NYWIFT Blog

Cynthia’s Picks: Latinx Stars, Expanded Opportunities, Listen In

Latinx Stars: The Hollywood Reporter wisely points out…amid the call for diversity in entertainment, particularly inclusive casting, why don’t we have more Latinx movie stars? Part of it, of course, comes down to unconscious bias – which we all need to work on identifying and correcting. Expanded Opportunities: The Academy has voted to expand the...

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Cynthia’s Picks: Sundance Fest, It’s Time, Fair Credits

Sundance Fest: Congratulations to all the NYWIFT members with films screening at Sundance! The festival opens on Thursday and runs through February 3rd.  It’s time: Variety noted the uptick in feminist stories featured in Oscar contenders this year. Of course, this female focus didn’t extend to the directing nominations – women were shut out of...

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Five Film Festival Takeaways

In 2018, from mid-October to mid-December, NYWIFT member Lauren Anders Brown embarked on a film festival season filled with five very different festivals. These are the valuable lessons she learned from each one.

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Celebrating the Spirit of NYC Artists at the Greenwich Village Film Festival

Alessia Gatti is a true "woman calling the shots," having grown the Greenwich Village Film Festival from a single night showcase to a multi-day, sold-out event that’s starting to get the notice of A-list actors and entertainment execs alike over the course of just four years. Stephanie Cole speaks to her about how the festival pays tribute to New York's most famous neighborhood for creatives.

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Terry’s Picks: NYC Women, Easy Promises, Decent Odds

NYC Women: The new website women.nyc was designed by a team of women, for women, to help them navigate parenthood, afford living in NYC and ask for a raise.  Easy Promises: Dr. Martha Lauzen discusses why while promises of inclusion for women at film festivals is easy, actual change is hard. Decent Odds: A breakthrough...

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Report from Tribeca: Isabella Olaguera on AD’ing, Celeb Encounters and Breaking into the Biz at 14

New Jersey-based assistant director Isabella Olaguera has worked professionally on over 50 feature films, television shows and commercials since 2010 – including an Oscar-nominated short. She has every right to brag, but she’s been keeping a big secret: she’s only 20 years old! She may very well be the youngest member of New York Women in Film & Television. Isabella discusses her work as the 2nd AD on the indie feature film All These Small Moments, a coming-of-age tale shot entirely in NYC, which premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival this month.

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Terry’s Picks: Pilot Season, Tribeca 2018, Diversity Wins

Pilot Season: Women are directing 24 of the 75 broadcast TV pilots this year, which amounts to 32 percent. This is a huge improvement – last year, only 6 out of 70 were directed by women. Tribeca 2018: We have so many NYWIFT members with films headed to Tribeca this year – be sure to...

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Terry’s Picks: Shorts Festival, Alias Grace, Culture Shift

Shorts Festival: NYWIFT’s first-ever online film festival is underway! Watch 74 short projects by NYWIFT members now through November 17 on our Fall Shorts Festival on Indevue – you can even log in and live chat with the filmmakers and fans during select “live screenings.” See the schedule for details.  Alias Grace: I’m looking forward...

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Terry’s Picks: Women’s Pictures, Underwritten Characters, Stony Brook

Women’s Pictures: This interesting piece in Vulture makes a strong case for the idea that in modern times, the “women’s pictures” of Hollywood’s Golden Age have moved to television. Underwritten Characters: Laugh (or cry) along with Underwritten Female Character: The Movie, a fake trailer for a movie you’ve seen unfortunately too many times. Stony Brook:...

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Terry’s Picks: Screening Series, Swim Team, Get #Social

Screening Series: NYWIFT is seeking films by women filmmakers for our second Immigrant Women’s Screening Series. Films should be about the New York immigrant experience. See details. Swim Team: Swim Team, the recipient of the NYWIFT Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness Grant at the Muse Awards in December, has been nominated for Indiewire’s Project of the...

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Terry’s Picks: Gun Control, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ashley Judd

Loved it: Watch out for NYWIFT member Abigail Disney’s amazing film The Armor Of Light, which I saw at the Hamptons International Film Festival. It brings the issue of gun control to a whole other level. Congrats, Gina: Gina Prince-Bythewood, one of the mentors from our Writers Lab, will write and executive produce an event...

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NYWIFT MEMBER JOURNAL: FAVORITE MOMENTS FROM THE 2015 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

(In Transit) It’s always a challenge to see all the films you want to see at a film festival, but it’s also difficult figuring out which films you should watch- many are making their world premieres and have yet to be reviewed. I attended Press & Industry (P&I) screenings with my TFF Industry badge. I...

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