Women In Film celebrated a slew of women in the entertainment industry at their 2024 WIF Honors Thursday night.
The annual benefit, held at The Beverly Hilton, supports the organization’s educational and philanthropic programs. The gala awarded five awards throughout the evening, which was themed “The Power of the Collective,” to “industry leaders who demonstrate how strength in collaboration, inclusion and uplifting stories can change culture for the better,” according to a release.
Annette Bening received the first honor of the night, the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award, presented by Fonda herself. “Over the last few years, I’ve read interviews with Annette. I never miss an interview, especially when she talks about her craft, because you always learn something,” Fonda told the audience of Bening.
“I discovered her empathy and her generosity,” she continued, highlighting her work as chair of the Entertainment Community Fund. Bening thanked Fonda and dove into some topical subjects. “My generation was the first to have full reproductive rights,” Bening said.
“When I was in high school, we were sneaking off the Planned Parenthood to get our contraception and in some cases, getting our abortions,” she said. “My two daughters are the first generation to have a constitutional right taken away.”
Kate Winslet and director Ellen Kuras, awarded with the Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film, spoke in conversation about opportunities for women and their film Lee, about war photographer Lee Miller. Winslet emphasized that events like the WIF Honors didn’t exist at the beginning of her career.
“Large groups of women working together in the film community is so significant because when you get to the end of an incredibly difficult day that started at 3:30 a.m., and you spent the day chasing the light and not taking a lunch break,” she said. “When you get to the end of that day and smile and hug it out and know that the blood, sweat and tears was all female driven. I want on that set.”
Kerry Washington was the night’s Entrepreneur in Entertainment Award honoree. The multi-hyphenate explained why she’s been drawn to jobs outside of acting. “I love to produce and direct because I love a team sport, she said. “I love to be part of a collective. I’m not an artist who loves to work alone.”
The Crystal Award for Advocacy in TV went to Michelle Buteau and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel for their Netflix series Survival of the Thickest. Speaking in conversation, the pair spoke about power and their partnership. “When you’re on set with people for that long, you kind of see all the people that have gone to therapy and you talk about what your therapist told you and somebody said, ‘People will meet you as deeply as they met themselves,’” Buteau said.
“That’s power,” she continued. “We’re talking about the collective, but I’m just like, you got to collect yourself first.”
Joey King was the recipient of the Max Mara Face of the Future Award. The 25-year-old spoke to the crowd about her lifelong acting career, thanking the women in her life during her speech.
“I’ve been working consistently since a young age, having success in the only thing I wanted to do with my life, but sometimes I just never felt like I was enough,” King said, explaining that she focusing on wanting to be included in things. “At 19 or 20 years old, I just felt so much more at peace. I don’t know. I felt less and less like I was needing an invite or an email to feel worthy and more focused on the beauty and fulfillment that I already had in me and in my world.”
Another of highlight of the evening was WIF board president Amy Baer, whose term is about to expire, announced that WIF’s executive vice president of the board Syrinthia Studer will take on the role in 2025. “I’m now thrilled to pass the baton to an extraordinary woman, executive and a friend,” Baer said, highlighting Studer’s career achievements. “She has a clear-eyed, ambitious and exciting agenda for WIF in 2025 and beyond.”
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