Halle Berry, Regina King and Meg Ryan Announced as Jurors for Tribeca and Chanel’s Through Her Lens Filmmaker Program — SkimNews
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- Halle Berry, Regina King and Meg Ryan will serve on the jury for the 11th edition of Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program, joined by "Sinners" cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw and "Sterling Point" actress Ella Rubin.
- Through Her Lens runs Sept. 22-24 in New York City, bringing together five filmmaking teams for workshops, one-on-one mentorship and a live jury pitch; one team receives full short-film financing through Tribeca Studios, while the other four get development grants.
- The 2026 filmmaking class includes Jasmine J. Johnson and Katy Wicker ("Break"), Jinsui Song and Shen Wei ("Camouflage"), Victoria Trow and Sabina Friedman-Seitz ("Cold Embrace"), Gem Little and Kseniya Yorsh ("Cowards"), and Carlen May-Mann and Cacá Montagnana ("Grippy Socks").
- This year's mentors include "Past Lives" filmmaker Celine Song, "The Woman King" director Gina Prince-Bythewood, playwright Aleshea Harris, producer Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and actress Fala Chen, with additional conversations led by H.E.R., Laura Karpman, Patty Jenkins and casting director Cassandra Kulukundis.
- Founded by Tribeca and Chanel in 2015, the program has developed 50 short films across 11 editions, with 10 winning projects receiving full financing; alumni A.V. Rockwell, Nikyatu Jusu, Numa Perrier and Hannah Peterson have gone on to direct features at Sundance, TIFF and Tribeca.
- Chanel and Tribeca have partnered since 2005 on filmmaker development, festival programming and artist-focused events, with Through Her Lens's advisory committee now including Jane Rosenthal, Teyana Taylor, Lucy Liu, Tessa Thompson, Olivia Wilde, Jane Fonda and Kerry Washington.
Why it matters: One of five competing teams walks away with full production financing through Tribeca Studios — a concrete career-launching outcome, not just exposure. With 50 shorts produced over 11 editions and alumni like A.V. Rockwell and Nikyatu Jusu going on to direct features at Sundance and TIFF, the program offers one of the few repeatable pipeline paths from short-film mentorship to feature distribution for women and non-binary filmmakers.
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