The Academy has revealed that Alina Simone and Marlén Viñayo have been selected as the recipients of the 2025 Academy Gold Fellowship for Women.
Part of the Academy’s global talent development and education work, the Gold Fellowship for Women is a one-year programme that combines support, personalised mentorship and access to once-in-a-lifetime networking opportunities for emerging women filmmakers to further their pursuits in the field of cinema.
As part of the Academy’s global focus and outreach, the Academy awards two fellowships annually, one to a US-based filmmaker and one to a non-US-based filmmaker. The fellowship is presented in partnership with CHANEL.
“Championing and inspiring new generations of global filmmakers is core to the Academy’s mission, and we’re thrilled to continue this work through the Gold Fellowship for Women,” said Kim Taylor-Coleman, Academy governor and president of the Academy Foundation Board.
“We are incredibly grateful for the generous support of our partner CHANEL, which shares our commitment to nurturing talented women filmmakers and opening doors to meaningful opportunities in the film industry.”
Fellows also receive ongoing career advancement support through the Academy Gold Alumni Network, which provides continued access, opportunity, professional development and education for alumni of the Academy’s talent development programmes.
Applicants to the Gold Fellowship for Women must be alumni of an Academy talent development programme or be nominated by an Academy talent development partner company to be eligible for the US fellowship.
Non-US applicants must be recommended by a member of a key film organisation, production company or international festival to be considered.
Simone is a Ukrainian-born journalist and award-winning filmmaker whose work includes her debut documentary Black Snow, which was executive produced by Erin Brockovich and premiered at CPH:DOX before going on to screen at more than 20 international film festivals.
Viñayo is an award-winning documentary film director, writer and producer. Since 2013, she has been based in El Salvador, where she founded her production company, La Jaula Abierta Films.
Viñayo’s feature film Cachada: The Opportunity and short film Unforgivable have won awards at international film festivals such as SXSW and IDFA.
The 2025 fellows were selected from a group of six finalists. The finalists are:
US
- Coleen Baik
- Jasmín Mara López
Non-US
- Zaynê Akyol
- Mor Israeli
