NYWIFT Blog

New York City Artist Corp Grants Information Workshop – Be Ready for Cycles 2 and 3!!

City Artist Corps Grants will distribute one-time $5,000 grants to more than 3,000 working NYC artists – including filmmakers – who will engage the public with arts activities across New York City’s five boroughs beginning this July. In conversation with Leslie Fields-Cruz.

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NYWIFT Talks & In Creative Company Discuss with EVP, Specials, Music Programming and Music Strategy for BET Networks, Connie Orlando

On this week's NYWIFT Talks, join us as we talk to Connie Orlando (EVP, Specials, Music Programming and Music Strategy for BET Networks) about pulling off the impossible with pivoting the BET awards to a virtual presentation in 2020 and what it looks like in shifting back towards in person events this year and beyond. This conversation will be moderated by Co-Founder and Head of Programming at In Creative Company Mara Webster.

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NYWIFT Talks Reel Works

On this week's NYWIFT Talks, join the team behind Reel Works Co-Founder, Senior Director of Education and Programming Stephanie Walter Williams, Director of Workforce and External Partnerships Keisha Katz to discuss 20 years of Reel Works and the impact they have made by providing platforms for the underserved community while inspiring others to follow a similar path.

This conversation will be moderated by NYWIFT Board Member, Flo Mitchell-Brown.

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NYWIFT Talks with Tonya McCornell of the NYWIFT Mom’s Network

On this week's NYWIFT Talks, join us for a conversation with founder of MOM Film Fest and the Mom's Network for NYWIFT, Tonya McCornell. Moderated by Maud Kersnowski-Sachs.

We will discuss the challenge for mothers balancing career and family while working within the demanding and competitive television and film industry.

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NYWIFT Talks with Provincetown Film Society’s Blythe Frank and Lisa Viola

On this week's NYWIFT Talks, join us for a conversation with Executive Producer of Provincetown Film Society, Blythe Frank Artistic Director, Lisa Viola to discuss this year's Provincetown Film Festival taking place from June 16-25. We will be discussing the festivals shift from in-person to virtual to multidimensional as they take on a hybrid approach this year and how the global pandemic affected the festival.

This conversation will be moderated by NYWIFT Board Member, Gretchen McGowan.

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NYWIFT Talks & In Creative Company Discuss Current/Future State of Film Industry in NYC with Lesli Klainberg and Eugene Hernandez

On this week’s NYWIFT Talks, we discuss NYFF 2021, Film at Lincoln Center Virtual Cinema, and what to expect from the current/future state of film in NY and the industry. Panelists include Lesli Klainberg (Executive Director of Film at Lincoln Center) and Eugene Hernandez (Director of the New York Film Festival and Publisher of Film Comment at Film at Lincoln Center).

The conversation will be moderated by Co-Founder and Head of Programming at In Creative Company Mara Webster.

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NYWIFT Industry Screening: ‘In the Same Breath’ Screening + Q&A

Join NYWIFT for a screening of In the Same Breath followed by a Q&A with Nanfu Wang (Director, Producer), NYWIFT Member Carolyn Hepburn (Producer), Jialing Zhang (Producer), Julie Goldman (Producer), and Christopher Clements (Producer).

In the Same Breath recounts the origin and spread of the novel coronavirus from the earliest days of the outbreak in Wuhan to it s rampage across the United States. In a deeply personal approach, Wang, who was born in China and now lives in the United States, explores the parallel campaigns of misinformation waged by leadership and the devastating impact on citizens of both countries.

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NYWIFT Talks: NYWIFT Goes to the Oscars: ‘Feeling Through’

Join NYWIFT for a screening of the Academy Award Nominee for Best Narrative Short, Feeling Through. Followed by a Q&A with 1st Assistant Director and NYWIFT Member, Catriona Rubenis-Stevens.

Feeling Through, the first film to star a DeafBlind actor, is a coming of age story that follows Tereek, a teen wandering the streets of New York, desperate for a place to crash when he encounters Artie, a DeafBlind man in need of help getting home. From an awkward meeting between strangers emerges an intimate bond, and a journey that forever changes Tereek.

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NYWIFT Talks: ReelAbilities Film Festival

On this week's NYWIFT Talks with ReelAbilities Director and Co-Founder Isaac Zablocki, Michele Spitz(Woman of Her Word), and Lisa Denker (filmmaker), we discuss the changes that ReelAbilities has instituted for the Disabled Community and what progress still needs to be made. We explore the ways movie theaters need to re-structure to accommodate ADA laws, how filmmakers are paving their way to Hollywood with their original stories, and what Reel Abilities offers for disabled filmmakers.

This conversation will be moderated by Executive Director at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Rachel Byrne.

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NYWIFT Talks: NYWIFT Goes to the Oscars: ‘The Mole Agent’

Join NYWIFT for a screening of the Academy Award Nominees for Best Narrative Short, Feeling Through, and Best Documentary, The Mole Agent. Followed by a Q&A with Maite Alberdi (Director, Producer of The Mole Agent), Marcela Santibañez (Producer of The Mole Agent), Julie Goldman and (Executive Producer of The Mole Agent).

Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent is a stylish combination of an observational documentary and a spy movie, with sleek camerawork and wonderfully watchable characters. It’s a unique meditation on compassion and loneliness that will infiltrate your heart and never let go.

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NYWIFT Talks: COVID-19 Compliance

On this week's NYWIFT Talks, we will discuss how COVID-19 has affected production life and the best practices for preparing for the on-set challenges COVID-19 presents.

Speakers include Producer Blair Breard. Moderated by NYWIFT Board Member Maria Miles.

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NYWIFT Talks: Asian American Representation in Media

On this week's NYWIFT Talks, we explore the intersection of the pandemic and how gender equality and race are directly impacted on the Asian American community. We will also discuss how media is complicit in perpetuating Asian stereotypes including how some journalists portray hate crimes against the Asian American community.

We are joined by filmmaker Diane Paragas (Yellow Rose), Publicist David Ninh (Kino Lorber), Kyung B. Yoon (Korean American Community Foundation) and Merrill Sterritt (Cinereach). This conversation will be moderated by NYWIFT Board Member, S. Casper Wong

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Retirement Planning for Freelancers – April 2021

Join Certified Financial Planners, Gail Linn and William Fischer at Fortis Lux Financial (an office of MassMutual) for their workshop, Retirement Planning for Freelancers. They will inform about the key concepts needed to consider when it comes to saving for retirement, protection strategies, business transition, estate planning and more.

This event is FREE and open exclusively to NYWIFT members.

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NYWIFT Virtual Hangout with The Gotham

Gather together online with your NYWIFT colleagues at our April virtual speed networking mixer. We will be joined by our friends from The Gotham (formerly IFP)!

Come ready to share creative ideas, suggestions, and contact info for further engagement. 

We will begin the evening with a brief salon conversation with The Gotham's Deputy Director Kia Brooks to discuss the organization's latest opportunities and initiatives, followed by an hour of speed networking. The hour will be broken up into smaller chunks of time, during which you will be randomly paired off with other attendees to network one-on-one. 

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NYWIFT Member Screening: No Fear No Favor

Join us for this month’s FREE virtual NYWIFT Member Screening as we honor Earth Day with Mirra Bank's documentary feature, No Fear No Favor, about African communities fighting the poaching crisis by protecting their wildlife for future generations.

Watch the films any time Thursday, April 22 at 3 PM through Monday, April 26, then join us for a Q&A with Mirra Bank moderated by acclaimed wildlife journalist Peter Canby.

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Virtual Theatrical Experience: 2021 S.W.A.N. (Support Women Artists Now) Day Screening – ‘Farewell Amor’

Join NYWIFT, SAG-AFTRA, FF2 Media, Women in the Arts & Media Coalition (WAMC), HerFlix, In Creative Company, Gotham and African-American Women in Cinema (AAWIC) for a screening of Farewell Amor in recognition of S.W.A.N. (Support Women Artists Now) Day, an annual event on the last Saturday of March that celebrates women artists. Followed by a Q&A with writer/director, NYWIFT Member Ekwa Msangi. Moderated by NYWIFT Board President Jamie Zelermyer.

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NYWIFT Virtual Hangout with ITVS

Gather together online with your NYWIFT colleagues at our February virtual speed networking mixer. We will be joined by our friends from ITVS!

Come ready to share creative ideas, suggestions, and contact info for further engagement. 

We will begin the evening with a brief salon conversation with ITVS leaders to discuss their latest grants and initiatives, followed by an hour of speed networking. The hour will be broken up into smaller chunks of time, during which you will be randomly paired off with other attendees to network one-on-one. 

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NYWIFT Talks Wellness in COVID 2.0

NYWIFT sits down with leading experts in physical and emotional health to discuss what we can do to continue to heal ourselves as this pandemic lockdown falls into its one year anniversary. We’ll be discussing ways to help people heal, thrive, and nourish their souls.

The conversation will include Professional Athlete and Yoga Instructor Zachy Christodoulou and a life coach to be announced. After the discussion, a yogi from PureFlo Yoga will be leading a 60 minute Power Flow Yoga Session.

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