Members, do you have an upcoming screening, event, campaign or other news to share? Tell us! Contact communications@nywift.org. 

Michele Baldwin & Tony Wilkes
NYWIFT members Michele Baldwin and Tony Wilkes, co-produders with Area Bay Productions, present Elizabeth's Precious Kitty at the DC Black Theater Festival. Elizabeth’s Precious Kitty is a sensual and highly stimulating, erotic, farcical play that promises to shock and titillate the audience as they’re taken on a sexy, voyeuristic fantasy view inside the life of a middle age virgin Dominatrix who under stress from forces is trying to take away her “precious kitty.” To purchase tickets Click Here and Support them at Kickstarter.

Laurie Layton Schapira
NYWIFT member Laurie Layton Schapira was interviewed by Geoff Brady on WBAI FM on Monday, June 10 on the subject of Jung's concept of the"Shadow."  To listen to the interview
Click Here.

Thea Kerman
Independent Feature, Dukhtar, produced by NYWIFT member Thea Kerman and directed by Afia Nathaniel, was chosen for IFP's Annual Independent filmmaker Labs. Dukhtar (Daughter) is a thriller set in Pakistan. The story follows a mother on the run with her ten-year-old daughter on the eve of the child’s forced marriage to a tribal leader. They are relentlessly hunted for bringing dishonour to their families. As the chase intensifies, the mother meets a truck driver whose destiny entwines with hers and kindles a forbidden attraction. The trio embarks on an epic journey through the stunning landscape of Pakistan where the quest for freedom comes with a price. 

Caitlin McCarthy
NYWIFT member Caitlin McCarthy’s original pilot teleplay “Pass/Fail” co-written with Jim Forbes of VH-1’s “Behind the Music” fame, is a finalist in the NYTVF’s first annual “Voice and Vision: The NBC Drama Challenge” and will advance to the network for consideration. An award-winning screenwriter at international film festivals and labs, Caitlin also has two feature films in development: WONDER DRUG with producer/star Alysia Reiner; and RESISTANCE with director Si Wall.For more information, visit: Pass/Fail



 Jessica Sue Bernstein
Chicken written, directed, and starred by NYWIFT Member Jessica Sue Bernstein, won Best Short Film at the Cape Fear Independent Film Festival down in North Carolina! Chicken is a beautiful portrait of temporary intimacy between two strangers that spend the night together. The next screening will be at the New Jersey International Film Festival on Sunday, June 2nd, at 7:00 pm
Voorhees Hall #105 * CAC * Rutgers University.

Jessica Hester
illusion produced and directed by NYWIFT Member Jessica Hester received best cinematography at the BH Film Festival. illusion also received an honorable mention at Fear and Fantasy Fest for best Fantasy. The word "illusion" is called "maya" in Sanskrit which has multiple meanings, which are all centered on the idea that we do not experience the environment itself — but rather a projection of it, created by us. Similar to the definition, the film illusion, also has multiple meanings in accordance with the viewer's eye. The filmmakers have created multiple synopses of the film, based on how the viewer, would like to experience it. 

Lauren Buchter
Lauren Buchter, NYWIFT Member and film composer recently completed the score to the short film, Above The Sea. The film was shot on location in Shanghai, China and is the story of a young woman forced to take extraordinary risks in the dangerous underworld of 1930s Shanghai when her life was threatened by a murderous policeman. The film recently had it's premiere at Lincoln Center, and has since received 5 awards, including official Jury Selection from the Columbia University Film Festival.  It will screen again on Thursday, June 6th in L.A. at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

 Kristi Jacobson
Out of Mind, directed by Kristi Jacobson, is a compelling journey into an often invisible part of the American justice system, the use of isolation and segregation in prisons. The film explores this divisive issue, commonly known as solitary confinement, through the experiences of those on both sides of the bars. Jacobson was chosen with six other documentary filmmakers by the Catapult Film Fund, which provides among the earliest and largest initial grants to filmmakers in the United States. 

Lee Eypper
October Junction premiered at the 19th Annual Fifteen Minute Play Festival on Tuesday, April 23. Theplay was written and directed by NYWIFT Member Lee Eypper and is being staged at the American Globe Theatre at 145 W. 46th Street in NYC. The October Junction cast includes Alexander Stine and Meg Heus.  Tickets are $18, and they are available at  www.brownpapertickets.com or (212) 869-9809.  The festival's website is 15minuteplayfestival.org.  Early reservations are recommended for this popular event.

Dara Wishingrad
He's Way More Famous Than You, for which Dara Wishingrad was the Production Designer, opened the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival on April 1.
 
Mariette Monpierre
Mariette's film Elza has won the Paul Robeson Award for Best Film of the Diaspora in FESPACO 2013, the Pan-African Film Festival of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Jessica Sherr
Jessica Sherr was cast in the Hudson Theatre Ensemble's  presentation of the New Jersey premiere of F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, which opened April 5. More information.

Kim Cummings
In Montauk, by Kim Cummings, has been nominated for Best Romance Film at the Bare Bones International Film Festival.

Amanda Pennington
Lillian, by Amanda Pennington, has been selected to screen at Cleveland International Film Festival as well as participate in Cannes Short Film Corner. This period film is inspired by Edna St Vincent Millay's poem "What Lips My Lips Have Kissed" and stars Tony nominee Kathleen Chalfant.

Michele Baldwin & Tony Wilkes
Michele Baldwin and Tony Wilkes produced the new stage production of Imperfect Women of the Bible in Atlantic City, NJ, at the Dante Hall Theatre. It debuted on April 20. 

Nan Avant
Composer Nan Avant's latest work, Tributum, for Celtic Bagpipes and Chamber Orchestra, had its world premiere at the Celebrate World Music Concert on March 24 in Seattle. She has scored music for indie film, features, documentaries and shorts, and has won several awards for her film scores. 

Malika Franklin & Véronique N. Doumbé
Woman to Woman, directed by Malika Franklin and co-directed by Véronique N. Doumbé, is available online. Doumbé has completed work on Ndolo Films' first International co-production Imbabazi: The Pardon, which had its world premiere in Sweden in January 2013. It was also selected for the 2013 San Diego Black Film Festival and 2013 Pan African Film Festival.

Priscilla J. Mattison 
Priscilla J. ("Sally") Mattison, an attorney who is of counsel to Bernard M. Resnick, has debuted her new photography website. Mattison's original fine art and editorial photographs can be viewed, licensed and purchased here.

Yael Melamede & Susan MacLaury
Inocente, produced by Yael Melamede and executive produced by Susan MacLaury, won Best Documentary Short at the 2013 Oscars. Directed by Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine, Inocente is a coming of age story about a brave young girl’s fierce determination against the challenges facing undocumented immigrants in this country and the new face of homeless people in America: children. It's available on iTunes.

Melissa Haizlip
Melissa Haizlip won the Chaz and Roger Ebert Fellowship at the 2013 Indie Spirits Awards. Her feature-length documentary, Mr. SOUL! was featured during IFP's Independent Film Week 2010, Spotlight on Documentaries Forum, and is a participant in the 2011 Producers Guild of America Diversity Workshop. Mr. SOUL! screened at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 41st Annual Independent Film Series in 2011. Haizlip is a Project: Involve Fellow in Film Independent's Class of 2012-2013.

Vanessa Bergonzoli & Maria Pusateri
Vanessa Bergonzoli was co-producer and Maria Pusateri was associate producer for the Academy Award-nominated documentary short Mondays at Racine, from Oscar-winning director Cynthia Wade (Freeheld) and HBO. Bergonzoli line-produced the feature film Surviving Family (2012) and worked on the Emmy Award-winning Sesame Street primetime special Growing Hope Against Hunger (2012) for PBS. Pusateri directed and produced the award-winning documentary Vito After and has worked in various capacities in documentary, docu-series and narrative film, including the award-winning short Pandora’s Box, currently in festivals.
 
Yelena Demikovsky
The online Russian paper RIA Novosti interviewed Yelena Demikovsky about her work-in-progress documentary "Black Russians - The Red Experience." (The website is in English.)

Tracey Smith 
Tracey Smith has been promoted to editor-at-large for EDGE magazine. She recently interviewed Andrew McCarthy for the magazine's January/February cover story.

Susan Lacy
For the second year running, the Producers Guild of America has honored American Masters with their award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television. This is AM's second PGA award and second nomination. Susan Lacy serves as creator and executive producer of American Masters.

Laura Wagner
The short documentary Skunked, co-directed by Laura Wagner, won Best Short and Best Documentary at Hartford Flick Fest and screened at the New York No Limits Film Series on Dec. 13th. In Skunked, the small West Texas town of Marfa is having its annual shuffleboard competition, a game of friendly rivalry; but for Jacob Guevara, the town’s reigning shuffleboard champion, it has come to signify something much deeper and more personal.

Judith Lit
Judith Lit's film After Winter Spring (working title was Passion de la Terre) had its premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October 2012, where it won the audience award. The film is fiscally sponsored by NYWIFT.

Eliza Hittman & Laura Wagner
It Felt Like Love, directed by Eliza Hittman and produced by Laura Wagner, will have its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and its international premiere at Rotterdam. It Felt Like Love is fiscally sponsored by NYWIFT. 

Therese Shechter
How To Lose Your Virginity by Therese Shechter has been awarded a New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT)  2012 Film Finishing Grant. The grant will cover the cost of color correction, one of the pricey but essential steps in the completion of the film. Shechter and her company, Trixie Films, are thrilled not only for the grant but for what will be a great ongoing relationship with NYWIFT as the film goes out into the world.

Ann Meredith
Award-winning films by Ann Meredith (All Cities member and writer/director/producer) and Swordfish Productions were inducted into the UCLA Film & Television Archives in Hollywood for the Sundance Collection in December 2012, in collaboration with Outfest & The Legacy Project.

Christina Eliopoulos
Christina Eliopoulos received NYWIFT's Adrienne Shelly Foundation Grant for her documentary film Demon on Wheels. The award was announced at the ASF's 2nd Annual Woman of Vision Salute at MoMA honoring Lena Dunham and featuring Delia Ephron.

Anna Van Valin
Anna Van Valin wrote, produced and starred in Take It Off, which screened at the Buffalo Film Festival, where it won the Audience Favorite Award. It also had screenings at the Big Apple Film Festival and Manhattan International Film Festival.

Sandy Bachom
Sandy Bachom's short Hashim Garrett Truth Angel is a finalist in the My Hero International Film Festival. For 31 years Curtis Sliwa's Guardian Angels have protected neighborhoods with unarmed safety patrols now 5,000 around the world. Manager of the Role Model Program, Hashim Garrett, a part of the Guardian Angels Education Team, goes into schools and shares his experiences.

Lori Martini 
Lori Martini's anti-bullying song I'm Not Perfect was recently featured on Dance Moms Miami. Another one of her songs, Beautiful, is in the promo trailer for USA Network's Necessary Roughness. Her instrumentals have recently been featured on NBC's The Voice, MTV's NYE in NYC, VH1's House of Consignment, MTV's Made,The Nate Berkus Show, Toddlers and Tiaras; her instrumental Nobody's Baby was placed on Sundance Channel's show Love, Lust and Bad Girls.

Fran Tarr
Brooklyn Bridges: to Bethlehem & Back by Fran Tarr was awarded Best Youth Film at the 7th Annual Harlem International Film Festival, which ran September 19-23, 2012. Brooklyn Bridges, a follow-up to Tarr's Bethlehem to Brooklyn (2009), illustrating that teens may be on opposite sides of the world, living opposite lives, but deep down, they are all the same. 

Mary Lea Bandy
Mary Lea Bandy's book Ride, Boldly Ride: The Evolution of the American Western is now available on Amazon. This comprehensive study of the Western covers its history from the early silent era to recent spins on the genre in films such as True Grit. Bandy will be signing copies of her book on Sept. 24 at its official launch at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. During the next few weeks, MoMA will also be hosting screenings of some of the films featured in the book. Bandy is a NYWIFT Muse Award Honoree (1999) and former Chief Curator, Department of Film and Video, at MoMA.