Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Jackie Yunchang Zhang
Welcome to NYWIFT, Jackie Yunchang Zhang! Jackie Yunchang Zhang is a non-fiction filmmaker and video artist from Hangzhou, China, now based in New York. Working across lens-based media and animation, she uses a hybrid non-fiction approach to explore identity, resilience, and cultural displacement. With a strong sensitivity to emotion, memory, and interpersonal dynamics, her work examines how people navigate relationships, belonging, and the quiet negotiations of everyday life. Through an observational yet personal style, she creates films that reveal the subtle ways we understand ourselves and the world around us.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Nira Burstein
Welcome to NYWIFT, Nira Burstein! Nira Burstein is an award-winning filmmaker based in New York City. She is one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film and DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40. Her documentary debut Charm Circle won the Audience Award at Sheffield DocFest, is a New York Times Critic’s Pick, and had its streaming premiere on the Criterion Channel. Nira is a Gotham Fellow, and her work has been supported by the Jerome Foundation and Jewish Story Partners. She has made several narrative short films, including Gangrenous (Nantucket Film Festival) and Off & Away (Brooklyn Film Festival). Her latest short film, Dear Shop Girl, premiered at Woodstock Film Festival. She is currently in post on the documentary short Handymen.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Toni Manohar
Welcome to NYWIFT, Toni Manohar! Toni is a passionate creative and writer, working on fiction and non-fiction works, screenplays, and original piano compositions. By day, she is a technical writer and project manager in the pharmaceutical industry, but her creative endeavors occupy her nights and weekends. Writing and creating good stories has been a dream of Toni’s since she was a child, and one that she continues to pursue. She’s excited to be a part of this community and to connect with the like-minded filmmakers of NYWIFT!
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.
READ MORETop Takeaways – NYWIFT Talks: Filmmakers and Activists discuss the Black Lives Matter movement, their life’s work, and hope for the future.
In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, NYWIFT Talks recently brought together a vibrant panel of award-winning women filmmakers and activists dedicated to fighting systemic racism to discuss their work and the social justice revolution of today.
READ MORENYWIFT 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.
READ MOREFive Film Festival Takeaways
In 2018, from mid-October to mid-December, NYWIFT member Lauren Anders Brown embarked on a film festival season filled with five very different festivals. These are the valuable lessons she learned from each one.
READ MOREMy Film Angels
It takes a village to make a film. Here, NYWIFT member Jane Applegate give thanks to all those who lended a hand - literally and figuratively - over the years.
READ MOREAfriAmerican Immigrant Screening: Local Stories, Global Themes
In Astoria’s historic Kaufman Studios, filmmakers from the African diaspora shared local stories that reverberated deep into universal themes and questions as part of New York Women in Film & Television’s Women Filmmakers: Immigrant Stories screening on May 31, 2018. Featured in the fourth season of this NYWIFT series highlighting narrative and documentary films about the New York immigrant experience, these short films tackled issues ranging from the #MeToo movement, to President Trump’s travel ban, to the immigrant experience, to what it means to be American, among many more.
READ MOREExploring Family and the Individual Search for Self
NYWIFT WFPF Co-Chair Kirsten Larvick previews the eighth and final installment of the From the Vault: Women’s Advocacy on Film series, co-presented with UnionDocs. Two documentaries, Joe and Maxi and Anything You Want to Be, explore the nature of womanhood and identity within the contexts of family and society at large.
READ MORETrailblazing through the Decades: Cheryl Dunye (1990s)
Twenty years ago a young artist set out to make a documentary about women like herself: black queer filmmakers. She found nothing but homophobia and omission, and then… inspiration. The resulting film The Watermelon Woman marked Cheryl Dunye’s 1996 debut – a hybrid of autobiography, documentary, and comedy. It defies categorization and was the first feature film directed by an African American lesbian.
READ MORETerry’s Picks: Screening Series, The Oscars, HP Foundation
Screening Series: NYWIFT is seeking submissions for our fourth annual Women Filmmakers: Immigrant Stories series, which showcases films about women directors and/or producers that about the New York immigrant experience. The deadline to submit your project is February 16. The Oscars: 48 women were nominated for Oscars this year, tying with the 2016 awards for...
READ MORETerry’s Picks: Changing Times, Tiffany Haddish, Agnès Varda
Changing Times: Every day brings another story of sexual harassment (and worse) in Hollywood, from Louis C.K., to Kevin Spacey to Supergirl’s Andrew Kreisberg. Kudos to all the women and men who continue to speak out and support one another. Tiffany Haddish: Tiffany Haddish made Saturday Night Live history on Saturday by becoming the first...
READ MORENew York City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley: Defying Gender Roles, Embracing Community
We shine the spotlight on New York City Council Member of Elizabeth Crowley, who has supported NYWIFT Women Filmmakers: Immigrant Stories series since its inception in 2015.
READ MOREA Filmmaker is Born: How the Power of One Immigrant’s Story Inspired a Musician to Go Visual
Filmmakers create great stories every day. But once in a while, a truly great story will create a filmmaker. Such was the case with Patricia Shih and her debut film, Undocumented. The inspiring documentary, which was screened on March 16th at the Queens World Film Festival as part of NYWIFT’s Women Filmmakers: Immigrant Stories series, showcases the realization of the American Dream through the unique story of undocumented-immigrant-turned-successful-cardiac surgeon, Dr. Harold Fernandez.
READ MOREIna Archer, Custodian and Creator of Distinct Cinema, Picks Five Essential Films Restored by the WFPF
Experimental filmmaker and media preservationist Ina Archer picks her top five films preserved by the NYWIFT Women's Film Preservation Fund (WFPF) - each an important installment in the history of women filmmakers.
READ MORETerry’s Picks: The C Word, Gabourey Sidibe, Advice
Watch out for The C Word by Meghan O’Hara at DOC NYC Fest, a daring and intimate film that seeks to change the way we think about cancer. NYWIFT is proud to co-present five films by women filmmakers at this year’s festival. A Muse inspires: 2015 NYWIFT Muse honoree Gabourey Sidibe’s confidence has sparked a...
READ MORETerry’s Picks: February 11, 2014
(Building a Robot, from the new Getty collection whose proceeds benefit LeanIn.Org by Peter Cade/Iconica/Getty) PORING OVER: this wonderful list of grants and resources for filmmakers! NoFilmSchool has organized opportunities with upcoming deadlines from February to May by Documentary, Narrative and Screenwriting categories. ADMIRING THE ATTITUDE: that Lexi Alexander took at the Athena Film Festival over the...
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