NYWIFT Blog

NYWIFT Black History Month Spotlight: Taylor Re Lynn

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 Taylor Re Lynn, an actor, singer, producer, and philanthropist.

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NYWIFT Black History Month Spotlight: Brianna Seagraves

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 Brianna Seagraves, an actress, writer, and award-winning producer. Brianna shares her acting inspirations and her directorial debut at the Billie Holiday Theater.

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What’s in Your Toolkit: Nan Gill-Wilson

Producer Nan Gill-Wilson shares the path of her varied career, the story behind her partnership with David Wilson, and how she is coping during COVID-19. 

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What’s in Your Toolkit: Caitlin McCarthy

Writer Caitlin McCarthy's strategy when times get tough? "Routine is my savior."

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State of the Industry: A Conversation with Film Production Freelancer Isabella Olaguera

Throughout the coming weeks, NYWIFT will sit down with members of the film and television community for a look at how the global COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the industry, particularly those who work in the indie and art house world. Our first conversation is with NYWIFT Member Isabella Olaguera, a 1st AD who is organizing an initiative to help feed freelancers who are struggling. She shares her insight into how life has come to a halt with so many productions on hold.

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NYWIFT’s Ekwa Msangi Tells Her Sundance Success Story

For Ekwa Msangi, the journey to Sundance was relatively fast. While her TV and movie-making career was moving along, it was arguably easier to get a footing for some of her East African-inspired TV projects in Kenya and South Africa than in the U.S. But thanks to the generous support of difficult-to-get awards from the Tribeca Film Festival, IFP and others, her career as a filmmaker catapulted into action when Farewell Amor, Ekwa’s feature film directorial debut, screened in the 2020 Sundance Film Festival U.S. dramatic feature competition. Ekwa talked to us about her experience at the fest.

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What’s in Your Toolkit: Jennifer Snowdon

NYWIFT member Jennifer Snowdon shares insights from her 25-year-career as a makeup artists and offers us a peek inside her makeup toolkit.

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“Ask for Jane” Producer and Star Cait Cortelyou Brings Women’s History to Life on Screen

NYWIFT member Cait Cortelyou has performed on stage or film since childhood but makes a breakthrough debut as producer (and star) of Ask for Jane, which screens at the NYWIFT Member Screening Series on November 19th. Cait sat down with us to discuss how a slice of women's history inspired her to make her producing debut, and what opportunities she sees for women working in the industry today.

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What’s in Your Toolkit: Sini Anderson

Our new column asks our members about their favorite tool, software, article of clothing, shoes on set, favorite scriptwriting software, etc. We caught up with Sini Anderson after her short film screening at the NYWIFT Women Calling the Shots Shorts Showcase at the Hamptons International Film Festival.

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NYWIFT Member Jill Salvino Brings LGBTQIA Documentary “Between the Shades” to Schools Nationwide

NYWIFT member Jill Salvino is an accomplished storyteller and commercial director with over 200 awards to her name, including an Emmy. But one of her proudest accomplishments is also one of her most recent – her feature documentary directorial debut Between the Shades. Profiled in The New York Times in April under the quippy headline “How Gay Are You?” the documentary asks just that, yet so much more. Salvino spoke to us about the process of making the film, working with her documentary subjects and what she hopes to accomplish with the film’s educational release.

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NYWIFT Member Spotlight: ‘Love & Vodka’ at the Cannes Film Market

NYWIFT Member Heidi Philipsen and a team of University of Michigan alums are heading to Cannes in their efforts to obtain funding for Love & Vodka – a fish-out-of-water romantic comedy set in Ukraine. Personae Entertainment’s producer/director Heidi Philipsen (Darcy) has teamed up with screenwriter/co-producer R.J. Fox to bring his story to the big screen, along with co-producers Niko Meissner (Darcy), Kathryn McDermott (First Knight), and associate producer Jon Wilson.

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NYWIFT Members use filmmaking to support the next generation of women running for political office

On November 12, 2018, just one week after a record 117 women won their races for seats in Congress, seven NYWIFT members came together with She Should Run, a non-partisan nonprofit with a mission to expand the talent pool of women running for office in the United States, hosted by HBO. NYWIFT member Kristina Teschner, who participated in the program, recently signed on as the Co-Director of Creative Strategy & New Media at the Cabán for Queens campaign, and shares more about the natural evolution between filmmaking and political campaigning.

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Trailblazing Through the Decades: Maleni Chaitoo (2010s)

NYWIFT member Maleni Chaitoo is an actress and a producer. She is known for her appearance in the “New York, I Love You” episode of Master of None and her role as Kayla on the web series Don’t Shoot the Messenger, on which she is also an executive producer.

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