Olivia Wilde, Lucy Liu, & More Join Through Her Lens To Empower Women Filmmakers

It’s that time of the year again — and no, I’m not referring to Fashion Week. Every September, since 2015, Chanel has tapped some of entertainment’s most formidable women to participate in a program that serves as a launchpad for emerging female and nonbinary filmmakers: Through Her Lens.

Created in partnership with Tribeca Enterprises, the group behind Tribeca Film Festival, the annual initiative supports up-and-coming storytellers via an intensive three-day workshop. In this year’s run, slated from Sept. 16 through 18, chosen participants will be closely mentored on all facets of the filmmaking process, including script development, directing, music composition, costume design, and pitching.

Apart from invaluable knowledge from the industry leaders such as Sarah Paulson and Lucy Liu, there’s also financial aid: Four runners-up receive grants to develop their ideas, while the winning team’s vision will be fully funded. (Winners have since gone on to premiere at festivals like Sundance and TIFF, and have been distributed on platforms such as Max, Searchlight, and Criterion.)

Olivia Wilde, Lucy Liu, & More

Calling it a “community,” co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises Jane Rosenthal says, “Throughout these ten years, we’ve created a space where women filmmakers champion each other’s work, alumni open doors for one another, and belonging to this network truly means something in our industry.”

As the program celebrates its 10th anniversary, Chanel and Tribeca Enterprises fittingly pulled out all the stops with a jaw-dropping roster of Hollywood bigwigs who have pledged to help.

The 2025 jury includes Kaitlyn Dever, Meghann Fahy, Allison Janney, Payal Kapadia, Issa Rae, and Jenny Slate. And the mentors? Riva Marker, Sarah Paulson, Frida Perez, Constance Tsang, and Odessa Young. There’s a mighty group of conversation leaders too, including Pamela Abdy, Colleen Atwood, Laura Karpman, Lucy Liu, and former Through Her Lens winner A.V. Rockwell.

Additionally, a few names who’ve imparted their wisdom to the next generation of talent over the years — namely Liu, Tessa Thompson, and Olivia Wilde — are being inducted into the advisory committee, which also features Rockwell, Karpman, Kerry Washington, Patty Jenkins, and Jane Fonda.

Though it is the biggest, the workshop isn’t the only event Through Her Lens mounts. Last May, during the Tribeca Film Festival, Chanel and Tribeca commissioned Riley Keough to sit down for a panel conversation following a screening of her series In Process. The Daisy Jones & The Six star sums it up perfectly in a new video promoting the workshops: “I love female filmmakers and want to support them.”