NYWIFT Blog

NYWIFT Fund for Women Filmmakers Extends Deadline

It Felt Like Love, winner of the Nancy Malone Marketing and Promotion Grant and a 2013 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection. New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) provides grants to women filmmakers to complete and promote their film projects. This year, those grants include a new addition: the Ravenal Foundation Grant, supporting a woman second-time feature film...

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Member Spotlight: Kelly Glover

Kelly Glover during the production of The Contradictions of Fair Hope. You may recognize Kelly Glover’s name from her roundup posts right here on our blog, where she manages to find a compelling mix of TV, film and digital news every week. I was lucky enough to catch up with Glover to learn about her...

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New Opportunities From NYTVF, Disney, Tribeca, IFP

We’re highlighting some of the latest, most innovative competitions and programs for film, TV, digital, and writing: For the second year in a row, the Tribeca Film Festival has launched the #6SECFILMS Competition. Choose from one of the categories — #GENRE, #DRAMA, #COMEDY, #ANIMATION — and enter as many Vines as you want by March 27, 2014. Just...

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The 2014 Athena Film Festival Is This Week

//player.vimeo.com/video/84185523?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0 The fourth annual Athena Film Festival kicks off this Thursday (Feb. 6) and runs through Sunday (Feb. 9) on the Barnard College campus in NYC.  The lineup includes feature films (Short Term 12, In a World…), documentaries (Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth), a variety of shorts, as well as panels (A Conversation With Lexi Alexander, The Women...

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Sundance 2014: Director Maya Forbes On ‘Infinitely Polar Bear’

If you’re at Sundance, don’t miss this debut feature from writer-director Maya Forbes. We’re hoping to see Infinitely Polar Bear, starring Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana, in theaters soon.  — MICHELE DAGLE

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Oscar-Nominated Director Gets Real

Director Lexi Alexander. Photo via Indiewire.com. Women & Hollywood has published an influential post by Lexi Alexander from her blog. It’s a must-read about gender inequality in film and why progress over the last several decades has been dismal. Here Alexander discusses a 1978 report on equal-employment practices in the film industry:  Okay, so we know that people have...

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Submit It! Winter & Spring Calls for Entries

We’ve rounded up the top film festivals, writing competitions, and grants with winter or spring deadlines. It’s time to polish that script, shoot that video, upload that film. We’ll be updating this list as more submission dates become available, so check back often. Film/Video/TV Festivals, Contests, Labs & ScreeningsNashville Film Festival (WAB 1/10)LA Film Festival (1/10,...

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Road to Muse: Honoree Connie Britton

http://abc.go.com/embed/VDKA0_d5hxqz4b If you’re not one of the many fans spending Wednesday nights watching Nashville, you’re missing out on some exciting television. Connie Britton shines as Rayna Jaymes, a music legend trying to maintain her “Queen of Country” status. NYWIFT is honoring the Friday Night Lights star—along with Ellen Barkin, Robin Wright, Sonia Manzano, Bravo President Frances...

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‘Monster-Fighting Feminists’

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Over at RogerEbert.com, Bob Calhoun discusses the liberated women of 1950s sci-fi cinema — classics like Them! (1954) and The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) — and why the woman scientist archetype waned in later decades: In her October 8, 2013 RogerEbert.com piece, “Visual Pleasure and Voodoo Demographics: a Reflection on...

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After 50 Years, Will We Finally Get a Woman Doctor Who?

Helen Mirren wants to be the next Doc (we love this idea!). Big news this week for Doctor Who fans: the show’s lead actor is out the door. For those who don’t watch the British hit series, Slate’s XX factor breaks it down: The Doctor is basically immortal. In the biggest power grab in the history of...

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‘Brave’ Gets Disney-Princessfied

Photo via The Guardian.  Oscar-winning ‘Brave’ Director/Writer Brenda Chapman is slamming Disney for sexualizing the animated film’s hero, Merida, for an upcoming toy line. With a cinched waist, low-cut gown, and sans bow and arrows, the once-realistic role model now looks like every other “perfect” princess in the Disney lineup.  “I think it’s atrocious what...

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Mother’s Day Movie: ‘Mermaids’ (1990)

An ode to complex mother-daughter relationships, Mermaids stars Cher as an offbeat, fun-loving mother to serious teen Winona Ryder and 9-year-old Christina Ricci. Cher recently celebrated her own amazing mother with Dear Mom, Love Cher on Lifetime. — MICHELE DAGLE

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Submit It! Spring/Summer Call for Entries

We’ve rounded up top film fests, writing competitions, and grants with spring or summer deadlines. It’s time to polish that script, shoot that video, or burn those DVDS. Go, go, go Film festivals, video/TV contests & labsJust For Laughs Comedy Search (final deadline: 5/10)Southhampton Arts’ 20/20/20 Film Program (final: 5/15)Dogfish Accelerator for Film Producers (early: 4/19, regular:...

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What Can We Do About the Under-representation of Women in Screenwriting?

There has been a very thoughtful and extensive conversation going on over at the The Black Board (community of the Black List and Go Into The Story). It arose from this: The Nicholl’s website reveals a startling stat: 1 in 4 of their applicants are women. They’re referring to the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, of course, which is accepting...

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What to See at This Year’s Montclair Film Festival

The second annual Montclair Film Festival in Northern New Jersey runs from April 29 to May 5 and will screen more than 80 films — many of them directed by women. Here’s just a sample of what not to miss: Begin your festival week on Tuesday with Gideon’s Army. Directed by NYWIFT member Dawn Porter, the...

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