Stephanie Linus shines with Through Her Lens

Stephanie Linus, Nigerian actress and filmmaker, excited a global audience at the Chanel & Tribeca Festival luncheon for the Through Her Lens filmmaker programme. The fete celebrated its 9th year at The Odeon, which was attended by women writers, directors, actors and creatives. The partnership whose mission is to cultivate, mentor and support women filmmakers with year-round programming.

Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of Tribeca Film Festival, addressed the importance of the Through Her Lens program saying, “It is more vital than ever for women to have a platform to tell their stories.” Representation, according to her, matters as the Through Her Lens program, is rooted in a philosophy of empowering women. The event was an afternoon of networking with a variety of filmmakers at all stages of their careers. Women directed 68 percent of the films at this year’s festival, reported Cara Cusumano, the festival’s director and vice president of programming.

Through Her Lens Workshops, features mentoring sessions and peer networking to pitch and refine their short-film projects. A total of $100,000 is awarded across five teams with one team in the juried program receiving full funding to complete their project. In attendance were; Stephanie Linus, Kathryn Bigelow, Gayle King, Zazie Beetz, Stephanie Hsu, Misty Copeland, Nina Dobrev, Francesca Scorsese, Kate Siegel, and a host of others. As the festivities ended, partygoers left toting black and white Chanel shopping bags heading to their next stop at the Tribeca Festival’s robust programming.