More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Premiering at SXSW, Uvalde Mom follows Angeli Rose Gomez, the mother who defied police inaction to save her children during the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. The documentary not only captures her heroic actions but also reveals the relentless harassment she faced from local authorities in the aftermath. Through Gomez’s story, the film exposes systemic failures, community trauma and the power of mothers who refuse to stay silent.
The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has been messy. There are several players, including multi-billionaire Steve Sarowitz, who is furnishing near-unlimited resources for Baldoni’s legal and PR crusades, a variety of complaints in several courts, and misinformation spreaders all over social media. Coverage has been rife with misogynistic and confusing storytelling. Baldoni and Jamey Heath (the CEO of Baldoni’s studio) have made (profitable) careers out of being male feminists, and this battle endangers their carefully crafted public personas.
This piece aims to add context at a time when Baldoni continues to play his cases out in the press. It is for a court to decide whose claims are most legally compelling, but I am going to sketch out Baldoni’s feminism, the movie release and controversy, ongoing court cases, and Lively’s allegations and Baldoni’s meager responses—so that readers might find, as I do, that this battle actually looks quite similar to what happens any time a woman stands up for herself against a well-resourced man.
In 1618, in the German town of Eichstätt, Anna Harding was interrogated repeatedly about her life and abortion practice, sometimes under torture.
Harding worked as a healer for decades. She and other women like her had their ordinary medical practices transformed into evidence of magic by misogynist fantasies of male interrogators and a larger cultural shift that sought to control female sexuality in the interests of Church and state. Abortion became associated with witchcraft because it was a routine part of women’s lives and healing practices.
In OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage, Clare Major’s powerful direction and classical-violinist-turned-punk-singer Paris Hurley’s (of Object as Subject, an LA-based art punk band) high-octane music frame this riveting 30-minute documentary on Whitney Bradshaw’s ongoing social practice project, OUTCRY.
The short film follows the photographer from her home in Chicago to D.C. for a reproductive freedom march, then to Denver for an OUTCRY exhibition, and on to Dayton, Ohio, for a scream session just prior to voting on Issue 1, which enshrined abortion rights into the Ohio Constitution.
This film is available to stream from March 14 to April 12 in the AMC + “Future of Film: Athena Rising Stars” collection.
Coexistence, My Ass!—which received a World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression at Sundance this year—chronicles five years in the life and work of activist and standup comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi.
Born to Romanian and Iranian Jewish parents, Shuster-Eliassi grew up in the Oasis of Peace, also known as Neve Shalom (in Hebrew) and Wahat al-Sallam (in Arabic), a social experiment in the form of a small village where Palestinians and Jews live intentionally as neighbors, and their children attend a bilingual school where they take classes on peacebuilding.
But Coexistence, My Ass! is far from a myopic biography of one activist comedian; instead, it becomes something much more expansive. The film encapsulates the deep complexities, horrors and challenges of the crisis in the Middle East and the conundrums of peacebuilding facing its many interlocuters without coming across as either naïve or completely hopeless.
In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.
This week: Trump’s executive orders continue to threaten trans people’s safety, jobs and rights; policies like paid family leave and universal preschool are incredibly popular; measles spreads among unvaccinated populations; Congress signals their plan to cut SNAP and Medicaid; women’s college basketball teams will be paid for March Madness games; almost a quarter of Gen Z adults are part of the LGBTQ community; and more.
Cutting Through Rocks, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, follows Sara Shahverdi, the first female council member of a remote village in northern Iran, as she battles for women’s rights and community progress. Despite resistance from men who dismiss her as an exception, Shahverdi strives to change the lives of local girls, advocate for property rights, and improve village infrastructure.
This intimate documentary captures her triumphs and setbacks, offering a powerful portrayal of breaking barriers in a deeply traditional society.
Each month, I provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups.
And so we begin a busy season for books! There are always so many new books released this time of year that it’s hard to keep up. It is even harder to narrow them all down to a list of 20.
In movie roles, we want women—even when they are tough or funny or sassy—to always be vulnerable, to open themselves up to our judgment and our sympathy.
From Anora to Enilia Perez to Wicked, this year’s Oscars reflect what we value in women’s performances.
If you want a glimmer of hope that there are still sane, compassionate and intelligent politicians in the world, Prime Minister—winner of the Audience Award in the World Cinema Documentary Competition—will offer just that and more.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s sure-footed and community-minded approach to leadership shines through in this inspiring documentary directed by Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz.