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In partnership with Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland, SeriesFest has awarded its 2022 Women Directing Mentorship to Gia-Rayne B. Harris.

The program first launched in 2018 and pairs rising female directors with established episodic directors on Shondaland-produced series. Previous winners include Jennifer Morris (2021), who recently finished shadowing on ABC’s “Station 19,” and Tamika Miller (2020), who has since directed two “Station 19” episodes.

Harris, a writer-director from Mississippi, is a graduate of the AFI directing program and has directed 12 short films, premiering several at Outfest, the American Black Film Festival (ABFF), NewFest, AFI Fest and the Pan African Film Festival. She was named a finalist for the HBO Short Film Award at ABFF, and her short film “Pens and Pencils” will debut on HBO in spring 2023. Additionally, she has been set to make her TV directing debut on “Chicago Pd” in 2023 after joining the NBCULaunch Female Forward Program.

Harris is repped by Heroes and Villains Entertainment.

Outfest has announced the lineup for its 2022 Outfest Fusion Qtbipoc Film Festival.

The Los Angeles-based festival will screen seven features, three episodic titles and 52 short films this year, which marks the 40th anniversary for Outfest and the 19th year of Outfest Fusion, founded in 2004 to spotlight queer and trans filmmakers of color. The seven feature titles are Micheal Rice’s “Black as U R,” Horacio Alcala’s “Finlandia,” William T. Horner and Stacey Woelfel’s “Keep the Cameras Rolling: The Pedro Zamora Way,” Marianne Amelinckx’s “Mustache Mondays (Artbound),” Émerson Maranhão’s “Transversals,” Quentin Lee’s “White Frog” and Bretten Hannam’s “Wildhood.”

“As we find ourselves back in a moment where our rights as Lgbtqia+ people are being taken away and our very existence silenced, we know these moves have a greater impact on Lgbtqia+ communities of color,” Outfest executive director Damien S. Navarro said in a statement. “We...

Jane Rosenthal is mad as hell, but she’s got an idea for how to turn that anger into action. After weeks of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against various bigwigs in the entertainment industry, many of them waged by actresses and female filmmakers, the producer has cooked up a plan to help change the industry and the world. No surprise, it asks for talented and rising women to help each other in a male-dominated business, all for the better.

Rosenthal, who co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival with Robert DeNiro and currently serves Chief Executive Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, today opened up this year’s kickoff lunch for the third annual Through Her Lens: Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program, with some pointed remarks. As she put it, “I’m having a Howard Beale moment. Like the character Peter Finch played in ‘Network,’ I’m mad as hell,” later adding,...

New work features John Turturro, Bobby Cannavale and Kobe Bryant.

Top brass at the 16th edition of the festival have unveiled the selection of 57 shorts in competition and 36 world premieres.

This year’s short slate has a significant geographical reach as 40% of the crop are international films from 18 countries and 40% of the overall selection are directed by women.

Female directors attending with world premieres include Marianne Amelinckx with Dive (Venezuela, pictured), Jessica Devaney and Geeta Gandbhir with Love The Sinner (USA), Aeyliya Husain with Shooting War (Canada), and Georgia Oakley with Little Bird (UK).

The New York programme has been renamed Group Therapy and includes performances by Cannavale, Kieran Culkin, Hayek, Turturro, and actual New York firefighters.

Hair, directed by Turturro who co-wrote with Cannavale, is among the world premieres and presents an unscripted dialogue between Turturro and Cannavale based on a man’s hair.

Special screenings include the premiere of Disney animator Glen Keane’s short...