Women Directing Mentorship 2025, Top 10 Finalists

The Women Directing Mentorship, which first launched in 2018 in partnership with Shondaland — the prolific storytelling company founded by Shonda Rhimes and long known for inspiring inclusion in front of and behind the camera — offers a unique opportunity for a rising female director to shadow an already established episodic director on a Shondaland produced series. Highlighting past winners, Gia Rayne Harris (2023 Winner) shadowed on Bridgerton with Tom Verica, and Shelby Blake Bartelstein (2024 Winner) recently just finished her shadowing opportunity on a Shondaland show.

“As we celebrate Shondaland’s 20th anniversary, we are proud to continue being a storytelling company that is deeply rooted in uplifting diverse perspectives and telling stories that reflect the world we live in.“
Tom Verica, Shondaland’s Head of Creative Production

THE FINALISTS

In addition to announcing the winner, ten semi-finalists were selected for recognition by a panel including both SeriesFest and Shondaland team members. The semi-finalists are… Aisha Amin, Beth Curry, Christina YR Lim, Jessica Aquila Cymerman, Lorena Lourenço, Natalie Jasmine Harris, Niki Koss, Rippin Sindher, Ryan Buffa, and Sarah Smith.

Aisha Amin

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Aisha Amin is a NYC-based writer and director of South Asian descent. Her practice spans across narrative, experimental and documentary forms. Her award winning short films have screened at festivals around the world. Aisha is interested in telling stories from the perspectives of young women who are the heroes of their own journeys.

In 2024, she was selected to participate in the BlackList and Women in Film’s Episodic Lab. In 2023, she was selected as a Director in Color Creative’s inaugural For Your People Program. She is a 2023 Cine Qua Non Screenwriting Fellow. She is a 2022 recipient of the NYFA’s Women’s Fund and Tomorrow Land Grant. She was a recipient of the 2019-2020 Sally Burns Shenkman Woman Filmmaker Fellowship at the Jacob Burns Film Center where she directed two short documentaries. She is also a recipient of The Shed’s Open Call Fellowship. She’s had three films premiere as Vimeo Staff Picks and her short films Simone and Rumi have won awards on the festival circuit. Aisha completed her MFA in Screenwriting at Columbia in 2024. She is currently working on a feature film in development that will be shot in rural Kansas.

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Beth Curry

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Originally from San Luis Obispo, Beth Curry won the Nicholl Fellowship in 2020 for her script Lemon, which went on to be optioned by Mandalay Pictures. Her script, The Wonder Yard, starring Tony Shalhoub and Jacki Weaver with Rosemary Rodriguez attached to direct, is funded by Concourse Media and due to shoot early 2025. She has another feature that she wrote, produced by Mike Medavoy, called Almost Normal, with Dan Aykroyd attached to star and produce, due to shoot in the spring of 2025.

As a multi-hyphenate, Beth used to perform on the Broadway stage in shows like Legally Blonde, Good Vibrations, Young Frankenstein, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. She has appeared in many TV shows as an actor: Hacks, GLOW, Paradise City, Lone Star 911, Shining Vale, Superstore, Hart of Dixie, Pretty Freekin’ Scary, Seal Team, and many others. She just directed and produced a short film of her Nicholl script, Lemon. Bethcurry.com

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Christina YR Lim

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Christina YR Lim is a Korean-American writer/director who explores Asian diasporas through fish-out-of-water, genre-bending stories. Lim began in theatre before turning to film, earning her MFA from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.

As a writer, Lim won SeriesFest’s Women’s Writing Competition garnering her a development deal with Kyra Sedgwick’s Big Swing Productions. She has been a fellow of The Black List & WIF Feature Residency, Yale’s directing lab, Cine Qua Non’s Storylines Lab, and EAVE’s Ties That Bind. Recently, her script GYOPO was selected for Wscripted’s Cannes Screenplay List at the Marché du Film and received The Black List x GM Incubator fund with which she made a proof-of-concept. Her films have screened at Bentonville, RiverRun, Cinequest, and Catalina Film Festival, among others. She co-directed SAMIR, a feature film funded and distributed by Warner Bros.

Lim’s first feature, B-SIDE: FOR TAYLOR, distributed by Buffalo 8 and EST Studios was released in 2024. She was recently a fellow of Stowe x Sidewalk’s Story Lab and Reykjavík International Film Festival’s Talent Lab.

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Jessica Aquila Cymerman

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Jessica is a film and theatre director, producer and writer from Los Angeles. She splits her time between California, Ireland and Canada, and holds EU, American and Canadian citizenship.

Film credits include the shorts ONE MORE LINE, THE STAIRS, KING KILLER, THE MAD ONES, and THE DEN. THE DEN (2022) finished an extended festival run (Winner “Best Director” Vesuvius Int’l film festival; Official selection: Seattle Film Festival, Austin FF, Sarasota FF, Tall Grass FF, Albuquerque FF, and many more). THE STAIRS just finished its festival circuit: Winner “Humanitarian Award,” “Best Child Actor,” and “Best Costume Design” at the Idyllwild Film Festival, “Best Female Director” Stockholm Short Festival; Jury Award Nominee for Best Narrative Short at the Rome International FF; Official selection Dances with Films, Poppy Jasper Int. FF, Garden State FF, Irish Film Fest, SOHO International FF, Albuquerque FF, Mallorca Evolution FF, Queens World FF, and Manhattan FF.

In 2017 she co-founded the Theatre company, Untold Wants in Dublin (now world-traveling), where she continues to direct and produce contemporary theatre. Theatre directing credits include TH IR DS (world premiere), Hedda Gabler (Hollywood Fringe), Julie: After Strindberg (North American premiere), The Pillowman, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Cock, The Human Ear (North American premiere), Reasons to be Pretty (all for Untold Wants Theatre, co-artistic director); The Gift, Strange Relations (staged readings, IAMA Theatre, LA), Ted and the Right to Die (RCS, Glasgow); Il Cambiale di Matrimonio (Raucous Rossini, Glasgow); The Seagull: A Musical Adaptation (co-writer, Original Production, RCS); Urinetown The Musical; Reefer Madness! The Musical and The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (Sarah Lawrence). She holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, and an MA in Directing from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, with training from Shakespeare’s Globe, UK. jessicaaquilacymerman.com

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Lorena Lourenço

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Lorena Lourenço is a proud Latina immigrant and an award winning writer-director from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She’s passionate about telling stories from marginalized perspectives that highlight cultural identity, the immigrant experience, queer joy, and women’s strength.

She’s also USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni, a Film Independent Episodic Directing Fellow, a Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today fellow and a two time Orchard Project Writing Fellow. She had her short film “Muy Gay Too Mexicano” licensed by HBOmax, often highlighted on their Queer and Latine collections. That same short was selected for competition at LALIFF (where it screened as best of fest), Outfest, Inside Out, Out On Film, Official Latino Film Festival, and others. Lorena was also selected for the Orchard Project’s episodic lab, where she workshopped her series “Sula and I,” which is part live-action and part animated. That same series has Diane Guerrero attached, Mucho Más Media producing, and has received initial support from Mark Duplass. Her latest animated venture includes directing a music video for MTV promoting the VMA’s, with popstar Anitta’s performance.

The award-winning short she wrote, directed and edited, titled “Joy,” investigates her experiences as an immigrant woman in Trump’s America and was selected for competition at numerous festivals. The short film Lorena has most recently directed, titled “Stitched,” was written by the Peabody-winning Pratima Mani, and has been selected for competition at Hollyshorts, CAAMFest, Riverrun, Cascadia, Tasveer, AAIFF, IFFLA, JDIFF, and others.

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Natalie Jasmine Harris

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Natalie Jasmine Harris is an award-winning Black queer filmmaker from Maryland. Her work is centered around a mission to tell stories that capture coming-of-age experiences and reimagine liberation for marginalized communities.

Natalie’s forthcoming short film, Grace, had its world premiere at The 2024 Sundance Film Festival. She has participated in artist programs with Film at Lincoln Center, GLAAD, SFFILM, Outfest, and is currently a 2024/2025 Sundance Ignite Fellow. PURE, her NYU thesis short film, received The Directors Guild of America’s Student Film Award and was acquired by HBOMax. Natalie is currently in development on a feature-length version of Pure, which she hopes to become her debut feature. The project has garnered support from SFFILM’s Rainin Screenwriting Grant, The Gotham Week Project Market, Outfest’s Screenwriting Lab, The Toronto LGBTQ+ Financing Forum, Film Independent Fast Track, and The Women In Film x Sundance Financing Intensive. Natalie’s work has been featured in Teen Vogue, THEM Magazine, Huffington Post, The Cut, NBC, and more.

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Niki Koss

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Niki Koss started her career as an actress in films like the Terence Malick produced, Red Wing, opposite Glen Powell, Paramount’s, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse and many more.

When she landed her series regular role opposite Bella Thorne in Freeform’s Famous In Love, created by Pretty Little Liars showrunner, Marlene King, she began shadowing as much as she could and inundating herself with behind the camera knowledge. Niki quickly became enthralled with directing and embarked on a long journey of producing and directing everything and anything she could get her hands on. She began with shorts, webseries, pilots and music videos, all which won numerous awards, and then moved onto features. Koss has produced three feature films and directed four, all of which were either network financed or independent films which received worldwide and theatrical distribution. Her more recent documentary feature film, Homeschooled, is currently going through the festival circuit and has already won several awards. Niki was also winner of the FEMALE FILMMAKER OF THE YEAR at BIFF. She is a member of Women in Media, Women in Film and the Alliance of Women Directors as well as a SUNDANCE COLLAB DIRECTING FELLOWSHIP and WOMEN IN FILM PRODUCING MENTORSHIP PROGRAM alumna. During the strike, Niki directed THREE COMMERCIALS FOR SEPHORA. Koss was included in the FORBES 30 UNDER 30 in Entertainment list as well as LA WEEKLY as one of their TOP 10 Game Changing Innovators in Entertainment. She is repped by Echo Lake Entertainment.

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Rippin Sindher

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Rippin Sindher is a visionary storyteller and finalist for the SONY Director’s Program. She joined “SWAT” as a directing fellow and production consultant, was on “Criminal Minds Evolution” and in the Ryan Murphy HALF Initiative on “Ratched.”

After winning CAPE’s Julia S. Gouw Film Challenge, “FLIGHT 182” premiered at iSAFF and won Best Short Film honorable mention. She co-founded Sindherella Co. and joined Dan Lin’s Rideback Rise incubator for POC creators where she was also elected VP of Rise Council. Beyond film and television, Rippin directed sold out stage shows: “An Evening Repast” and “Pyar aur Coffee.” She founded KAUR Creative, a mentorship community for teen girls and received the UCLA Women Leaders Award for her meaningful contributions to the world. Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Rippin worked for the DGA and as a senior creative director for commercial agencies where she led innovative campaigns around the world. She is passionate about sociology and cinema and uses the visual art form to advocate change and social impact. She is represented by RAIN.

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Ryan Buffa

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Ryan Buffa is a writer, director and producer from Atlanta, GA and currently living in New York City. She began her producing career on The Walking Dead and ended the series as a Co-Producer.

She recently worked as Associate Producer on TWD: The Ones Who Live. Her short films, APPLES & ORANGES and SWEETHEART have screened at several film festivals across the United States and both won Best Short Film (2018 and 2021) at the Atlanta Horror Film Festival. Ryan has a BA in journalism and media production from Flagler College, where she has won several Student Society of Professional Journalism awards for her multi-media journalism. Her most recent short film, Hoteling, is currently screening at film festivals and raising awareness on this issue in the foster care system. Ryan currently lives in New York City and working as an executive assistan on television shows such as Netflix’s hit “The Diplomat” and “Elsbeth” for CBS.

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Sarah Smith

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Sarah Smith is an award-winning writer, director, and editor. Her latest short film Cardiff, a comedy featuring the LGBTQ+ community filmed in Cardiff, Wales, was nominated for a 2023 BAFTA Cymru.

Her previous short, Black Hat, was an official selection of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and won the 2019 Iris prize. Her first short, D.Asian, screened at over 35 festivals across the globe, and was awarded the 2017 AT&T Underrepresented Filmmaker Award. Sarah also won a WGA award as part of The Young & The Restless writing team. In addition to writing and directing, Sarah has edited three narrative feature films, including Armless, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and two feature length documentaries, including Prophets of Change, following Israeli and Palestinian musicians as they join forces to wage war for peace narrated in part by Sarah Silverman, J.K. Simmons, and Forest Whitaker. In 2022, Sarah was invited to participate in the Directing the Actor lab through the Alliance of Women Directors, and in 2023 became an editing fellow as part of Film Independent’s Project Involve where she was awarded the Amazon MGM Studios Film Fellowship grant. Sarah is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

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ABOUT SHONDALAND

Shondaland is the global media company founded by award-winning writer and producer Shonda Rhimes. The company fearlessly entertains through storytelling with content for film, streaming, audio, digital and editorial as well as brand partnerships, merchandise and experiences. Shondaland has an exclusive partnership with Netflix where it produces streaming content for the media company, including record-breaking series “Bridgerton” and its spinoff series “Queen Charlotte,” ’’Inventing Anna,” “Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker,” documentary “Black Barbie” and the upcoming drama “The Residence”. In 2017, Shondaland launched the editorial website Shondaland.com followed by the creation of Shondaland Audio in 2019. Shondaland was launched in 2005 with the groundbreaking series “Grey’s Anatomy.

ABOUT SERIESFEST

SeriesFest, a non-profit organization, champions and empowers artists at the forefront of episodic storytelling by providing year-round opportunities for creators and industry professionals to connect, collaborate, and share stories, which inspire and impact global audiences. Each June, SeriesFest culminates in a highly-curated and celebrated Denver-based festival and marketplace. Dedicated to showcasing innovative episodic content, the annual festival includes in-competition independent pilot screenings, panels, workshops, live reads, parties, and network television premieres. SeriesFest: Season Nine will take place from May 5–10, 2023 in Denver. Submissions are now open for all competitions.

Feeling inspired? Check out our competitions currently accepting submissions, including our Script Writing Competition with Wondaland Pictures, here.