticated women. Her work came in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she received four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute the greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema.
Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, film director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, or acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa (1990), Voyager (1991), Three Colors: White (1993), the Before trilogy, An American Werewolf in Paris (1997), and 2 Days in Paris (2007).
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. She was one of the world's highest-paid actresses by 2007, and was named the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year in 2009.
Kathryn Ann Bigelow is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Covering a wide range of genres, her films include Near Dark (1987), Point Break (1991), Strange Days (1995), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), The Hurt Locker (2008), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), and Detroit (2017).
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress award was awarded for acting in a film, on May 16, 1929 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) at the Academy Awards to Janet Gaynor for her role of Diane in 7th Heaven, Angela in Street Angel and The Wife - Indre in Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. In theatre, it was first awarded on April 6, 1947 by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at the Tony Awards to Ingrid Bergman for her role of Mary Grey / Joan of Arc in Joan of Lorraine and to Helen Hayes for her role of Addie in Happy Birthday. In television, it was first awarded on January 23, 1951 by Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the Primetime Emmy Awards to Gertrude Berg for her role of Molly in The Goldbergs. In a film festival, presented as the Volpi Cup, it was first awarded between August 1–20, 1934 by the Venice Film Festival to Katharine Hepburn for her role of Josephine 'Jo' March in Little Women.
The Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) is an international professional association of online film journalists, historians and scholars who publish their work on the World Wide Web. The organization was founded in January 1997 by Harvey S. Karten, an early online critic who discovered that membership in the New York Film Critics Circle was open only to journalists working for newspapers and magazines. Online critics have generally found it difficult to gain acceptance for their work, and one role of the OFCS is to provide professional recognition to the most productive and successful online critics.
The Quiet American is a 2002 film adaptation of Graham Greene's bestselling 1955 novel set in Vietnam, The Quiet American. It is directed by Phillip Noyce and stars Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, and Do Thi Hai Yen.
Shareeka Epps is an American actress. She is best known for starring in the 2006 film Half Nelson, alongside Ryan Gosling. She won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in the film.
Story of Women is a 1988 French drama film directed by Claude Chabrol, based on the true story of Marie-Louise Giraud, guillotined on 30 July 1943 for having performed 27 abortions in the Cherbourg area, and the 1986 book Une affaire de femmes by Francis Szpiner.
Elle is a 2016 thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by David Birke, based on the novel Oh... by Philippe Djian. Djian's novel was released in 2012 and received the Prix Interallié. The film stars Isabelle Huppert as a businesswoman who is raped in her home by a masked assailant and decides not to report it due to her past experience with police.
Women are involved in the film industry in all roles, including as film directors, actresses, cinematographers, film producers, film critics, and other film industry professions, though women have been underrepresented in creative positions.
The Wife is a 2017 drama film directed by Björn L. Runge and written by Jane Anderson, based on the novel of the same name by Meg Wolitzer. It stars Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, and Christian Slater, and follows a woman who questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm with her husband, who is set to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Burning is a 2018 South Korean psychological thriller film co-written, produced, and directed by Lee Chang-dong. The film is based on the short story "Barn Burning" from The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami, with elements inspired by William Faulkner's story of the same name. It stars Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, and Jeon Jong-seo. The plot depicts a young deliveryman, Jong-su (Yoo), who runs into his childhood friend, Hae-mi (Jeon). They soon meet an enigmatic young man named Ben (Yeun), who Jong-su becomes suspicious of and begins to believe Hae-mi is in danger.
Yalitza Aparicio Martínez is a Mexican actress and preschool teacher. She made her film debut as Cleo in Alfonso Cuarón's 2018 drama Roma, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2019, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. On 4 October 2019 she was named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Indigenous Peoples.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a 2019 French historical romantic drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma, starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel. Set in France in the late 18th century, the film tells the story of an affair between an aristocrat and a painter commissioned to paint her portrait.
