An army of powerful Hollywood women have signed on to judge a female filmmaker competition led by Conde Nast’s Glamour magazine and the digital network GirlGaze.
Titled “#NewView,” the competition seeks to boost the poor representation of women behind the camera and offer branded content opportunities for fledgling filmmakers.
Shonda Rimes, Dee Rees, Netflix Vice President of Content Acquisition Bela Bajaria, Geena Davis, HBO Documentary chief Sheila Nevins, Tracee Ellis Ross, YouTube star Lilly Singh, Jada Pinkett Smith, Zendaya, Chloë Grace Moretz, “Transparent” creator Jill Soloway and Amandla Stenberg are among judges for the competition. The group is led by Glamour Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive and GirlGaze founder Amanda de Cadenet.
“Just 11 percent of directors for the 500 top-grossing domestic films are women. That number is only slightly higher–32 percent–for short films.,” Glamour said in a statement. The competition aims to give women directors “the thing they most want: the chance to work.”
The winning films will be released on Glamour.com and Girlgaze.tv. Each winner will receive $3,000 in prize money and a possible feature in Glamour. Winners will also receive a production budget to direct a short for Glamour or brands like Birchbox, LuMee, TheOutnet.com and South Coast Plaza.
“At Glamour, we are committed to celebrating game-changing women in all fields and giving them work,” said Leive. “We don’t want to just talk about the challenges women filmmakers face; we want to help solve those problems in a meaningful way. We cannot wait to see what they create.”
Glamour and Girlgaze are accepting entries through June 30. Get competition rules here.