New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) is proud to announce the projects selected for the 6th Annual NYWIFT Online Shorts Festival, presented in partnership with iWomanTV.
NYWIFT was founded in 1977 by a handful of women who saw a pressing need in New York for a networking and education forum for women in the entertainment industry. Nearly 50 years later, NYWIFT’s diverse membership is made up of professionals who work in all aspects of television, film and media, from behind-the-scenes to in front of the camera to the executive suite. We are thrilled to showcase some of our established and rising stars through the Online Shorts Festival!
The selected films and webisodes are available to stream on:
(Please note you will have to sign up for a free account with iWomanTV to watch the films.)
The film with the most views from August 1-31 will be awarded the Audience Choice Award from iWomanTV!
First Place (Most Watched Film) – $1,000
Second Place – $500
Third Place – $250
Thank you to our friends at iWomanTV for offering this incredible opportunity to the NYWIFT community.
Watch the films online now:
40ish
NYWIFT Member Nicole Stuart
(Writer, Producer, Actress)
A determined 40-year-old-actress, faces age discrimination in Hollywood, refusing to give up she lands the break she’s waited for but casting demands to know her “real age,” and how many followers she has before they’ll hire her, forcing her to face the reality that age dictates the rules for talent.
A Feminist Lens: The Art and Activism of Photographer Joan Roth
NYWIFT Member Pamela French
(Director & Producer)
An intimate portrait of internationally acclaimed photographer Joan Roth. The film focuses on five decades of Roth’s pioneering use of her camera to advocate for homeless women in New York City, document leaders in the U.S. women’s movement from the 1970s to today, and shine a light on the diverse lives of Jewish women around the world.
A Holocaust Journey: Lessons We Learned
NYWIFT Member Lisa Reznik (Director)
NYWIFT Member Terence Taylor (Editor, Producer)
NYWIFT Member Eva Zelig (Consulting Producer)
The film presents a group of New Jersey college students who traveled to Berlin and Poland with the aim of trying to comprehend the reality of the Holocaust. Viewers experience the tragedy of the Holocaust through the eyes of non-Jewish college students who educate viewers on the issues raised as they experience them. Footage shot at the locations visited includes commentary by a Holocaust survivor, the students, their professors and knowledgeable guides.
A Killer Secret
NYWIFT Member Lauren Bresnan
(Producer)
Two college friends are being targeted by a deranged psychopath.
A Thorn
NYWIFT Member Eha Urbsalu
(Writer, Director, Producer)
When Rose (13), invites her best friend Angie (12), to break in to the house of her mother’s boyfriend Steve, all she hopes to find is some money to help Angie not to be evicted from her home. Unfortunately things do not turn out that simple and the girls lives are changed forever. “A Thorn” shows us how easily a seemingly simple idea can get out of hand and turn into a devastating situation. It also demonstrates the strength of a teenage “best friends” relationship.
American Baby
NYWIFT Member Mohana Rajakumar
(Director & Writer)
An Indian couple didn’t mean to hold up the lunch line but you know, the first time you order tacos can be hilarious – and confusing!
Are We Really Friends…Yet
NYWIFT Member Natasha C. Smith
(Writer, Producer, Director)
Through intimate conversations over dinner, individuals from various walks of life, representing different races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations, come together. As the evening unfolds, the film delves into the dynamics of privilege, unconscious bias, and systemic discrimination, exploring the complexities that shape our social perspectives.
AVA
NYWIFT Member Nicolle Marquez
(Actor & Filmmaker)
As Ava finds themself in an abstract and stimulating empty universe, they start embodying the voices in their head while looking into themself in the reflection of an infinite mirror.
Between Two Worlds
NYWIFT Member Jax Broads
(Director)
Rehan, Chandan and Ruby, friends from Pakistan, India and the U.S., created the dance company, Junoon Performing Arts to build a supportive community. They merge their love of Bollywood with their passion for Contemporary dance to both celebrate their heritage and address social issues that have personal resonance for them, including terrorism, homophobia and domestic violence.
Black Lives Matter
NYWIFT Member Ching C. Juhl
(Filmmaker)
This powerful short film captures the spirit of thousands who joined a protest in New York City in June 2020. Filmmaker Ching Juhl documents the gathering at Foley Square, as people unite in solidarity. The documentary showcases the decentralized movement’s call for non-violent civil disobedience, raising awareness against police brutality towards African-American individuals.
Bronx ‘ish “Privilege”
NYWIFT Member Gillian Fritzsche
(Producer & Co-Director)
One Afro-Latina Bronx woman’s day as she heads into Manhattan and the microaggressions and privilege she encounters along the way.
Carrol Lynn
NYWIFT Member Gillian Fritzsche
(Producer)
Set in rural Indiana, Carrol Lynn is the story of a mother and daughter. In the present, Jenny sits uncomfortably with her mother, Carrol Lynn, during her final hours. Carrol Lynn reminisces about the past as she slips in and out of lucidity. In the past, Carrol Lynn grapples with a strained relationship to her family and her own abusive tendencies. Jenny is forced to grow up in the wake of her mother’s whims. She has a seeming respite in her doting father Herbert, but things take an unexpected turn and life changes for all of them.
Chlorine
NYWIFT Member Cameron Kit
(Director)
A young musician discovers she has the power to teleport through water and must find a way to control her gift to get back home.
Crimson Wave
NYWIFT Member Monica Arsenault
(Writer, Director, Producer)
Crimson Wave follows 12-year-old Olivia in her struggle to use a tampon for the very first time. In this comedy of errors, we follow Olivia through this milestone moment in her family’s beach house rental bathroom circa 2008. This short dramedy is a hot pink love letter to our younger selves and the menstrual moments that we will never forget.
Daddy’s Girl
NYWIFT Member Jamie DeRoy
(Producer)
An animated short inspired by the song “Daddy’s Girl” co-written by Jamie DeRoy.
Dancing Without Steps: The Art of Improvisation with Magaret Beals
NYWIFT Member Adriana Davis
(Editor)
Dancing Without Steps profiles acclaimed dance innovator Margaret Beals’ 50-year exploration of improvisational performance. Among the first solo dancers in 1960s Greenwich Village cabarets to create concerts without choreography, Ms. Beals added improvised spoken word shows to her dancing. With an insightful introduction by award-winning composer/singer/filmmaker Meredith Monk, this film offers rare footage from Ms. Beals’ career demonstrating the power and authenticity of improvisation as a tool of discovery for any creative endeavor including examples of Keith Jarrett, Jackson Pollock, Martha Graham and others.
Darwin Fick in New York
NYWIFT Member Eve Austin
(Actor & Producer)
Colleen Coles is a best-selling and prolific author known as the “female Stephen King.” When she reveals to talk-show host Julia Louis-Childs that she will retire after her next book, she is suddenly plagued by writer’s block, much to the dismay of her agent Henry. Colleen is then approached in a bar by a mysterious stranger named Darwin Fick and is offered an incredibly high-stakes life-or-death
Deceive
NYWIFT Member Severine Reisp
(Director, Writer, Editor)
Deceive tells the story of Amira, a Brazilian ballerina who comes to New York to pursue her dreams but gets caught up in a web of lies of a manipulative tycoon. For Amira, dance is a way to escape reality. Deceive shows a survivor’s story from her perspective. It is about emotional destruction but also about rebirth and Amira reclaiming her voice.
The Della Morte Sisters
NYWIFT Member Judith Anna Di Donato
(Wardrobe, Art Director)
A recent death in the family brings three sisters together where they discover a shared dark past that changes everything they thought they knew about each other and their family.
El Chuzalongo
NYWIFT Member Julie Neira Campoverde
(Writer, Director, Editor)
Set in Ecuador, Ofelia’s eyes are opened to what it means to become a young woman in society as she is stripped of her voice, power and freedom by her overbearing father while on a family camping trip to celebrate her 15th birthday. But Ofelia’s greatest threat may not even be human.
Entre Guerra y Guerra Afuera la Bicicleta
NYWIFT Member Valeria A Avina
(Filmmaker)
Roque has been asked to take care of Tala’s garden over the weekend, when suddenly Tala’s garden is taken over by other kids who are new in the block. Roque en Los Pecosos embark a journey to get Tala’s garden back before she comes back.
Generation Lockdown
NYWIFT Board Member Sirad Balducci
(Director)
Generation Lockdown is a narrative short film, seen through the eyes of an eleven year old boy as he tries to save his friend’s life during an active shooter attack in his school. This film was inspired by a short story by Caleb, a 6th grader from a middle school in Teaneck, NJ who also stars in the movie. This film examines the effects of the gun epidemic and the silent psychological trauma it’s having on our children.
Hell Week
NYWIFT Member Mirejah Cruz
(Writer, Actor, Producer)
Feeling optimistic, Nikki goes on a date with Michael thinking she could keep things under control. Her monthly mood disorder had other plans. The unwanted guest takes Nikki on a hormone led journey of high highs to the lowest of lows with a lot of binge eating in between. With no end in sight, Nikki is at the mercy of the self-sabotaging cycle until her own cycle begins.
Hey Alexa
NYWIFT Member Xochi Blymyer
(Producer, Writer, Production Designer)
A Day in the life of Alexa – she’s helpful, she funny, she’s a listener, whatever you need.
How Do You Like Your Eggs?
NYWIFT Member Zen Dot
(Actor & Producer)
A South Asian woman drags her reluctant mother to a fertility clinic to learn more about freezing eggs, only to discover the doctor is a handsome Indian man the mother is suddenly interested in setting her up with!
How to Open a Clam
NYWIFT Member Lisa Romagnoli
(Writer & Director)
Adam and his two friends are on a weekend beach trip at hiss family house, but the vacation becomes disrupted after a clamming expedition when Adam becomes frustrated by his inability to open a clam, and his growing obsession threatens to destroy friendships.
I Married a Black Republican
NYWIFT Member Magaly Colimon-Christopher
(Producer)
On Election Day 2020, Grace – a staunch Bajan-American Democrat – struggles with party loyalty and new love when she finds out her new husband is a Republican.
i only miss you when i’m breathing
NYWIFT Member Ashley Wren Collins
(Director, Co-Producer)
Nora and Warren enter their son’s bedroom for the first time since his death in a school shooting.
I’ll Find a Way or Make One – A Rosie Story
NYWIFT Member Teresa Castillo
(Co-Director)
Western New York native Viola Hippert, once the Bell Aircraft Corporation’s own answer to Rosie the Riveter and an icon of the Rust Belt’s working class, is now in her late 90s but has no intention of slowing down. In Teresa Castillo and Rebecca Fasanello’s documentary portrait, Hippert reflects on her life…and has no plans of slowing down.
Imaginary Friends
NYWIFT Member sheri ratick stroud (Actor, Producer)
NYWIFT Member Robin Noonan Price (Producer)
Meet Daniel Whittaker, a happily mediocre man who makes a modest living writing how-to-books. His agent has been after him to become a flashy social media personality, but Daniel’s content with the way things are. Until the day he begins receiving text messages from a mysterious stranger.
The Interview
NYWIFT Member Janet I. Guillet
(Writer)
A woman prepares for an interview via Zoom, only for the roles to reverse as she ends up being therapist for the interviewer – the question of womanhood and career taking precedence over the job interview at hand.
Laps of Honor
NYWIFT Member Katja Haecker
(Director, Writer, Producer)
An intimate and emotional portrait of Herbert Engel, his spirit and life-story, which is driven by his passion for cars and racing. How he became who he is, his spirit and enthusiasm, and how his friend Parkinson put a stop to his racing career yet not to his love for
cars, speed and life.
Last Night
NYWIFT Member Julie Zimmermann
(Lead Actor)
An encounter with an online date delivers an eventful night of unexpected surprises.
Lettre La
NYWIFT Board Member Okema T. Moore (Actor, Producer)
NYWIFT Member Letitia Guillory (Lead Actor)
Host Tibab and Shen sizzle up another episode of their popular radio show “Lettre La”! Fans of the show send in a letter to the host with some kind of entertaining life drama that they’re going through (most times it’s a relationship affair). Tibab and Shen’s real-take on the situation in a candid open conversation often inspires listeners (or at least it’s a hell of laugh). Albeit something about this letter thrusts the charismatic Tibab into a whirlwind.
Madie Sue
NYWIFT Member Abbesi Akhamie
(Writer, Director, Producer)
Born in the Jim Crow South, Madie Stanley is an 82-year-old great-grandmother who continues to minister the Gospel with grace and sass. Led by the omniscient voice of her granddaughter, this short documentary beautifully juxtaposes old photographs and live footage to create a stunning portrait of an African-American woman and her faith.
Mosholu Parkway
NYWIFT Member Allison Robbins
(Producer & Director)
A short film comedy set in WWII, The Bronx, New York. A teenager, while attending an illegal crap game run by her Aunt, misunderstands that her boyfriend in the Army is cheating on her, and agrees to go on a blind date with disastrous results.
The Most Beautiful
NYWIFT Member Rachel Irene Wilke
(Writer, Director)
Isolated in an unforgiving landscape, an expecting mother navigates the abusive relationship with her husband in the pursuit of freedom just beyond her reach.
Native Table
NYWIFT Member Sue Williams
(Writer, Producer, Director)
At their Minneapolis restaurant Owamni (winner of the 2022 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant), Chef Sean Sherman and business partner Dana Thomson are exploring their Native cultural heritages by re-creating pre-colonial menus—meals that use no dairy, wheat or sugar—and showing that by combining the past with the best in modern farming practices, we can create more sustainable and ethical food systems.
Not All Lost
NYWIFT Member Dawn Kirk-Alexander
(Producer & Writer)
Highlighting the achievements of unique young teenagers of color, “Tanal” is that rare television program that possesses several key elements for success: it’s based on a inspirational true stories; hosted by celebrities; helmed by an Oscar nominated filmmaker.
The Only Life You Could Save
NYWIFT Member Lynn B. Denton
(Director)
A woman, no longer young, makes drawings with a stick on a beach. A man, weather beaten and crusty from many sea voyages, looks on, curious. They are drawn like two magnets, and share a unique journey.
Pancakes
NYWIFT Member Emily Friedman
(Director, Writer)
Madison must come to terms with the fact that Leyla, the woman she loves, is choosing to remain in the
closet.
Pathways to the Dream Lodge Cafe
NYWIFT Member Candece Tarpley
(Producer, Writer, Actress)
This film is about an East Coast Native Nation called the Narragansett, living in Rhode Island. Many people don’t believe Indigenous people of the East still exist, thus I invited my long time friend Chief Dean Stanton to my show. He discusses traditional farming, dancing, canoeing, fishing, and customs of a once powerful and feared Nation. He talks about the many tribal problems and possible solutions creating hope and survival today.
QuarterLife: A Parody Reality TV Series
NYWIFT Member Alyssa Alexander
(Writer)
Artemis Germaine and Genevieve St. Tomas are frenemies in graduate school trying to start their careers and lives. After a fight at Artemis’ gallery opening which would award her a much-needed grant, she decides to get revenge on Genevieve by exposing her man’s infidelity. Genevieve thinks Artemis is jealous of her life and her man but does not take well to Artemis’ ill intentions. Can the two repair the dwindling friendship, or will Artemis’ news be the final straw?
Reopening
NYWIFT Member Gillian Fritzsche
(Producer & Director)
A short documentary about small businesses in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. With mom and pop shops closing all around them, several small business owners work tirelessly and creatively to keep their doors open during the Covid-19 PAUSE order, experiencing understandable fear, interminable hope, radical generosity, and even miraculous visions.
Research
NYWIFT Member Avra Fox-Lerner
(Writer & Director)
Two writers on an all night bender push the limits of their friendship as they discuss work and life in a just COVID reopened Downtown New York City.
Rising Lotus
NYWIFT Member Gurinder Singh
(Writer, Director)
Realizing her son’s life is in grave danger, an immigrant woman musters the strength to bravely flee her abusive husband, seeking refuge beyond suffocating walls. In this poignant tale of maternal love, their bond becomes an unwavering force propelling them through treacherous streets and bureaucratic systems. With unwavering determination, they relentlessly pursue a life free from fear, defying despair. Will their indomitable spirit lead them to a future where their son finds true safety?
Ro & the Stardust
NYWIFT Member Eunice Levis
(Writer & Director)
A free spirited teen and her terminally ill grandmother build a rocket ship they plan to launch into outer space.
Saint Marks
NYWIFT Members Sheherzad Raza Preisler and Katrina Montgomery
(Co-Writers, Co-Directors)
Besties Keisha, Rani, and Lakynn play hooky in downtown NYC, and go on an adventure that results in a confrontation about race.
Season of Passage
NYWIFT Member Catherine Cobb Ryan (Writer, Director, Actor, Producer)
NYWIFT Member Susan Beth Ades (Editor)
NYWIFT Member Deborah Unger (Costume Designer)
NYWIFT Member Jennifer Snowden (Make-up Artist)
Mother to a middle-schooler, Cate has suffered secondary infertility for years–and now finds herself pregnant again. Having long given up on her dream of having another child, she grapples with this new hope. But when Cate suffers a miscarriage, she finds herself in the shoes of countless women, silently grieving a life that will never be.
Second Responders
NYWIFT Member Myrta Vida
(Writer & Co-Producer)
Meet four “second” responders employed at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Queens, NY, where the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in NYC. While doctors and nurses are rightfully praised as heroes, the support staff at St. John’s –the Head of Security, a Janitor, a Logistician, and a Chaplain— must also bear witness to the untold ravages left in the wake of a worldwide pandemic.
Shorts by Shorties
NYWIFT Member Mohana Rajakumar
(Director)
15 first time female filmmakers of 9 different nationalities set out to write, direct, and edit their first short films in the conservative Islamic emirate of Qatar. Each wants hers to be selected as one of the top 3 in the Short Film Lab and win filmmaking equipment. The film follows 6 teens from this cohort, young women from the Americas, Middle East, and Europe, from start to finish on making their very first short films, while living and studying in the capital city of Doha.
Stand UP, Speak OUT: The Personal Politics of Women’s Rights – Reproductive Rights: Abortion
NYWIFT Member Katherine J Brewster
(Producer)
Three women speak frankly about what it was like to discover their contraception had failed, and face having an abortion before and after it was legal, pre and post Roe v. Wade. Some endured harmful, brutal procedures; others were treated with respect in safe, clean medical offices. None regret the decision to terminate the pregnancy.
Stand UP, Speak OUT: The Personal Politics of Women’s Rights – Reproductive Rights: Birth Control
NYWIFT Member Katherine J Brewster
(Producer)
In Birth Control, women share their experiences with expanding choices in their lives as contraception changed over the past 50 years. The first hormonal-based contraceptive, “The Pill,” newly available in the mid-1960s, led to the wide range of contraceptive methods available today, changed society’s attitudes toward sex, and transformed women’s lives.
Stand UP, Speak OUT: The Personal Politics of Women’s Rights – Reproductive Rights: Sterilization
NYWIFT Member Katherine J Brewster
(Producer)
A Latina woman Speaks OUT, sharing the story of how the US government sterilization campaign from 1930-1970 in Puerto Rico, the longest and largest in the world, impacted her family. Sterilization by tubal ligation was offered for free, but without informed consent. Women were subjected to the experimental trial for “The Pill” without knowing the risk to their health. Hundreds of thousands of women were deprived of the right to bear children because they were judged “unfit” to reproduce.
That Was Delicious
NYWIFT Member Nela Wagman
(Writer, Director, Actor)
A woman whose outer life seems perfect finds herself at a painful moment of truth.
True Believers At The Insurrection: Road To The Capitol
NYWIFT Member Sandi Bachom
(Filmmaker)
In her first film, 78 year old journalist Sandi Bachom, documents the rise and radicalization of right wing extremism from the Charlottesville Nazis to the January 6th Insurrection. Her footage was used by the January 6th Committee and in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump
Tumbling Towards Home
NYWIFT Member Imelda O’Reilly
(Director)
An Irish immigrant moves to New York in 1989 to study acting. He works through the grief from the loss of his mother’s passing and the death of his friend Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Turning Blue
NYWIFT Member Dana E. White
Co Director, Producer, Writer, Editor, Actor
Clara and daughter Violet celebrate Clara’s 75th birthday in Clara’s at-home hospital bed. Val, the visiting hospice nurse, arrives for her daily visit. Violet discovers Val waiting for her outside Clara’s bedroom. “Her feet are turning blue,” Val gently tells Violet indicating ‘transitioning.’ Violet must now help her mother in the most important act of her life.
Virginity, Period
NYWIFT Member Monica Arsenault
(Writer, Actor, Producer)
Virginity, Period. is an experimental, poem driven short film that follows 17-year-old Lizzie on the night she has planned to lose her virginity to her High School boyfriend, Harrison. Everything is going according to her perfect plan…until she gets her period 30 minutes before the date begins. Throughout the night, her external reality juxtaposes her internal experience while she tries to see everything through as she originally imagined it.
Wendy
NYWIFT Member Maren Lavelle
(Director, Executive Producer)
Wendy can see the exact way she wants things to go in her head, but when she opens her mouth everything seems to fall apart. So, when she develops a secret crush on Cassie, the lead actress in her middle school production of Romeo & Juliet, the stakes are higher than ever. Can she summon up the courage to let Cassie know how she really feels? Or is the risk of humiliation just too high?
