Love: the NO CANNES DO info graphic by Melissa Silverstein of Women and Hollywood showing the appalling lack of opportunities extended to women directors by the Cannes Film Festival—a reflection of the situation of the industry as a whole, but this does not excuse it.
Checking Out: the report on women working in independent film by Martha Lauzen that shows women are 18% of the directors of independent narrative features (three times as many as the number of women working as directors in the top 250 narrative films released last year) but a long, long way from equal opportunity.
Stacking Up: my reading list with these goodies, which include recent 2014 Pulitzer Prize winner Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch. Here’s to hoping, especially with Joanna Walsh’s recent Twitter efforts to #readwomen2014, there are more lists like this headed our way.
Terry Lawler is NYWIFT’s Executive Director. Tune in every Tuesday for her picks.
nywift
Related Posts
Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Rima Das
Welcome to NYWIFT, Rima Das! Rima Das is an Indian filmmaker whose distinctive cinematic voice blurs the line between fiction and lived experience. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a Brand Ambassador for the Toronto International Film Festival’s Share Her Journey initiative, she has written, directed, shot, produced, and edited acclaimed independent films including Village Rockstars (2017), Bulbul Can Sing (2018), Tora’s Husband (2022), Village Rockstars 2 (2024), and Not a Hero (2026). Her films have premiered at Toronto, Berlin, and Busan, screened at more than 150 international film festivals, and received over 75 awards. Village Rockstars won India’s National Film Award for Best Feature Film and was India’s official submission to the Academy Awards. In our interview, Rima discusses her leap into storytelling, her journey in filmmaking, and how her Northeast Indian roots motivate her creative work.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Shannon Denise Evans
Welcome to NYWIFT, Shannon Denise Evans! Shannon Denise Evans is a multidisciplinary creator and Founder of Storycraft Eleven, focused on character-driven stories where the supernatural is hiding in plain sight. She is an award-winning writer/director/actor with over 65 awards associated with her various original works in film, television, theatre, and publishing. Shannon is a member of WGA, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists Guild, American Federation of Musicians, Society of Composers and Lyricists, and Actors' Equity Association.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Zineb Oukach
Welcome to NYWIFT, Zineb Oukach! Zineb is a Moroccan actress, writer, and filmmaker. She began her acting career in Morocco before moving to Paris to study theater at Le Cours Florent. She later relocated to New York City, where she has worked across film and television, including the feature film Rendition alongside Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep and Alan Arkin. In recent years, Zineb has expanded into writing and directing. Her short films Interruption and Fresh Kills both earned Oscar qualifications in 2023 and 2025. After watching Interruption, Sigourney Weaver praised Zineb’s work as a filmmaker. Zineb is currently writing a period drama TV series. She later relocated to New York City, where she has worked across film and television, including the feature film Rendition alongside Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep and Alan Arkin. In recent years, Zineb has expanded into writing and directing. Her short films Interruption and Fresh Kills both earned Oscar qualifications in 2023 and 2025. After watching Interruption, Sigourney Weaver praised Zineb’s work as a filmmaker. Zineb is currently writing a period drama TV series.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Asha Dahya
Welcome to NYWIFT, Asha Dahya! Asha Dahya is a social impact filmmaker and storyteller. She is the director and producer of an award-winning short documentary about later abortion called Someone You Know, which premiered at the 2024 Athena Film Festival. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for My Name Is Siri, an autism awareness documentary that premiered on PBS. In 2025, Asha executive produced and co-hosted an award-winning audio and video series about Latin America’s Green Wave abortion rights movement called Green Tide Rising. Her latest short documentary is A Tiny Revolution, the story of how Meg Crane invented the first home pregnancy test.
READ MORE
