Ukrainian-born journalist and filmmaker Alina Simone and El Salvador-based documentary director Marlén Viñayo have been chosen by the US Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences as recipients of the 2025 Academy Gold Fellowship for Girls.
A part of the Academy’s world expertise improvement and training work, the fellowship is a one-year programme that gives assist, personalised mentorship and entry to networking alternatives for rising ladies filmmakers. Two fellowships are awarded yearly, one to a US-based filmmaker, the opposite to a non-US based mostly filmmaker.
Simone’s debut documentary Black Snow, about air pollution in a distant Russian mining city, has screened at various festivals and gained awards together with the Cinema Eye Honors Highlight and the F:ACT Award at CPH:DOX. The movie is being distributed within the US by PBS as a part of the POV documentary collection.
Director, author and producer Viñayo based the La Jaula Abierta Movies manufacturing firm in El Salvador. Her characteristic movie Cachada: The Alternative and quick Unforgivable have gained awards at festivals together with SXSW, IDFA and Sizzling Docs. She was nominated for an IDA Documentary Award in 2020 and an Emmy in 2019.
Simone and Vinayo have been chosen from a bunch of six finalists. The opposite finalists have been Coleen Baik and Jasmín Mara López from the US, and Zaynê Akyol and Mor Israeli from different international locations.
Kim Taylor-Coleman, Academy governor and president of the Academy Basis Board, mentioned: “Championing and provoking new generations of worldwide filmmakers is core to the Academy’s mission, and we’re thrilled to proceed this work by the Gold Fellowship for Girls. We’re extremely grateful for the beneficiant assist of our companion Chanel, which shares our dedication to nurturing proficient ladies filmmakers and opening doorways to significant alternatives within the movie business.”
