Below are just a few of the most recent accomplishments of our talented members! If you would like to join this dynamic community, we invite you to consider applying for NYWIFT membership.
NYWIFT members, do you have an upcoming screening, event, campaign or other news to share? Tell us! Contact communications@nywift.org.
The Plea follows 12 sharply divided jurors sequestered in a hotel as they decide a controversial case about personhood. As deliberations spill beyond the conference room and into their private lives, deeply held beliefs, prejudices, and unlikely connections emerge. In this satirical comedy noir, a jury of our peers becomes a portrait of a divided America struggling to find common ground. The film has been nominated for both The Haskell Wexler Award for Best Cinematography and The Laurent Rejto Made In Hudson Valley Award.
You can see The Plea at Woodstock Film Festival on Friday, October 16 at 3:30 PM at Tinker Street Cinema (132 Tinker Street Woodstock, NY 12498). Buy tickets here.
Kim spoke to us about the creative and social conversations that informed the story, the pivotal role of the producer, and her advice for independent filmmakers. Read the full interview here!
You can vote for author and NYWIFT member Rhina Valentin to have her podcast produced by iHeartRadio, take home $25,000, and be a guest on an episode of On Air with Ryan Seacrest! Rhina’s favorite part of hosting is discovering new talent, holding space for everyone including celebrities, and shining a light on under represented voices. She says, “I enjoy serving as a bridge and a divine connector.” Cast your vote!
Tuesday, Oct 27 • 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Entertainment Career Coach/Talent Agent Consultant/NYWIFT Member Jim Arnoff will be leading a complimentary, in-person pitching workshop – Power Pitching with In-The-Moment Feedback: The Insider’s Take on Instantly Strengthening Your Pitch.
Why wait until the end of the pitch for feedback when you can hear it in the moment, when it’s most powerful? This workshop is all about the anatomy of a highly effective pitch and will give you new awareness of the words you choose, their energy and how to reframe to more compelling language. What makes a truly successful pitch of your projects or your services? What are the pitfalls to avoid at all costs? How can you master the art of pitching with your own style? Learn how to pitch powerfully, make the most memorable connection, follow up effectively and handle any question. Gain insights on how to prepare, read the person you’re pitching for with precision and be fully present. If you ever wanted to know the skills and techniques of a successful pitch with instant, specific feedback this workshop is for you. Location: 16 Madison Square West (1115 Broadway, 11th. floor Conference Room). RSVP
Saturday, Nov 14 • 10 AM – 4:30 PM
NYWIFT member Jessica Ransom is hosting Producing 101: From Script to Set, a hands-on production workshop at Miraley Studios in Jersey City, NJ. Designed for emerging filmmakers, aspiring producers, and industry professionals looking to advance their careers, the workshop provides practical, real-world training in budgeting, script breakdowns, pre-production planning, crew management, post-production workflows, and other essential aspects of producing.
As working Executive Producers with extensive experience across commercials, television, branded content, and digital media, they’re excited to share our industry knowledge and provide attendees with actionable tools and resources they can apply to their own productions. Register.
Thursday, Oct 15 • 7:15 PM
Give It A Shot follows a global race to develop a new male contraceptive that could revolutionize family planning and improve women’s lives globally. See the film at Angelika Film Center at Mosaic (2911 District Ave., Fairfax, Virginia 22031). The indomitable 83-year-old Dr. Sujoy Guha in India, the California-based team of Elaine Lissner and L.R. Fox, as well as Kevin Eisenfrats in Virginia, embark on a quest to successfully launch the first reversible male contraceptive since the modern condom, invented 200 years ago. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Vaishali Sinha, this funny, moving, and urgent documentary is a must see! Q&A will follow with Director Vaishali Sinha (NYWIFT member), moderated by James Estrada (Innovation Lead, Planned Parenthood Federation of America). Learn more and follow @giveitashot.film. Tickets.
Saturday, Oct 17 • 1:30 PM
Executive produced by NYWIFT member Chen Shao and directed, produced, and edited by NYC-based filmmaker Lulu Men, Puppy Love: Tails of the City (2026) will have its World Premiere in the Shorts Competition at the 24th Tallgrass Film Festival in Wichita, Kansas, for the Doc Shorts Block. The 29-minute documentary follows four New York City dogs and their humans through adoption, behavioral challenges, aging, and loss. Inspired by Men’s relationship with her rescue dog, Caden, the film explores the transformations that unfold on both ends of the leash, celebrating the love, responsibility, and unexpected communities that form around our dogs. Tickets.
Thursday, Oct 22 • 6 PM
Join a screening of a new short doc, profiling the story of how NYC resident Meg Crane invented the first home pregnancy test. In 1967, 25-year-old Meg Crane quietly sparked a revolution by inventing the first home pregnancy test—an idea so radical, it would take a decade of resistance, backlash, and cultural upheaval before it ever reached the shelves. A Tiny Revolution traces Meg’s unlikely journey from graphic designer to cultural lightning rod, as she faced political push back, religious outrage, and a medical establishment unwilling to give up control over women’s bodies. Panel discussion with Meg Crane and NYWIFT member Asha Dahya (Director/Producer) to follow. Get your tickets.
Satuday, Oct 31 • 9 PM
NYWIFT Member Christine McBurney‘s short film Tutto was selected for the New York Short Film Festival. Based on her recently sold-out one-woman show, DNA Doesn’t Lie But My Mother Did!, the film starts when surprising DNA test results reveal to middle-aged Christine her Italian heritage, sending her to her new relatives for her first Sunday family dinner. Amid the chaos and pathos, secrets are revealed, a life-long wish comes true, and she learns la famiglia really is tutto, everything. Get tickets to New York Short Film Festival’s Block 6 to see the film.
Thursday, Oct 15 • 5:30 PM
Join NYWIFT Member Kavery Kaul (Director-Producer-Writer), DOC NYC Programmer Bedatri Choudhury, and Former United Nations Chief of Section Gordon Tapper, for a screening of The Bengali, one of Nonfics’ Top 20 Documentaries. The one-night-only screening is a special event at the United Nations Turkish House, with engaging talkback, food, and networking. The Bengali takes an American woman to India to uncover the past of her grandfather Shaik Mohamed Musa. It triggers a boldly different encounter between East and West.
The film travels across the US with the #UnderOurSun impact campaign, a storytelling movement about our unique identities and cultures that brings us all together across communities. Get tickets and learn more.
Saturday, Oct 10 • 8:15 PM
NYWIFT Member Daniela Schrier invites you to see a genre-blurring new film having its world premiere at Roxy Cinema as part of the Downtown Festival. The Mayflower, a new film from actor and director Nick Sandow (Orange Is the New Black, The Wannabe, Ponies), blurs documentary, narrative and autobiography as Sandow turns the camera on his own life and family. After an uncertain heart diagnosis, Nick sets out to make what may be his final film, investigating buried family secrets and confronting questions of mortality, identity and the father he lost as a boy. Returning to the Bronx housing complex where he grew up and where his three sisters still live, Sandow films his actual family while casting longtime friends Michael Imperioli, Kevin Corrigan, Catherine Curtin and John Ventimiglia to play versions of the people closest to him. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Nick Sandow and a special guest moderator. Tickets.
Sunday, Oct 11 • 8 PM
Teddy’s Doll House, the short film written by Kathleen Kaan (NYWIFT Member), produced by Vanessa Cordova-Corwin (NYWIFT member) and directed by Daryl Denner, is an official selection of the International Film Festival Manhattan. The screening is scheduled for Program 13 at the Producer’s Club (358 West 44th). Q&A with filmmakers will follow the screening. Tickets.
Thursday, Oct 8
NYWIFT member Julitte Fairley is starring as Carol in the feature film The Devil is a Liar.
The Devil is a Liar will stream on Prime Video and follows a family to their abandoned Michigan lake house, where a tense homecoming exposes deep-seated secrets and generational trauma. I play the family matriarch Carol, which the movie revolves around. Watch.
NYWIFT Member Caitlin McCarthy’s first produced feature screenplay, Little Audrey, received two honors at the 42nd Boston Film Festival: Best Director for Michael Mailer and Best Ensemble. Based on a true story, the film follows an agnostic Jewish child psychologist recruited to a Vatican investigation of a comatose girl believed to be a “victim soul,” only to find herself pulled into a case where alleged miracles defy reason — and challenge everything she believes. McCarthy wrote the original screenplay and served as associate producer on the film, which features an all-star cast including Emily VanCamp, NYWIFT Member Jennifer Esposito, Aidan Quinn, and Josh Bowman.
Oct 8-10
NYWIFT member Brooke Hoover invites you to see When it Happens to You. Based on Tawni O’Dell’s memoir, this play captures the unquantifiable damage her daughter suffered following a brutal sexual assault. Blending humor with unflinching honesty, the play explores the question, “How does a normal, happy family recover from a trauma of this size and scale?” The production has received rave reviews both Off-Broadway and in London and now, they bring it to Adelphi University’s Performing Arts Center. Starring Amanda Abbington (Sherlock) and Rosie O’Day (Outlander). The Oct 8 performance will be followed by a Q&A. Get your tickets for $7. All ticket proceeds support organizations who help survivors.
NYWIFT Board member Mary Miles will moderate a panel at the 2026 State of the Story Conference on Sunday, Oct 4. The conference will bring together Academy Award winners, Emmy nominees, and the most compelling creative voices working in film and television for a full-day screenwriting conference built on one idea: the best way to learn storytelling is to hear it from the storytellers themselves. Curated panels, unscripted exchanges, and real conversations with working writers, showrunners, agents, and directors — the kind of access that usually takes a decade of introductions to earn. RSVP.
Sun Oct 4, Mon Oct 5, and Sun Oct 11
NYWIFT member Cindy Kleine‘s One More Time will have its New York Premiere at the 64th New York Film Festival! New York avant-garde legend André Gregory, now in his nineties, teams up with actors Larry Pine and Gerry Bamman to film a reading of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame in this enormously moving document of an inextinguishable creative spark, executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Get more details and reserve tickets. Congrats, Cindy!
NYWIFT member Erin LoCascio is producing a proof-of-concept short film, Start Anywhere written and directed by Micheal Goldburg. They’re currently crowdfunding to raise 30k for production/post of the project. At its heart, Start Anywhere asks a question I think many of us have felt: What if we think we’ve waited too long for our dreams—but we haven’t? It’s a funny, intimate, comedy-drama about a burned-out adjunct professor who misses his train home and spends an unexpected night with one of his students, whose impulsive outlook challenges his belief that his life—and creative ambitions—are already behind him. That possibility of beginning again, at any age, is at the heart of the film. The script has already received some exciting recognition: it’s currently a Semi-Finalist in the Outstanding Screenplays and Filmmatic Short Screenplay Contests and a Quarter-Finalist in Creative Screenwriting’s Short Screenplay Competition. Your contribution is also entirely tax-deductible.
Saturday, September 26 • 1:30 PM
NYWIFT Board member Okema T. Moore returns to Detroit Black Film Festival with her own four-project screening block. Last year, she took home Best Director at the Detroit Black Film Festival for her short film Laundry. This year, she’s returning to the Motor City with an honor: her own dedicated screening block featuring four projects she helped bring to life at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History’s Orientation Theater (315 E. Warren Ave., Detroit, MI 48201). Audiences will experience a body of work showcasing Moore’s range as a director, producer, and actor: Love Zuri (Director, Producer), Love Song (Lead Actress, Producer), The Shower (Director, Producer, Lead Actress) and Crossroads (Lead Actress)
The timing is especially significant as Moore is also participating in the Black Magic Collective’s Feature Film Greenlight Accelerator: The Female Lens with her feature project Detroit Rounds, for which she is currently seeking co-production and financing partners. Tickets.
Saturday, Sep 26 • 8:30 PM
Get ready, you are invited to NYWIFT member Varahi Pooja Mallipamula‘s Impure is coming to NY and throwing down at Cinema Village for the NYC premiere. This is the kind of night you don’t want to miss: red carpet energy, a historic venue, and the first ever East Coast screening of something we’ve all been waiting for. Come dressed to impress in your Indian best.
This premiere is all about celebrating life in true Indian International style. Grab your seat, bring your excitement, and let’s make some noise for Impure. See you in Manhattan! Impure is a movie about a cancelled wedding made with my wedding savings. Use coupon code NYWIFT to get 50% off. Tickets.
Sunday, Oct 18
Testing Testing Sandi Bachom will premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival. Beginning in the 1970s, Sandi Bachom had it all. She was one of the most sought-after commercial producers working with the world’s biggest brands – and in deep denial as she slid into addiction. Then unemployment. Then homelessness. In search of a second act, she bought a camera and started covering the news. Her first press pass came at age 70. She discovered her new mission – and a chance at redemption – in Charlottesville, where she covered the violent Unite the Right rally. Today Sandi is one of the most recognized independent journalists chronicling American extremism, with all the risk that entails, including broken bones and endless streams of threats. Then, when Trump gave full pardons to the criminals she has chronicled and began erasing evidence of their crimes, the weight of history fell squarely on her shoulders. Today, at 82, her battle is for the soul of America.Rosanna Arquette is an Executive Producer along with Solidad O’Brien. Executive Producer Nancy Lefkowitz and Bachom are NYWIFT members. Tickets.
When 10-year-old Sam loses the coveted role of Mary, Mother of God to her lighter-skinned friend and is cast as the Donkey instead, she questions her self-worth and embarks on a darkly comedic quest to remake herself into someone she thinks God (and everyone else) will love. Sam’s Hail Mary is a film that explores the white-washing of Divine Images, colorism, self-image, and the quiet ways in which children internalize a lack of representation. Help bring director/writer and NYWIFT member Daryl Bright Clay‘s story to life before the campaign ends on October 15. Make your contribution.
Friday, October 2 • 10 AM–5 PM
In this true-to-life story from NYWIFT Member Christina Eliopoulos, Yianni (Joe Cortese) and Plousia (Julia Ormond) own a charming Greek diner by the beach, where Yianni is a convivial host. One day, his mind and memory fading, Yianni imagines himself as a late-night TV talk show host. As his illness worsens, their love is tested. With faith, laughter and Plousia’s whimsical inventiveness, they live every moment to its fullest. Laemmle Royal Theater (11523 Santa Monica Blvd, LA) Meet the filmmakers at the upcoming Q&A. Tickets.
NYWIFT members Hyten Davidson and Ashley Bacon are crowdfunding for their sophomore feature Perception, which is now fiscally sponsored by NYWIFT. Perception is a folk horror film about an expectant couple who travel to sever financial ties with an obsessive matriarch and stumble into a yuletide nightmare generations in the making. Think Obsession but with a mother-son relationship that boils over into an explosive twist. Hyten co-penned the script and will produce; Ashley is also a producer and set to star. Additionally, Perception was just named a second rounder at Austin Film Festival. Read more and consider contributing here.
Emmy-nominated producer, founder of For Impact Productions and former NYWIFT Board President Simone Pero was recently featured on The Art of Film Funding podcast. She shares insights from her work helping mission-driven artists move beyond traditional funding models and build real ecosystems of support around issue-driven work, her signature Artists for Impact™ cohort program, the role of art and creative expression in social change, her involvement with NYWIFT and more. Give it a listen.
Friday, Oct 11
NYWIFT member Katrina Montgomery invites you to the first annual New York Muslim Film Festival. In recent years, Muslims have increasingly taken ownership of our narratives, telling our own stories with authenticity, nuance, and care. The New York Muslim Film Festival was created to celebrate this momentum and to provide a dedicated space where Muslim stories can be centered, honored, and shared on our own terms.
This festival is rooted in joy and seeks to uplift thoughtful, heartwarming, and life-affirming stories that reflect the richness of Muslim life, from love and humor to resilience, tenderness, and community. Through a welcoming and celebratory environment, the festival hopes filmmakers and audiences alike feel seen, connected, and inspired. Tickets.
NYWIFT member Kristin Samuelson‘s screenplay, The Funeral, won eight awards internationally, including: Grand Prize: Best Short Screenplay at the Berlin International Screenwriting Festival, Best Social Justice Screenplay at Cannes World Film Festival, Best Drama Screenplay at Hollywood Just 4 Shorts and Best Short Script at Madrid Shorts Festival. She;s now launched a Seed & Spark campaign to bring the film to life.
Inspired by Kristin’s childhood visits to her grandmother’s funeral home, The Funeral is a dramedy about a funeral director whose two curious grandchildren discover a man hiding inside one of the caskets. their ordinary day at the family funeral home turns into an extraordinary journey. As fear, humor, and humanity collide, the family must decide whether following the law matters more than saving a life. Support the production.
NYWIFT member Kasey O’Brien is raising $5000 to cover film festival fees and crew travel for Cue to Cue, a one-take short film written and directed by her and inspired by the Garret Theatre Co. The high-octane, darkly funny, and expertly acted short film Cue to Cue is ready for a world tour! In this one-take short, an anxious theatre director enters a frenzied tech rehearsal where a neurotic playwright, an underslept crew, and a broken toilet threaten to derail his world premiere days before opening night. Help them land a great premiere!
Oct 23–24 • 7 PM & Oct 25 • 4 PM
Stephanie Trudeau invites you to see Becoming Chavela, a musical play celebrating the life, music, and legacy of legendary Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, an iconic voice whose artistry and unforgettable presence continue to inspire generations. Teatro Latea, 107 Suffolk Street, NYC, 212-529-1948. Tickets.
