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Updated, July 15, 2025: The Future of Film Is Female and Neon have announced the winners of their recent Spring 2025 Short Film Fund competition, which IndieWire announced in April. You can read more about the filmmakers and their works right here.

The winners are:

“Bossanova”

Brittany Young

“Superfake”

Aphrodite Armstrong, River Gallo

“Alice in the Garden”

Casey Niccoli, produced by Lanette Phillips

Our original story from April 8, 2025 follows.

Attention, Los Angeles-based filmmakers: The Future of Film Is Female and Neon want to give you money for your short films about life in the city. Caryn Coleman’s non-profit organization, dedicated to amplifying the work of all women and non-binary filmmakers early in their career, has teamed up with Neon for its latest short film fund, which will offer three financial grants in the amount of $4,000 and two post-production in-kind grants from Heard City and Nice Shoes.

The Spring 2025 Short Film Fund...

Oscar-winning director-producers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth (Chai) Vasarhelyi consistently deliver stunning visuals and compelling documentary content. And following such breakout films as “Meru,” Oscar- and Emmy-winning “Free Solo,” Emmy-winning “The Rescue,” and “Wild Life,” which took advantage of pro climber-cinematographer-NatGeo photographer Chin’s 20 years of athletic cinema and Vasarhelyi’s relentless producer drive for perfection, they moved into feature directing with long-distance swimming drama “Nyad,” which scored Oscar nominations for stars Annette Bening and Jodie Foster.

Over the years, the filmmakers have established their filmmaking prowess, combining immersive cinema verité visuals with deeply felt personal drama. That is on full display in their latest collaboration with NatGeo, the series “Photographer,” for which the duo matched six of the world’s most renowned shooters with veteran directors Marshall Curry, Kristi Jacobson, and Sam Pollard, plus Sundance alumnae Crystal Kayiza and Rita Baghdadi, and set them loose to return with bespoke...

After making their first narrative feature “Nyad,” which debuted last year and earned Oscar nominations for the film’s stars Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, Academy Award winning directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (“Free Solo”) are returning to their documentary roots with “Photographer.”

The six-part National Geographic docuseries features seven photographers — Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen, Dan Winters, Campbell Addy, Krystle Wright, Muhammed Muheisen, and Anand Varma. Vérité footage of each subject’s current mission is interwoven with interviews and archival footage to demonstrate how each photographer approaches their work, the intention behind that work, their process, and how they each discover, see and experience the world.

To bring each of the National Geographic photographers’ stories to life, showrunners Chin and Vasarhelyi hired six veteran documentary filmmakers: Marshall Curry (“Racing Dreams”), Crystal Kayiza (“Rest Stop”), Sam Pollard (“MLK/FBI”), Kristi Jacobson (“Solitary”) Rita Baghdadi (“Sirens”) and Pagan Harleman...

As awards season finally comes to a close and spring arrives in full swing, today we’re excited to celebrate and welcome our newest cohort of six incredible Fellows into the 2024 Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship, supported by founding sponsor Netflix and its Fund for Creative Equity. Now in its third year, the program provides direct support to emerging and mid-career Black or African American filmmakers.

Over the course of the twelve-month program, Amplifier Fellows will receive bespoke support to propel their careers and a selected project forward both creatively and strategically, as well as customized mentorship pairings including a Netflix executive as an industry advisor and also a board member from Film Independent.

Each Fellow will also receive professional coaching in partnership with Renee Freedman & Co, and financial and coaching in partnership with The Jill James. Each Fellow will also receive a $30,000 unrestricted grant (!) to provide sustainability and/or support their creative endeavors.

Exclusive: Film Independent has named the Fellows and projects selected for the 2024 edition of its Amplifier Fellowship, a program that provides direct support to emerging and mid-career Black or African American filmmakers. They are Zandashé Brown (The Matriarch), Moira Griffin (The Prince of 7th Ave: The Legend of WilliWear/Willi Smith), Crystal Kayiza (The Gardeners), Mobolaji Olambiwonnu (Chosen Fathers), Avril Speaks (Pure), and Monique Walton (Anita).

Over the course of the year-long program, supported by Netflix and its Fund for Creative Equity, Fellows will receive bespoke support to further both their career and current projects as well as customized mentorship pairings with a Netflix executive and board member from Film Independent. Each will also receive professional coaching in partnership with Renee Freedman & Co, financial and business advisement in partnership with The Jill James, and a $30,000 unrestricted grant, intended to support the sustainability of their creative endeavors.

“The Amplifier Fellowship provides...

“When the LAPD Blows Up Your Neighborhood” by director Nathan Truesdell won TheWrap’s ShortList Film Festival Industry Award Wednesday night at The Culver Theater in Culver City, California.

Truesdell, who was also a producer and cinematographer on the Oscar-nominated doc “Ascension,” documented the disastrous LAPD operation of 2021 that devastated South Central after police accidentally blew up a truck full of confiscated fireworks. The 19-minute doc follows local residents, many of whom are still homeless two years later.

“For its experimental, bold truth-telling and for pushing the form of what a documentary can be while balancing tremendous narrative tension, this film brings to light issues of oppression while challenging us to find solutions,” the festival’s jury said in a statement explaining their decision.

Also Read:

ShortList 2023: ‘Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó’ Director Hopes You’ll Fall in Love With His Grandmothers

The jury was comprised of producer Amy Baer,...

“Rest Stop” was selected as a finalist in this year’s ShortList Film Festival, presented by TheWrap. You can watch the films and vote for your favorite here.

“Rest Stop,”, one of the finalists of TheWrap’s 2023 ShortList Film Festival, is a snapshot of the moment in life when a child realizes that their mother is also more than just mom. Written and directed by Crystal Kayiza, the 12-minute feature chronicles an attempted family reconciliation seen through the eyes of their pre-teen daughter.

The picture, which premiered at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival and won the Jury Prize for Best US Short Film at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, uses the child’s eye-view to shape a simple road trip and mark it as a turning point for an entire family.

Through the journey, as a willing participant and a bystander, Meyi, a young Ugandan-American girl, comes to terms with her mother’s self-sacrifice,...

TheWrap is proud to present the 12 finalist films in the 2023 ShortList Film Festival, chosen from award-winning shorts from across the world in the past year. This year’s films tell personal stories that captivate and inspire — including a film about two Chinese grandmothers, a film about scuba diving in the ruins of a tsunami and one film about the LAPD blowing up a neighborhood.

The films – which include narrative, documentaries and animation - are available to watch and vote on from June 28 through July 12, exclusively on TheWrap.

The award-winning short film that is chosen by TheWrap’s Industry Jury will be honored with the prestigious Industry Prize. This year’s jury comprises award-winning producer Christine Vachon, director Elegance Bratton, veteran producer Amy Baer and PR veteran Joshua Jackson. The Shortlist is programmed by respected short film programmer Landon Zakheim.

The top-ranking short film that receives the most online votes will...

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival, the festival’s first in-person competition since 2020, has revealed its award winners.

The big winners included Maryam Keshavarz‘s The Persian Version, which earned both the Audience Award and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, and A.V. Rockwell‘s A Thousand and One, which took home the Grand Jury Prize in the same category.

The Persian Version explores an Iranian-American family’s past as its patriarch gets a heart transplant while A Thousand and One centers around a mother who kidnaps her son from the foster care system in order to find a path toward redemption.

Other winners include Festival Favorite Radical directed by Christopher Zalla and Grand Jury Prize winner for U.S. Documentary, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.

The festival has highlighted 101 different features and 64 shorts. These films were selected from a total of 15,856 submissions. Most of...

Festival runs through January 29.

A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand And One took the 2023 Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic prize and Charlotte Regan’s UK entry Scrapper earned the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2023 Sundance awards ceremony on Friday.

Audience award winners included Maryam Keshavarz’s The Persian Version in U.S. Dramatic Competition, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia in U.S. Documentary, Mstylav Chernov’s 20 Days In Mariupol in World Cinema Documentary, and Noora Niasari’s Shayda in World Cinema Dramatic.

Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente said the selection “demonstrated a sense of...

A Thousand and OneU.S. – DRAMATICGrand Jury PrizeA Thousand and One (A.V. Rockwell)Directing PrizeSing J. Lee (The Accidental Getaway Driver)Audience Award The Persian Version (Maryam Keshavarz)Special Jury Award: ActingLio Mehiel (Mutt)Special Jury Award: Creative VisionMagazine Dreams (Elijah Bynum)Special Jury Award: Ensemble CastTheater Camp (Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman)Waldo Salt Screenwriting AwardMaryam Keshavarz (The Persian Version)

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project U.S. – DOCUMENTARYGrand Jury Prize Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson)Directing Prize Luke Lorentzen (A Still Small Voice) Audience Award Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)Jonathan Oppenheim Editing AwardDaniela I. Quiroz (Going Varsity in Mariachi)Special Jury Award for Freedom of ExpressionBad Press (Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler)Special Jury Award: Clarity of VisionThe Stroll (Kristen Lovell, Zackary Drucker)

ScrapperWORLD Cinema – DRAMATICGrand Jury Prize Scrapper (Charlotte Regan)Directing Prize Marija Kavtaradze (Slow)Audience AwardShayda (Noora Niasari)Special Jury...

Back in Park City, Utah, for the first time since 2020, the Sundance Film Festival concluded with an in-person awards show. The U.S. dramatic grand jury prize went to the Focus Features release “A Thousand and One,” from debut writer-director A.V. Rockwell, one of eight women in this year’s female-led competition.

Jeremy O. Harris, a member of the three-person U.S. dramatic jury at Sundance, choked back tears as he presented the award to Rockwell, admitting that he left the director’s premiere screening and cried on the street, as the film unearthed “all the feelings I’ve learned to mask in public spaces.”

Rockwell’s film is set in an unforgiving New York City in the late ’90s, where a single mother moving from shelter to shelter kidnaps her 6-year-old son from foster care. As they improbably forge a life and bond, their darkest secret threatens to disrupt what they’ve built.

As the first in-person Sundance Film Festival since 2020 draws to a close, it’s time to see which films are taking home the festival’s most coveted awards. While there are many ways to measure success at Sundance — and many filmmakers are certainly more interested in a big sale than a trophy — the awards are nevertheless an important way of measuring which films resonated with the Park City crowd.

Friday’s award ceremony is the culmination of what has already been a very eventful festival. Despite the multitude of changes that the independent film world and the streaming industry are currently undergoing, this year’s festival still featured its share of buzzy premieres and splashy acquisitions. One of the most talked about movies in Park City has been Chloe Domont’s erotic thriller “Fair Play,” which sold to Netflix for a reported price of 20 million. The festival also featured some...

Sundance revealed the lineup for its Shorts and Indie Episodic programs today, featuring new work from filmmakers like Paul Feig and Ken Marino, “Roma” star Yalitza Aparicio Martinez, and Henry Winkler.

Sixty-four films were selected for the Shorts program from a record-high pool of 10,981 submissions. Spanning fiction, non-fiction, and animated works from artists in the U.S. and around the world, the program features both new and returning filmmakers. Aparicio Martinez will headline Mexico’s “Sweatshop Girl,” from writer-director Selma Cervantes, playing a seamstress who must hide her pregnancy to avoid getting fired. The Feig-produced “Help Me Understand” stars “The Office” actress Kate Flannery and Ken Marino among its ensemble cast. Angela Trimbur wrote and co-stars in “Mirror Girl,” while Sarafyan appears in the sci-fi short “Power Signal.”

The Indie Episodic lineup spotlights rising creators of independently produced content for episodic platforms. Four projects were chosen this year, including “Willie Nelson and Family,...

The Gotham Film and Media Institute and HBO Documentary Films have announced the inaugural cohort and mentors for the Documentary Development Initiative. The initiative was designed for storytellers who identify as Bipoc, LGBTQ+, and/or storytellers with disabilities, to provide resources to develop thought-provoking, character-driven, contemporary ideas for documentary films and limited series.

The selected filmmakers will be given grants of 50,000 for research and creative development at an early stage. HBO and The Gotham will provide resources and mentorship to support the development of documentary projects and select grantees will have the opportunity to receive additional funding. Funding for these grants is sponsored by HBO Documentary Films, OneFifty and Wbd Access.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with such a talented and unique group of fellows for our inaugural initiative. We can’t wait to see where their ideas take them,” said Sara Rodriguez, Senior Vice President,...

Exclusive: The Gotham Film and Media Institute and HBO Documentary Films have set the inaugural cohort and mentors for their Documentary Development Initiative, first announced in June.

Those selected as participants are Zeshawn Ali, Brit Fryer, Juan Pablo González, Melanie Ho, Crystal Kayiza, Jasmín Mara López, Amber Love, Khaula Malik, Habiba Nosheen and Mobolaji Olambiwonnu. Creatives serving as mentors include Cecilia Aldarondo, Geeta Gandbhir, Tj Martin, Smriti Mundhra, Matt O’Neill, Sam Pollard, Alex Stapleton, Jennifer Tiexiera, Rudy Valdez and Matt Wolf.

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The Documentary Development Initiative was designed to bolster storytellers who identify as Bipoc, LGBTQ+ and/or storytellers with disabilities, by providing them with the resources necessary to develop thought-provoking,...

TIFF announced its Short Cuts section today comprised of 39 live-action narrative, documentary, and animated short films from directors repping 18 countries.

Further broken down, the section includes 21 World Premieres and 15 North American Premieres presented in 20 different languages from countries such as Portugal, China, Colombia, Mongolia, Kenya, Ukraine, US, UK, and Canada.

“We’re thrilled to be returning with one of our strongest ever selections of short films by directors from all over the world,” says Jason Anderson, International Programmer for Short Cuts. “We’re always amazed by the breadth, depth, and diversity of the talents working in short-form cinema, whether they’re filmmakers who we’ve already had the privilege of presenting at TIFF or emerging storytellers who we can’t wait to introduce to our audiences. And however different these new works may be, what they share is an incredible sense of clarity and economy – these are films that don...

Toronto International Film Festival has revealed its Short Cuts lineup, featuring 39 live-action narrative, documentary, and animated shorts films from 18 countries.

Presented by TikTok, the program represents a blend of returning filmmakers and newcomers. Alice Rohrwacher’s “Le Pupille,” co-produced by Alfonso Cuarón, will make its Canadian premiere at the festival. Honor Swinton Byrne of “The Souvenir,” which screened at TIFF in 2018, stars in Hazel McKibbin’s “She Always Wins.” Actor Kiawentiio of 2020 TIFF awardee “Beans” is back, this time in Asia Youngman’s “N’xaxaitkw.” Other TIFF alum with new shorts in the program are Sarah McCarthy, Mbithi Masya, Matthew Rankin, Carol Nguyen, Karen Chapman, and Sophy Romvari.

Award-winning animated shorts that made the cut include “The Flying Sailor” and “Ice Merchants.” On the documentary side, “Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles” by Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, “Anastasia” by Sarah McCarthy of the U.K., and “Quiet Minds Silent Streets” by Toronto...

Tribeca and Chanel have set participants, masterclass advisors, mentors and jurors for their seventh annual Through Her Lens program, supporting women filmmakers, announcing that it will take place from October 12-14.

The creatives and short film projects chosen for the three-day mentorship program, designed to provide industry support, artistic development and funding to “emerging U.S. based self-identifying women and non-binary writers and directors,” include director Annalise Lockhart and writer/producer Mary Glen Fredrick (Anything Valuable), writer/director Maya Tanaka and producer Shuchi Talati (Honolulu), director Caroline Lindy and writer/producer Kate Hamilton (How Did I Get Here), writer/director Tiye Amenechi and producer Satchel Lee (Night Bloom), and writer/director Phumi Morare (Why the Cattle Wait).

Each will benefit from a combination if virtual and in-person, one-on-one mentorship—along with masterclasses focused on script-to-screen development, music composition, costume design, producing, and directing—working with mentors to shape and refine their pitches and projects.

Institute allocates $590,000 in unrestricted grant support for projects from 20 countries and territories across five continents.

Projects from Rithy Panh and Laura Poitras are among a diverse roster of 18 Sundance Institute Documentary Fund grantees announced on Tuesday (June 8).

There is a strong focus on Bipoc and women directors as the Institute announced a total of $590,000 in unrestricted grant support for projects from 20 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.

All of the US projects are directed by at least one Bipoc filmmaker. Some 72% of granted projects are directed by women, and the same proportion are working...

The Sundance Institute has unveiled the latest recipients of grants for documentary projects spanning the globe.

The 18 projects, all in various stages of development, will split a total of $590,000 in unrestricted grant support, provided by the Open Society Foundations, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Luminate.

This year’s projects represent 20 countries and territories across five continents, with more than half the films having international roots. With all U.S. films this year helmed by at least one Black, Indigenous or person of color director, this year’s granting focused on projects by artists from underrepresented communities, ensuring that the stories be told from within the communities. Thirteen of the 18 projects are also led by women directors.

“Supporting equity in storytelling by elevating diverse cohorts is central to our mission,” documentary film fund director Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs said. “Sundance funding can play a vital role in creating a space for freedom of speech,...

A diverse group of nonfiction filmmakers, many just starting their careers, is joining the distinguished list of Sundance Institute Documentary Fund grantees.

The institute today announced $590,000 in “unrestricted grant support” to 18 projects at various stages of production, almost three quarters of which are helmed by women directors [full list below]. The projects originate from 20 countries and territories stretching across five continents. Of the U.S.-based films honored with grants, all “are helmed by at least one Bipoc director,” according to the institute.

“Granting focused on projects by artists from historically underrepresented communities, ensuring that these stories are being told from within the communities,” the institute noted. “Additionally, 72-percent of grantees are early career filmmakers, working on their first or second feature film. These statistics reflect the Fund’s commitment to emerging artists whose voices have been historically marginalized in hegemonic Western societies.”

Past recipients of Sundance Institute Documentary Fund grants include four...

For emerging filmmakers hoping to take the next step in their artistic and professional journey, finding a community of like-minded creators is crucial. With this goal in mind, Adobe has partnered with Sundance Institute on the Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship program which, since 2015, has provided mentorship and support to promising filmmakers early in their careers. With an eye toward elevating underrepresented voices, the fellowship enables the next generation of creatives by offering an opportunity to share their stories with the world.

This year, as a presenting sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival, Adobe launched a short spot highlighting the work of four Sundance Institute alumni, which was co-directed and edited by 2018 Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellow Carol Nguyen. The vignette, titled “When I Tell the Story,” epitomizes the importance of giving new filmmakers a platform to share their work and their voice. “When I tell the story, it’s dark and glittery.

The influential Cinema Eye Honors nominations, voted on by documentary filmmakers, help to narrow the wide field for documentary awards contenders. Amazon Studios release “Time,” Garrett Bradley’s poetic black-and-white portrait of one family’s struggle through years of incarceration, leads the field with six nominations, including Outstanding Feature, Direction, Editing, Score and Debut.

Garnering four nominations: Alexander Nanau’s Romanian health system exposé “Collective” (Magnolia), Victor Kossakovsky’s story of a mother pig, “Gunda” (Neon), and David France’s “Welcome to Chechnya” (HBO) with four.

With three nominations each: Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ “Boys State” (Apple), Kirsten Johnson’s “Dick Johnson is Dead” (Netflix), Liz Garbus’ series “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” (HBO), Gianfranco Rosi’s Italian Oscar submission “Notturno” (Super Ltd), and Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw’s “The Truffle Hunters” (Sony Pictures Classics).

Per usual, prolific Netflix leads all distributors/broadcasters with thirteen nominations, while HBO Documentary Films grabbed ten,...

The influential Cinema Eye Honors nominations, voted on by documentary filmmakers, help to narrow the wide field for documentary awards contenders. Amazon Studios release “Time,” Garrett Bradley’s poetic black-and-white portrait of one family’s struggle through years of incarceration, leads the field with six nominations, including Outstanding Feature, Direction, Editing, Score and Debut.

Garnering four nominations: Alexander Nanau’s Romanian health system exposé “Collective” (Magnolia), Victor Kossakovsky’s story of a mother pig, “Gunda” (Neon), and David France’s “Welcome to Chechnya” (HBO) with four.

With three nominations each: Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ “Boys State” (Apple), Kirsten Johnson’s “Dick Johnson is Dead” (Netflix), Liz Garbus’ series “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” (HBO), Gianfranco Rosi’s Italian Oscar submission “Notturno” (Super Ltd), and Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw’s “The Truffle Hunters” (Sony Pictures Classics).

Per usual, prolific Netflix leads all distributors/broadcasters with thirteen nominations, while HBO Documentary Films grabbed ten,...

The sixth annual Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program has added masterclass conversations to this year’s lineup.

“Grown-ish” star Yara Shahidi, and her business partner and mother Keri Shahidi will discuss the film business, while cinematographers Rachel Morrison and Ellen Kuras will talk about visual storytelling.

Held virtually due to the coronavirus, the Through Her Lens program will take place Oct. 13 to Oct. 15, and provide $100,000 in grant money to emerging female filmmakers. Five teams of filmmakers will take part in the three-day immersive program, which includes virtual one-on-one mentorship in development, casting, music composition, costume design, producing and directing. One team will receive full financing to produce their short film with support from Tribeca Studios. The four other projects will be awarded grant funds to support their films’ development.

This year’s leadership committee includes:

Masterclass Advisors: Annette Bening, Alexa Fogel, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Laura Karpman,...

“The New Yorker Documentary: Remote Festival Series” kicks off online Wednesday at 9 a.m/12 p.m. Et with a glimpse inside the world of nail technicians.

The special, short-run program will showcase a new film online each week through the summer and is part of the ongoing “New Yorker Documentary” series. The festival features renowned filmmakers will open with Crystal Kayiza’s “See You Next Time,” which examines the relationships between nail artists and their clients.

Here are the other artists’ works to be featured weekly through the summer:

“Raising Baby Grey,” directed by Alex Mallis “Flower Punk,” directed by Alison Klayman “The Pause: A Brief Contemplation of Scott’s Infertility,” directed by Richard Yeagley “Betrayal,” directed by Scott Calonico “USA v. Scott,” directed by Ora DeKornfeld and Isabel Castro “On Falling,” directed by Josephine Anderson “Allan & Suzi,” directed by Smriti Keshari “Woody’s Order!” directed by Seth Kramer, Daniel A.

“Pearson” actress Gina Torres said it’s not enough for women of color in Hollywood to be good.

“The cross that we bear as people of color in this industry is that we have to be extraordinary,” she said Friday at the WrapWomen’s Power Women Summit on Friday. She was part of an actors panel that also included Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz, Sarah Shahi and Kelly McCreary.

Each of the women shared stories of how they were treated when they first started in the entertainment industry.

Also Read: Crystal Kayiza's 'See You Next Time' Wins Telling Our Stories Film Competition at Wrap Women's 2019 Power Women Summit

“My unique perspective here is that I’m Cuban-American. Both parents are Cuban. And I grew up Catholic in the Bronx, so my experience was not that of an African-American youth. Very different experiences, which a lot of people did not or would not understand or recognize,...

Crystal Kayiza’s “See You Next Time,” a short film about a Chinese American nail technician and her black client, took home the grand prize in TheWrap’s Telling Our Stories short film competition.

The contest, presented by WrapWomen and Starz, focuses on female-made nonfiction films that highlight themes relevant to womanhood. Kayiza was presented with the prize by Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch at the Wrap Women 2019 Power Women Summit on Friday.

“See You Next Time” is an exploration of the intimate moments between a nail technician and her client in a Brooklyn salon, providing a nuanced look at how two women of color see each other in a unique space.

Also Read: Becky G, Rita Wilson, Chrissy Metz and Diane Warren to Perform Live at Power Women Summit 2019

The grand prize winner was selected by curated group of six industry experts: Starz Senior Vice President of Original Programming Karen Bailey,...

Six documentary shorts by female filmmakers — depicting everything from a San Francisco firefighter to female graffiti artists to a frank discussion of women’s breasts — were named as finalists in the inaugural Telling Our Stories Film Contest on Thursday.

The contest, presented by WrapWomen and Starz, focuses on female-made nonfiction films that highlight themes relevant to womanhood.

The six finalists, chosen through juror selection, will receive distribution on Starz and the chance to compete for the winning prize of $10,000. The winner will be announced at WrapWomen’s Power Women Summit on October 25 at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica.

Also Read: 2019 ShortList Film Festival Finalists Announced: Watch and Vote for the Winner!!

The grand prize winner will be selected by curated group of six industry experts: Starz Senior Vice President of Original Programming Karen Bailey, Starz Senior Vice President of Unscripted Programming Alice Dickens-Koblin, The Wrap’s founder and Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman,...

Cult variety TV show “The Eyeslicer” is gearing up for its second season, one that will move the streaming series into the terrestrial world with a brand new mini film festival, taking place in Brooklyn from September 14 to 17. The brainchild of creators Dan Schoenbrun and Vanessa McDonnell, the episodic series invites some of independent film’s most exciting directors to embrace their weird and experimental side in making a variety of short content, which is then weaved into thematic episodes.

The 13-episode Season 2 of “The Eyeslicer” will feature work from over 70 filmmakers, offerings that the co-creators describe as “a deep-dive into the strange, dark heart of our contemporary American hellscape, while also being an optimistic celebration of independent art-making within said hellscape.”

Starting with this new season, the internet will no longer be the series’ principal platform, but it will instead use a unique, zine-inspired mini-festival in Brooklyn and the...

Chicago – The Chicago International Film Festival is competitive, and the 54th edition presented its awards on October 19th, 2018, at the AMC River East Theatre in Chicago. The winner of the Gold Hugo as Best Film was “Happy as Lazzaro” (Italy/Switzerland/Germany/France), directed by Alice Rohrwacher.

The 54th Chicago International Film Festival Awards Night was October 19th, 2018

Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival

The awards event was hosted by entertainment reporter Bill Zwecker. Presenters included Artistic Director Mimi Plauché, programmers Anthony Kaufman and Sam Flancher, plus various jury members. Festival CEO Michael Kutza presented his “Founder’s Award.” The Festival’s highest honor is the Gold Hugo, named for the mythical God of Discovery.

International Feature Film Competition

’Happy as Lazzaro,’ Directed by Alice Rohrwacher

Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival

The Gold Hugo for Best Film: “Happy as Lazzaro,” (Italy/Switzerland/Germany/France) Directed by Alice Rohrwacher

The...

Top, L-r: Amri Rigby, Andrea Porras-Madero, Ayo Akingbade, Carol Nguyen, Crystal Kayiza. Middle, L-r: Gerardo Coello Escalante, Matthew Puccini, Matty Crawford, Mohamed Touahria, Paloma Lopez. Bottom, L-r: Sindha Agha, Sky Bruno, Sydney Butler, Terrance Daye, Varun Chopra. Photo: Sundance Institute British filmmakers Ayo Akingbade and Matty Crawford are among the 15 young filmmakers chosen to participate in this year's Sundance Ignite Fellowship. Ignite is a one-year fellowship for 18-to-24-year-old filmmakers, who spanning from television writing to documentary photography to narrative short films.

Crawford and Akingbade will join the other fellows on a trip to the festival in January and be paired with a Sundance Institute alumni professional for a full year of guidance and development, in a bid to gain industry exposure and meaningful mentorship. This year’s mentors include Effie Brown (Dear White People), Jeff Orlowski (Chasing Coral) and Jason Berman (Burning Sands). In addition to a personalised festival experience and mentorship track,...