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Chinese filmmaker Jing Zou, director of the narrative feature film “A Girl Unknown,” has been named as the winner of the fifth annual Lynn Shelton “Of a Certain Age” Grant from Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum (Nwff). This grant includes an unrestricted cash award of $25,000 to support her directorial debut, which follows a girl from age six through her 30s as she’s passed between multiple families and is inspired by the true story of generations of Chinese girls who were abandoned as a result of the country’s defunct one-child policy.

“I am absolutely honored to be selected as the recipient of the 2024 Lynn Shelton ‘Of a Certain Age’ award for my first feature, ‘A Girl Unknown.’ Thank you for this recognition and for your support,” Zou said in a statement. “I am committed to making the most of this award and to creating a film that honors the spirit of Lynn Shelton.

Exclusive: Wscripted has unveiled the projects and talents selected for its fourth Cannes Screenplay List supporting scripts by women and non-binary writers.

This year’s list, which is presented in collaboration with long-standing partner Mubi, was curated by an international jury featuring Bafta-winning and Oscar-nominated actress Vanessa Kirby, Costa Rican-Swedish director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén (Clara Sola) and writer and filmmaker Nathalie Marchak.

Marchak was a nominee on the inaugural Cannes Screenplay List of 2021 with her second feature A Beautiful Journey, which is produced by Anonymous Federation and Gabman Films.

The 2024 list features 10 female filmmakers and screenwriters looking for producing and financing partners from the U.S., Canada, Australia and India.

They include Nominees include Cuban-American filmmaker Marissa Chibás, a 2022 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow who received the inaugural Sundance/Gold House Accelerator Grant, for her immigrant family drama 1972; Indigenous Australian filmmaker...

Following the success achieved by the Alliance of Women Directors with its Black Directors Advancement Initiative, the organization has launched the Mentor Latina Director Fellowship. Their #MentorLatinaDirectors Initiative is a fellowship program for current directing members who are Latina/x/e-identifying.

The fellowship’s Class of 2024 includes Melissa Balint; Evelyn Belasco; Maria Gabriela Cardenas; Marissa Chibás; Sophia Costanzo; Fiorella Vescovi Garcia; Saray Guidetti; Bettina Hanna; Silvia Lara; Eunice Levis; Gabriela Revilla Lugo; Paulina Manseau; Luisa Novo; Marcella Ochoa; Gabriela Paciel; Jp Perez; Jessica Rae; Michelle Salcedo; Sacha Smith; Ann Valdés; Maria Valdez; Evette Vargas; and Donna Bonilla Wheeler.

“The program was created and developed in response to a pressing need for much higher levels of equality and inclusion, specifically for Latina/x/e-identifying female directors in our industry. We trust this Fellowship will help eliminate barriers to access and success that have systematically excluded such directors. With these goals in mind,...

The 2024 Sundance Film Festival’s Beyond Film — described as a “community hub for Festivalgoers through artist conversations, talks with filmmakers and experts across the fields of art and science, and audience discourse,” as per the press release — has revealed its lineup of speakers and events slated for Jan. 19 to Jan. 26. This will be the festival’s 40th anniversary with special celebration events for the occasion.

Speakers this year include Jesse Eisenberg, Steven Soderbergh, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sue Bird, Dee Rees, Lucy Lawless, André Holland, Debra Granik, Jay Ellis and Nzingha Stewart. Additionally, there will be a “New Frontier: Let’s Rebrand Artificial Intelligence!” conversation about technology and popular culture led by experts in the field.

As part of the lineup, there will be a special screening of the music documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop,” which spotlights the recording session behind the song “We Are the World” from Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie,...

The Athena Film Festival has announced the winners and finalists for the 2023 Athena List, the festival’s Black List-inspired selection of unproduced screenplays focused on female leadership.

High-profile projects that were featured on past editions of the Athena List, part of the Barnard-based festival, include Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex, Chinonye Chukwu’s Clemency and Patricia Clarkson-starrer Lilly about Lilly Ledbetter and her fight for fair pay.

The winners of the 2023 Athena List are Driverless, by Hari Leigh; Going Dutch, by Kate Condé Hamilton; Laylayon, by Nic Yulo; and Scarce, by Mrittika Sarin. The finalists are 72, by Marissa Chibas; Blue Veil, by Shireen Alihaji; The Copeland Case, by Cecilia Copeland; and Requiem for a Glacier, by Stephanie Falkeis.

Driverless focuses on a female robotics engineer who takes a cross-country journey of self-discovery using the company’s driverless car prototype. In Going Dutch, a scientist finds...