A high school heist, meat obsession and surprising wedding night were among the subjects of the films at NewFilmmakers Los Angeles’ InFocus: Female Cinema, which also featured the Los Angeles premiere of The Day Iceland Stood Still.
Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker and journalist Pamela J. Hogan’s The Day Iceland Stood Still is a lively telling of the 1975 nationwide women’ s strike in Iceland that began Iceland’s journey to the top of the global gender parity index.
“We hope this untold story will inspire viewers for generations to come to reimagine the possible,” says Hogan.
Two blocks of shorts included stories of government oppression, hidden pleasures, reinvention after trauma, friendship dynamics, and more. They included films produced through Girls’ Voices Now, Women’s Voices Now’s youth development program, which empowers the next generation of youth from under-resourced communities to find, develop, and use their voice for social change through filmmaking.
NFMLA showcases films by filmmakers of all backgrounds throughout the year, across both our general and InFocus programming. All filmmakers are welcome and encouraged to submit their projects for consideration for upcoming NFMLA Festivals, regardless of the schedule for InFocus programming, which celebrates representation by spotlighting various communities of filmmakers as part of the NFMLA Monthly Film Festival.
This project is made possible in part by grant support from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Here are more details about the films and filmmakers, courtesy of NFMLA.
“The Day Iceland Stood Still” directed by Pamela Hogan
About Pamela: Over her career, Pamela Hogan has often focused on stories about ordinary women who do the extraordinary. Co-creator of PBS’s Women, War & Peace series, she also executive produced PBS’s Wide Angle and originated the Emmy-winning Ladies First about women’s leadership in Rwanda. The New York Times called her film “Looks Like Laury, Sounds Like Laury” one of the 10 Best TV Shows of 2015. Recognized with a Making a Difference for Women award by the National Council for Research on Women, her work has been honored by the Overseas Press Club, the Television Academy Honor, and the ABA’s Silver Gavel.
About The Day Iceland Stood Still: When 90% of the women of Iceland walked off the job and out of their homes one fall morning in 1975, refusing to work, cook, or take care of the children, they brought their country to a standstill and catapulted Iceland to the “best place in the world to be a woman.” Told for the first time by the women themselves, laced with playful animation and music from Björk, the story is subversive and unexpectedly funny.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Grima Irmudóttir, associate producer of “The Day Iceland Stood Still”:
“Skrrrt!” directed by Gabriela Garcia Medina
About Gabriela: Gabriela Garcia Medina’s short “Little Con Lili” (2019) won best of fest at HBO Women in Comedy Festival, was distributed with HBOMax, and optioned by Netflix. The 90 Day Plan (2020) won the HBO Women in Comedy Festival and distributed with HBOMax. Bertie the Brilliant (2023), produced with WarnerMedia and LPB, was distributed with PBS. “Skrrrt!” (2025) was developed by Dirty Films and funded by Netflix. “Cuqui” was selected for the 2025 TriBeCa/Chanel: Through Her Lens. Gabi’s feature For Your Own Good was Top 5 for TriBeCa and AT&T’s Untold Stories and is in development with Gina Rodriguez’s I Can and I Will Productions and Unapologetic Projects. She is a fellow and grant recipient from: TriBeCa (2024, 2025), NALAC (2024), Rideback Rise (2024), the Academy’s Film Accelerator (2022), and the Film Independent Directing Lab (2020).
About “Skrrrt!”: A group of high school frenemies plotting a massive car heist must convince an uppity salesman at a supercar dealership to let one of the girls test-drive a supercar.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Gabriela Garcia Medina, co-writer, director, and producer of “Skrrrt!”, and Laura Fries, producer of the film:
“Bobo In Bliss” directed by Vivian Ip
About Vivian: Vivian Ip is a Chinese writer-director and lawyer from Singapore, currently based in Los Angeles. Her work explores the human condition and centers underrepresented voices, often drawing from personal memory, identity, and displacement. Her short films include “An Island Drifts” (Urbanworld, Dances with Films), “At the Water’s Edge” (San Diego Comic-Con, NewFilmmakers LA), and “The Smart Diver” (Indy Shorts, Florida Film Festival). Her work has been supported by ARRI and the University of Southern California, where she received Best Director and Best Drama at USC’s First Look Awards. Most recently, her semi-autobiographical short “Bobo in Bliss” premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. In addition to her filmmaking practice, Vivian has directed commercial and branded content for clients including TikTok Shop, Red Bull, and TCL Electronics. In the landscape of vertical mini-drama series, her hit shows have culminated over hundreds of millions of views, including Breaking the Ice on ReelShort, Love, Lies, and Alibis on Vigloo, and One More Taste of Love on Kalos TV, amongst others. She holds an L.L.B with Honours from Durham University and an M.F.A in Film and Television Production from USC. Vivian is a member of BAFTA Connect and is licensed to practice law in both Singapore and California, though she feels most at home on set.
About “Bobo In Bliss”: Confronted with a visit by her traditional parents and younger sister to her boarding school, a Singaporean teenager attempts to reconcile the differences between their values and her affirming self-discoveries.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Vivian Ip, writer and director of “Bobo In Bliss”:
“shelf life” directed by Jordan Exum
About Jordan: Jordan Exum holds a Bachelor’s in Film from Boston University. Her minor in African-American Studies revealed the many facets of Black Thought and solidified her mission to expand the scope of Blackness on screen. She took acting classes at the Howard Fine Acting Studio due to her respect for the actor/director relationship. Jordan previously worked at Soundtrack NY as a client services specialist where she oversaw projects such as Killers of the Flower Moon and Knock at the Cabin. She directed, produced, and assistant edited “shelf life” and was nominated for Best First-time Filmmaker at Little Venice Film Festival 2026.
About “shelf life”: Two women grapple with maintaining an interracial friendship while working at a restaurant in New York City.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Jordan Exum, director and producer of “shelf life”, and Brooke Hayman, co-writer and producer of “shelf life”:
“Ride Or Die” directed by Liliana Tandon
About Liliana: Liliana Tandon is an award-winning Indian-American filmmaker who is passionate about women-led stories exploring identity and empowerment, told with a mix of humor and heart. Her directorial debut short “Ride or Die” premiered at the Imagine This Women’s International Film Festival (Winner: Best Thriller). “Break/Fix,” her short about bi-racial identity and beauty standards, premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival and won The Next Great Filmmaker Award at the Berkshire International Film Festival. She is the writer/lead of three romantic comedy feature films, on which she worked with actors like Cheri Oteri, Lorraine Bracco and Michael Gross. www.lilianatandon.com.
About “Ride or Die”: Two best friends deal with the fallout of a shocking event and test the limits of their friendship over the course of a single night.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Liliana Tandon, writer, director, and producer of “Ride or Die”:
“Mango Chile Pie” directed by Karan Sunil
About Karan: Karan is an Indian-American writer and director based in LA. His heist comedy feature, The Family Jewels, is being produced by Invention Studios and he is also currently writing a comedy feature for Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media. In television, Karan has developed a comedy pilot for Hulu and Lionsgate TV based on his hit web series Code-Switched, which he wrote and directed. He has also developed a dark comedy pilot for Sony Pictures Television. Karan was a 2020 Film Independent Project Involve Writing Fellow and has previously written humor for The New Yorker and McSweeney’s.
About “Mango Chile Pie”: On the anniversary of their mother’s death, three estranged sisters get stuck in their family fire station and their decades-long resentments come spilling out.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Meghana Indurti, writer of “Mango Chile Pie”:
“In The Flesh” directed by Emily Frances Kaplan
About Emily: Emily is an award winning writer and director with a background in visual art and theater. Her short films “In the Flesh” (2025), “The Agent” (2022) and “Spare Parts” (2019) have screened at Oscar qualifying festivals across the continent including Austin, NewFest, Atlanta, HollyShorts, Inside Out and many more, and been named Vimeo Staff Picks. She began her career as a designer, collaborating with acclaimed filmmakers including Gaspar Noé, and companies like Google, Vogue, Netflix, and The National Council for Mental Wellbeing. She is also a trained actor, appearing in over 15 film and television titles and off-Broadway theater. She is a Gotham Fellow, a Bend Basecamp scholarship recipient, a two-time finalist for the New Voices grant, a semi-finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship, and has placed in the Austin Screenwriting competition multiple times. Production on her debut feature, V is For Victoria, is anticipated to begin in September.
About “In The Flesh”: The perfect housewife has a secret: She’s obsessed with expensive meat, and the local butcher who knows how to handle it.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Emily Frances Kaplan, writer and director of “In The Flesh”:
Queen of Hearts” directed by Joey Ally
About Joey: Joey’s short films have screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca, Palm Springs and Aspen Shortfests, and BFI:London, and online with Vimeo Staff Pick Premieres, Short of the Week, and The New Yorker‘s “The Screening Room.” She is an alum of the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs, AFI DWW+, Tribeca/Chanel “Through Her Lens,” and Directors Labs at Fox and Universal. Her feature debut The Hater, starring Bruce Dern, Meredith Hagner, and Ian Harding, for which she received the Sundance Institute Adrienne Shelly Award, was distributed by Vertical and Hulu.
About “Queen of Hearts”: An empathetic manager at a tech company receives a board ordered directive that blows her mind.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Joey Ally, co-writer, director, and producer of “Queen of Hearts,” and Victoria Gekas, co-writer and producer of the film:
“Everything There Is To Know About Me” directed by Yael Grunseit
About Yael: Jonathan Hammond is a three-time Emmy-nominated writer/director. He is the co-recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Justice and Peace, and a San Diego Film Award for Best Writing. He has received dozens of awards for his filmmaking and is the recipient of two KPBS Explorer Grants. He is also the winner of Best Writing for the 2016 San Diego International Fringe Festival, and his work was selected for the prestigious New Playwrights Festival at The Old Globe in San Diego. He currently has two films on the festival circuit, “Fireflies in the Dusk” and “MascLooking,” both of which have played several Oscar-qualifying festivals. “Fireflies in the Dusk” has won Best of Fest at FIlmOut and Comic-Con and Best Comedy at BIFF. His short film “We All Die Alone,” has played in over 45 film festivals, winning 12, and is currently streaming on Omeleto. He has two documentaries now streaming at PBS.org, and his short film “Kathy” is currently streaming on Alter. He attended the University of Illinois and NYU Tisch School of the Arts before moving to San Diego and then Los Angeles with his puppy, Dashiell Hammond.
About “Everything There Is To Know About Me”: When a young Jewish woman’s memories are implanted into a humanoid sex robot, her deepest desires begin to surface.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Yael Grunseit, writer and director of “Everything There Is To Know About Me”:
“the daughter” directed by Mary Ann Anane
About Mary: Mary Ann Anane is a Ghanaian-born, New Jersey-raised filmmaker. She is a 2026 AFI DWW+ Fellow, 2021 Sundance Screenwriters Lab Fellow, a 2021 SF Film Rainin Fellow, a 2020 Athena Feature Lab Fellow, and a 2020 Film Independent’s Project Involve Fellow. Her projects have been invited to the Gotham Market Project Week and have been listed on the Wscripted Cannes Screenplay Lists. Anane recently completed her first short film, “the daughter”, which premiered at the Austin Film Festival in October 2025.
About “the daughter”: A day at the beach turns sinister when ten-year-old Lana spies her father’s violent interactions with a young woman.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Mary Ann Anane, writer and director of “the daughter”:
“A Woman’s Body” directed by Tiffany Tenille
About Tiffany: Tiffany Tenille is a storyteller captivated by cinematic worlds with an undercurrent of darkness. Her work often captures the coming-of-age journeys of young women teetering on the brink of mental collapse, a theme powerfully depicted in her directorial debut, “Albion Rose.” The short was awarded The Future of Film is Female post-production grant, the Phenomenal Person in Film Award from Cinema Femme, and garnered recognition from RogerEbert.com, who hailed it as “utterly mesmerizing.” The film also premiered at MoMA. In front of the lens, Tenille delivered a breakout performance in Numa Perrier’s Jezebel, which premiered at SXSW and was released theatrically and on Netflix.
About “A Woman’s Body”: In the afterglow of their happy occasion, a young newlywed couple encounters a painful truth on their wedding night that puts their future together in peril.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Tiffany Tenille, writer, director, and producer of “A Woman’s Body”:
“Out For Delivery” directed by Chelsea Christer
About Chelsea: Originally from a horse ranch in Colorado, Chelsea Christer began her filmmaking career in San Francisco. Her work centers on character-driven narratives, often exploring themes of human connection. Her feature-length debut, the award-winning music documentary Bleeding Audio (2020), released to critical acclaim and screened at nearly 20 film festivals, including Slamdance. She’s directed several narrative short films, her most recent, dark comedy “Out for Delivery” (2025), premiered at Sundance Film Festival and SXSW Film & TV Festival. She also directed the unscripted comedy series Nobody Asked (2024) for Dropout. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their dog.
About “Out For Delivery”: When terminally ill Joanna makes the decision to pursue end-of-life medication through the Death with Dignity Act, the systems set up to make her death peaceful and dignified become the opposite.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Chelsea Christer, writer and director of “Out For Delivery”:
“Eternal Mother” directed by Emily Qiu
About Emily: Emily Qiu is a Los Angeles–based filmmaker and director. She holds an MFA in Directing from Chapman University. With a background in architectural design, her work is shaped by a strong sense of spatial storytelling and visual composition. She is drawn to intimate narratives that explore subtle human emotions, memory, and complex relationships, and is particularly interested in using science fiction as a narrative vessel—not as spectacle, but as a means to externalize internal states and emotional realities. Her work often navigates the boundary between realism and poetic abstraction. Her films have screened internationally at film festivals in Europe and the United States, including Academy Award–qualifying festivals such as HollyShorts Film Festival and FLICKERS’ Rhode Island International Film Festival.
About “Eternal Mother”: A terminally ill mother undergoes a cryonic preservation, awakening every few years to reconnect with her daughter, struggling to find her role amid the changing dynamics of their unconventional relationship.
Watch the NFMLA interview with Emily Qiu, writer and director of “Eternal Mother”:
Main image: “Mango Chile Pie,” courtesy of NFMLA
