Agnès Varda, a Belgian-born filmmaker often called the ‘‘godmother of the French New Wave’’ for early works such as ‘‘La Pointe Courte’’ and ‘‘Cléo From 5 to 7,’’ which broke hidebound narrative traditions and influenced future directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Resnais, died at her home in Paris in March. She was 90.

Take a look back on her incredible career.

Congratulations to the NYWIFT members who received some of the first round of grants in the Mayor’s Office of Entertainment and Media’s “Made in NY” Women’s film, TV & Theatre Fund! A total of 63 women-led projects were selected to receive a combined $1.5 million in funds.

Read about the member projects.

A new study shows that the influence of female leads in TV political and legal dramas is linked to increased real-life political engagement.

Representation matters.

Barbara Hammer, the pioneering experimental filmmaker whose visions of life and love channeled a distinctly lesbian point of view, has died at the age of 79.

Read about her legacy. 

According to a new study put forth by USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, representation for women and people of color in top grossing films is higher than ever. The study examines leading and co-leading roles in the top 100 grossing movies of 2018 (as well as those from the preceding 11 years for comparison), in order to provide a glimpse of the breakdowns of leading characters in terms of gender and race/ethnicity.

The future is female.

In Dawn Scibilia’s feature documentary After the Vote, the story of women in the post suffrage era changes our understanding of women’s political history in America.

Learn more about the film, which is fiscally-sponsored by NYWIFT. 

New NYWIFT Executive Director Cynthia Lopez began on January 1st, 2019.

Read her greeting to the NYWIFT community.