NYWIFT Blog

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.

NYWIFT Member Screening: Social Impact Shorts Program

Women filmmakers throughout history have often been at the forefront of advancing social change.

Join us for this month’s virtual NYWIFT Member Screening as we honor Women's History Month with our special Social Impact Shorts Program, showcasing nine short films by our members from a variety of genres, each of which raises awareness for a different social issue in its own unique way. 

The films will be available to all who register to view via an exclusive link at any time throughout the weekend of March 25th. Then, join us for a special Q&A with the filmmakers on Zoom on Monday the 29th.

NYWIFT Member Screening: before/during/after

Join us for February's virtual NYWIFT Member Screening of before/during /after, a narrative feature produced, written by, and starring member Finnerty Steeves and executive produced by NYWIFT Board President Jamie Zelermyer.

before / during / after is the story of Jennie Lonergan, a middle-aged NYC theatre actress who is forced to figure out the kind of person she wants to be when her seemingly perfect 15-year marriage comes to an abrupt end after she catches her husband having an affair.

Watch the film then attend a Q&A with the creative team, moderated by NYWIFT Community Engagement Director Katie Chambers.

NYWIFT Member Screening: Making the Impossible Possible

Join us for January's virtual NYWIFT Member Screening of Tami Gold and Pam Sporn's short documentary Making the Impossible Possible, which tells the untold story of the student led struggle to win Puerto Rican Studies at Brooklyn College, CUNY, in the late 1960’s.

Watch the film: Any time Thursday, January 14 at 3 PM through Tuesday, January 19 at 5 PM

Join the Q&A: Tuesday, January 19 at 5 PM EST

The film will be available to all who register to view via an exclusive link at any time throughout the weekend of January 14. Then, join us for a special Q&A with the producers on Zoom, moderated by NYWIFT Board Member Rachel Watanabe-Batton.

NYWIFT Member Screening: Illusions

Join us for this month’s virtual NYWIFT Member Screening of NYWIFT Muse honoree Julie Dash's groundbreaking narrative short film, Illusions, which was preserved with support from the NYWIFT Women's Film Preservation Fund.  

The film will be available to all who register to view via an exclusive link at any time throughout the weekend of November 5th. Then, join us for a special Q&A Jillian Borders (UCLA) and Michelle Materre (The New School) on Zoom, during which we will discuss the film's historical and cultural significance and gain insights into the film preservation process. 

NYWIFT Member Screening: Power to Heal

Join us for this month’s virtual NYWIFT Member Screening of the documentary feature Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution, produced by NYWIFT member Roberta Friedman.

Power to Heal is the untold story of how the twin struggles for racial justice and healthcare intersected: creating Medicare and desegregating thousands of hospitals at the same time.

The film will be available to all who register to view via an exclusive link at any time throughout the weekend of October 1st. Then, join us for a special Q&A with the producers on Zoom on Monday, October 5th, moderated by NYWIFT Board Member Kuye Youngblood.

This special NYWIFT Member Screening is free for all to attend.

NYWIFT Member Screening: Long Way from Home

Join us for this month’s virtual NYWIFT Member Screening of Kavery Kaul's documentary Long Way from Home. Hailed by historian Robin Kelley as “one of the most powerful and inspiring documentaries of our era,” in this moving and provocative story, three remarkable girls enter ninth grade at top schools steeped in bias towards race, class, and culture. Now coming upon its 10-year anniversary, the documentary speaks to the still unfulfilled need for cultural change.

The film will be available to all who register to view via an exclusive link at any time throughout the weekend of September 10th. Then, join us for a special Q&A with the filmmaker and one of the documentary subjects on Zoom on Monday, September 14th moderated by NYWIFT Board Member Rachel Watanabe-Batton.

NYWIFT Member Screening: Summer Shorts Program

Join us for this month’s virtual NYWIFT Member Screening, our Summer Shorts Program showcasing six short films from a variety of genres, all featuring the work of NYWIFT members.

The films will be available to all who register to view via an exclusive link at any time throughout the weekend of August 20th. Then, join us for a special Q&A with the filmmakers on Zoom on Monday, August 24th moderated by Community Engagement Director Katie Chambers.

Virtual NYWIFT Member Screening: Unintended

Join us for a virtual NYWIFT Member Screening showcasing Anja Murmann's dramatic feature film Unintended, produced by NYWIFT member Sabine Schenk.

Watch the film any time Thursday, May 28th at 3 PM through Monday, June 1st at 11:59 PM. Then join the Q&A on Monday, June 1st at 5 PM.

In Unintended, Lea, a 13-year-old girl, represses the memory of having accidentally shot a teenager named Bill. Twelve years later, Lea is an emotional wreck. After nearly drowning, she ends up in a hospital where her repressed memories return to haunt her. She is plagued by the question – did Bill actually die? And if he survived, what will he do when she finds him? Is she ready to face the consequences of her actions?

Virtual NYWIFT Member Screening: Toss It

Join us for our first virtual NYWIFT Member Screening showcasing Michele Remsen's "anti-romantic comedy" feature Toss It! Toss It is a recipient of the NYWIFT Nancy Malone Marketing and Promotion Grant. A darkly comic, bittersweet look behind the facades of tradition, family and marriage, Toss It blends screwball comedy with an open-hearted deep-dive into family dysfunction.

Registrants can access the film throughout the weekend of May 1st, then will be invited to an exclusive Zoom Q&A with the filmmaker on Monday, May 4th at 5 pm.

NYWIFT Member Screening: Catherine Opie b. 1961 and AmeRican Poet Tato Laviera

Join us for this month’s NYWIFT Member Screening showcasing two documentaries about artists: Sini Anderson's Catherine Opie b. 1961 and Vivian Hernandez Ortiz's AmeRican Poet Tato Laviera.

Catherine Opie is a revealing and intimate portrait of an artist whose photography has been labeled subversive. And Tato Laviera chronicles the life of the beloved Nuyorican poet, playwright, and activist from the Lower East Side.

Watch the films any time between June 25-29th. Then join the Q&A on Monday, June 29th at 5 PM.

NYWIFT Member Screening: Pennhurst

Join us for this month’s NYWIFT Member Screening showcasing Jodie Alexandra Taylor’s feature documentary Pennhurst. The filmmaker will be available for a Q&A immediately following the screening. The screening series provides members with the opportunity to show their work in a theatrical setting. The screening will take place at Anthology Film Archives, followed by networking at a nearby bar. Pennhurst is a story of segregation, abandonment, and the meaning of home as told by the people that lived in, worked at, and crusaded for one of the largest and oldest intellectual and developmental disability institutions in the United States. The facility, in its closing, challenged society's perception of those with intellectual disabilities and ultimately fought for better rights –  rights that are still being fought for today.

NYWIFT Member Screening: Comedy Shorts

Join us for this month’s NYWIFT Member Screening showcasing several comedy shorts by NYWIFT members: Queens (dir. Nicole Gomez Fisher), Sucked In (dir. Courtney Camerota), Mommy Mafia (created by Laura Sweeney), 116 (dir. Julia Campanelli), and Traffic Opera (dir. Andrew Pochan). The filmmakers will be available for a Q&A immediately following the screening. The screening series provides members with the opportunity to show their work in a theatrical setting. The screening will take place at Anthology Film Archives, followed by networking at a nearby bar.

NYWIFT Member Screening: Ask for Jane

Join us for this month’s NYWIFT Member Screening Series showcasing Cait Cortelyou's Ask for Jane. The team will be available for a Q&A immediately following the screening. The film is based on the true story of The Jane Collective: a secret organization formed to help other women obtain safe and illegal abortions in 1969 Chicago. Operating like a spy network, complete with blindfolds and code names, the Janes help thousands of women - but they can't hide from the police forever. The screening series provides members with the opportunity to show their work in a theatrical setting. The screening will take place at Anthology Film Archives, followed by networking at a nearby bar.

Member Screening: Sky and Ground

Join us for this month’s NYWIFT Member Screening Series showcasing Talya's Tibbon's Sky and Ground. The filmmaker will be available for a Q&A immediately following the screening. The screening series provides members with the opportunity to show their work in a theatrical setting. The screening will take place at Anthology Film Archives, followed by networking at a nearby bar. A ground-level immersion into the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, Sky and Ground accompanies the Sheikh Nabi clan, a large, extended Syrian-Kurdish family, as they painstakingly make their way from their home in Aleppo, bombed out by the war, to the Idomeni refugee camp on the border of Greece and Macedonia. Their goal is Berlin, where they will reunite with family members and seek asylum, but first they must make the arduous and dangerous journey through as Europe decides to close its borders to refugees.

Member Screening: The Rainbow Experiment

Join us for this month’s Member Screening showcasing the film The Rainbow Experiment (Christina Kallas, Writer/Director/Producer) starring members Lauren Sowa and Catherine Cobb Ryan. The members will be available for a Q&A immediately following the screening. The screening series provides members with the opportunity to show their work in a theatrical setting. Screenings take place at Anthology Film Archives, followed by networking at a nearby bar.

Member Screening: Scripted Shorts

Join us for this month’s Member Screening showcasing the shorts Raghead (Nora Jacobson, Director), Unheard (Emilie Martel, Director), The Disenchantment of a Young Adult and a Wild Child (Hannah Roze (Co-Director/NYWIFT Member and Caryn Waechter, Co-Director), Anticipation (Heidi C. Bordogna, Director) and The Hanji Box (Nora Jacobson, Director). The filmmakers will be available for a Q&A immediately following the screening.

Member Screening: Ramblin’ Gal

Join us for this month’s Member Screening showcasing the scripted feature Ramblin' Gal by Filmmaker Lu Ann Horstman (NYWIFT Member) and Roberto Monticello (Co-Director). The filmmakers will be available for a Q&A immediately following the screening. The screening series provides members with the opportunity to show their work in a theatrical setting. Screenings take place at Anthology Film Archives, followed by networking at a nearby bar.