On Sunday morning, Women In Film welcomed six women filmmakers to the Acura House of Energy stage for a panel discussion about their works premiering at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. The talk, titled “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop,” was part of the Women In Film organization’s efforts to a dvocate for and advance the careers of women and gender diverse people working in the industry. Rather than a conversation around the challenges of being women in a male-dominated field, the panel was an opportunity to center each of their own experiences bringing a film from inception to Sundance audiences, and all the work in between. For some, like “The Friend’s House is Here” co-writer and director Maryam Ataei, that work involved extreme danger. For documentarians like “The Brittney Griner Story” director Alexandria Stapleton and “Seized” director Sharon Liese, it involved walking a tight line between the mixed perspectives in the story.  But for all, these films are also about including the voices and stories of women across the world. That goal was especially true in director Olive Nwosu’s film “LADY,” which follows seven women living in Lagos, Nigeria. Not only was Nwosu seeking to depict the accurate complexities of the vibrant city through the fictional narrative, but she said it was important to center the story around young sex workers who are often shamed. “From the very beginning, I spent time with sex workers because I wanted the truth of their stories, and because often these women are disappeared,” she said. “These are women who are making economic choices, and who, every day, are showing up dangerously for family, for themselves.” “LADY” director Olive Nwosu said she wanted her film to show the liveliness of Lagos, Nigeria. Credit: Katie Hatzfeld/Park Record Ataei’s film is similar, depicting the underground lives of women in Iran who choose to resist the government, despite the risks to themselves.  Both directors worked with local women to play characters inspired by themselves, and despite their critical roles in bringing the films to Sundance, none of those actors could attend the festival due to the U.S. travel ban restrictions.  Nwosu said it’s that very ban that proves the necessity of stories like hers. “(I’m) centering the places that are being excluded and celebrating them for what they are, because they’re not what people think they are. They’ve been minimized in the imagination, and that’s the power of art. It expresses and it raises and it fills the imagination,” she said. “That is why I think art is important. It travels. You can’t erase it. People see it, and it’s such important work that we’re doing.” Other filmmakers centered tense political issues in the forefront of their films, like Liese, whose documentary “Seized” tells the story of the Marion County Record, a newspaper just two hours from her hometown, which was raided by police in 2023. Ultimately, the film explores the abuse of power, and its impacts on a rural community. And now, a few years later, it’s even more relevant.  “When I started ‘Seized,’ I thought it was a canary in the coal mine story. It was about two and a half years ago, and the First Amendment was under attack, the Fourth Amendment was under attack at that point. But I never realized that it was going to get to where we are today and what happened to the Washington Post reporter just a week ago, and the abuse of power, which you can see happening this very moment,” Liese said. “I think what it says to me is just that we need to keep telling our stories.” “Coexistence, My Ass!” director Amber Fares, whose film premiered at the 2025 festival, was also on the panel, block letters spelling “Minnesota” across her sweatshirt as solidarity with the community currently protesting against ICE. Since Fares’ first feature documentary “Speed Sisters,” which tells the story of the first all-women race car driving team in the Middle East, her films have centered around Palestinian communities. “Coexistence, My Ass!” is about an Israeli comedian who tackles inequality and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Fares talked about the way her art can be a form of protest as well.  “As somebody that is making films that question or bring to light the occupation and now genocide that is happening in Palestine, I don’t expect my films to be distributed,” she said. “However, in this particular moment, wearing a shirt that says Minnesota, if you don’t see the connection between what is going on in Minnesota and what we’ve just been watching in Gaza for the last three years and before that, then I think it’s important.” “Coexistence, My Ass!” director Amber Fares talks about her decision to tell stories centered on the occupation and genocide of Palestine. Credit: Katie Hatzfeld/Park Record Stapleton also pointed out concerning parallels between the current political issues and what Griner talks about from her experience being incarcerated in Russia, which people will hear at “The Brittney Griner Story” premiere on Tuesday.  But there’s still hope, some pointed out, like the growing response to the situation in Minnesota. Stapleton said one thing she was reminded of during her filming process is how small the online world truly is.  “The trolls, it’s a very tiny world, and that’s a lesson that I think is really important right now for us all to remember,” she told the crowd. “The trolling, I’m not saying it’s not rooted in real crap and shit, but we have to remember our real human connection.” The post Six women filmmakers talk goals of their films premiering at Sundance appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less