Below are just a few of the most recent accomplishments of our talented members! If you want to join this dynamic community, we hope you will consider applying for NYWIFT membership.
NYWIFT members, do you have an upcoming screening, event, campaign or other news to share? Tell us! Contact communications@nywift.org.
Rachel Feldman’s Lilly, starring Patricia Clarkson and produced by past NYWIFT President Simone Pero, tells the true story of Lilly Ledbetter’s courageous fight for equal pay. Get tickets to the opening (with special Q&As) at Quad Cinema on May 9 and 10. Sign up for email updates or visit the website to find the film at a theater near you. Watch the trailer. The film is a recipient of the NYWIFT Ravenal Feature Film Grant.
The 6th annual MOM Film Fest is now accepting submissions for short documentary or narrative films and series that include a mom in a key leadership role on the project. As a grassroots, volunteer-led nonprofit, MOM Film Fest is both a career development hub and an advocacy platform for mothers working in film and television. The festival is a key part of MOM’s mission to amplify content made by moms and create real opportunities to get #momsbackonset and back to work. NYWIFT Member Tonya Mollineau – leader of the NYWIFT Mom’s Network – created the festival.
Submission deadlines:
• Regular – April 21
• Final – May 12
Critics and Feminist activists alike have shared praise for NYWIFT member Roberta Pyzel‘s Dworkin, her documentary about the life and work of writer-activist Andrea Dworkin. Gloria Steinem called the film “a gift.” Critic and life partner of Andrea Dworkin, John Stoltenberg, said the documentary has a “wonderfully moving dimensionality: It becomes at once personal and public, living and remembered.” Watch the trailer. Congratulations, Roberta!
This May, the vibrant heart of the East Village becomes home to Donald Margulies’ captivating drama Collected Stories, featuring acclaimed performer and NYWIFT member Grace Kiley in an intimate theatrical experience that delves into the rich, complex relationship between two extraordinary writers. The limited engagement runs May 4–18, with opening night slated for Thursday, May 8 at 7 PM at The East Village Basement. Award-winning actor Lori Triolo directs. Get tickets.
NYWIFT member Selma Ducanovic invites you to attend the 21st annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF) in New York City from April 23-26. Bosnian-Herzegovinian modern cinema is blooming with female filmmaker representation everywhere from the actors, the writers, directors, and beyond! This year, they are proud of their strong, award-winning line-up, including a recent Oscar nominee. BHFF’s audience includes people with Bosnian heritage, people from other Balkan expatriate communities, as well as a wide cross-section of all New Yorkers who cherish international and independent film productions. After 21 years, BHFF is still going strong.Check out the program and RSVP!
Emergent City will be in theaters April 25 at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema NYC! An observational civic epic co-directed by NYWIFT member Kelly Anderson, Emergent City revolves around Industry City, New York’s largest privately owned industrial property. As global developers aim to transform the waterfront complex into an “Innovation District,” the film explores conflicts involving local immigrant communities, the city council, and developers over the neighborhood’s future. Called “the best NYC documentary in a decade” by Hell Gate, the film illustrates a microcosm of American democracy and offers a front row seat to the public and private spaces where the city is shaped. Get your tickets today.
Founder and Festival Director (and NYWIFT Member) Ella Mische invites you to submit to Croatian International Film Festival (CIFF). CIFF is celebrating its 2nd year in Sibenik, Croatia from August 8-11 and focuses on international films and highlights works by women filmmakers. CIFF is not just a celebration of cinema; it is a vehicle for positive change. Through the art of film, the festival strives to make a lasting impact on society and elevate Croatia’s standing in the international film landscape. By attracting the industry’s finest talents and showcasing the best of global cinema, CIFF aims to position Croatia as a premier destination for culture and art through the power of film. The festival offers awards in categories including Best International Film, Best Domestic Film, Best Screenplay, Best Student Film and more. Regular deadline is April 30. Submit your film.
NYWIFT member Sweta Keswani plays the lead in short film Tabassum, which follows a day in the life of a housekeeper working for an influential Indian family in New Jersey. On the eve of a grand wedding in her client’s family, Tabassum meets Tommy, a waiter, who learns that she’s never been to New York City, despite living on the other side of the Hudson for 22 long years. The film’s Seed & Spark campaign is now live and filming starts in May. Don’t miss this opportunity to amplify South Asian voices in film. Contribute to the film.
After three Best Documentary Feature festival wins and a fourth nomination at the Big Apple Film Festival, producer and NYWIFT member Allyson Rice is thrilled to announce that Banned Together is available to stream on AppleTV+ and Amazon Prime. NYWIFT members on the filmmaking team also include producer Jennifer Wiggin and editor Cha Quallis.
NYWIFT Board Member Okema T. Moore’s short film Laundry was among the winners of this year’s American Black Film Festival (ABFF), presented by Nice Crowd and Walmart as part of the third annual Black & Unlimited Fatherhood Project Director’s competition. The director’s showcase awards winners with a directing mentor and the world premiere of their film at this year’s festival. Read on to learn more about Okema’s win. Congratulations, Okema!
Join entertainment career coach, talent agent consultant and NYWIFT member Jim Arnoff on May 6 at 6:30 PM for an immersive, interactive coaching workshop for one-on-one coaching, group coaching, networking and resourcing to accelerate your entertainment career. Open Career Coaching: Recharging Your Entertainment Career in Manhattan’s Flatiron District is a space to bring all those challenges that are getting in the way of moving forward powerfully in your entertainment career. Whether it’s how to pitch yourself/your projects powerfully, learning what it takes to build your truly aligned career step-by-step, how to craft compelling biographies/emails, how to collaborate effectively, how to nail every meeting or wherever else you need coaching for support. You’ll learn coaching techniques to envision your ideal entertainment career with precision, release those career blocks holding you back and create a powerful action plan to create the passion entertainment career you deserve. Join members of other NYC entertainment organizations to network and resource. RSVP at jim@jimarnoff.com for the venue details.
NYWIFT President’s Circle Member Annetta Marion‘s spoke to Film Daily about her new nonfiction series, First to the Finish, now available on Amazon Prime Video. She also discussed working with Michael J. Fox on Still: A Michael J. Fox and other career highlights. Read the article and watch all six episodes directed by Annetta. Congratulations, Annetta!
NYWIFT member Maura Campbell‘s film, Maura and Maggie Get Callbacks (to play themselves) was an official selection at Cinequest and won the Kaiser Permamente Thrive Award for most inspirational film. Watch the trailer. Congratulations, Maura!
Tickets are now available for Seussical, starring NYWIFT member Shoshanna Gleich as the Cat In The Hat. The show is playing Off-Broadway May 8-18. Step into the vibrant, colorful world of Dr. Seuss as EPIC Players, New York’s premiere neurodiverse theatre company, brings Seussical the Musical to life! This heartwarming, high-energy production celebrates individuality, friendship, and the power of imagination—all through the lens of inclusion and diversity.NYWIFT members can use the early bird discount code EPICEARLY for 20% off tickets. This special is available until April 9. Get tickets.
NYWIFT Member Juliette Fairley’s feature-length screenplay Adult Children of the American Revolution won Best Dramedy at the 2025 Golden State Film Festival and the Grand Jury award at the 2024 Sherman Oaks Film Festival. Adult Children of the American Revolution is a comedy about a genealogist helping a young man discover his enslaved ancestors while completing his family tree on a popular ancestry mobile app. Congratulations, Juliette!
NYWIFT member Caitlin McCarthy was selected as a 2025 Writing Fellow for the inaugural Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency on Sundance Collab. As part of the program, she’ll receive mentorship, creative support, and access to industry resources to develop her crime thriller, A Native Land. Learn more about the residency and fellows. Congratulations, Caitlin!
NYWIFT member Annetta Marion‘s new nonfiction series First to the Finish is now available on Amazon Prime Video. The series follows the journey of two women racers and one female team owner through the exhilarating 2024 Mazda MX-5 Cup Championship Season. Watch all six episodes directed by Annetta. Congratulations, Annetta!
Here’s Yianni!, a new feature film written and directed by NYWIFT member Christina Eliopoulos, is screening at Garden State Film Festival on March 30 at 12:30 PM. In the film, Plousia (Julia Ormond) is a loving wife who runs a little Jersey Shore diner with her husband Yianni (Joe Cortese). Her strength is tested when Yianni, whose mind and memory is fading, imagines himself to be the host of a late-night TV talk show. With humor, warmth and Plousia’s whimsical inventiveness, the couple faces the greatest challenge of their lives. Visit the link below and click AL9 / 3.30.25 to order the correct tickets. Get tickets.
NYWIFT member Myra Velasquez is delighted to share that her short animation film Godzilla’s Day Off! will have its world premiere at Silicon Valley’s Premiere Film Fest on March 21 at 7:05 at 3Below in San Jose CA. The film will also have an online premiere on Cinequest in their Shorts Program 7: Something Funny virtual screening March 24-31. The film is Myra’s first foray into animation working with animators Jaime Sunwoo and Shayna Strype, whose expertise in puppets and paper are featured heavily in the film. Watch the film.
Phoebe Zimmerer is launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund her MFA first-year short film, a gothic-comedy historical satire titled Ghost Stories. The gist: an unexpected death amidst their nightly ghost stories sends the real-life residents of the Villa Diodati into a dangerous spiral of paranoia that turns history on its head. With your pledge, Phoebe will be able to secure a historical location to film in, props, set decoration, and historical costumes–everything needed to bring the world of 1816 Geneva to life. Support the film.
NYWIFT member Kristin Samuelson invites fellow members to see her performance in Save the Penguins on March 12-26 at 24 Bond Arts Center. Save the Penguins is a roller coaster of a comedy that explores nonprofits, queerness, and scandals at Bertucci’s. Winner of ’15 Minutes of Frame’ Playwrights Competition. Get tickets.
2024 NYWIFT Muse Honoree Michèle Stephenson has a series of documentaries now available on the Criterion Channel. American Promise is a deeply personal film by Michèle Stephenson and husband Joe Brewster, following their son Idris and his friend Seun as they navigate the challenges of the American educational system, grappling with the pressures of feeling othered, academic performance, familial changes, puberty, and everything in between. Other films available include Stephenson’s solo effort, Stateless, which combines gritty hidden-camera and magical realism to reveal the depths of institutionalized oppression on Dominicans of Haitian descent and Slaying Goliath, an unflinching look into the world of amateur youth basketball. Watch the films.
Celebrate Women’s History Month with this episode of LATiNAS, where correspondent Elena Romero sits down with Inspiracíon Latina and NYWIFT Board Member Zenaida Mendez, the director of MNN El Barrio Firehouse. Watch on to see host Tinabeth Piña visit Hunter College’s Center for Puerto Rican Studies – aka – CENTRO and learn about their exhibit on Antonia Pantoja. Plus CENTRO shares their segment on boxing sensations the Serrano sisters and correspondent Isabel Ortiz gives a crash course on Latina Nail culture. Watch the episode.
NYWIFT member Kristin Samuelson invites fellow members to see her performance in Save the Penguins on March 12-26 at 24 Bond Arts Center. Save the Penguins is a roller coaster of a comedy that explores nonprofits, queerness, and scandals at Bertucci’s. Winner of ’15 Minutes of Frame’ Playwrights Competition. The show on Saturday, March 15 at 7 PM will be followed by a talkback with the creative team. Get tickets.
NYWIFT member Heidi Elizabeth Philipsen-Meissner‘s solo directorial debut and social impact feature film, Love & Vodka, will be celebrating its New York Premiere at the SR Socially Relevant Film Festival on March 15 at 7:20 PM. If you have donated to the film’s GoFundMe, Seed and Spark or NYWIFT Fiscal Sponsorship campaigns, and would like to join us at our in-person screening, please reach out to heidi@personaeentertainmentpictures.com for your ticket. Don’t miss your chance to get early bird tickets for the super price of $5! Get tickets.
Award-winning short film, Keepers of the Flame, co-produced by NYWIFT members Messeret Stroman Wheeler, Shari L. Carpenter and Tia Dionne Hodge, will screen in NYC. Keepers of the Flame, a drama about the impact of African-American sororities, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta, as they fight for women’s suffrage and against exclusionary practices within the suffrage movement. See the film at New York African Diaspora International Film Festival’s Black History Month Film Series on March 1, 6:30 PM at Columbia University’s Teachers College here.
In honor of Women’s History Month, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Reel Sisters will screen Oscar-qualifying and curated shorts from Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series on March 6 at 7 PM. The evening will feature four Oscar-qualifying shorts by Black women filmmakers and NYWIFT members including Reunion by Zainab Jah and Ro & the Stardust by Eunice Levis. The event will kick off with Eboni Price’s Blaque, an experimental short lionizing poet Nikki Giovanni’s iconic poem “Ego Trippin’.” Kim Singleton, producer of Consider It Blacklit, will host an exciting Q&A with the filmmakers. Get tickets.
NYWIFT member Christine Cirker invites you to the theatrical release of Unbroken, a compelling, new feature documentary she co-produced. In the film, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor embarks on an international quest to uncover answers about the plight of her mother and her six siblings who, as mere children, escaped Nazi Germany relying solely on their own youthful bravado and the kindness of strangers. Unbroken opens at Quad Cinema tomorrow, February 21 at 7 PM. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Beth Lane moderated by film critic Joe Neumaier, host of the weekly “Movie Minute” on New York’s 710 AM-WOR radio. See more showtimes and get tickets.
NYWIFT Board member Gretchen McGowan joined James Lott Jr. for the In Between the Pages podcast, where they discussed her recently released memoir, Flying In. Currently the head of production at GoldCrest films in NYC, Gretchen discussed her award-winning career in producing indie film projects and experience working with the likes of Shelley Winters, Debbie Harry and Wu-Tang Clan and superstar directors like Brian De Palma, Jim Jarmusch and James Ivory in an informative conversation. Tune in.
New York Women in Film & Television is delighted to share that seven of our members are involved with films nominated in a variety of categories for the 97th Academy Awards! Members associated with nominated films (and/or nominated themselves) include Val Dowd, Rebecca Eskreis, Cynthia Kane, Gina Limbrick, Sheila Nevins, Janique L. Robillard and Lauren Wimbush. Learn more about their work on this year’s Oscar-nominated films.
Did we miss you? Email us at communications@nywift.org ASAP so we can add you to the list.
The ceremony will air live on Sunday, March 2 at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT on ABC. Viewers can also watch the awards live on ABC through streaming services like DirecTV Stream, Fubo, Hulu, or Sling.
Producer and NYWIFT Board Member Okema T. Moore will have her NAACP Image Award-nominated short film, Chocolate With Sprinkles, screened at the Winter Film Festival on February 20 and February 21. The premise: on their 25th wedding anniversary, a bickering couple is given one day to do something they haven’t done in 25 years – work on their marriage. Get tickets.
NYWIFT member Teja VanWicklen invites fellow members to the Guggenheim Museum‘s Peter B. Lewis Theater on February 27 at 6 PM for A special Learning & Development speaker event. Featuring a new and radical exploration of Mike Kelley’s installation Riddle Of The Sphinx, with a musical composition based on the exploration by Rieko Aizawa and Jesse Mills of the Horszowski Trio. A panel discussion will follow featuring Naomi Beckwith, Chief Curator, Mary Clare Stevens, Executive Director of the Mike Kelley Foundation, Aizawa, Mills, and Russell Carmony, Gallery Guide. The event is free and open to the public with reservation. RSVP.
Join trained intimacy choreographer/coordinator and NYWIFT member LySaundra Janeé for a journaling workshop that will help you reconnect with your most authentic self. Audre Lorde taught us that the erotic is more than sensuality—it’s a source of joy, power, and liberation. It’s a force that has been used to shame and silence us, but it’s also a tool for reclaiming our wholeness. Whether you’re a writer, a dreamer, or simply someone who needs to feel more alive, this workshop is for you. This is a space to: release emotional blockages, reconnect with your intuition and increase your capacity for joy and creativity. When: Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays in March. Register today and use code NYWIFT10 for 10% off. Write, feel, and heal together! Register today.
NYWIFT member Pamela Sporn presents the 25th anniversary screening of Cuban Roots Bronx Stories, recently remastered in 4K, at the beautiful Bronx Music Hall on February 8 at 6 PM. The screening will be followed by a panel moderated by the AfroLatin@ Forum, and feature a musical set by Bobby Sanabria and his Sexteto. One of the few films to explore AfroLatinidad from a Black Cuban-American perspective, Cuban Roots Bronx Stories celebrates its 25th anniversary with a 4K digital restoration. This unique film traces the historical journey of one family from Jamaica to Cuba in the early 20th century during the sugar boom, to the turbulent 1960s Bronx shortly after the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and their re-encounter with Cuba in the 1990s. The tender personal stories reveal nuanced and complex ways to consider migration, Blackness, and US-Cuba relations. Get tickets.
Filmmakers Chiara Padejka (NYWIFT member) and Evan Friedmann share the new trailer for their debut feature Rope Tied starring Carl Nowak and Dimiter D. Marinov (2019 Academy Best Picture for The Greenbook). Relegated into irrelevance after a controversial exhibit, an avant-garde artist searches to win back the favor of his bombastic longtime art dealer. As he prepares a new collection, his eccentric muse proposes a more extreme concept – to tie themselves together by rope for a year. As a member of NYWIFT, Chiara prioritizes finding distribution with an inclusive team that champions female filmmakers. To anyone who is in that space, committed to the same mission, and interested, please connect with ropetiedfilm@gmail.com or chiarapadejka.com for the full film and further details. Watch the trailer.
NYWIFT member Brooke Berman‘s film, Ramona at Midlife, launches on streaming February 11. The premise: Working mom and former Literary It Girl Ramona learns her life is the subject of a hot filmmaker’s newest project. As Ramona faces her disappointments and wrecked friendships, she finds true creative power and finds her best self. Watch it on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
NYWIFT member, Producer and Co-Director Peggy Kennedy received the IndieFEST Film Award of Excellence: Documentary Short for her film, MIA: Stories of the Vietnam War Bracelet. The short film honors missing-in-action soldiers from the Vietnam War through the perspectives of their families who suffered and the individuals who wore their POW/MIA memorial bracelets. Congratulations, Peggy!
Viva Verdi, the intimate documentary from NYWIFT Members Director Yvonne Russo, Executive Producer Simone Pero, and Producer/Writer Christine La Monte will screen at this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) February 10-12. The documentary is a glimpse into the lives of the celebrated opera singers and musicians currently living our their ‘third act’ while mentoring international music students at Milan’s unique retirement home.
Simone’s feature film, Lilly and Christine La Monte’s documentary, Ai Weiwei’s Turandot are also premiering at the SBIFF. To support these fellow NYWIFT members and see the films, get tickets.
NWIFT member Catherine Gund’s film Paint Me a Road Out of Here will have a theatrical run at NYC’s Film Forum starting February 7. Produced and directed by documentarian and activist Catherine Gund, the documentary tracks the labyrinthine ordeal borne by Faith Ringgold’s 1971 painting “For the Women’s House” — originally created for the women incarcerated on Rikers Island, then relegated to mishandling, defacing, and deep storage. Artist and rapper Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, herself formerly incarcerated and commissioned to create a new work for the Rikers women, bands together with Ringgold, politicians, philanthropists, and corrections officers against Kafkaesque bureaucracy to liberate the original painting from Rikers and, more profoundly, Black women from mass incarceration. The film won the NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Feature Film Directing at the 2024 Urbanworld Film Festival. Watch the trailer. Showtimes and tickets
NYWIFT member Eldonie Mason is hosting Don’t Leave Your Kids Crying: What Every Parent With Minor Children Should Know About Estate and Financial Planning with Tara Coffman on February 19 at 6 PM. Did you know 74% of parents have not named guardians for their children and the rest have probably made at least one of the 6 common mistakes parents make when naming them? Additionally, only 59% of parents with minor children have life insurance. Join us for this informative webinar on how you can name legal guardians for your children for FREE and why it’s so important to do it now. Also, find out why life insurance plays a crucial role in ensuring that your kids are financially protected. Space is limited so register today.
The 12th annual SR Socially Relevant Film Festival NY (SRFF) will be held in person from March 11-16 at The National Arts Club, Cinema Village, The Maysles Documentary Center, MRHS, The FORUM, and the Tenri Center for its red-carpet Jury Awards Ceremony. SRFF offers a wide selection of narrative features, documentaries, short films, music videos, web episodes, and a script-writing competition spotlights BIPOC films, climate change, LGBTQI, women’s issues, race, aging, and more. To date, the festival has screened over 750 films from 40 countries. Many SRFF films are made by New York-based filmmakers and shot in NYC. A preview event marking Black History Month will open on February 24 at MRHS. Films are free for students with ID. NYWIFT Member Nora Armani is the Founding Artistic Director. Get more information and tickets.
NYWIFT member Harlene Freezer invites fellow members to the theatrical release of her film Grand Theft Hamlet. The film is a feature documentary about two out-of-work actors attempting the impossible task of mounting a full production of Hamlet inside the ultra-violent world of Grand Theft Auto Online. Shot entirely in-game, Grand Theft Hamlet explores their attempt to merge classical theatre with a chaotic digital landscape. See the film at IFC Center January 17-23 or Alamo Drafthouse January 16-22.
NYWIFT Board Member Okema T. Moore‘s Oscar-qualified short film, Chocolate with Sprinkles is nominated for an NAACP Image Award! Produced by Moore and written and directed by Huriyyah Muhammad, Chocolate with Sprinkles follows a bickering couple on their 25th wedding anniversary, as they’re given one day to do something they haven’t done in 25 years – work on their marriage. Watch the trailer. Vote for the film. Congratulations, Okema!
The New York Jewish Film Festival presents the New York premiere and a post-screening discussion for sports documentary Nina Is an Athlete on January 16 at 5:30 PM. Directed by NYWIFT member Ravit Markus and produced by member Janine McGoldrick, the film also received the NYWIFT Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness Grant. This intimate documentary portrait brings us into the fast-paced world of Nina Gorodetsky, a champion wheelchair badminton player preparing to represent Israel in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics—potentially her last chance as a woman in her late thirties. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic complicates things, as does her aspiration to expand her family with another child. Set over the course of three years, Nina Is an Athlete examines with empathy and rigor the intense emotional and physical commitment it would take Gorodetsky to realize her professional and personal dreams. Buy tickets.
Cheryl Halpern former Chairman of Public Broadcasting, NYWIFT member and award-winning filmmaker, is promoting world peace and tolerance globally with her latest film The Golden Rule. The film is also for your consideration for best documentary short subject and is available for viewing on Vimeo in French, Arabic, Hebrew and Bhassa (Indonesian) subtitles. Watch the trailer and the entire film on Vimeo.
Celebrate art, legacy, and storytelling at the New York Jewish Film Festival premiere screening of producer-director and president of sister organization WIFSFBA, Julie Rubio‘s film, The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka & The Art of Survival. Lincoln Center will host screenings and Q&As presented by The Jewish Museum with Marisa de Lempicka, great-granddaughter of Tamara de Lempicka, Tony-nominated icon Eden Espinosa and award-winning director and producer Julie Rubio on January 28 at 3 PM and 8 PM. The first feature-length documentary about the extraordinary Polish Jewish painter Tamara de Lempicka—whose enduring work is beloved by art collectors the world over, including Barbra Streisand, and who was the subject of a recent Broadway musical—Rubio’s film provides an essential and riveting account of a woman who defied all rules. Narrated by Anjelica Huston, and featuring newly discovered material, including 8mm home movies, the film is a tribute to an undimmed luminary and an investigation into the socio-historical and psychological realities that create artistic legacy. Purchase tickets.
