SPOTLIGHT – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

SPOTLIGHT October 2026: Zoey Martinson, Writer, Director, THE FISHERMAN

October 1, 2026October 1, 2026 Leslie Combemale Adam Carboni, Ghana's Volta region, griot, magical realism, Menominee Nation, spotlight, The Fisherman, Zoey Martinson

Zoey Martinson refuses to believe a story about hardship has to look or sound like hardship. Her feature debut, The Fisherman, is a magical-realist comedy shot in Ghana, with a wisecracking talking fish, a riot of color, and a fishing community facing displacement — and that story gets to be funny, vibrant, and fully human. Martinson goes to the places the Hollywood gatekeepers write off and finds the wit, the warmth, and the beauty that were already there. Then she turns the volume up loud enough for movie honchos to hear. She’s built her career on her own storytelling. The Fisherman is the proof. Now we can’t wait to see what she does next.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT September 2026: SIAN HEDER, Filmmaker, Authenticity Avocate

August 28, 2026August 31, 2026 Leslie Combemale ampas, Being Heumann, coda, oscars, Quiver Distribution, Sian Heder, SPOTL[GHT, tallulah, TIFF 2026. Leslie Combemale

From a short film born out of a job she took just to get by, to an Oscar-winning family drama that reshaped what authentic representation could look like in Hollywood, to a biopic honoring one of the most consequential activists in American history, Siân Heder’s career has been one long argument that people deserve to tell their own stories. With her work, Heder has proved, in all the ways the industry measures success, that those stories are universal, commercial, and Oscar-worthy. We celebrate her commitment to inclusive, nuanced storytelling, and the path she is creating for aspiring female filmmakers who come along behind her.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT August 2026: Eda Reiss Merin (1913-1998), Actress, Activist and AWFJ Inspiration

July 30, 2026 Susan Wloszczyna bertold brecht, charles laughton, disney, EDA Awards, eda reiss merin, ghostbusters, group theater, highway to heaven, jennifer merin, spotlight, susan wloszczyna, turner and hooch

Eda Reiss Merin lived the #actorslife long before that lifestyle was a hashtag. She never saw her name flash across the big screen above a film’s title. She didn’t accumulate vast wealth from residuals. She wasn’t addicted to bling and swag. She never won an Oscar, although she was a long-standing member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and loved voting to honor her peers with golden statuettes. And, IMDb’s careless errors in her bio (for starters, she was never known as Edith, nor was she married to either Richard Shire Strauss or Charles Hirshman) and omission of many of her credits show a lack of respect. But, for 60 plus years, Eda worked steadily as an actress, always making supportive characters memorable and turning cameos into classic gems. As a member of three actors unions — one of which she’d helped to establish — she actively advocated for actors’ rights for fair wages, better working conditions and better representation of women. AWFJ is proud to honor her by presenting EDA Awards in recognition of the outstanding achievements of others in the show business arts and crafts she so loved.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT July 2026: MARJANE SATRAPI (1969-2026), Iconic Filmmaker, Novelist, Activist

June 30, 2026July 5, 2026 Leslie Combemale AWFJ Spotlight, chicken with plums, female directors, marjane satrapi, persepolis, spotlight, women life freedom

The world lost a great storyteller and a woman with a strong sense of justice when Marjane Satrapi passed away on June 4th of this year. The Iranian and French artist was an award winning graphic novelist, film director, and political activist best known for her autobiographical graphic memoir Persepolis. She directed live action films like Chicken with Plums, 2019’s Radioactive, and 2024’s Dear Paris. Her last published work was Woman, Life, Freedom, a collection of graphic storytelling about the present Iranian revolution. Marjane stood for freedom and individual artistic expression. Her work will live on, continuing to make a difference in how everyday Iranians, especially Iranian women, are seen by the rest of the world.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT June 2026: MICHELLE BUTEAU, Stand Up, Actress, Writer, Director

May 31, 2026June 1, 2026 Leslie Combemale babe, michelle buteau, spotlight, stand up, Survival of the thickest

Michelle Buteau is the sort of multi-hyphenate who brings a new and valuable perspective to stage, screen, and print media. She is creating an inspiring role model for those who come after her, many of whom have never before imagined themselves in her place. She integrated a very personal experience during 9/11 into a powerful shift that has led to her successful career. Sharing her own life experience authentically with her fans and viewers just keeps her moving up the A-list, but she makes room for other voices as she does…for, dare we say, other unicorns? That’s the kind of artist and creator we love to see lighting up the screen.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT May 2026: Anna May Wong, Chinese-American Actress and Global Cultural Icon

May 1, 2026May 2, 2026 Leslie Combemale anna may wong, asian american, China War Relief, Chinese American, Daughter of Shanghai, dragon lady, my china film, Philip Ahn, Searching for Anna May Wong, The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsog

Anna May Wong is compulsively watchable. The more you learn about her, the more inspiring and fascinating she is. Hollywood is hard, no matter who you are, but for people of color, finding success in Hollywood starring on the big screen has historically been nearly impossible. That makes Anna May Wong’s rise and longevity all the more impressive. As the first Chinese American Hollywood star to gain international recognition, she was a pioneer and trailblazer, carving out a path for Asian actors during an era of extreme racism and systemic exclusion. Straightforward, famously kind, incredibly talented, determined, and whip smart, she was a global cultural icon. Her perseverance and grace in the face of prejudice inspired future generations of Asian American performers in theater, and in front of and behind the camera.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT April 2026: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Film Critic & Historian, Filmmaker, Horror Nonna

April 1, 2026 Leslie Combemale 1000 WOMEN IN HORROR, alexandra heller-nicholas, Donna Davies, horror movies, jennifer merin, Kier-La Janisse, Latrobe University, NEURODIVERGENCE, Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study, shudder, spotlight, University of Melbourne, witch films

For film female critics, it can sometimes be a challenge, but for female filmmakers, saying their careers and getting films made is a challenge is an understatement. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas has fearlessly chose to do both. She has carved out an award-winning career as an author, historian, and film critic. She is now adding credits in the film industry to those successes, and is poised to balance all that as part of a full creative life. Her neurodiversity is part of what makes her so good in so many aspects of her career. We can’t wait to see what she does next, and will celebrate each new project, as it will no doubt offer new insight and add new context to whatever she finds fascinating enough to filter through that her own unique lens.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT March 2026: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Cinematographer Supreme, SINNERS

March 1, 2026March 2, 2026 Leslie Combemale afi, American Society of Cinematographers, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, black panther, cinematography, gia coppola, Kate Herron, Loki, ryan coogler, Sinners, wakanda forever

First after first, award after award, Autumn Durald Arkapaw has shown she is artistically up to the task for any genre or project. Her career offers great inspiration for women, especially women of color, who feel passionately about cinematography, or really any below the line career. In an interview with Variety, she said, “It means the world when young girls, or film students of similar heritage, come up to me and express their gratitude, not just for the work, but for the fact that they can see someone like themselves behind the camera”.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT February 2026: Julie Dash, Trailblazing Filmmaker

January 31, 2026February 6, 2026 Leslie Combemale julie dash, spotlight

Being an artist of any kind isn’t just about finding one way to express yourself. Given how the world and in particular the US has been shifting lately, women in all artistic modalities, especially women of color, will have to get wily like Julie Dash has been, and be inventive about how to express your vision. In that way, she is an inspiration, but so too is she an inspiration to all folks who want to celebrate National Black History Month. She is a living, working, thriving slice of American history, ever expanding and expressing herself as an artist. We highly recommend seeking out any and all films created by Julie Dash in her long and storied career. We also hope to see much more from this multidimensional filmmaker and visionary.

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT January 2026: Madame Toussaint, Tressie Souders, Maria P. Williams and Zora Neale Hurston

January 1, 2026January 18, 2026 Leslie Combemale Ava DuVernay, Black women filmmakers, Cheryl Dunye, jule dash, madame toussaint, maria p williams, nia dacosta, spotlight, zora neal thurston

The current political climate, systemic bias and gatekeeping in moviemaking impacts the industry’s entire workforce, but they hit Black women filmmakers hardest. Those who today are overcoming – count Nia DaCosta, Julie Dash, Cheryl Dunye, Ava Duvernay among them – can look back and thank the early 20th Century Black Women filmmakers whose work and careers pioneered the path to current successes. It’s important for film lovers and filmmakers to know film history, and to recognize artists who created the chronology. We SPOTLIGHT four Black Women filmmakers who are oft offed in the telling of cinema history. They must be remembered, honored, celebrated for their fearlessness, creativity, and determination. Their work deserves space in our brains and their names should be on the tips of our tongues, not sidelined or forgotten.

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