Women's Film, TV and Theatre Fund Winners

Recipients of the inaugural Women's Film, TV and Theatre Fund. - Daryl Roth Theatre Women's Film, TV and Theatre Fund Winners (released 3/2/2019) By Kimberly Burke The women of New York are seeing investment in their storytelling for film, television, and theatre. An idea sparked by former Film Commissioner, now Census Bureau leader, Julie Menin, the thought was to create grants for finishing funds that would see more completed stories by New York women. It gathered interest and is now awarding an inaugural round of funding. Entertainment consumers demand a constant refresh of content. Stages and screens, big and small, search for the next storytelling voice. Today, the voice is predominately male. The narrative of the female is under 5% in all mediums. Equality of 50/50 is distant. Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen noted that the gain of women in the production industries is not happening organically. The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) now led by Acting Film Commissioner Anne del Castillo is taking the torch light by former commissioner Menin and moving it forward with the announcement of the inaugural round of Women's Film, TV and Theatre Fund winners. On Thursday, February 28th, the MOME announced the 63 women-led projects that were selected to receive funding. The total amount for this first round is $1.5 million. Here is a breakdown of the projects by type and then followed by a list of all the winners. 14 Theatre Productions – each received up to $50,000 11 Documentary Features – each received up to $50,000 4 Fiction Features – each received up to $50,000 10 Fiction Short – each received up to $25,000 9 Documentary Shorts – each received up to $25,000 9 Fiction Webisode/Webseries – each received up to $20,000 6 Documentary Webisodes/Webseries – each received up to $20,000 Daryl Roth, Tony Award-winning Producer Alicia Glen, Deputy Mayor for the City of New York Anne del Castillo, Acting Commissioner, Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment Judith K. Brodsky, The New York Foundation for the Arts, Board Chair Daphne Rubin-Vega, Actress and Fund Juror Amy Fox, Screenwriter and Fund Juror THEATRE PRODUCTIONS Grace McLean: Librettist, Composer, Lyricist; Lee Sunday Evans: Director Title: In the Green About: In the Green is a new musical based on the origin story of one of Medieval history's most powerful and creative women: Hildegard von Bingen. Produced by LCT3. Colette Robert: Playwright, Director Title: The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel About: The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel cleverly deconstructs black debutante ball culture. Produced by New Georges and the Movement Theatre Company. Karen Brown, Karimah, Ntozake Shange: Playwrights; Ifa Bayeza, Karen Brown: Directors Title: Negro Ensemble Company Celebrates The Art of Women About: NEC Celebrates the Art of Woman explores extraordinary women in performance with multi-dimensionality; range of voice, perspective and emotion across generational, economic, and cultural descriptors. Nia O. Wiherspoon: Playwright; Mei Ann Teo: Director Title: Messiah About: Messiah is a love story. Or many. It follows the journey of a DJ. A transman. A seer with fire in his teeth. Hoover's nightmare. A son of two Black Panthers. Come dance inside his church of memory, where we who have been denied voice—black women, queer, and trans folks—are on the pulpit. Lisa Schlesinger: Playwright; Marion Schoevaert: Director; Irina Patkanian: Filmmaker Title: Iphigenia Point Blank About: This immersive public ritual fuses together documentary film, theatre, live music, and dance, to share the story of a woman's experience of war. Antoinette Nwandu: Playwright; Danya Taymor: Director Title: Tuvalu: Or the Saddest Song About: Tuvalu by Antoinette Nwandu depicts a young black woman's coming of age in 1990s Los Angeles set against the backdrop of the OJ Simpson trial. Produced by The Vineyard Theatre. Karen Kandel: Writer, Performer Title: Vicksburg Project About: The Vicksburg Project traces women's experiences in Vicksburg, Mississippi from The Civil War, Jim Crow/Great Migration, Civil Rights era, and today through song and text. Produced by Mabou Mines. Indira Etwaroo: Director; Dominique Morrisau: Curator Title: 50in50: Letters to Our Daughters About: 50in50: Letters to Our Daughters brings to the stage 50 stories 50 50 women across the globe as they consider the world [they] inherited and the one [they] would like to create. Produced by The Billie Holiday Theater. Aya Ogawa: Playwright; Director: Performer Title: The Nosebleed About: A theatrical memorial and healing ritual for the audience, The Nosebleed is a darkly humorous autobiographical play about writer/director Aya Ogawa's fractured relationship with her long-deceased father. DeVante Lewis: Director Title: Girlz in Da Hood About: The Writher's Project aims to create space for girls and femme writers from the Bronx to express their personal narratives in fun and empowering ways. Presented at Community Connections for Youth. Zoey Martinson: Playwright, Director Title: The Black History Museum According to the United States of America About: The Black History Museum... According to the United States of America is a theatrical installation experience delving into the fraught relationship between Black bodies and the value America places on them. Produced by HERE Arts Center. Kayran Irani: Playwright, Performer; Rania Lee Kahlil: Director Title: There is a Portal About: There is a Portal is a multimedia, one-woman show and community building project that re-imagines belonging and human connection through linking narratives of migration, displacement and home. Andrea Stolowitz: Playwright, Producer; Portia Krieger: Director Title: The Berlin Diaries About: In 2006, Oregon Book Award-winning playwright Andrea Stolowitz receives a family diary from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. in 2015 she travels to Berlin to investigate. Robin Frohardt: Playwright, Director Title: The Plastic Bag Store About: The Plastic Bag Store is an installation and puppetry-based immersive play that explores how the hordes of plastic waste we are leaving behind might be misinterpreted by future generations. DOCUMENTARY FEATURES Andrea Cordoba: Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor Title: Sanctuary About: Sanctuary follows Guatemalan immigrant Amanda Morales as she takes physical sanctuary in a NYC church, publicly resisting her deportation within a space that ICE recognizes as protected. Nausheen Dadabhoy: Director, Cinematographer Title: An Act of Worship About: An Act of Worship follows a new generation of Muslim-American women activists who have been galvanized into action while anti-Muslim sentiments are on the rise. Marialuisa Ernst: Director, Producer Title: A Place of Absence About: The Caravan of Women — 40 Central Americans make an annual journey across Mexico to search for children who went missing while crossing the border. Diane Hodson & Jasmine Luoma: Co-Directors, Co-Producers, Co-Cinematographers Title: Million Dollar Block About: With the future of public housing at stake, Million Dollar Block peers inside one NYCHA development on the precipice of change. Elle Kamihira: Director; Yulia Ruditskaya: Animation Director Title: Jennifer, 42 About: Jennifer, 42 is an animated true crime documentary that tells the story of a Connecticut mother and her family's life-and-death battle to escape domestic violence. Tania Cypriano: Director Title: Transformation About: Transformation (working title) follows Dr. Jess Ting, head of a groundbreaking transgender surgery program in New York City, and a diverse group of his patients. Beth B: Director, Editor, Cinematographer Title: Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over About: Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over, directed by Beth B, journeys into No Wave legend Lydia Lunch's electric artistry confronting the patriarchy, sexuality & war with rare emotional honesty. Jessica Earnshaw: Director, Cinematographer Title: Jacinta About: Jacinta (working title) follows a young mother in and out of prison in Maine, while exploring the relationship between trauma and love within a family fractured by a cycle of addiction and incarceration. Deirdre Fishel: Director Title: Women In Blue About: An unprecedented look at the lives of female officers, Women in Blue explores the relationship between power, gender and violence in a Metropolitan Police Department. Pamela French: Director Title: Grabbing Back About: Grabbing Back, featuring Congresswomen Jahana Hayes, Ayanna Pressley and Lauren Underwood, is the inspiring story of African-American women breaking barriers to run for Congress. Dempsey Rice: Director; Jonathan Corbiere: Director of Animation Title: The Animated Mind of Oliver Sacks About: The Animated Mind of Oliver Sacks is a cinematic journey into the life, work and ideas of the bestselling author and revolutionary neurologist. FICTION FEATURES Isabel Sandoval: Director, Writer, Producer, Editor, Lead Actress Title: Lingua Franca About: Lingua Franca is a dramatic feature about Olivia, an undocumented Filipina transwoman who works as a caregiver in Brighton Beach. In her pursuit of a legal immigration status, she becomes emotionally involved with a Russian-Jewish man. Diane Fraher (Osage/Cherokee): Director/Writer Title: The Heart Stays About: The Heart Stays tells the story of two Native American teenaged sisters who leave the traditions and safety of the Osage Nation to follow their long held dreams. Kristen Abate: Co-Director, Co-Writer, Producer, Lead Actress; Steven Tennenbaum: Co-Director, Co-Writer Title: Straighten Up and Fly Right About: Autobiographical film about a woman with a severe form of arthritis who secretly dreams of being a writer but walks dogs for a living. Julia Kots: Director, Writer, Editor Title: Inez & Doug & Kira About: After Inez' mysterious suicide, her twin sister, Kira, and Kira's fiancée, Doug - both of whom shared their own complicated relationship with Inez - embark on a quest to solve the mystery behind their loved one's death. FICTION SHORTS Myna Joseph: Director, Writer Title: No Fault About: Following a near-fatal car accident, Lu wrestles with creeping invisibility as she approaches the second half of her life – but she's determined to be seen. Catherine Loerke: Director, Writer Title: Sand Mama About: In the surreal yet relatable short Sand Mama, a woman whose identity has become obscured by the roles of wife and mother metamorphoses into a sand creature on a family beach trip. Jessie Levandov: Director, Writer Title: Baby About: Baby is a queer coming-of-age love story that introduces us to the world of Ali, a Dominican teenager from the Bronx, on a Saturday afternoon. Taylor Lee Nagel: Director, Producer; Julia Lindon: Writer, Producer, Actor Title: Lady Liberty About: Lady Liberty is an independently produced pilot that follows an aspiring comedian learning to embrace her queerness, find her comedic voice, and more importantly, her community. Eliza Cossio: Co-Director, Writer, Actress; Hayley Kosan: Co-Director Title: La Bruja About: La Bruja is a bilingual dark comedy about a Mexican American girl who goes through a breakup and meets a witch who offers to help. Machel Ross: Director, Producer, Costume Designer Title: Signs He Made at Home About: Signs He Made At Home is a fictional short film that follows the life and artistic practice of a visionary artist as he descends into schizophrenic delusions. Dominica Eriksen: Director, Writer, Cinematographer Title: Saint Catherine of Bensonhurst About: Saint Catherine of Bensonhurst is an irreverent dramedy that follows the unexpected consequences of 12-year-old Catherine's sudden decision to become a nun. Danielle Eliska Lyle: Director, Writer Title: Shield About: A foster care kid named Zoe overcomes her unusual attachment to a blanket with Rachel's creative use of comic books. Linh Dan Nguyen Phan: Director, Writer Title: Children of the Dust About: Through the eyes of a 10 years old refugee from the Vietnam War, the short film tells the story of belonging, alienation and a bowl of pho. Danielle Durchslag: Director, Writer Title: Eleanor of Illinois About: Chicago's most powerful Jewish doyenne, played by Broadway legend Judy Kuhn, channels Katherine Hepburn to punish her adult child's insolence, and win back their loyalty. DOCUMENTARY SHORTS Lucy Claire Adams: Director, Cinematographer, Editor Title: The Weight About: The Weight (working title) follows 93 year old sculptor Lorrie Goulet as she continues her seventy year career at her studio in New York City, reflecting on her life and legacy. Bella Randle Racklin: Director, Producer, Editor Title: Floating Victoria About: A journey into the wacky world of maverick artist Victoria Mackenzie-Childs, set aboard her floating magnum opus, the century-old Yankee Ferry. Laura Checkoway: Director, Producer, Editor Title: Eshete About: This documentary enters the life of Eshete, a refugee who escaped war and is now King of a cat colony in Brooklyn. Rachel Fleit: Director Title: Ava & Bianca About: Ava & Bianca is a short documentary film about the relationship between two female cinematographers who also happen to be transgender. Crystal Kayzia: Director Title: See You Next Time About: See You Next Time reaches across the nail salon table to capture the intimate moments shared between a Chinese nail artist and her Black client. Luz M. Zamora: Director, Cinematographer Title: El Retorno/The Return About: After 3 decades working in NYC, Aura Taibel returns to Barranquilla, Colombia to begin her own business. Yiwei Chen: Director, Cinematographer, Editor Title: Audry Funk About: Audry Funk is about how a social activist and feminist rapper from Mexico rebuilds her life and pride in NYC. Hanna Nordenswan: Director, Editor, Cinematographer Title: Night Cleaners About: A documentary about the people who clean while we sleep. Night Cleaners shows the extraordinary in the ordinary in different New York spaces and their cleaners. Lydia Cornett & Jenny Groza: Co-Directors Title: Narmin's Birthday About: Narmin's Birthday tells the story of Narmin, an Azerbaijani teenager, and her traditional grandmother Ismat, as she plans her sixteenth birthday party to be as "American" as possible. FICTION WEBSERIES Adenike Thomas: Director, Writer Title: Addie & Addy About: Addie & Addy is a half-hour comedy about two twenty-something, first-generation Nigerian-American roommates forced to share a rent-stabilized apartment in Brooklyn, NY. Sophia Peer: Creator, Director, Writer, Editor Title: Who's Annie (pilot) About: After jail time, 12-step programs and five marriages, Annie's now ready to take on every role this series hands her. Aisha Jordan: Creator, Head Writer Title: #HashtagTheShow About: #HashtagTheShow, a socially conscious sketch comedy web series about our modern hashtag reality through the lens of people of color in America. Hang Nguyen: Director, Writer Title: Sideways Smile About: Sideways Smile is a comedy series about an Asian-American woman on a journey of sexual discovery after reluctantly enrolling in a class on female sexuality. Lindsay Amer: Creator, Host Title: Queer Kid Stuff About: Queer Kid Stuff is an LGBTQ+ and social justice educational webseries for ages 3 and up, imagining a kinder and more equal future through inclusive children's media. Zoie Omega: Director; Bunny Michael: Writer, Performer Title: What Would Higher Self Do? About: Queer artist Bunny Michael and their self love personified- doppelgänger HigherSelf flip the mental script on negative thinking while pursuing an art career in New York in web series. Angela Cheng: Director, Writer Title: Type A About: Type A is a web series detailing the misadventures of being Asian-American in New York City -- from dating to online makeup tutorials to ordering takeout. Huriyyah Muhammad: Director, Writer, Producer Title: Keloid: Original Series About: When a young boy with supernatural abilities is linked to the death of a classmate, he and his mother go on the run, returning to her hometown where they are soon tormented by an acquaintance with a score to settle. Sarah Randall Hunt: Creator, Producer Title: Stupid Cupid About: Four best friends attempt to fix the problem of modern love through an app with a mind of its own. DOCUMENTARY WEBSERIES Melinda Hunt: Director Title: Loneliness is a Beautiful Place: AIDS Burials on Hart Island About: Loneliness is a Beautiful Place: Unearthing the stories of five New Yorkers who died of AIDS and disappeared onto Hart Island. Alison Cornyn: Project Director Title: Expert Voices About: Expert Voices, a web miniseries, is a component of Incorrigibles, a transmedia documentary project born out of the stories and lives of incarcerated girls in the US, from 1900 to present day. Sol Aramendi: Project Director Title: The Women Worker's Studio About: Documents how women immigrants cooperate to lead change in their communities. Krystalline Armendariz: Director Title: Folx: a queer documentary series About: Folx, a queer documentary series, explores the strength, diversity, and often overlooked experiences of queer lives through intimate 60-second portraits. Louise Dente: Director, Producer Title: African Hairtage in America: The Struggle for Cultural/Natural Expression About: As NYC implements legislation to protect against racial discrimination on the basis of hair, this web series will explore the history that makes these protections necessary. Charlotte Mangin: Project Director Title: Unladylike2020 About: Unladylike2020 is a series of animated documentary shorts featuring unsung American women from the turn of the 20th century, launching in 2020 for the centennial of women's suffrage. Print this article

Recipients of the inaugural Women's Film, TV and Theatre Fund. - Daryl Roth Theatre

Women's Film, TV and Theatre Fund Winners

(released 3/2/2019)
By Kimberly Burke

The women of New York are seeing investment in their storytelling for film, television, and theatre. An idea sparked by former Film Commissioner, now Census Bureau leader, Julie Menin, the thought was to create grants for finishing funds that would see more completed stories by New York women. It gathered interest and is now awarding an inaugural round of funding.

Entertainment consumers demand a constant refresh of content. Stages and screens, big and small, search for the next storytelling voice. Today, the voice is predominately male. The narrative of the female is under 5% in all mediums. Equality of 50/50 is distant.

Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen noted that the gain of women in the production industries is not happening organically. The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) now led by Acting Film Commissioner Anne del Castillo is taking the torch light by former commissioner Menin and moving it forward with the announcement of the inaugural round of Women's Film, TV and Theatre Fund winners.

On Thursday, February 28th, the MOME announced the 63 women-led projects that were selected to receive funding. The total amount for this first round is $1.5 million. Here is a breakdown of the projects by type and then followed by a list of all the winners.

14 Theatre Productions – each received up to $50,000
11 Documentary Features – each received up to $50,000
4 Fiction Features – each received up to $50,000
10 Fiction Short – each received up to $25,000
9 Documentary Shorts – each received up to $25,000
9 Fiction Webisode/Webseries – each received up to $20,000
6 Documentary Webisodes/Webseries – each received up to $20,000

Daryl Roth, Tony Award-winning Producer

Alicia Glen, Deputy Mayor for the City of New York

Anne del Castillo, Acting Commissioner, Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment

Judith K. Brodsky, The New York Foundation for the Arts, Board Chair

Daphne Rubin-Vega, Actress and Fund Juror

Amy Fox, Screenwriter and Fund Juror

THEATRE PRODUCTIONS

Grace McLean: Librettist, Composer, Lyricist; Lee Sunday Evans: Director
Title: In the Green
About: In the Green is a new musical based on the origin story of one of Medieval history's most powerful and creative women: Hildegard von Bingen. Produced by LCT3.

Colette Robert: Playwright, Director
Title: The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel
About: The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel cleverly deconstructs black debutante ball culture. Produced by New Georges and the Movement Theatre Company.

Karen Brown, Karimah, Ntozake Shange: Playwrights; Ifa Bayeza, Karen Brown: Directors
Title: Negro Ensemble Company Celebrates The Art of Women
About: NEC Celebrates the Art of Woman explores extraordinary women in performance with multi-dimensionality; range of voice, perspective and emotion across generational, economic, and cultural descriptors.

Nia O. Wiherspoon: Playwright; Mei Ann Teo: Director
Title: Messiah
About: Messiah is a love story. Or many. It follows the journey of a DJ. A transman. A seer with fire in his teeth. Hoover's nightmare. A son of two Black Panthers. Come dance inside his church of memory, where we who have been denied voice—black women, queer, and trans folks—are on the pulpit.

Lisa Schlesinger: Playwright; Marion Schoevaert: Director; Irina Patkanian: Filmmaker
Title: Iphigenia Point Blank
About: This immersive public ritual fuses together documentary film, theatre, live music, and dance, to share the story of a woman's experience of war.

Antoinette Nwandu: Playwright; Danya Taymor: Director
Title: Tuvalu: Or the Saddest Song
About: Tuvalu by Antoinette Nwandu depicts a young black woman's coming of age in 1990s Los Angeles set against the backdrop of the OJ Simpson trial. Produced by The Vineyard Theatre.

Karen Kandel: Writer, Performer
Title: Vicksburg Project
About: The Vicksburg Project traces women's experiences in Vicksburg, Mississippi from The Civil War, Jim Crow/Great Migration, Civil Rights era, and today through song and text. Produced by Mabou Mines.

Indira Etwaroo: Director; Dominique Morrisau: Curator
Title: 50in50: Letters to Our Daughters
About: 50in50: Letters to Our Daughters brings to the stage 50 stories 50 50 women across the globe as they consider the world [they] inherited and the one [they] would like to create. Produced by The Billie Holiday Theater.

Aya Ogawa: Playwright; Director: Performer
Title: The Nosebleed
About: A theatrical memorial and healing ritual for the audience, The Nosebleed is a darkly humorous autobiographical play about writer/director Aya Ogawa's fractured relationship with her long-deceased father.

DeVante Lewis: Director
Title: Girlz in Da Hood
About: The Writher's Project aims to create space for girls and femme writers from the Bronx to express their personal narratives in fun and empowering ways. Presented at Community Connections for Youth.

Zoey Martinson: Playwright, Director
Title: The Black History Museum According to the United States of America
About: The Black History Museum... According to the United States of America is a theatrical installation experience delving into the fraught relationship between Black bodies and the value America places on them. Produced by HERE Arts Center.

Kayran Irani: Playwright, Performer; Rania Lee Kahlil: Director
Title: There is a Portal
About: There is a Portal is a multimedia, one-woman show and community building project that re-imagines belonging and human connection through linking narratives of migration, displacement and home.

Andrea Stolowitz: Playwright, Producer; Portia Krieger: Director
Title: The Berlin Diaries
About: In 2006, Oregon Book Award-winning playwright Andrea Stolowitz receives a family diary from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. in 2015 she travels to Berlin to investigate.

Robin Frohardt: Playwright, Director
Title: The Plastic Bag Store
About: The Plastic Bag Store is an installation and puppetry-based immersive play that explores how the hordes of plastic waste we are leaving behind might be misinterpreted by future generations.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

Andrea Cordoba: Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor
Title: Sanctuary
About: Sanctuary follows Guatemalan immigrant Amanda Morales as she takes physical sanctuary in a NYC church, publicly resisting her deportation within a space that ICE recognizes as protected.

Nausheen Dadabhoy: Director, Cinematographer
Title: An Act of Worship
About: An Act of Worship follows a new generation of Muslim-American women activists who have been galvanized into action while anti-Muslim sentiments are on the rise.

Marialuisa Ernst: Director, Producer
Title: A Place of Absence
About: The Caravan of Women — 40 Central Americans make an annual journey across Mexico to search for children who went missing while crossing the border.

Diane Hodson & Jasmine Luoma: Co-Directors, Co-Producers, Co-Cinematographers
Title: Million Dollar Block
About: With the future of public housing at stake, Million Dollar Block peers inside one NYCHA development on the precipice of change.

Elle Kamihira: Director; Yulia Ruditskaya: Animation Director
Title: Jennifer, 42
About: Jennifer, 42 is an animated true crime documentary that tells the story of a Connecticut mother and her family's life-and-death battle to escape domestic violence.

Tania Cypriano: Director
Title: Transformation
About: Transformation (working title) follows Dr. Jess Ting, head of a groundbreaking transgender surgery program in New York City, and a diverse group of his patients.

Beth B: Director, Editor, Cinematographer
Title: Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over
About: Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over, directed by Beth B, journeys into No Wave legend Lydia Lunch's electric artistry confronting the patriarchy, sexuality & war with rare emotional honesty.

Jessica Earnshaw: Director, Cinematographer
Title: Jacinta
About: Jacinta (working title) follows a young mother in and out of prison in Maine, while exploring the relationship between trauma and love within a family fractured by a cycle of addiction and incarceration.

Deirdre Fishel: Director
Title: Women In Blue
About: An unprecedented look at the lives of female officers, Women in Blue explores the relationship between power, gender and violence in a Metropolitan Police Department.

Pamela French: Director
Title: Grabbing Back
About: Grabbing Back, featuring Congresswomen Jahana Hayes, Ayanna Pressley and Lauren Underwood, is the inspiring story of African-American women breaking barriers to run for Congress.

Dempsey Rice: Director; Jonathan Corbiere: Director of Animation
Title: The Animated Mind of Oliver Sacks
About: The Animated Mind of Oliver Sacks is a cinematic journey into the life, work and ideas of the bestselling author and revolutionary neurologist.

FICTION FEATURES

Isabel Sandoval: Director, Writer, Producer, Editor, Lead Actress
Title: Lingua Franca
About: Lingua Franca is a dramatic feature about Olivia, an undocumented Filipina transwoman who works as a caregiver in Brighton Beach. In her pursuit of a legal immigration status, she becomes emotionally involved with a Russian-Jewish man.

Diane Fraher (Osage/Cherokee): Director/Writer
Title: The Heart Stays
About: The Heart Stays tells the story of two Native American teenaged sisters who leave the traditions and safety of the Osage Nation to follow their long held dreams.

Kristen Abate: Co-Director, Co-Writer, Producer, Lead Actress; Steven Tennenbaum: Co-Director, Co-Writer
Title: Straighten Up and Fly Right
About: Autobiographical film about a woman with a severe form of arthritis who secretly dreams of being a writer but walks dogs for a living.

Julia Kots: Director, Writer, Editor
Title: Inez & Doug & Kira
About: After Inez' mysterious suicide, her twin sister, Kira, and Kira's fiancée, Doug - both of whom shared their own complicated relationship with Inez - embark on a quest to solve the mystery behind their loved one's death.

FICTION SHORTS

Myna Joseph: Director, Writer
Title: No Fault
About: Following a near-fatal car accident, Lu wrestles with creeping invisibility as she approaches the second half of her life – but she's determined to be seen.

Catherine Loerke: Director, Writer
Title: Sand Mama
About: In the surreal yet relatable short Sand Mama, a woman whose identity has become obscured by the roles of wife and mother metamorphoses into a sand creature on a family beach trip.

Jessie Levandov: Director, Writer
Title: Baby
About: Baby is a queer coming-of-age love story that introduces us to the world of Ali, a Dominican teenager from the Bronx, on a Saturday afternoon.

Taylor Lee Nagel: Director, Producer; Julia Lindon: Writer, Producer, Actor
Title: Lady Liberty
About: Lady Liberty is an independently produced pilot that follows an aspiring comedian learning to embrace her queerness, find her comedic voice, and more importantly, her community.

Eliza Cossio: Co-Director, Writer, Actress; Hayley Kosan: Co-Director
Title: La Bruja
About: La Bruja is a bilingual dark comedy about a Mexican American girl who goes through a breakup and meets a witch who offers to help.

Machel Ross: Director, Producer, Costume Designer
Title: Signs He Made at Home
About: Signs He Made At Home is a fictional short film that follows the life and artistic practice of a visionary artist as he descends into schizophrenic delusions.

Dominica Eriksen: Director, Writer, Cinematographer
Title: Saint Catherine of Bensonhurst
About: Saint Catherine of Bensonhurst is an irreverent dramedy that follows the unexpected consequences of 12-year-old Catherine's sudden decision to become a nun.

Danielle Eliska Lyle: Director, Writer
Title: Shield
About: A foster care kid named Zoe overcomes her unusual attachment to a blanket with Rachel's creative use of comic books.

Linh Dan Nguyen Phan: Director, Writer
Title: Children of the Dust
About: Through the eyes of a 10 years old refugee from the Vietnam War, the short film tells the story of belonging, alienation and a bowl of pho.

Danielle Durchslag: Director, Writer
Title: Eleanor of Illinois
About: Chicago's most powerful Jewish doyenne, played by Broadway legend Judy Kuhn, channels Katherine Hepburn to punish her adult child's insolence, and win back their loyalty.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

Lucy Claire Adams: Director, Cinematographer, Editor
Title: The Weight
About: The Weight (working title) follows 93 year old sculptor Lorrie Goulet as she continues her seventy year career at her studio in New York City, reflecting on her life and legacy.

Bella Randle Racklin: Director, Producer, Editor
Title: Floating Victoria
About: A journey into the wacky world of maverick artist Victoria Mackenzie-Childs, set aboard her floating magnum opus, the century-old Yankee Ferry.

Laura Checkoway: Director, Producer, Editor
Title: Eshete
About: This documentary enters the life of Eshete, a refugee who escaped war and is now King of a cat colony in Brooklyn.

Rachel Fleit: Director
Title: Ava & Bianca
About: Ava & Bianca is a short documentary film about the relationship between two female cinematographers who also happen to be transgender.

Crystal Kayzia: Director
Title: See You Next Time
About: See You Next Time reaches across the nail salon table to capture the intimate moments shared between a Chinese nail artist and her Black client.

Luz M. Zamora: Director, Cinematographer
Title: El Retorno/The Return
About: After 3 decades working in NYC, Aura Taibel returns to Barranquilla, Colombia to begin her own business.

Yiwei Chen: Director, Cinematographer, Editor
Title: Audry Funk
About: Audry Funk is about how a social activist and feminist rapper from Mexico rebuilds her life and pride in NYC.

Hanna Nordenswan: Director, Editor, Cinematographer
Title: Night Cleaners
About: A documentary about the people who clean while we sleep. Night Cleaners shows the extraordinary in the ordinary in different New York spaces and their cleaners.

Lydia Cornett & Jenny Groza: Co-Directors
Title: Narmin's Birthday
About: Narmin's Birthday tells the story of Narmin, an Azerbaijani teenager, and her traditional grandmother Ismat, as she plans her sixteenth birthday party to be as "American" as possible.

FICTION WEBSERIES

Adenike Thomas: Director, Writer
Title: Addie & Addy
About: Addie & Addy is a half-hour comedy about two twenty-something, first-generation Nigerian-American roommates forced to share a rent-stabilized apartment in Brooklyn, NY.

Sophia Peer: Creator, Director, Writer, Editor
Title: Who's Annie (pilot)
About: After jail time, 12-step programs and five marriages, Annie's now ready to take on every role this series hands her.

Aisha Jordan: Creator, Head Writer
Title: #HashtagTheShow
About: #HashtagTheShow, a socially conscious sketch comedy web series about our modern hashtag reality through the lens of people of color in America.

Hang Nguyen: Director, Writer
Title: Sideways Smile
About: Sideways Smile is a comedy series about an Asian-American woman on a journey of sexual discovery after reluctantly enrolling in a class on female sexuality.

Lindsay Amer: Creator, Host
Title: Queer Kid Stuff
About: Queer Kid Stuff is an LGBTQ+ and social justice educational webseries for ages 3 and up, imagining a kinder and more equal future through inclusive children's media.

Zoie Omega: Director; Bunny Michael: Writer, Performer
Title: What Would Higher Self Do?
About: Queer artist Bunny Michael and their self love personified- doppelgänger HigherSelf flip the mental script on negative thinking while pursuing an art career in New York in web series.

Angela Cheng: Director, Writer
Title: Type A
About: Type A is a web series detailing the misadventures of being Asian-American in New York City -- from dating to online makeup tutorials to ordering takeout.

Huriyyah Muhammad: Director, Writer, Producer
Title: Keloid: Original Series
About: When a young boy with supernatural abilities is linked to the death of a classmate, he and his mother go on the run, returning to her hometown where they are soon tormented by an acquaintance with a score to settle.

Sarah Randall Hunt: Creator, Producer
Title: Stupid Cupid
About: Four best friends attempt to fix the problem of modern love through an app with a mind of its own.

DOCUMENTARY WEBSERIES

Melinda Hunt: Director
Title: Loneliness is a Beautiful Place: AIDS Burials on Hart Island
About: Loneliness is a Beautiful Place: Unearthing the stories of five New Yorkers who died of AIDS and disappeared onto Hart Island.

Alison Cornyn: Project Director
Title: Expert Voices
About: Expert Voices, a web miniseries, is a component of Incorrigibles, a transmedia documentary project born out of the stories and lives of incarcerated girls in the US, from 1900 to present day.

Sol Aramendi: Project Director
Title: The Women Worker's Studio
About: Documents how women immigrants cooperate to lead change in their communities.

Krystalline Armendariz: Director
Title: Folx: a queer documentary series
About: Folx, a queer documentary series, explores the strength, diversity, and often overlooked experiences of queer lives through intimate 60-second portraits.

Louise Dente: Director, Producer
Title: African Hairtage in America: The Struggle for Cultural/Natural Expression
About: As NYC implements legislation to protect against racial discrimination on the basis of hair, this web series will explore the history that makes these protections necessary.

Charlotte Mangin: Project Director
Title: Unladylike2020

About: Unladylike2020 is a series of animated documentary shorts featuring unsung American women from the turn of the 20th century, launching in 2020 for the centennial of women's suffrage.

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