NYWIFT Blog

NYWIFT member Heidi Philipsen in The Better Angels, starring Diane Kruger, Brit Marling, and Wes Bentley (Photo courtesy of Hickory Pictures, LLC)

What a whirlwind! Though temps in New York matched the biting Park City cold, nothing could beat the heat at the festival. This year, New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) caught up with veterans and fresh faces alike to celebrate the Sundance Film Festival’s 30th anniversary.

Known for its ability to stimulate important conversations within the industry, this year’s program did not disappoint. We counted over 50 directorial debuts, more than 200 films, many projects with women leadership (though less on the director front), and even new and expanded programs to increase awareness about gender disparity in film.  

Some highlights:

• The wonderful events and panels at the NY Lounge, which included marketing, distribution, and tax resources for filmmakers in NYC, as well as Women in Film and Television International’s Women in the Director’s Chair breakfast
• Rory Kennedy et al’s cutting honesty at the 8th Women in Film panel, where the six participating directors and producers all pointed to “entrenched industry sexism”
• Updated research and expanded programming from the Women in Film Initiative, which is a joint collaboration between the Sundance Institute and our sister chapter Women in Film Los Angeles
• Anna Kendrick, who had three films premiere at Sundance, looking glamorous at the Women at Sundance Brunch
• Kate Barker-Froyland’s Song One, featuring Oscar winner/producer Anne Hathaway as a PhD candidate in Morocco
• Rose McGowan’s first film as director, the color-punchy Dawn 
• The timely Fed Up, a Katie Couric–produced documentary about obesity
• A cinematographer’s conversation about the ongoing film vs. digital debate in a world where even Scorsese has gone digital
• A handful of women-directed films sold at the festival, including Land Ho!, which was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics 

And of course, a big congratulations to the NYWIFT members who had projects at the festival:

• Susan Lazarus, Post Production Supervisor, Only Lovers Left Alive (dir. Jim Jarmusch)
• Wendy Blackstone, Composer, Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger (dir. Joe Berlinger)
• Heidi Philipsen, Actress and Production Coordinator, The Better Angels (dir. A.J. Edwards); Actress, Cold in July (dir. Jim Mickle)

— JOYCE CHOI LI