NYWIFT Blog

Terry’s Picks: Great Gifts, Online Festival, Yvonne Russo

Thank you to everyone who attended the 39th Annual Muse Awards on Thursday! It was such an honor to receive the Made in NY Award from the Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment, and I was touched by how many of our members came out to support our organization (and give me a hug). My...

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Terry’s Picks: Caregiver Crisis, NewFest Screening, Photo Display

Caregiver Crisis: Our sister chapter WIFT Australia just released an interesting study, called “Honey, I Hid the Kids!” which details the significant challenges parents and other caregivers in the film and television industry in Australia. 74% of respondents reported the impact of caring work on their role in the industry as negative; anecdotes include people...

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Terry’s Picks: Catherine Hardwicke, Hamptons Award, Queens World

Catherine Hardwicke: This profile of Catherine Hardwicke will and should make you angry. It proves the rampant sexism that is still alive and well in our business. After breaking box office records with Twilight, Hardwicke should have been in demand. She was thanked with a cupcake (yes, really), labeled as “difficult,” and her career was...

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Terry’s Picks: Eve Ensler, Equality Trending & Women in Disaster Movies Parody

  Equality is Trending: The Sh*t People Say to Women Directors blog that went viral last week tells Hollywood horror stories that shed the light on the struggle for equality in the film & television industry.   Spread the Word: Blockbuster action pic Mad Max: Fury Road hired Vagina Monologues playwright and activist Eve Ensler...

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Terry’s Picks: Yes Please, More Women-centric Content, Tables Turned & Exceptional Performances

Really Loved: Clouds of Sils Maria and the exceptional performances by Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart. Excited to Share: Lena Dunham and Rose Byrne both started all-women production companies to get more women-centric content out in the world. A Must Watch: Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Patricia Arquette and Amy Schumer tell it like it is...

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Terry’s Picks: Orphan Black, Captain Marvel & Guys We Love

Thrilled to hear: Marvel sets Nicole Pearlman and Meg Lefavue to write its forthcoming tent-pole feature Captain Marvel. Gotta give a shout-out to: guys like Paul Feig and Joss Whedon who support and showcase women in film. I’m obsessed: with Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black – bringing not just one but more than eight strong women to...

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Terry’s Picks: Cannes Gets with IT, Grace and Frankie, Bratz Make-over and More

I agree: Keep independent documentaries on prime time! Norman Lear calls out PBS in The New York Times.   Check this out: This smart Australian mom turned her daughter’s overly made-up Bratz dolls into realistic looking girls.   I’m cracking up: Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as best friends whose husbands leave them…for each other....

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Terry’s Picks: Suffragette, Shonda Rhimes & Disruptive Women

Still from Suffragette Loving NYWIFT Members: NYWIFT board member Maura Kelly interviewed member Erin Day about her work as the Festival Director of the New York Television Festival. This interview is part of Maura’s “Disruptive Women” blog series for The Huffington Post. Totally Agree: Shonda Rhimes isn’t “diversifying” TV. She’s “normalizing” it. This Has Got My Vote: Focus...

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Terry’s Picks: #AskHerMore, Billie Jean King & Women’s Purchasing Power

Manicure circa 1961 Photograph Horst P. Horst I Agree: It’s humiliating! That’s what Julianne Moore thinks about E!’s ridiculous “mani-cam” at red carpets. Forget the nails – instead, #AskHerMore. Confirming What I knew: For the 5th year in a row, women made up the majority of moviegoers in the U.S. and Canada. Anticipating: Game. Set. Match! Elizabeth...

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Terry’s Picks: Minorities Losing Ground in Hollywood, Maggie Smith & HBO’s  Gloria Steinam

Still image of Maggie Smith in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Enough already! The recent WGA study shows that women and minorities are actually losing ground in terms of employment as writers in Hollywood. Loved: Maggie Smith in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Her character is using her retirement to re-invent herself as a...

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Terry’s Picks: Patricia Arquette, Anne Hubbell & Immigrant Women Film Series

Judith: Portrait of a Street Vendor is screening Friday night. Read the write up of the film series in the Queens Courier.  Join Me: Friday night in Queens for the first installment of our film series, Immigrant Women: Sharing Our Voices Through Film. We will be showing three short films on activism followed by a...

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Terry’s Picks: Dog Fight, Contest & Firelight Media

Still image from Dog Fight, with River Pheonix and Lili Tayler Check Out: this chance to direct a 5–10 minute short based on the Twilight saga, with a $50,000 budget. It is part of a contest co-sponsored by Women in Film/LA. There is also a chance to win a Volvo! Looking Forward: to seeing Dog Fight on...

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MoMA & NYWIFT: WOMEN WRITING THE LANGUAGE OF CINEMA

Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985. USA. Directed by Susan Seidelman. Photo courtesy MoMA We are never more excited here at NYWIFT then when the spotlight shines on the many accomplishments of women in the film industry. For two weeks in February that is exactly what is happening. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of NYWIFT’s Women’s Film Preservation Fund...

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Terry’s Picks: Celluloid Ceiling Report, Wendy Blackstone & Carte Blanche Film Series

Composer and NYWIFT member Wendy Blackstone recording a score. Photograph courtesy of Wendy Blackstone. I find myself: asking the same question. Where is the progress? Women directors worked on as many Hollywood films in 2014 as they did in 1998. Check out the new Celluloid Ceiling Report by Martha Lauzen. Congratulations to: NYWIFT member Wendy Blackstone,...

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Terry’s Picks: NYWIFT Members at Sundance, Bentonville Film Festival & What to Look for in 2015

Can’t Wait for: Geena Davis to launch the Bentonville Film Festival to “champion women and diversity in film.” The festival runs May 5-9 in Bentonville, AK. Check out the press release from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Congratulations to: NYWIFT members with films at Sundance this year. Make sure to check out these Member films screening at Sundance this...

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Terry’s Picks: Sony Hack, Ana Y Yo, and Alysia Reiner

Alysia Reiner on the Red Carpet at the 2014 NYWIFT Muse Awards.   Following: Hollywood exposed by the latest leaks from the Sony Pictures hack. It has us all reeling, from reading about income inequality among female executives to learning Aaron Sorkin’s view that women’s roles are not as challenging as men’s roles. The real...

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Terry’s Picks: Muse Award Wrap-Ups, ‘Isn’t It Delicious,’ The Black List & Amy Schumer

Robert LuPone and Kathleen Chalfant in Isn’t It Delicious. Photo Courtesy of Empekay Kayjaykay Productions.   Don’t miss: NYWIFT’s 34th Annual Muse Awards’ recaps (nywift.org and NYWIFT Blog) if you missed the event held last week in New York featuring honorees Mary Bailey, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dawn Ostroff and Wanda Sykes. It was a huge success! Feeling frustrated: with signs of progress...

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Terry’s Picks: Wonder Woman, Amma Asante & Sarah Hanssen

First official photo of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Check it out: NYWIFT Member Sarah Hanssen directed a video with The Wall Street Journal’s Kelly Crow about Peruvian artist Grimanesa Amoros. Way to go: Belle Director Amma Asante speaks out about the difficulties of funding  a “sophomore movie” being “compounded when the filmmaker is female and/or a minority” during her keynote speech at the...

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