April 2025

In 2024, Anonymous Was A Woman ran a first-of-its-kind study aiming to gain a better understanding of women artists’ lives and careers, and the factors contributing to their successes and challenges. We’re chewing on findings from their newly-released report. Some highlights include:

✦ Gender bias is still prevalent–68% of respondents say gender discrimination has had either a “negative” or “strongly negative” impact on their experience. 

✦ 50% of respondents feel they cannot speak freely without fear of career consequences. The concern is especially pronounced among artists under 40 and artists of color.

✦ 84% of respondents 65+ say they experience age discrimination (so do 73% of respondents 40-64 years old, and 41% under 40!).

✦ Respondents work 36% more hours than the average American woman, but they spend less than half that time actually making art (the rest goes toward other paid work and admin).

✦ Women artists thrive in community—79% of respondents cite artistic community and networks as key to their careers. 

This data offers valuable affirmation–if not new news. It reflects a lot of what we hear from our filmmakers and, consequently, strive to address through our work. Read on for more from the report. 

Congratulations are in order! 

✦ Anupama Srinivasan won the inaugural Sandbox Films Science Pitch Prize at CPH:DOX for her project Metropolis

✦ Jessica Earnshaw and Holly Meehl Chapman’s Baby Doe won the Global Health Award at the Cleveland International Film Festival

✦ Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni’s Cutting Through Rocks won the Audience Award at Visions du Réel

✦ Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig’s Jaripeo won the VdR-Industry Lightdox Award at Visions du Réel

✦ Brittany Shyne’s Seeds won the Grand Jury Award at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

✦ Violet Du Feng, Alina Simone, and Rea Midori Tajiri were named 2025 Guggenheim Fellows in the category Creative Arts, Film-Video 

✦ Black Box Diaries was nominated for a Documentary Peabody Award, alongside Sahra Mani’s Bread & Roses, Nanfu Wang’s Night is Not Eternal, and Lucy Walker’s Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa

HotDocs (April 24–May 4)
Catch supported films on the big screen in Canada:

✦ Petra Costa’s Apocalypse in the Tropics
✦ Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni’s Cutting Through Rocks
✦ Sasha Wortzel’s River of Grass
✦ Violet Du Feng’s The Dating Game
✦ From the AlumNest: Amber Fare’s Coexistence, My Ass! and Isabel Castro’s Selena y los Dinos

Tribeca (June 4–15)
The fest will feature three World Premieres from the C&E community: 

✦ Angela Tucker’s The Inquisitor
✦ From the AlumNest: Cecilia Aldarondo’s Dear Ms. Revolution In Print, Zippy Kimundu’s Widow Champion

“Kovalenko is at once a wife, a mother, a soldier and a filmmaker, embodying multiple identities in a landscape where survival often necessitates the erasure of selfhood. Yet she resists this erasure, affirming her existence and her emotions through her letters and footage.” —Davide Abbatescianni, Cineuropa

Alisa Kovalenko’s My Dear Théo is fresh off its world premiere at CPH: DOX’s International Competition, and its festival momentum shows no signs of slowing. 

Supported through Alisa’s Chicken & Egg Award in 2024, My Dear Théo is a love letter from the frontlines of the war in Ukraine that bridges the filmmaker’s memories with her son’s. Though revisiting footage of those she lost at the front brought pain, she discovered what she called "life encapsulated"—the light, tenderness, and love that persists in the heart even after death. Her poetic narration and healing journey deeply move us, as does the film's invitation to remember that all mothers, wherever they are, share a universal desire: to survive so their love can endure through their children.

Next stop for My Dear Theo: Opening night of Crossing Europe Film Festival on April 29.

Catch Board President Nekisa Cooper at the Atlanta Film Festival Creative Sustainability Summit on April 28. She’ll share industry insights alongside filmmaker Sav Rodgers, Christie Marchese (Kinema), Jermaine Johnson (3Arts), Bem Joiner (Atlanta Influences Everything), and Rick Estimond (Formation Talent Agency).

Thank you for reading!