NYWIFT at Sundance: In Conversation with Louis E. Perego Moreno
For NYWIFT Member Louis E. Perego Moreno and the team behind TheyDream, the road to the 2026 Sundance Film Festival was 18 years long. The feature documentary is a deeply personal tale from Writer, Director, Producer, DP, Animator, Editor and fellow NYWIFT Member William D. Cabellero. After 20 years of chronicling his Puerto Rican family, Cabellero and his mother face devastating losses. Through tears and laughter, they craft animations that bring their loved ones back to life, discovering that every act of creation is also an act of letting go. Consulting Producer Moreno has been with the project since it started as a short film nearly two decades ago. And there is extra sweetness to the team’s Sundance success: TheyDream, which debuted in the Next category, won the NEXT Special Jury Award for Creative Expression. He spoke to us about TheyDream’s journey to Park City and its timely cultural message.
READ MORENYWIFT at Sundance 2026: In Conversation with Jamie Kiernan O’Brien
NYWIFT Member Jamie Kiernan O'Brien is celebrating a remarkable achievement: still a student at NYU, her narrative short film Gender Studies is premiering at 2026 Sundance Film Festival…with screenings at SXSW to follow! In Gender Studies, a trans college student learns the girl she idolizes is sleeping with their teaching assistant and takes drastic steps to emulate her. Jamie was also Production Sound Mixer for Crisis Actor, directed by fellow NYU student Lily Platt. The narrative short follows an impulsive actress – recently fired from her day job – as she crashes a support group and spirals into a chaotic night that forces her to face her addiction to drama. Jamie spoke to us about this exciting milestone in her career.
READ MORENYWIFT Member Spotlight: Kristen Golden
Kristen Golden is a writer and producer whose creative work runs the gamut of genres. She wrote the screenplay AWE, for which she won the 2023 Athena Film Festival’s Chinonye Chukwu Emerging Writer Award, and was selected as a 2025 Screenplay Semi-finalist by the Cordillera International Film Festival. Kristen is a producer of the narrative short film Irving Berlin’s View of the East River, shot in Spring 2025. She is the co-author with her wife, Barbara Findlen, of the book Remarkable Women of the Twentieth Century: 100 Portraits of Achievement. Kristen is the speechwriter for the Women's Media Center. In our interview, Kristen discussed her award-winning screenplay AWE, the connection between advocacy and storytelling, and her advice for future female leaders.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Amy Heller
Welcome to NYWIFT, Amy Heller! Amy is the co-founder of Milestone Films, an award-winning film restoration and distribution company dedicated to rediscovering lost and overlooked films. After fleeing academia, Amy found her passion in the independent film world and co-founded Milestone with her partner Dennis Doros in 1990. For 35 years, their mission has been to restore forgotten cinema, particularly films by and about women, people of color, Native Americans, and LGBTQ+ community members. Amy spoke to us about her journey in film distribution, the evolution of the industry over four decades, and her exciting upcoming transition as she passes Milestone to the next generation.
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