The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 2025 recipients for the Gold Fellowship for Women on Monday. These select individuals will be inducted into a specialized one-year program from the Academy, granting them mentorship and networking opportunities with women in the filmmaking industry.
Alina Simone and Marlén Viñayo were named the 2025 Gold Fellowship for Women recipients. Presented in partnership with Chanel, two women are selected annually for the fellowship — one filmmaker based in the U.S., and one non-U.S.-based filmmaker.
“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,” Kim Taylor-Coleman, Academy governor and president of the Academy Foundation Board, said in a statement. “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.”
Simone, a Ukranian-born journalist and filmmaker, released her debut documentary “Black Snow” in 2024 on the film festival circuit. The film, executive produced by Erin Brockovich, has since been picked up to release in the U.S. as part of the 2025-2026 season of PBS’ “POV.” Simone’s reporting has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Atlantic and NPR, among other publications. Her previous awards include the Cinema Eye Honors Spotlight Award, the F:ACT Award at CPH:DOX, the Sustainable Future Award at the Sydney Film Festival and the International Green Film Award from Cinema for Peace.
Viñayo, who is based in El Salvador, founded the production company La Jaula Abierta Films. She has won awards for both her feature film “Cachada: The Opportunity” and her short film “Unforgivable,” which was nominated for an International Documentary Award. In 2019, Viñayo was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy for her work on the “Frontline” documentary “Separated: Children at the Border.” Her work has brought her numerous awards at film festivals, including SXSW, IDFA, Hot Docs, Slamdance, Palm Springs ShortFest, Guanajuato International Film Festival, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival and DocsBarcelona. At Latin American documentary contest POY Latam in 2021, Viñayo won the Gabo Award and was named Ibero-American Filmmaker of the Year.
Simone and Viñayo were selected from a field of six finalists, including Coleen Baik, Jasmín Mara López, Zaynê Akyol and Mor Israeli.
