Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Kash Blagrove
Welcome to NYWIFT, Kash Blagrove! Kash is a New York City–based producer with a background in advertising and a strong commitment to authenticity, diversity, and inclusion in media. Over the past decade, she has produced campaigns for major brands including eBay, European Wax Center, Peloton, and the WNBA, working across projects ranging from small-scale productions to multi-million-dollar campaigns. As a champion of body positivity, Kash brings a thoughtful perspective to her work, advocating for greater representation both in front of and behind the camera. Her work on the WNBA’s Line ’Em Up campaign earned multiple honors at the 2025 Clio Sports Awards, reflecting the real impact the project had beyond the screen. In our interview, Kash discussed her journey into producing, her commitment to inclusive storytelling, and the projects she’s excited to bring to life next.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Seohee Lee
Welcome to NYWIFT, Seohee Lee! Seohee is a filmmaker, content curator, and marketer working at the intersection of storytelling, cultural exchange, and audience engagement. Based in New York, she works at the Korea Creative Content Agency New York Center, where she leads international marketing strategies and content-driven programs connecting Korean creative industries with global audiences. Her work spans promotional video direction, film program curation, and large-scale cultural collaborations with institutions such as the Korean Cultural Center New York and the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea. Seohee holds an M.F.A. in Film Directing and an M.A. in Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon University. Drawing on both creative and strategic experience, she focuses on enhancing the global reach of cultural storytelling and fostering cross-border dialogue through media and programming. In our interview, Seohee Lee discusses her journey as a filmmaker and content curator, her work in international cultural programming, and the projects she hopes to explore next.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Chicava Roslyn Tate
Welcome to NYWIFT, Chicava Roslyn Tate! Chicava is a burlesque artist, actor, producer, and leading scholar of Black women in burlesque. For more than 15 years, she served as Creative Producer of New York City's Brown Girls Burlesque, developing political and theatrical shows across the United States and internationally. She holds an MFA from Goddard College, where her studies focused on Black burlesque herstory, Taoism, and sacred sexuality. Chicava’s work spans performance, film, and scholarship, including directing The Skin I’m In, co-writing and directing Becoming Betty Page, and developing the docu-series Black Bombshells, which explores the history and cultural legacy of Black women in burlesque and pinup. As an actor, she has appeared in Chock Full Till Empty, Nicole Franklin’s Title VII, and Spike Lee’s film She Hate Me. In our interview, Chicava reflected on her creative journey, the overlooked history of Black women in burlesque, and the projects she is developing to preserve and celebrate this cultural legacy.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Andrea Ocampo
Welcome to NYWIFT, Andrea Ocampo! Andrea is a first-generation Colombian filmmaker. She is drawn to the quiet forces that have shaped her: obsession, memory, and identity in flux. She is a proud artist who directs with a lens for the psychological and surreal, blending documentary realism with fiction laced in intimate mystery. Her latest short Blackout is a psychological thriller set in the NYC subway, and it premiered to a sold-out crowd on September 13th, 2025, at Imagine This Women’s Film Festival. She navigates global crises and inner landscapes with equal urgency. Her work has a raw, honest, and quietly haunted feel to it. Chances are you’ll feel it before you understand it. We spoke to Andrea in late Summer. She recounts her experience in the film industry, tracing her path from a passionate young filmmaker in her early childhood to the successful professional she has become.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Kilara Sen
Welcome to NYWIFT, Kilara Sen! Kilara is a Japanese female stand-up comedian and actor, moving to New York this summer. Kilara currently is hosting "Japanese Whisky Lockdown" and "Japanese Whisky World" on Dekanta TV. She also appeared on international TV such as Asia's Got Talent, Paul Hollywood Eats Japan, and Welcome to the Railworld. Kilara is gender non-conforming (she/they), a "hikikomori" survivor (a form of severe social withdrawal), and had a wonderful year at Historically Black Colleges. Based on her experiences, she shares her strong and funny voice on mental health, feminism, and diversity. She believes that everyone should be as special and unique as a unicorn. Also, she is the voice breaking stereotypes of Japanese women: the New Pink. Kilara thinks of herself as a Pink Unicorn. Kilara spoke to us about breaking down stereotypes, community support, and finding liberation through comedy.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Eunice Levis
Welcome to NYWIFT, Eunice Levis! Writer and director Eunice Levis is a first-generation Dominican American from the Bronx, New York. Eunice's work focuses on genre-bending stories that combine her love of horror, sci-fi, thriller, and fantasy, often through a diasporic lens. She seeks to disrupt and challenge dominant narratives around technology, race, gender, history, and diaspora identity by altering the stories we tell about them. Eunice spoke to us about her early inspirations, her latest work, and how genre stories offer a unique opportunity to challenge the status quo.
READ MORENYWIFT at Sundance: In Conversation with Katharina Otto-Bernstein
Since premiering and winning the Jury Prize in the 2022 Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival (the first to do so from the Indian subcontinent), Joyland has moved audiences worldwide with its human portrayal of the limits of love in the face of patriarchy. The film follows the youngest son in a traditional Pakistani family as he takes a job as a backup dancer in a Bollywood-style burlesque, and quickly becomes infatuated with the strong-willed trans woman who runs the show. The film is both a loving portrait of the people of Lahore, Pakistan, and a painful depiction of how rigid traditional gender roles and repressed sexuality can have a ripple effect that harms the whole community. NYWIFT member Katharina Otto-Bernstein, who produced Joyland, spoke to us about discovering new artists through mentorship, political pushback on Joyland, and how Malala Yousafzai helped the film finally reach Pakistani audiences.
READ MOREWomen Write Now: 2nd Year at Sundance Celebrating Women Writers
Developed in partnership with Sundance Institute and Founded by Hartbeat CEO Thai Randolph and Head of Film Candice Wilson Cherry, WOMEN WRITE NOW is a comedic writing fellowship designed to champion the next generation of Black women in comedy through mentorship, advocacy, production, and exhibition. Now in its second year, this year’s fellowship brought in three emerging writers, Mayanna Berrin, Kianna Butler Jabangwe, and Danielle Solomon to develop and produce their comedic short scripts under the guidance of some of the most influential Black women in comedy. The resulting projects were then brought into production by Hartbeat studios. Cherry and the writers spoke to us about their experience.
READ MOREWIFT Around the World: Postcard from MIPCOM Cannes
NYWIFT member Panayiota Pagoulatos returned to Cannes a second time this year to attend MIPCOM, where she was pleased to find celebrations of women and diversity in entertainment, and to preview several exciting new TV series.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Board Members: Kim Jackson
New NYWIFT Board Member Kim Jackson says 'I'd like to use my skills to support other women and support the success of other women. I think the issues that NYWIFT is interested in tackling which is equity is very very important.'
READ MOREFOUND: Highlights from an interview with the Director Amanda Lipitz and Producer Anita Gou (Part 2)
Found is a compassionately told story of the girls finding one another, finding their homeland, and finding themselves. Director Amanda Lipitz and Producer Anita Gou spoke with NYWIFT Board Member Christina Kiely about the experience of making the film and the powerful and often unexpected stories that emerged in the process. This is part two of their conversation.
READ MOREFOUND: Highlights from an interview with the Director Amanda Lipitz and Producer Anita Gou (Part 1)
Found is a compassionately told story of the girls finding one another, finding their homeland, and finding themselves. Director Amanda Lipitz and Producer Anita Gou spoke with NYWIFT Board Member Christina Kiely about the experience of making the film and the powerful and often unexpected stories that emerged in the process. This is part one of their conversation.
READ MOREFifth-Annual AudFest Deep Dives into Video, Impact, and Diversity in Storytelling with 2021 Theme, “Video is Eating the World”
AudPop, the global video platform and video creative marketplace, announces that the fifth annual AudFest, “Video is Eating the World,” will be held virtually from Nov. 3-5, 2021. AudFest celebrates and champions diversity and innovation in video by bringing together creative leaders of technology, brands, agencies, and video creators who are building, growing, and shaping the video economy.
READ MORECrystal R. Emery: Exposing Racism in Healthcare as America’s Most Lethal Pandemic
What makes COVID-19 even deadlier? Racism in medicine. NYWIFT member Crystal R. Emery’s documentary The Deadliest Disease in America traces the history of racism in American health care from the brutal medical experimentation forced upon enslaved peoples to the modern-day inequity in fatality rates and access to treatment experienced by people of color during the pandemic.
READ MOREOpinion: Hank Azaria apologized for playing Apu on ‘The Simpsons.’ I accept.
"As an Indian American actress, for me the shadow of Apu loomed larger in my life than I realized." NYWIFT Member Mellini Kantayya offers her take on the controversial "Simpsons" character - and subsequent fallout - in an insightful op-ed published in The Washington Post.
READ MORECynthia’s Picks: Black History Month
In celebration of Black History Month, let’s shine a light on the artists and changemakers in media.
READ MORENYWIFT Black History Month Spotlight: Zainab Ali
Happy Black History Month! At NYWIFT we are celebrating the Black creators and artists in our membership, while honoring Black culture & cinema throughout history. Today’s spotlight is on our member Zainab Ali, an award-winning producer of independent film with a background as a senior recruiter for major corporations who transitioned into filmmaking in her fifties. Zainab shares career highlights and her favorite inspirational figures.
READ MORERecap: NYWIFT Talks with Julie Taymor and Kimberly Guerrero About “The Glorias” and Getting Out the Vote
NYWIFT blogger Kristin Reiber Harris reflects on our powerful conversation with the team behind The Glorias, including Julie Taymor's creative process, the celebration of Native voices, and how we as women live in constant dialogue with our former selves.
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