Tribeca Films: Headed to the festival this week? Consider seeing one of these ten films from talented NYWIFT members.
Stuntwomen Survey: An informal poll of Hollywood’s stuntwomen conducted by veteran stuntwoman Julie Johnson has found that nearly two-thirds of the 43 respondents have been bullied or sexually harassed in the workplace. Additionally, nearly 40% of the respondents had witnessed men putting on dresses and wigs to double for actresses and 35% had witnessed “paint downs” – the application of makeup to allow a white stunt person to double for a minority actor. We must do better.
Protect Yourself: NYWIFT member attorney Nicole Page gives great advice on how documentary filmmakers should address legal issues early and often.
nywift
Related Posts
Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Yossera Bouchtia
Welcome to NYWIFT, Yossera Bouchtia! Yossera Bouchtia is an award-winning filmmaker and educator whose work explores memory, experimental storytelling, and the experience of the sublime. Her films span genres including magical realism, neorealism, biopics, drama, and experimental films. Drawing on her Moroccan-American upbringing, her storytelling bridges East and West, amplifying unheard voices and shedding light on unseen truths. Bouchtia approaches storytelling as a practice of being – an invitation into consciousness, attention, witnessing, and deeper presence. She holds an M.F.A. in Film Directing from Columbia University and she is currently Associate Professor and Program Director of Cinema at VCU School of the Arts.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Sarah Friedland
Welcome to NYWIFT, Sarah Friedland! Sarah Friedland is a filmmaker and choreographer working at the intersection of moving images and moving bodies. Friedland’s debut feature film, Familiar Touch, earned critical acclaim at the Venice International Film Festival last year, where she received both the Lion of the Future/Best Debut Film and the Horizons Award for Best Director. On the heels of her success at Venice, she won an Independent Spirit Award (“Someone to Watch”) and has since been nominated for two Gotham Awards (Breakthrough Director and Best Feature) and another Film Independent Spirit Award (John Cassavetes Award).
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Ida Elina
Welcome, Ida Edina, to NYWIFT! Ida is a multi-hyphenate singer-songwriter, composer, and filmmaker who started playing the Finnish harp at 13. She brands herself as a modern pop kantele queen from the nordics. Ida truly is an ethnomusicologist obsessed with the ancient Kalevala poems of her homeland. Her work currently has over three million views on her YouTube channel. Ida's award-winning short film, Under the Northern Skies, is a journey through her 13-song album that combines original music with an audiovisual concert experience. It premiered in Finland in February 2025. Read on to learn more about Ida's art and her dreams for the year ahead.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Jackie Quinones
Welcome to NYWIFT, Jackie Quinones! Jackie is a boundary-pushing filmmaker with a career that seamlessly blends music, acting, marketing, development, and production. From her roots as a hip-hop artist to her evolution in film, she combines a rare mix of artistic vision and business savvy to create heartfelt, socially resonant stories that leave a lasting influence. Bilingual and Puerto Rican, she is a multi-hyphenate talent - writer, director, actor, and producer - whose work centers on emotionally rich, character-driven stories exploring psychology, identity, and trauma. Jackie's hybrid-genre narratives also reflect on social and political issues through the lens of fractured relationships and complex family dynamics. Committed to amplifying unheard and underrepresented voices, her work is both personal and thought-provoking. Her debut feature film Miles Away premiered at the Austin Film Festival in 2025. It went on to earn the New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) Award for Excellence in Narrative Filmmaking at the Urbanworld Film Festival.
READ MORE
