Films
Every year NUWFA awards a production grant to a film with the goal of centering female, trans, and gender non-conforming students and their stories. Below is a collection of NUWFA's grant recipients over the years.
2021 Grant recipient
How to glow in the dark
Written & Directed by Maggie Brill
Produced by Owen Pickette & Anna Chaurize
A teenage girl must break the news of their parents' divorce to her younger sister, who seeks comfort in a magical bedtime story.
In order to find a journal that was accidentally thrown away, a teen boy must enlist the help of a child who spends her free time in a landfill.
Produced by Mega Dafiaghor & Meezahn Senbetta
Written & Directed by Sarah Evans
SPACE RANGER
2018 Grant recipient
2017 Grant recipient
ZENOBIA IN CHAINS
Written & Directed by Erin Gregory
Produced by Dasha Gorin & Lily Labovitz
While working at a convenience store, a teenager is visited by two strangers and must decide who she wants to be.
2016 Grant recipient
Still reeling from the death of her sister, Valeria is determined to keep her hair salon open despite the dwindling clientele. After attending a high-end beauty school in Lebanon, Aamirah is frustrated at her lack of employment opportunities in America. When the two women are forced to work together, tensions run high and competitiveness gets the best of them. Still, as time goes on they begin to open up and realize they have far more in common than they'd expected, embracing the beginnings of a beautiful partnership.
Produced by Dasha Gorin & Koyote "Kiki" Meiners-Rios
Written & Directed by Abitha Ramachandran
LA PELUQUERIA
*Watch a trailer here
2013 Grant recipient
MERMAIDS
Written & Directed by Nina Rogers
Produced by Hannah Lee
Manic pixie dream girls are the alien-like descendants of mermaids sent to break the hearts of the American male populace. Sam, one such modern-day mermaid who is enticed by human emotion, is having trouble breaking one particular heart.
*Watch it here
Christoph visits his late friend Anthony's apartment, where he comes across a mysterious box full of undeveloped 35mm film rolls. Curious, he begins to develop these film rolls one by one, and finds that these are years' worth of Anthony's self-portraits.
Produced by Shivani Chanillo & Madison Ginsberg
Written & Directed by Judy Suh
PORTRAITURE
2012 Grant recipient
2011 Grant recipient
WAR IS KIND
Written & Directed by Ursula Ellis
Produced by Allison Siladi
A young, rebellious girl whose father is deployed to Afghanistan must deal with the pressures of her disparate friend groups and family while coming-of-age in this atmospheric drama about what can happen to the family unit during wartime.
Produced by Chris Gonzalez & Morgan Greenwald
Written & Directed by Aaron Michnowksi & Katy Witmer
JUDECCA
2009 Grant recipient