News

Women’s reproductive health is rarely depicted in movies, according to a new report from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

A new research brief from Dr. Stacy L. Smith, who founded the Institute, looked at the 100 most popular movies of 2023 for portrayals related to pregnancy, miscarriage, infertility, contraception, abortion, menstruation, and overall reproductive health.

“For years we have provided data on how Hollywood marginalizes girls and women on screen,” said Dr. Smith in a statement shared with TheWrap. “This latest report offers further evidence that it is not only the presence of women themselves that is missing on screen, but of critical depictions related to their health and well-being.”

The results show that only 42% of films contained any depiction of reproductive health in 2023. There were 8 depictions of menstruation, most of them in

Kelly Fremon Craig’s “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret,” which was based on the classic book by Judy Blume.

American Cinematheque’s Proof Film Festival announced the Filmmaker Award winners at their second annual festival in Culver City on Sunday.

This year’s festival featured 46 official short film selections. Each one had to convey a proof of concept of how the filmmakers would develop their short into a full-length feature or series.

Liz Sargent’s “Take Me Home” took home the Grand Jury Award. Her short film follows two sisters, Anna and Emily, as they share a rocky reunion after their mother’s passing. The two navigate Anna’s cognitive disability as they rebuild their relationship. Along with the award, Sargent also received a $60,000 camera package, courtesy of Panavision, to assist her with fleshing out a larger project from their proof-of-concept submission.

Giselle Bonilla’s “The Musical” won the Audience Choice Award. In the short, Doug Lebowitz, a middle school theater director, decides to take down his ex-girlfriend’s...

The Sundance Institute today announced the 10 producers selected to participate in its annual Producers Lab and we find a 5/5 split. Fellows in the Feature Film Program include Ivan MacDonald with Buffalo Stone, Yona Strauss with The Glob, Tara Sheffer with Rubber Hut, (a project we are already excited about as per our conversation with filmmaker Hanna Gray Organschi), Mireia Vilanova with Silence Sometimes, and Carolyn Mao with Sprout. Fellows in the Documentary Film Program include Alan Domínguez with Commerce City, Eurie Chung with Finding Má, Brenda Ávila-Hanna with How to Clean a House in Ten Easy Steps, Mars Verrone with Untitled Solidarity Project, and Jillian Schlesinger with We Are Volcanoes.…...

Sundance Institute has announced the 2024 Directors, Screenwriters, and Native Labs fellows.

The Native Lab takes place in person in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from April 29–May 4 and will support four fellows and two artists in residence. The Lab focuses on centring Indigeneity in the storytelling of participants from Native and Indigenous backgrounds and will work on feature film and episodic scripts through one-on-one feedback sections and roundtable discussions with advisors.

The fellows are: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (writer-director) with Hum (Phil-usa); Ryland Walker Knight (writer-director) with The Lip Of The World (USA); Charine Pilar Gonzales (writer-director) with Ndn Time (USA...

Burgeoning filmmakers that we had the chance to meet this past January in Jane Casey Modderno, Kristine Gerolaga, Hanna Gray Organschi, Sara Crow + David Rafailedes and Claire Fowler are fellows who’ll be returning for a second round with the Sundance Institute. This spring, the Native Lab in New Mexico will support four fellows and two artists in residence, and the Directors Lab in Colorado will support the development of eight projects with nine fellows, with an additional three fellows also joining for the online Screenwriters Lab (June 4–7: Screenwriters Lab online) held immediately after.…...

New York University has revealed its 2024 picks for its Black List-inspired Purple List of the best production-ready screenplays from Tisch School of the Arts graduate film students and recent alumni.

The four screenplays, selected via a blind reading process by industry insiders, are Blue Comedy by Vincent Lee Accettola, Little Phnom Penh by Chheangkea, Rubber Hut by Hanna Gray Organschi and Satoshi by Sara Crow and David Rafailedes.

Blue Comedy follows a celebrity comedian who recently came out of the closet who returns to the Boston stand-up scene to mentor a straight comedian for whom he’s developed feelings. Little Phnom Penh explores a Cambodian woman’s personal desires and changing family roles over two decades in a story that spans across the U.S. and Cambodia after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. Rubber Hut centers around a former ex-Pam Am stewardess who opens a drive-thru condom shop...

We can confirm that it’ll have been a noteworthy 2024 for Hanna Gray Organschi. With a recent visit to Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the eventual premiere of her next short in “F*ck That Guy,” we’re set for what might be a new acerbic and clever voice – with a possible thorny, circa 1990s dramedy-like exploration of entrepreneurship and reproductive rights sub-genre sphere circa 1990s. With one of her first creds being an Director’s Assistant for Antonio Campos on The Devil All the Time, there’ll be some connective tissue between the pending short project and her eventual feature in Rubber Hut.…...

Sixteen fellows with a dozen projects will be headed to the mythic bunk beds and cabin life of Utah just prior to the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. Here their words on paper will be tested, tried and nurtured with valuable input from the likes of Michelle Satter, Ilyse McKimmie, Jessie Nelson and creative advisors Ritesh Batra, Linda Yvette Chávez, Scott Frank, Phil Hay, Marielle Heller, Walter Mosley, Nicole Perlman, Kemp Powers, Dee Rees, Howard Rodman, Dana Stevens, Joan Tewkesbury, Bill Wheeler, Tyger Williams, Virgil Williams, and Doug Wright. This year’s Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab folks include: Nikesh Shukla & Himesh Patel (Brown Baby), Kaitlin Fontana & Franchesca Ramsey (Cover Girl), Sylvia Khoury (Heather), Jane Casey Modderno (Here for the Weekend), Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs (High Steel), Kristine Gerolaga (Lamok), Francesca Canepa & Miguel Ángel Papalini (La Otra Orilla), Diana Peralta (No Love Lost), Christian Moldes (Quince Kings), Hanna Gray Organschi (Rubber Hut), Sara Crow...

The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has selected the inaugural recipients for its newest award for student filmmakers: the AI2 Reproductive Rights Accelerator Award.

Announced last September, the Reproductive Rights Accelerator is the third such program from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and was created to help young filmmakers find their way into the industry with both financial and mentorship support.

The four awardees — Eve Chadbourn, a senior at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts; Naa Adei Mante, who is pursuing her masters degree in the NYU Tisch Graduate Film Program; Jenniffer González Martinez, an Mfa candidate at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts; and Hanna Gray Organschi, an Mfa candidate at NYU’s Tisch — were selected from a pool of applicants from colleges and universities across the United States.

Each recipient will receive a 25,000 award, funded by members of Women Moving Millions, to produce a short film. From different perspectives,...