Consider This!: How to Launch an Awards Campaign

Join our friends at Film Fatales for an online discussion about how to launch a successful awards campaign with limited resources.

Hear from filmmakers who have directed or produced feature films that have been nominated for Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, and Academy Awards. Panelists include Raven Jackson, director of the Independent Spirit Award nominated feature All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, NYWIFT Member Elizabeth Woodward, producer of SXSW winning Another Body, and Nikkia Moulterie producer of the Gotham and Spirit nominated Nanny. Moderated by Film Fatales and NYWIFT member Liz Sargent (Take Me Home).

Awards matter in raising the visibility of films for a mainstream audience, introducing new cultural perspectives, and elevating films seeking distribution. In the past 95 years, only three women have won an Oscar for Best Director and only seven have been nominated. As Variety recently reported, “Every year, the race for the Oscar gets more expensive and less inclusive.” Campaigns for Independent Spirit Awards and Gotham Awards are similarly challenging. Filmmakers must figure out how to independently cover their marketing costs and get their films seen by voters and audiences alike. Learn the nuts and bolts of what it takes to run an independent awards campaign in this round table conversation.

Presented with support from event partners Pano Network, The Gotham and NYWIFT. This online event will be accessible with live captions, audio descriptions, and ASL upon request. Film Fatales members can contact us for complimentary tickets. The conversation will be recorded and a video replay will be available the day after. See you soon!

Panelists

Nikkia Moulterie is a creative producer born and raised in New York City. She is a 2019 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellow and Silverman Honoree. She co-produced the premiere season of the Peabody Award-winning Random Acts of Flyness for MVMT / HBO. In 2019, she produced Suicide by Sunlight with writer/director Nikyatu Jusu, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and continued a successful run at BAMcinemaFEST, BFI London Film Fest, MoMA’s Black Women Film Conference, AFI and more. Jusu and Moulterie more recently collaborated on the feature film Nanny – a 2020 Sundance Screenwriting / Directors / Catalyst Lab project premiering at Sundance 2022. In addition, her work as a producer also includes projects at ABC News, MTV, T Magazine, Nike, Louis Vuitton, as well as numerous works in the commercial and branded content world.

Elizabeth Woodward is a producer of documentary and narrative films, and founder of WILLA.She was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30, DOC NYC 40 Under 40, Berlinale Talents, and is an Impact Partners Producers Fellow and a Sundance Catalyst Fellow. Her recent films include ANOTHER BODY (SXSW Special Jury Award, Sundance Catalyst), YOU RESEMBLE ME (Venice Film Festival, executive produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Alma Har’el, Riz Ahmed) and ON THE DIVIDE (Tribeca Film Festival, POV on PBS). Other notable projects include Netflix’s THE GREAT HACK (Academy Award shortlist, Emmy nominee, BAFTA nominee, Sundance Film Festival), HBO’s hit series THE VOW: A NXIVM STORY (New York Times Best TV Shows of 2020), a VR experience PERSUASION MACHINES (Sundance New Frontier, SXSW). Her films have been supported by Sundance Institute, Impact Partners, Chicken and Egg, Film Independent, Field of Vision, The Gotham, New York Foundation for the Arts, the International Documentary Association, among others. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Council on Foreign Relations Young Professionals Group, the Documentary Producers Alliance, and the Frontline Club. Elizabeth graduated magna cum laude and phi beta kappa from Brown University and received a masters with distinction from the University of Cambridge. She speaks fluent French and Italian.

Raven Jackson is an award-winning filmmaker, poet, and photographer from Tennessee. Her work often explores landscapes of indefinable experiences and emotions, as well as the body’s relationship to nature. Recently nominated for a 2023 Gotham Award for Breakthrough Director, Raven’s debut narrative feature, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, made in partnership with Maria Altamirano, PASTEL, and A24, world-premiered in the US Dramatic Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The film has received support from Cinereach, SFFILM, the Gotham, Film Independent, Tribeca Film Institute, New Orleans Film Society, Ikusmira Berriak, Indie Memphis, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and Westridge Foundation. Her short films Nettles and A Guide to Breathing Underwater are currently streaming on the Criterion Channel. Stories From a Place Where All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, the companion book for her debut feature, is currently out from A24. Her photography can be found in the book, as well as in BOMB Magazine. She is a Cave Canem fellow and holds MFAs from New York University’s Graduate Film Program and the New School’s Writing Program. Her chapbook of poetry, little violences, is available from Cutbank Literary Magazine.

Liz Sargent is a Korean American Adoptee writer and director, who’s award-winning work explores themes of adoption, disability and family. She has been awarded a NY Emmy, Best Director at Diversity in Cannes, Best Screenplay at Brand Film Festival London. Her films have been released in 6 languages, screened at Venice Biennale Danza, Lincoln Center and broadcast on PBS. The short film STRANGERS’ REUNION about an adoptee reunion was one of five films chosen by Ritz-Carlton and Hearst to be made with mentorship by Mike Figgis and production by RSA Hong Kong. Liz incorporates her extensive background as a choreographer trained at North Carolina School of the Arts into her commercial and experimental work alike. Experimental dance film collaborations include work with Pam Tanowitz and Fisher Center @ Bard, Eiko Otake and Jacob’s Pillow and Adrienne Westwood and Angelica Negron. Liz was a top 3 finalist for the SeriesFest Shondaland Directing Mentorship, a recipient of an Asian Women Giving Circle grant, and was awarded a 2022 Reel Sisters Film Grant and Fellowship for her new short film LIMINABILITY. Her work has been developed at UnionDocs, UCROSS and in Sundance Co/Lab workshops. Liz produces with Cyprian Films New York in New York and Cyprus. 

Film Fatales organizes panel discussions, educational workshops and networking mixers focused on amplifying marginalized voices in film and television. Capacity is limited. The session will be recorded for those unable to participate in the live program. Your participation constitutes your consent to being recorded and photographed during the event and to Film Fatales sharing those recordings and photos with the world. Please contact us if you require an accessible accommodation.

PANO (formerly NYCWF) champions inclusion in Film, TV, and Media by connecting underrepresented creators with influential networks, valuable resources, and career-changing opportunities to impact meaningful change in the industry.

The Gotham celebrates and nurtures independent film and media creators, providing career-building resources, access to industry influencers, and pathways to wider recognition.

New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) connects, educates, and advocates for women to accelerate diversity in media. As the preeminent entertainment industry association for women in New York, NYWIFT energizes women by illuminating their achievements, presenting training and professional development programs, awarding scholarships and grants, and providing access to a supportive community of peers. NYWIFT brings together more than 2,500 women and men working both above and below the line. NYWIFT is part of a network of 60 women in film organizations worldwide, representing more than 15,000 members. NYWIFT is a nonprofit 501c3 public charity.

Film Fatales is a 501(c)3 non profit arts organization and talent discovery platform which supports a membership community of over two thousand feature film and television directors of all marginalized genders. We advocate for hiring equality and inclusive programming practices by working with key decision makers to expand the talent pool and raise the visibility of underrepresented creators. Together we can build a more equitable film industry for us all.