Actor Evan Rachel Wood's journey from domestic violence survivor to activist is told in Phoenix Rising, in Special Screenings.
By Laura Kern
In these selections from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, women who have been placed in unjust, or violent, positions choose to take matters into their own hands, often at the loss of much blood, sweat, and tears.
Notably, two titles - one narrative, one documentary - act as companion pieces on the subject of Jane, the collective of women in pre-Roe v. Wade Chicago who put their safety and reputations on the line to help provide women with safe and affordable abortions. Both works feel especially timely in our current time, when abortion rights are particularly delicate.
While films addressing these types of themes naturally lean toward the serious, from purely an entertainment standpoint, it's also fair to ask: Who doesn't enjoy a little satisfying woman empowerment?
Alice (U.S. Dramatic) - After escaping her bleak, timeless existence enslaved on a Georgian plantation, Alice (Keke Palmer) educates herself on the ways of the modern world of the 1970s. Under the care of a kind-hearted activist (Common) who discovered Alice lost and confused on the highway, she gains strength and confidence while plotting for a bit of revenge, Pam Grier-style. Writer-director Krystin Ver Linden's debut feature was inspired in part by real-life occurrences of slavery that extended far beyond abolishment.
Call Jane (Premieres) - A commanding Elizabeth Banks stars as Joy, a housewife living far below her potential, who discovers that her pregnancy presents serious risks to her health. When the hospital refuses to provide assistance, she seeks her own course of action. The quest leads her to abortion activists the Janes, and their crossing of paths turns out to be life-altering in more ways than one.
Eva Noblezada appears in Champ, by Hannah Peterson, in the Shorts Program.
Champ (Short Film Program 4) - During a playful-yet-innocent round of girl talk following basketball practice, one teammate discloses something shocking about their coach, setting them off on a payback mission that only teenagers would conceive of. Hannah Peterson's eight-minute short broaches a tricky subject with sensitivity, humor, and a sense of realness effectuated by the wholly believable performances of the young actresses.
God's Country (Premieres) - In Julian Higgins' self-described modern-day neo-western thriller, Sandra (Thandiye Newton), a no-nonsense Black teacher, is a pure anomaly in her neck of the woods. On top of the racial and gender discrimination she handles daily, she goes head-to-head with two hunters who refuse to stay off her property. The film shows the power of women standing their ground, while also considering if there's a point at which one can go too far.
The Janes (U.S. Documentary) - Sundance Film Festival alumni Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes are back to present their first work as co-directors, a galvanizing look at the group of women known as Jane, whose cause was making abortion possible in late-'60s/early '70s Chicago, when it was illegal. The film covers their covert activities up until Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court case that made operations like Jane redundant.
Phoenix Rising (Special Screenings) - On February 1, 2021, actress Evan Rachel Wood went public with her accusations against her ex, Marilyn Manson, opening the door for other women to come forward as well. In Amy Berg's film, Wood relates the details of her experiences as a victim and survivor of domestic violence and how she channeled some of her trauma into initiating The Phoenix Act, a nonprofit organization designed to help end the cycle of abuses.
Watcher (U.S. Dramatic) - New to Bucharest, a seriously ominous city in this film's vision, Julia (Maika Monroe) becomes convinced that a man residing in the opposite apartment building is watching and eventually following her. She also suspects he may be connected to killings plaguing the area. No one, including her husband who's forever stuck at work, takes her fears seriously, so she's forced to face them on her own.
North America Stories
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
22/07/2026
Custom Consoles announces the completion of a large technical furniture project for Radio T l vision Suisse (RTS) at the networks recently inaugurated productio...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Culver City, CA, July 21, 2026 3D streaming infrastructure provider Miris today announced glTF intake, including the binary .glb form, to its spatial streamin...
22/07/2026
Documentary Lo Invisible Captured with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton July 21, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's versatile design allowed filmmakers to c...
22/07/2026
AAF Bridge converts AAF and XML Timelines to Ableton Live - and back
Jerome Gardier July 21, 2026
0 Comments
A two-way converter for macOS and Windows...
22/07/2026
From Class to Concert: Explore a Student-Led Production of David Bowies Work Thr...
22/07/2026
NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang today visited the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, to commission an NVIDIA DGX GB300 system - bringing one...
22/07/2026
Before a healthcare robot can be useful in the real world, it has to learn how the physical world pushes back. Anatomy varies. Instruments bend, press, slip and...
21/07/2026
With winners Spain having already paraded the World Cup trophy through Madrid in front of millions of fans and the dust now settling on an epic tournament of th...
21/07/2026
In a time of disarray in regional sports broadcasting, the league will provide c...
21/07/2026
When NEP designed one of its largest recurring mobile production unit fleets for PGA TOUR
coverage, the leading media services provider faced a familiar challe...
21/07/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery's unbroken lead is interrupted as sports and live mus...
21/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/07/2026
Across the TV and streaming ecosystem, industry players face mounting pressure to do more with less. They must simplify operations, protect premium content and ...
21/07/2026
Tuxera, a leading prover of quality-assured file systems and networking technologies, is bringing its latest advances in connectivity performance to the media w...
21/07/2026
COW Jobs: Apple Motion Expert for Custom FCP Rigged Graphics Package
Brie Clayton July 21, 2026
0 Comments
HIRING: Apple Motion Expert for Custom FCP ...
21/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, will use its presence at IBC2026 (stand 7.A01, Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September) to...
21/07/2026
Calrec will be located in Hall 8, on Stand C47
Beyond bigger
For years, broadcast facilities were built around one assumption: provision for the biggest pro...
Actor Evan Rachel Wood's journey from domestic violence survivor to activist is told in Phoenix Rising, in Special Screenings.
