Women filmmakers throughout history have often been at the forefront of advancing social change. Join us for this month’s virtual NYWIFT Member Screening as we honor Women’s History Month with our special Social Impact Shorts Program, showcasing nine short films by our members from a variety of genres, each of which raises awareness for a different social issue in its own unique way.
Watch the films: Any time Thursday, March 25 at 3 PM through Monday, March 29 at 11:59 PM
Join the Q&A: Monday, March 29 at 5 PM EST
The films will be available to all who register to view via an exclusive link at any time throughout the weekend of March 25th. Then, join us for a special Q&A with the filmmakers on Zoom.
Please register in advance in order to receive the links.
The NYWIFT Member Screening Series provides members with the opportunity to show their work in a theatrical setting (or in this case, a virtual theatrical setting). We hope you will join us in celebrating the work of our talented NYWIFT members!
Cost: $5 for NYWIFT members; $7 for non-members
Please note: if you would like to bring a guest, the guest must be registered separately with a separate email address – links to view the films are individually crafted for each registered email.
About the Films
Honey Bee
Sandy Garfunkel (Director, Writer, Producer)
Andrea Pappas (Producer)
Drama
2020, 6.5 min.
Honey Bee is a short visual poem which reflects on memory, and moments in life that mark us and hold us back. For each of us, various moments leave their mark, but this one is inspired by today’s headlines.
Sandy Garfunkel is a NYC-based writer/director whose shorts have screened at festivals worldwide – notably the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Dances With Films – and won awards including a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award for Sound Design. At present, Sandy is raising funds for feature an indie comedy she wrote and will direct, Unflushable, and completing a full-length feature script based on her short film, Honey Bee.
Gabrielle
Nicola Rose (Director, Producer)
Drama
2019, 13 min.
When 13-year-old Gabrielle signs up for her first ballet class, she encounters bullying from her teacher – and friendship where she least expects it. A modern Cinderella story about bullying, friendship, self-image and knowing your worth.
Nicola Rose is a filmmaker whose work is gathering acclaim on the festival circuit. She came to filmmaking in 2015, finishing her début film Creative Block two years later. Since then, her films have included In the Land of Moonstones (2018), Gabrielle (2019), and Biff & Me (2020). Nicola is the recipient of the 2018 Raine Filmmaker Award, the 2019 Female Filmmakers Fuse Emerging Talent Award, and numerous film festival awards. Outside of filmmaking, Nicola has worked as a French-to-English translator and freelance casting director. She is a graduate of Columbia University and the Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle in Paris.
Leftside of Fashion
Bunny Yan (Director, Producer, Writer, Star)
Edutainment Instagram Documentary
2020, 9 min
Sustainability is a major focus right now, but content around that is often long, dull and guilt-driven. Combining her 20+yrs of fashion knowledge with her magnetic personality, Bunny delivers fun impact-positive videos that are bite-sized & binge-worthy.
Sustainability advisor turned fashion story-teller Bunny Yan produces a digital series focused on the fun, fascinating side of impact-positive fashion. Mixing her extensive knowledge with her magnetic personality to deliver a world of cool transformations, daring technologies, surprising materials and boundless potential. Follow her on Instagram.
Burnt Feathers, Broken Wings
Cady McClain (Director, Producer)
Documentary
2019, 12 min
Four teenage girls going through the foster system share their hopes and dreams despite their histories of struggling with addiction.
Cady McClain‘s directing credits include the documentary Seeing is Believing: Women Direct (Winner Audience Award- 2017 SOHO International Film Festival); the filmed play Paint Made Flesh (sponsored by Sotheby’s); Butterflies (Winner Best Short Film- Philadelphia Film Festival); Venice the Series (2017 & 2018 Emmy noms for Web Series); Split starring Olympia Dukakis (Winner NYWIF Best Suspense Web Series); three short films for Kids in the Spotlight (Multiple Wins – Movies By Kids Awards). She recently produced Lost Girls: Angie’s Story with Artists for Change (in post-production). McClain was honored to receive the 2017 International Matrix Award from the Association of Women in Communications. She is attached to four feature films.
Jones
Stacey Maltin (Director)
Margarita Zhitnikova (Actor, Writer Producer)
Drama
2019, 9 min
Aware that her drinking has become destructive, Jones takes a go at living the sober life.
Stacey Maltin wrote, produced, and starred in her first feature film Landing Up through her production company Bold Compass Films. It premiered at Dances With Films in Los Angeles and she picked up a Best Actress as well as Best Feature nomination. Her short film Stronger Together was recently acquired by Shoreline Entertainment after having its world premiere at NewFest, and her short film Head is streaming on Revry. Her work has screened at Cinequest Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Flicker’s Rhode Island, ITVfest, and more. The script she penned, The Other Side, was selected by The Black List as a Top 10 Finalist in the Hasty Pudding Fellowship for a screenwriter focusing on satire and social commentary. That script was further selected to be a part of The Black List Table Reads series and was produced as a podcast starring Darren Criss, Eddie Kaye Thomas, and Jerry Adler. She is currently creating a new provocative series called Linked (Cinequest 19′) and is in the midst of filming Triple Threat, her first feature as a director. She is also in development on the feature film version of Head (Outfest Screenwriting Lab finalist).
Margarita Zhitnikova (they/them) is a Russian/Jewish award-winning actor and filmmaker. As a child, Margarita and their family moved to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, from Russia, as Jewish refugees. Margarita grew up studying acting in the heart of NYC. Dedicated to smashing the patriarchy, Margarita embraced writing & producing, leading them to Co-Found Besties Make Movies with Stacey Maltin. Margarita is a proud member of The Filmshop, NYWIFT, Dreamers // Doers, The COBWEB, NYC Women Filmmakers, Glass Elevator, Women in Media & The Studio. They are also honored to be a judge for the Revolution Me Film Festival. Follow them on Instagram & Twitter (@marzapproved) to stay in the loop!
A Series on Surviving
Elizabeth Broghanne Jessamine (Writer, Actor, Producer, Director)
Drama/Experimental
2019, 10 min.
Following two survivors’ inner thoughts as they navigate the aftermath of experiencing sexual violence.
Elizabeth Broghanne Jessamine is the Artistic Director and Owner of Elemental Women Productions and originally from Scotland. Since emigrating to New York City, Broghanne has worked in Theater, Voiceover and Film. Broghanne has performed in numerous performing arts cultural festivals throughout Scotland and in Germany to bring theater and performance that explores social issues to a wider audience. Through her work in acting Broghanne found a passion and need to form a company that truly focused on developing and producing womxn’s work. Creating a community of womxn artists joined in their want to share the stories and lessons they wanted growing up.
María
Zoé Salicrup Junco (Writer, Director, Producer)
Drama
2019, 12 min.
Set against the devastation of a recent hurricane, a young woman’s mental health is pushed to the edge when she returns home to care for her suicidal father. Following the aftermath of Hurricane María, this short film shines a light on the mental health deterioration underserved communities, like Puerto Rico, endure after natural disasters. (Image also featured above)
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Zoé Salicrup Junco is an award-winning director, writer, and producer. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, her short films have screened in festivals including Tribeca, Palm Springs, Clermont Ferrand, and HBO NY Latino Film Festival, Urbanworld, and NALIP Latino Media Fest. In 2012, her film Gabi garnered her top prizes like the King Screenwriting Award, the Wasserman Directing Award, the National Board of Review Student Grant, and a spot in The Independent Magazine‘s “Top 10 Filmmakers to Watch” list. Her commercial body of work includes creating content for brands like Sony, ESPN, Bausch & Lomb, and more. Zoé is a 2013 Cinefestival/Sundance Latino Screenwriters Project Fellow, a participant at the 2016 Sundance Women’s Financing Intensive Project Fellow, and the 2019-2020 Creative Capital Professional Development Workshop for Artists. She’s also an active member of NYWIFT and the NYC Women’s Filmmakers Group. Most recently, her short film Marisol won the HuffPost Social Impact Award, and is now available on HBO. To read more about Zoé, visit her website www.zoesj.com.
ImmigrARTE: Daniel Valle
Soraya Arrabal Sanchez (Director)
Documentary Series (Episode 1)
2020, 4:40 min
Immigration is like two sides of the same coin. In this documentary series we are exploring the positive side of being an immigrant in New York City and sharing such positive impact from the artists’ craft.
Soraya Arrabal Sanchez is a film director who is born and raised in southern Spain, has been living in New York for the past seven years, and has a unique background of years in both filmmaking industry and criminal justice.
Sega
Idil Ibrahim (Director, Writer, Producer)
Drama
2018, 24 min
When his efforts to reach Europe prove unsuccessful, Sega is thrust back to Dakar where he must now confront his family and friends and navigate his disappointment as well.
Idil Ibrahim is an award-winning writer, director and producer whose work has been featured at some of the top domestic and international film festivals such as Sundance, Toronto International Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival, and IFFR. The UC Berkeley alum is a recipient of the 2017 Extraordinary Women Awards held by the 92nd Street Y and was selected as one of the “Okay 100 Women” by Okay Africa. She was awarded “Outstanding Women Content Creator” by New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) at the 2020 Nova Frontier Film Festival. Her film Sega went on to win the jury award for Best Short Film at the 2019 BlackStar Film Festival and the Golden Dhow for Best Short Film at the Zanzibar International Film Festival. Sega was recently acquired by Canal Plus for distribution throughout Europe and Africa. She is currently attached to direct the feature film adaptation of the Penguin Press novel From A Crooked Rib by author Nuruddin Farah.
Total running time: approx. 100 min.
Moderator
Katie Chambers (moderator) is the Community Engagement Director at NYWIFT, where she manages Communications and Membership. She received regional recognition for her work at NYWIFT from the New York Society of Association Executives with their “Rising Star” award at the Synergy Awards in 2020, and will receive national recognition when she is named one of Association Trends’ top “Young and Aspiring Executives” at their Salute to Excellence in Washington, DC, in 2021. Prior to joining the NYWIFT team, Katie was a talent agent in the Youth & Young Adult Theatrical division at A3 Artists Agency in New York City. She has served on the Next Generation Committee of the NY Television Festival, produced a critically-acclaimed play at the NY Fringe Festival, and has worked for Buchwald, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Scott Rudin Productions. Her writing has appeared in Huff Post, Honeysuckle Magazine and several printed essay collections. Katie graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Drew University with a double major in English and Theatre Arts.
The NYWIFT Member Screening Series is produced by Katie Chambers
Special thanks to Carlina Rivera and the New York City 2nd Council District
for discretionary funding for the NYWIFT Member Screening Series.
And thanks to Tito’s Handmade Vodka, the Signature Vodka of NYWIFT
Still from “Maria” by Zoé Salicrup Junco
This program will take place virtually as a webinar via Zoom. Please register in advance, and all registrants will receive a link to attend the webinar the day of the event.
We encourage you to download and create a Zoom account in advance.
membership@nywift.org
Join the conversation on social media:
#nywift | @nywift
NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
