Submissions are NOW OPEN for the 2023 Topaz Film Festival! 

For 22 years, Women in Film Dallas has provided a platform for independent women filmmakers to promote their work through its annual film festival.

The Topaz Film Festival is an extension of the Women in Film Dallas Scholastic Grant Fund, a 501c3 that provides financial support through grants and scholarships to women in the pursuit of media arts degrees and those in the productions of film, television and screen-based media. Proceeds from the festival will serve to fund the scholastic grant.

This year’s program is tentatively set for October 12-22, 2023 and will consist of a minimum of 4 short film blocks (Texas, comedy, student, and other shorts) and at least one centerpiece feature film (dependent upon submission volume). The 2023 Topaz Film Festival will present in-person and virtual screenings. Virtual screenings will be limited to certain geographic regions as determined by the festival directors.

Early Submission Deadline is March 16, 2023. Regular Deadline is June 1, 2023.

Visit FilmFreeway to begin the submission process!

If you have any questions regarding the festival, please email topazfilmfest@gmail.com.

Over 60 Film Screenings and Industry Panels at 3rd Annual Norwalk Film Festival

January 20-22, 2023

The 2022-23 Norwalk Film Festival will run Sat-Sun, with an opening night party for filmmakers on Friday night. Screenings, panels and networking opportunities will be held at the Wall Street Theater and Norwalk Public Library (Belden Ave). Both venues are conveniently aligned in the Wall Street area of the City to take advantage of the walkability of Wall Street; attendees can easily move between events, and enjoy the historic district.

In addition to the screenings, a myriad of informative workshops, educational panels, and student and filmmaker networking opportunities will be featured throughout the festival. The full festival schedule is available on the website: www.norwalkfilmfestival.org.

One such panel is the Art of Screenwriting, which will take place on Sunday, January 22 at 1pm. This panel will focus on the experience of screenwriting: the inspiration, process, and culmination in creating winning screenplays and scripts. Led by Marga Costa, this panel will feature WIFVNE Board Member Dusty Noval and WIFVNE Member Sharbari Ahmed. Sharbari was on the writing team for season one of the TV series Quantico on ABC, writing two episodes and contributing to the rest. She is currently one of the head writers of the show Kriya Karam to be released on Voot (Viacom/Paramount) in India in 2023, internationally soon after. Shabari adapted the middle grade novel, Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Bose Perkins for the screen, the adaptation of which has won several awards.

The NFF was founded by and operates with a grassroots community of volunteers comprised of filmmakers, cultural leaders, and movie lovers living and working in Norwalk. The festival leadership believes that cultural equity is a key component to long-term viability of a diverse and thriving artistic community. The goal of the NFF team is to bring together local communities and stimulate ongoing dialogues generated by the power of cinema.

To purchase tickets, visit www.norwalkfilmfestival.org. WIFVNE Members receive a discount on tickets. 

The Norwalk Arts Society, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that seeks to improve the general public awareness and appreciation of arts, culture, and education in Norwalk, serves as the fiduciary sponsor for the Norwalk Film Festival.

WIFVNE is a proud sponsor of Salem Film Fest's Mass Reality Check Documentary Shorts Competition!

Selected shorts will screen during the first weekend of the fest (March 23 - April 2, 2023) followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers in attendance.

Submissions are FREE and all forms of documentary are welcome. Entries must be made by current students or 2022 graduates who live in MA OR attend(ed) a MA college/ university. Full rules and guidelines for each competition can be found at the hyperlinks below. The deadline to submit is March 1, 2023.

KEEPING IT REAL (High School) | MASS REALITY CHECK (College/University)

WIFVNE is a proud sponsor of the Mass Reality Check. The first place winner will receive a complimentary one-year membership to WIFVNE, career advice from one of our board members, as well as other prizes from co-sponsors Documentary Educational Resources, Boris FX, and Talamas. For more information, click here.

SUBMIT YOUR FILM today!

Contributed by WIFVNE member Alyson Muzila

Filmmakers, writers, actors, and producers were just some members of the film industry in New England that gathered Oct. 20-23 at the fifth Mystic Film Festival in Mystic, CT and Westerly, RI. A wide variety of films were screened at various locations, and workshops and panels added to the high value of the accessible and down-to earth festival.

WIFVNE sponsored a Women in Comedy Short Films block followed by a Q&A panel on Saturday. The event was kicked off by local comedian Emily Siero, followed by a tribute to well-known comedian and Connecticut native Ruth Buzzi (of Laugh-In fame), who received the Lifetime Achievement Award.  Four short films then screened, and WIFVNE president Sharon Contillo hosted the Q&A with the filmmakers in front of a full audience at the La Grua Center. Finally, audience members and festival goers, a number who are WIFVNE members from New England states, had ample time to network and connect.

It was a highly successful event, and WIFVNE looks forward to additional opportunities to showcase its local filmmakers and offer networking with film festival partners.

“Emotional” and “intimate” is an understatement when describing the documentary, Bad Axe by David Siev, which recently appeared at Emerson College’s Bright Family Screening Room as part of the Boston Asian American Film Festival. As a fellow Cambodian filmmaker myself, the film depicts experiences I relate to in a way that I have never seen captured on screen before. The documentary follows the Siev family throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Black Lives Matter rallies, and the ups and downs of owning a family restaurant in Bad Axe, Michigan. Siev’s work is touching, inspirational, and his family’s story speaks to the aspiration of attaining the American Dream.

This past Friday, I attended the Boston Palestine Film Festival on behalf of WIFVNE. Located at Emerson College’s Bright Family Screening Room, the night presented the first world premier screening of Hush (Samar Qupty) and a screening of Salma’s Home (Hanadi Elyan) followed by a Q&A with each respective director and producer, Nathan Bennett. Both films offer a rich, emotional experience through the eyes of Palestinian women and represent the strength of women and female-identifying, People of Color. There is power in embracing every aspect of one’s  culture and presenting that to the world; that power and care is delivered in these films. Hush depicts a charming story that delves deeply into the struggles of being a woman, while additionally displaying the strength in female relationships and support from other women. Salma’s Home shares the emotional ups and downs of family relationships and learning to love through hardship through the interconnected lives of three women. It was an honor to be in attendance at this event and I cannot recommend these works enough!

WIFVNE's New Hampshire co-Chair Jaci Kjernander recaps the New Hampshire Film Festival 2022. 

It was a whirlwind 4 days at the New Hampshire Film Festival. Many members of WIFVNE had their films screen, including Rachel Thomas, Laina Barakat, Jaci Kjernander, Miriam Olken, Alyson Muzila, and the list goes on!

WIFVNE was fortunate enough to host a panel on Friday called “Changing Lanscapes”. Former WIFVNE New Hampshire Chair, Christine Altan, asked poignant questions of former WIFVNE Board member, Anna Feder (Head of Film Exhibition and Festival Programs in the Visual Media Arts Department at Emerson College and director/producer) and Nicole Galavski (creator/showrunner of “Growing Up” on Disney+, “The Hair Tales” on Hulu, “What Would Sophia Loren Do” on Netflix).

The 150 screened films inspired film makers of all genres. There were also incredible events that provided the best of networking. WIFVNE is happy to welcome our newest members from the weekend and looking forward to working with NHFF next year!

Top:  WIFVNE Board Member Rachel Thomas-Medwid (second from left) with her crew/cast from PENNY (including WIFVNE Member Alyson Muzila, far right)
Middle:  WIFVNE Members Michelle Lee and Miriam Olken at BHFF
Bottom:  "Changing Landscapes" panelists. Former WIFVNE New Hampshire Chair Christine Altan, panel moderator, second from right. 

The 5th annual Lonely Seal International Film, Screenplay & Music Festival took place at the Regent Theater October 5-10^th with 70 plus films, two concerts, and a John Lennon Birthday showcase. WIFVNE Board Member Rachel Thomas-Medwid attended as a 2022 screenplay finalist and previous winner of the 2020 Female Filmmaker of the Year. 

The festival has a focus on female filmmakers as well as LGBTQIA, minority, indigenous, and disabled filmmakers but loves all filmmakers who have “stories aching to be told.”

A special WIFVNE member film block is in the works for the 6^th Annual Lonely Seal FF…stay tuned for details on how to submit your work to be part of the festival!

WIFVNE Board Vice President Nerissa Williams Scott recaps The Camden International Film Festival 2022. 

The Camden International Film Festival 2022 was a blast. Fellow board member Emily Abi-Kheirs and myself (pictured below, Nerissa on left) attended in stride as we traipsed up and down the coast line in upstate Maine. What a joy to be surrounded by the locals who wanted nothing more than to enlighten us on the wrongs being spouted about them in the media and their lobstah fishing ways. We enveloped their sense of pride and wanted to do more. We both supported the community the best way we know how....why, by buying and eating lobstah of course.

“A program of the Points North Institute, CIFF remains widely recognized as a major platform championing the next generation of nonfiction storytellers and one of the hottest documentary and industry festivals on the festival and awards calendars,” said Points North, in a news release. “This year's edition was the most international and formally adventurous to date. It included 34 features and 37 short films from over 41 countries. Over 60% of the entire program was directed or co-directed by BIPOC filmmakers and this was the 6th consecutive program the festival has reached gender parity within the program and across all competitions.”

Bravo CIFF!!! We at WIFVNE are looking forward to a solid partnership next year and years to come!

Photo credit:  Nerissa Williams Scott 

The sixth annual festival features keynote speakers including Ryan and Ethan Hawke, Actress DeWanda Wise and filmmaker Colin Trevorrow of Jurassic World Dominion, and National Geographic’s Whitney C. Johnson.

The educational program includes a workshop sponsored by WIFVNE! "Fanny Packs are In: Your Kick-Ass, Get a Job Production Assistant Workshop" will be facilitated by WIFVNE President Emeritus, Alecia Orsini, and WIFVNE Board Vice President, Nerissa Williams Scott on Saturday, October 29 10:30am-1:00pm.

Founded by WIFVNE Vermont State Chair, Anna Colavito, Scout is a 501c3, international film festival which supports, empowers, and connects emerging filmmakers and visual storytellers worldwide aged 24 and under working in short film, photography, and innovation. 

Last year Scout received over 3000 submissions from 109 countries!

The 3-day event offers screenings, keynote speakers, and educational programming with leading industry professionals, creators, and entrepreneurs. Scout is more than a film festival for youth, it is a destination for audiences at large to learn about the incredible work that is being produced by youth in film, entrepreneurship, visual storytelling, and beyond.

Scout has many volunteer opportunities to help make this first year in Boston magical! Please reach out to info@scoutfilmfestival.org to inquire.

Follow Scout on social media (links below) and join the mailing list for upcoming announcements about the festival screening schedule, exciting programming updates, and tickets.

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