NYWIFT Blog

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.

NYWIFT Women’s History Month Spotlight: Tammy Reese

Tammy Reese is a multimedia content creator who loves everything theatre, entertainment, media, and film. She is an award-winning actress, writer, and journalist, and the Founder & Lead Publicist of Visionary Minds Public Relations and Media. She discusses her inspirations, balancing work and family, her favorite interviews and more.

NYWIFT Women’s History Month Spotlight: January Green

Happy Women's History Month! At NYWIFT as we continue to celebrate our creative members who are making innovative impacts throughout entertainment, media, film, and television, we would like to spotlight our NYWIFT Women Crush Wednesdays Podcast team members. Today's spotlight is January Green, a Manager of Digital Marketing Copy, SEO & product description pages, aspiring screenwriter, and imaginative feature film writer.

Recognizing Our Shared Humanity: Idil Ibrahim on Her Film “Sega”

Women filmmakers throughout history have often been at the forefront of advancing social change, and NYWIFT member Idil Ibrahim is no exception. Ibrahim sat down with us to discuss the making of her award-winning short film "Sega" and how she hopes it might change viewers’ perception of modern immigrant stories.  

Cynthia’s Picks: Black History Month

In celebration of Black History Month, let’s shine a light on the artists and changemakers in media.

NYWIFT Program Recap: Alison Klayman’s Flower Punk

"Flower Punk," Alison Klayman’s film recently released on The New Yorker documentary site, delights visually and aesthetically with the bonus of illuminating Japanese cultural traditions regarding the natural world. We recap our conversation with Alison following the NYWIFT screening of the film.

Recap: NYWIFT Talks with Julie Taymor and Kimberly Guerrero About “The Glorias” and Getting Out the Vote

NYWIFT blogger Kristin Reiber Harris reflects on our powerful conversation with the team behind The Glorias, including Julie Taymor's creative process, the celebration of Native voices, and how we as women live in constant dialogue with our former selves.

All In: The Fight for Democracy – A Conversation with Lisa Cortés (Part II)

The second part of Christina Kiely's two-part interview with All In: The Fight for Democracy co-director Lisa Cortés, conducted on Zoom in anticipation of her participation at the NYWIFT 2020 Creative Workforce Summit: Documentary Makers, Industry and Funders in Conversation next week. 

All In: The Fight for Democracy – A Conversation with Lisa Cortés (Part I)

All In: The Fight for Democracy is the essential new documentary the LA Times called “an eloquent history lesson on voting rights.” Co-directed by Lisa Cortés and Liz Garbus, the film tells the painful history of voter suppression in America as it traces the story of gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and her 2018 run in Georgia. Oscar-nominated producer NYWIFT Member Lisa Cortés (Precious, The Apollo, Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion) joined NYWIFT Board Member Christina Kiely to discuss All In: The Fight for Democracy, why it matters so much right now, how they pulled it off during the pandemic, and why Stacey Abrams’s story needed to be the spine of the film – apart from the fact that we love her.

Cynthia’s Picks: All In, WFPF Submissions, Production Resumes

All In: If you haven’t seen All In: The Fight for Democracy yet on Amazon, do it – it’s a must-see, especially now. Filmmakers Liz Garbus and NYWIFT member Lisa Cortes examine the history of voter suppression and the activists who fight for the rights of U.S. citizens. WFPF Submissions: The NYWIFT Women’s Film Preservation...

Creativity and Angst through the Ages

In early August, NYWIFT made Kris Rey’s new feature I Used to Go Here available for streaming and presented a conversation with the writer/director and lead actress Gillian Jacobs. I Used to Go Here is the story of a young woman in her mid-thirties, Kate Conklin, whose first novel has been released and the consequences of a lack-luster response to the book.

“Work” Re-Tells the Mythical Story of Lilith with a Modern Feminist Twist

Two NYWIFT members have joined forces with a team of immigrant women filmmakers to tell the story of ​WORK​, a short film written and directed by Aoife Williamson. ​WORK​, a comedy-drama, follows Lilith, a musician scrambling to create a song in one day to submit for a job that could sky-rocket her music career. It just so happens that this day is a very busy day at her money job... and it just so happens that her “money job” is as a sex worker, named Eve.

Cynthia’s Picks: Digital Programming, The Writers Lab, Open the Door, Member Survey

Digital Programming: Thank you to the thousands of you who have been tuning in to our NYWIFT Talks and other virtual programs throughout these last few months. Don’t forget, if you missed anything you can catch up with those conversations on our NYWIFT Programming Goes Digital Hub. The Writers Lab: Congratulations to the 12 writers...

WIFT Around the World: Cross-Border Collaboration with WIFT Alberta

Recently, the New York Women in Film & Television Women Crush Wednesdays podcast team had the pleasure of connecting with the Storylines podcast, produced by our sister WIFT organization, Women in Film and Television Alberta (WIFTA). NYWIFT podcast co-host Leah Curney shared what we learned from our sisters up North!

Olympia Premieres Online July 9th

The feature length documentary, Olympia, celebrating the life and career of Academy Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis,  will have a national LIVE streaming premiere in North America on July 9th at 8pm ET, followed by a Q&A, with a special premiere screening in Greece and Europe at 1pm ET on July 10th and an exclusive ‘virtual cinema’ release beginning Friday, July 10th.

Wild Nights with Emily: A Retake on What You May Have Believed about Emily Dickinson

What happens when an esteemed comic actress like Molly Shannon, a screenwriter with a quirky perspective and a penchant for cinematic originality, political causes and literary scholarship, and a legendary American poet who some say has been misunderstood and misinterpreted by decades of academic critics collaborate?

"Wild Nights with Emily" happens. The unique film, thoroughly original and entertaining, is inspired by the life of Emily Dickinson. It’s also a creative spin on a literature professor’s reinterpretation of Emily Dickinson’s life and personal relationships. 

What’s in Your Toolkit: Kristin Reiber Harris

Artist, animator, and educator Kristin Reiber Harris shares with us what's in her animation toolkit, and how she's staying centered while sheltering in place during COVID-19. 

AmeRican Poet Tato Laviera: Affirmation in the words, rhythms and blended language of an influential Nuyorican poet

Poet Tato Laviera pushed the boundaries of language, inspired the spoken word movement, and defined the Nuyorican experience. As an artist he innovated: he combined music, theater, poetry, dance, the power of dramatic contrasts and a commitment to social activism to create a new type of poetry. As both a poet and performer, he documented his own experience and affirmed his community’s worth, redefined its sense of identity. NYWIFT member Vivian Hernandez Ortiz discusses her film about Tato's legacy, which screens as part of this weekend's NYWIFT Member Screening.