Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Sonia Malfa
Let's give a warm welcome to new NYWIFT member Sonia Malfa! Inspired by nature and myth, Sonia Malfa is a writer/director who creates visually poetic films that draw from her Puerto Rican-American roots. From music video and commercials to documentary and narrative film, her directing work has been featured in Tribeca Festival, AdAge, Vogue Italia, and won both Webby and Clio Awards. Sonia is currently in development on her narrative feature debut, It's Always Sunni, which was selected for the Gotham Project Market and Film Independent’s Fast Track. Most recently, Sonia was selected for the NALIP/Netflix Woman of Color Film Incubator and the Actors Studio Directors Unit. In our interview, Sonia discusses her deep connection to nature, commercial projects, the importance of creative community, and her road trip film - with a twist!
READ MORENYWIFT at Sundance: Spotlight on Rachel Lears
Rachel Lears returns to Sundance on the heels of her 2019 festival smash-hit Knock Down the House, which sold to Netflix for a record $10 million, making it the biggest documentary sale ever brokered at a film festival. The film followed female insurgent candidates hoping to topple incumbents in an electric primary race for Congress, and focused heavily on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as she became the youngest member of the U.S. Congress.
Ocasio-Cortez now appears again in Lears’s To the End, this time as an established leader raising up another generation of young activists. We spoke to Lears about her process, watching Ocasio-Cortez develop as a politician, and why she still has hope in the face of the climate crisis.
