NYWIFT Blog

Cynthia’s Picks: Thelma Schoonmaker, Unequal Representation, Inclusion Commitment, Record Breaker

Thelma Schoonmaker: Congratulations to 1995 NYWIFT Muse honoree Thelma Schoonmaker, who was honored this weekend with a BAFTA fellowship for her incredible 50-year editing career.

Unequal Representation: The Women’s Media Center’s “Investigation 2019: Gender and Non-Acting Oscar Nominations” found that women are once again missing from the picture. No women were nominated in Directing, Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, and Visual Effects, and only one woman was nominated in Animated Feature film and in each of the two writing categories.

Inclusion Commitment: In better news, Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society production company has signed a first-look television deal with Amazon Studios and the deal includes an inclusion rider – meaning all projects made between Amazon and Outlier Society will have diverse representation both on and behind the camera.  

Record Breaker: Netflix paid a record-breaking $10 million at Sundance for the rights to the documentary Knock Down the House, the largest documentary sale ever brokered at a film festival. The film, directed by Rachel Lears, follows 29-year-old Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman elected to Congress, during her campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections. 

PUBLISHED BY

Cynthia Lopez

Cynthia Lopez Cynthia Lopez is the Executive Director of New York Women in Film & Television and an award-winning media strategist.

View all posts by Cynthia Lopez

Comments are closed

Related Posts

Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Rachel Cheung

Welcome to NYWIFT, Rachel Cheung! Rachel is a dynamic writer and producer born and raised in New York City and Long Island with Chinese and Irish roots. With a BFA in Film and Television from NYU, she has honed her craft through diverse experiences, including roles as an assistant to the President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences and at WME in the Brand Partnerships department. Rachel's background enriches her unique perspective in the industry, driving her storytelling prowess. Get to know her in our latest interview!

READ MORE

NYWIFT at Sundance: In Conversation with Katharina Otto-Bernstein

Since premiering and winning the Jury Prize in the 2022 Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival (the first to do so from the Indian subcontinent), Joyland has moved audiences worldwide with its human portrayal of the limits of love in the face of patriarchy. The film follows the youngest son in a traditional Pakistani family as he takes a job as a backup dancer in a Bollywood-style burlesque, and quickly becomes infatuated with the strong-willed trans woman who runs the show. The film is both a loving portrait of the people of Lahore, Pakistan, and a painful depiction of how rigid traditional gender roles and repressed sexuality can have a ripple effect that harms the whole community. NYWIFT member Katharina Otto-Bernstein, who produced Joyland, spoke to us about discovering new artists through mentorship, political pushback on Joyland, and how Malala Yousafzai helped the film finally reach Pakistani audiences.

READ MORE

The Mole Agent: Highlights from the NYWIFT Goes to the Oscars Q&A with Maite Alberdi, Marcela Santibañez, Julie Goldman

The team behind The Mole Agent, Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary, discusses its powerful impact, and how they created a film both so visually stunning and rich with character that The New York Times review believed the film to be partly dramatized. It wasn’t!

READ MORE

NYWIFT Women’s History Month Spotlight: Janine McGoldrick

Janine McGoldrick is a veteran entertainment executive who has created and implemented strategic distribution and communications campaigns for television and film, including for the 2017 Academy Award-winner "The Salesman." She discusses her work on that campaign, her initial transition from politics to entertainment, and making her first documentary, about an invisible disease that confounds doctors.

READ MORE
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
css.php