Join NYWIFT for the Theatrical Premiere of LILLY at Quad Cinema followed by a conversation with writer/director Rachel Feldman, producer Allyn Stewart, and NYWIFT CEO Cynthia Lopez.
Date: Friday, May 9, 2025
Time: 7:15 PM
Location: Quad Cinema – 34 W. 13th Street
Cost: $18; show NYWIFT membership card at the door for $2 off
About the Film:
Runtime: 93 minutes
LILLY is a powerful dramatic film starring Patricia Clarkson, John Benjamin Hickey and Thomas Sadoski and directed by Rachel Feldman. Based on the remarkable true story of working-class hero, Lilly Ledbetter, a hard-working Alabama tire factory supervisor whose singular goal is to lift her family into the middle class. Having grown up in poverty, she endures a work environment plagued by pervasive harassment for the sake of the best paycheck in the county. As retirement approaches, Lilly discovers that the system has been cheating her, paying her close to half of what the men with the same jobs are earning. Outraged, Lilly fights this injustice to the Supreme Court, the corridors of Congress and eventually The White House all while powerful forces try to shut her down. LILLY follows the transformation of an ordinary citizen into the face of an issue, illuminating the impact a single, courageous person can have.
LILLY is starring NYWIFT 2015 Muse Honoree Patricia Clarkson, written/directed by NYWIFT Ravenal Feature Film Grant recipient Rachel Feldman, and former NYWIFT Board President and President’s Council Chair Simone Pero is one of the LILLY film producers.
Panelists:
Rachel Feldman is a seasoned director of dramatic television. LILLY is her first feature film. A director whose professional career began at a time when only 1% of film and television production was directed by women, it’s evident what drew this filmmaker to Lilly Ledbetter’s story of perseverance and tenacity.
Feldman’s recent credits include the pilot and first season of the award-winning Netflix series, The Baxters, as well as multiple episodes of Blue Bloods, The Rookie, and Criminal Minds. She credits Steven Bochco and David E. Kelley for launching her career as a television director with episodes of Doogie Howser and Picket Fences.
Feldman’s award-winning short films have been broadcast on HBO, PBS, and Showtime, produced on grants from The Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, AFI, Kodak, and Panavision.
The screenplay for LILLY was selected for the Athena List and Breaking Through the Lens and was awarded a NYWIFT Ravenal Foundation Grant. Feldman’s pilot Kinks won the ScreenCraft Best Pilot Award, WGA Best Spec Pilot, WGA Drama Queens, and was the U.S. selection for Cannes Series MIPTV. Other screenplays have been produced by Lifetime Television and optioned by Double Nickel Entertainment, Marc Platt Productions, Mark Canton, Lakeshore Entertainment, eOne, and ABC Family.
Feldman is a former chair of the DGA Women’s Steering Committee and an activist for gender parity in the film industry. You can read her articles at https://www.rachelfeldman.com/activism, watch her TED Talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMc4XzAcy54, and follow her @WomenCallAction.
Allyn Stewart, p.g.a. | Producer, developed and produced Sully, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks. Stewart
also produced Trial By Fire, directed by Edward Zwick, starring Laura Dern. Her last film, Land, starring and directed by Robin Wright, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2021. Stewart began her career at 20th Century Fox in London and Paris. As a senior production executive at Warner Bros., she was responsible for the production of Academy Award winners Driving Miss Daisy and Dangerous Liaisons. Other producing credits include Madeline, I Dreamed of Africa, and Man of the House.
Cynthia López (Moderator) is the Chief Executive Officer of NYWIFT, an award-winning media strategist, and former Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, where she implemented strategies to support film and TV production throughout the five boroughs. López is the recipient of many coveted industry awards including: 11 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, a Special Emmy Award for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking, three Peabody Awards, and two duPont-Columbia Awards.
Prior to working as Commissioner, López was Executive Vice President and co-Executive Producer of the award-winning PBS documentary series American Documentary | POV, and was involved in the organization’s strategic growth and creative development for 14 years. Notable partnerships include: New York Times, Reuters, Al-Jazeera Network, Discovery Communications, The Moth, Story Corps, Harpo Studios and ABC News, NIGHTLINE with Ted Koppel. López is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), and is proud to have spent her career collaborating with independent filmmakers across all portions of the film and television industry. She served on the Board of Trustees for the Paley Center, NYC & Company, Museum of the Moving Image and the Tribeca Film Institute Latin America Fund Advisory Board. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Color Congress, Latino Public Broadcasting, Manhattan Neighborhood Network, The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors, and Women in Film & Television International (WIFTI).
34 West 13th Street
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NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
