Loving Lifetime: Check out this great read on Buzzfeed about the evolution of Lifetime from “guiltily pleasure” to “groundbreaking television.” Women wrote or directed 73% of the network’s original films from 1994 to 2016, and its new initiative called the “Fempire” will draw together linear, digital, social and community partnerships with the goal of “entertaining and engaging the next generation of feminists.”
Fox’s Failure: 20th Century Fox released its 23-film slate for 2016-2017…with not one feature directed by a woman.
Congrats, Katharina: NYWIFT member Katharina Otto-Bernstein co-produced the documentary Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures about the controversial artist – it’s getting rave reviews! Watch it on HBO.
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Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Natalie Mahoney
Welcome to NYWIFT, Natalie Mahoney! Natalie is an award-winning photographer, writer, and filmmaker from New York. She received her B.A in TV/Film from DeSales University ’24 and recently received her M.F.A in Film Production from the City College of New York. Natalie has experience in both filmmaking and as an educator with a passion for assisting young creatives conceive, construct, and produce their own projects. Natalie wants to be able to inspire and encourage others with her work, and watch others tell their own stories through the many mediums of the arts!
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Bella Rieth
Bella Rieth is a first-generation Brazilian-German, NYC-based director and producer, and a graduate of the School of Visual Arts who also studied at the Atlantic Acting School Conservatory. Before film, she trained at the New England Conservatory and performed in theatre internationally, building a life of storytelling that eventually pulled her behind the camera. Her recent shorts, including Lottie, Poor Creature, Ebba, and Icaro, have played at festivals from Tokyo to Santa Cruz to Florence. Alongside her own films, Bella produces and field produces across narrative, commercial, music video, and documentary projects throughout New York and beyond.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Eve Rouverol
Welcome to NYWIFT, Eve Rouverol! Eve came to filmmaking after a career as a newspaper reporter, commercial writer, and teacher of students with disabilities. After her children left for college (she is a single, widowed mother), she was able to return to college to pursue her first love, film. In addition to writing/directing student narrative and documentary shorts at CA College of the Arts and Emerson, Eve wrote, produced and directed the 35-minute film The Muse starring her actor daughter Madeline Rouverol. The film was nominated for Best Student Director at New Bedford Film Festival in 2023. Her screenplays Writer's Block and Lolita Redux have been shortlisted by BlueCat and Scriptapalooza. Writer's Block was selected for participation in the 2026 Stowe Narrative Labs. Lolita Redux was a semifinalist for Stowe Labs’ Writers’ Retreat Fellowship.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Maria Eleni Zollo
Welcome to NYWIFT, Maria Eleni Zollo! Maria is a writer, actor, director, and musician based in Astoria, Queens. As a singer, she has performed at the Norwegian National Opera House in Oslo, Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, and on Saturday Night Live. She works as an adjunct professor at CUNY Baruch, and as a Greek Orthodox Church chanter at St George in Hell's Kitchen and St Nicholas National Shrine at the World Trade Center. Maria Eleni also performs as a stand-up comedian in NYC. Her first short film was a semifinalist in Stage 32's 8th Annual Short Film Festival.
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