2019 Recipients
Originally launched as the “Made in NY” Women’s Film, TV and Theatre Fund, the fund is a signature initiative by The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) to address the underrepresentation of all who identify as women in the entertainment industries.
In 2019, finishing funds in the combined amount of $1.5 million were awarded to 63 film, TV, theatre, and digital projects made by creatives who identify as women. The 2019 cycle was the first round of a $5 million, three-year program funded by MOME and administered by NYFA.
2019 NYC WOMEN’S FUND FOR FILM, TV AND THEARE
Documentary Webseries
Sol Aramendi, The Women Worker’s Studio
Krystalline Armendariz, Folx: a queer documentary series
Alison Cornyn, Expert Voices
Louise Dente, The Grandassa Models and the Black is Beautiful Movement in the USA
Melinda Hunt, Loneliness is a Beautiful Place: AIDS Burials on Hart Island
Charlotte Mangin, Unladylike2020
Panelists
Nevah Assang, Culture & Community Relations at NYC & Company
Amy Dotson, Deputy Director & Head of Programming at IFP
Chloe Gbai, Shorts & Streaming Producer at POV
Michelle Hamada, Documentary and Scripted Programs Manager at Tribeca Film Institute
Shona Masarin-Hurst Programs, Director at CUE Art Foundation
Documentary Short
Lucy Claire Adams, The Weight
Laura Checkoway, Eshete
Yiwei Chen, Audry Funk
Lydia Cornett & Jenny Groza, Narmin’s Birthday
Rachel Fleit, Ava & Bianca
Crystal Kayzia, See You Next Time
Hanna Nordenswan, Night Cleaners
Bella Randle Racklin, Floating Victoria
Luz M. Zamora, El Retorno/The Return
Panelists
Kathy Brew, MoMA Doc Fortnight Series Curator
Toby Perl Freilich, Independent Filmmaker
Barbara Miller, Senior Curator of Collections & Exhibitions at Museum of the Moving Image
Valerie Paley, Director at Center for Women’s History, Chief Historian at New York Historical Society
JT Takagi, Filmmaker/Third World Newsreel Executive Director
Documentary Feature
Beth B, Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over
Andrea Cordoba, Sanctuary
Tania Cypriano, Transformation
Nausheen Dadabhoy, An Act of Worship
Jessica Earnshaw, Jacinta
Marialuisa Ernst, A Place of Absence
Deirdre Fishel, Women In Blue
Pamela French, Grabbing Back
Diane Hodson & Jasmine Luoma, Million Dollar Block
Elle Kamihira & Yulia Ruditskaya, Jennifer, 42
Dempsey Rice & Jonathan Corbiere, The Animated Mind of Oliver Sacks
Panelists
Wendy Ettinger, Co-Founder of Chicken&Egg Pictures, Co-Founder of Gamechanger Films
Ruby Lerner, Arts Consultant, Founding Director of Creative Capital (Retired)
Michelle Materre, Associate Professor of Media Studies & Film at The New School, Founder/Lead Curator of Creatively Speaking Film Series
Yvonne Russo, Film & TV Producer, Rosebud Sioux Tribal Nation Member, NYWIFT Board Member, The Language Conservancy Board Member, Producers Build of American Member, Sundance Institute Fellow, Tribeca All Access Fellow
Debra Zimmerman, Women Make Movies Executive Director
Fiction Webseries
Lindsay Amer, Queer Kid Stuff
Angela Cheng, Type A
Aisha Jordan, #HashtagTheShow
Huriyyah Muhammad, Keloid: Original Series
Hang Nguyen, Sideways Smile
Zoie Omega & Bunny Michael, What Would Higher Self Do?
Sophia Peer, Who’s Annie (pilot)
Sarah Randall Hunt, Stupid Cupid
Adenike Thomas, Addie & Addy
Panelists
Livia Bloom Ingram, Vice President of Icarus Films/Film Curator
Blandine Mercier-McGovern, Consultant/OTT Content Strategist & Film Distributor
Soldanela Rivera, Notes From A Native Daughter Producer/Host
Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Filmmaker
Kirya Traber, Playwright/Actress/Cultural Worker
Fiction Short
Eliza Cossio & Hayley Kosan, La Bruja
Linh Dan Nguyen Phan, Children of the Dust
Danielle Durchslag, Eleanor of Illinois
Danielle Eliska Lyle, Shield
Dominica Eriksen, Saint Catherine of Bensonhurst
Myna Joseph, No Fault
Jessie Levandov, Baby
Catherine Loerke, Sand Mama
Taylor Lee Nagel & Julia London, Lady Liberty
Machel Ross, Signs He Made at Home
Panelists
Abbesi Akhamie, Writer/Director/Producer
Camille Betrand, Bleeker Street Media Director of Acquisitions
Amy Fox, Screenwriter/Professor at NYU Tisch
Jessica Green, Independent Programmer/Producer
Tracey Scott Wilson, Co-Executive Producer at FX Networks
Fiction Feature
Kristen Abate & Stephen Tennenbaum, Straighten Up and Fly Right
Diane Fraher (Osage/Cherokee), The Heart Stays
Julia Kots, Inez & Doug & Kira
Isabel Sandoval, Lingua Franca
Panelists
Mahen Bonetti, Director of African Film Fesival
Sharon Greytak, Independent Filmmaker
Lesli Klainberg, Executive Director at Film Society of Lincoln Center
Terry Lawler, Media Consultant
Juana Suárez, Media Archivist/Professor at NYU Moving Image Archiving & Preservation
Theater Production
Karen Brown, Karimah, Ntozake Shange, & Ifa Bayeza, Negro Ensemble Company Celebrates The Art of Women
Indira Etwaroo and Dominique Morrisau, 50in50: Letters to Our Daughters
Robin Frohardt, The Plastic Bag Store
Kayran Irani & Rania Lee Kahill, There is a Portal
Karen Kandel, Vicksburg Project
DeVante Lewis, Girlz in Da Hood
Zoey Martinson, The Black History Museum According to the United States of America
Grace McLean & Lee Sunday Evans, In the Green
Antoinette Nwandu & Danya Taymor, Tuvalu: Or the Saddest Song
Nia O. Witherspoon & Mei Ann Teo, The Messiah Complex
Aya Ogawa, Failure Sandwich
Colette Robert, The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel
Lisa Schlesinger, Marion Schoevaert, & Irina Patkanian, Iphigenia Point Blank
Andrea Stolowitz & Portia Krieger, The Berlin Diaries
Panelists
Emilya Cachapero, TCG Director of Artistic & International Programs
Kathleen Chalfant, Actress
Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director at Williamstown Theatre Festival
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Actor, Singer, Writer
Caridad Svich, Playwright/NoPassport Theatre Alliance & Press
Image Credit: Courtesy the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment
