NYWIFT Member Spotlight Archives - New York Women in Film & TelevisionNew York Women in Film & Television

NYWIFT Women’s History Month Spotlight: Janine McGoldrick

Janine McGoldrick is a veteran entertainment executive who has created and implemented strategic distribution and communications campaigns for television and film, including for the 2017 Academy Award-winner "The Salesman." She discusses her work on that campaign, her initial transition from politics to entertainment, and making her first documentary, about an invisible disease that confounds doctors.

NYWIFT Women’s History Month Spotlight: Kelsey Marsh

NYWIFT Member Kelsey Marsh is a Line Producer at NowThis currently overseeing their Earth and Impact partnerships. She has six years experience in managing inspiring, entertaining, and educational productions for broadcast and digital platforms. Kelsey shares how her experience in the Peace Corps led her to a career combining media and service, her Women's History Month inspirations, and more.

NYWIFT Women’s History Month Spotlight: Leah Curney

We continue to celebrate our creative members who are making innovative impacts through entertainment, media, film, and television, with a special spotlight our NYWIFT Women Crush Wednesdays Podcast team members. Today writer, director, producer and performer Leah Curney discusses her latest short film, her introduction to NYWIFT through the New Works Lab, women's history inspirations and more.

NYWIFT Women’s History Month Spotlight: January Green

Happy Women's History Month! At NYWIFT as we continue to celebrate our creative members who are making innovative impacts throughout entertainment, media, film, and television, we would like to spotlight our NYWIFT Women Crush Wednesdays Podcast team members. Today's spotlight is January Green, a Manager of Digital Marketing Copy, SEO & product description pages, aspiring screenwriter, and imaginative feature film writer.

Recognizing Our Shared Humanity: Idil Ibrahim on Her Film “Sega”

Women filmmakers throughout history have often been at the forefront of advancing social change, and NYWIFT member Idil Ibrahim is no exception. Ibrahim sat down with us to discuss the making of her award-winning short film "Sega" and how she hopes it might change viewers’ perception of modern immigrant stories.

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.

NYWIFT Black History Month Spotlight: Zainab Ali

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 Zainab Ali, an award-winning producer of independent film with a background as a senior recruiter for major corporations who transitioned into filmmaking in her fifties. Zainab shares career highlights and her favorite inspirational figures.

All In: The Fight for Democracy – A Conversation with Lisa Cortés (Part II)

The second part of Christina Kiely's two-part interview with All In: The Fight for Democracy co-director Lisa Cortés, conducted on Zoom in anticipation of her participation at the NYWIFT 2020 Creative Workforce Summit: Documentary Makers, Industry and Funders in Conversation next week.

All In: The Fight for Democracy – A Conversation with Lisa Cortés (Part I)

All In: The Fight for Democracy is the essential new documentary the LA Times called “an eloquent history lesson on voting rights.” Co-directed by Lisa Cortés and Liz Garbus, the film tells the painful history of voter suppression in America as it traces the story of gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and her 2018 run in Georgia. Oscar-nominated producer NYWIFT Member Lisa Cortés (Precious, The Apollo, Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion) joined NYWIFT Board Member Christina Kiely to discuss All In: The Fight for Democracy, why it matters so much right now, how they pulled it off during the pandemic, and why Stacey Abrams’s story needed to be the spine of the film – apart from the fact that we love her.

“Work” Re-Tells the Mythical Story of Lilith with a Modern Feminist Twist

Two NYWIFT members have joined forces with a team of immigrant women filmmakers to tell the story of WORK, a short film written and directed by Aoife Williamson. WORK, a comedy-drama, follows Lilith, a musician scrambling to create a song in one day to submit for a job that could sky-rocket her music career. It just so happens that this day is a very busy day at her money job... and it just so happens that her “money job” is as a sex worker, named Eve.

AmeRican Poet Tato Laviera: Affirmation in the words, rhythms and blended language of an influential Nuyorican poet

Poet Tato Laviera pushed the boundaries of language, inspired the spoken word movement, and defined the Nuyorican experience. As an artist he innovated: he combined music, theater, poetry, dance, the power of dramatic contrasts and a commitment to social activism to create a new type of poetry. As both a poet and performer, he documented his own experience and affirmed his community’s worth, redefined its sense of identity. NYWIFT member Vivian Hernandez Ortiz discusses her film about Tato's legacy, which screens as part of this weekend's NYWIFT Member Screening.

A Conversation with Roberta Friedman on the Art and Business of Movie Making

NYWIFT member Roberta Friedman’s three-pronged moviemaking career - spanning experimental filmmaking, commercial work, and academia - has been on an upward trajectory for decades. She sits down to discuss her particular path and her advice for those looking to carve their own.

NYWIFT Member’s MicroMania Film Fest Channel Reaches 80,000 Views in First Two Months

In response to Covid-19, NYWIFT member and film festival creator/founder Lukia Costello decided to take advantage of social-distancing by taking her film festival online. MicroMania Film Festival was created to be more than a one-off event and actively participates in amplifying quality independent short films

Michele Remsen’s First Feature Film Defies the Odds

Great ideas, even when plentiful, can have a short shelf life when confronted with sobering realities. But NYWIFT Michele Remsen knows how to persevere. As co-star, producer, director, and screenwriter of an anti-romantic comedy that defies expectations, Michele was the force that made it happen: in 12 days, on a shoestring budget.

State of the Industry: A Conversation with Adriana Shaw of Herflix

Adriana Shaw is the Founder and President of Herflix, an online movie theater curating and streaming films by, for & about women, with 32 years of experience as a successful executive in home video and film distribution. Now sheltering at home, she discusses how she is coping during the COVID-19 pandemic and how her Herflix is adjusting to the challenging times.

NYWIFT Member Crystal R. Emery’s THE DEADLIEST DISEASE IN AMERICA Screens May 7th

Intended to reduce systemic negligence creating barriers of access to health care, Producer/ Director Crystal R. Emery will livestream her documentary film, The Deadliest Disease in America on Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 7PM ET on Streamyard, YouTube and Facebook Live – with a special film introduction by Broadcast Journalist Soledad O’Brien.

Death Row Stories Season 5 Features Work of Six NYWIFT Members

Season 5 of Death Row Stories premieres this Sunday, April 19 at 8 PM ET/CT on HLN. Told by current and former death row inmates, each episode of Death Row Stories seeks to unravel the truth behind a different capital murder case and poses tough questions about the U.S. capital punishment system. This season, the series features work by six NYWIFT members.

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.

NYWIFT Blog