Women In Film celebrated a slew of women in the entertainment industry at the 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 over the course of the evening, 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 communicated.
Annette Bening received the evening's first honor, the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award, presented by Fonda herself. “Over the past few years I have read interviews with Annette. I never miss an interview, especially when he talks about his craft, because you always learn something,” Fonda told Bening's audience.
“I discovered his empathy and generosity,” he continued, noting his work as president of the Entertainment Community Fund. Bening thanked Fonda and dove into some current topics. “My generation was the first to have full reproductive rights,” Bening said.
“When I was in high school, we were sneaking out of Planned Parenthood to get our contraception and, in some cases, to get abortions,” she said. “My two daughters are the first generation to have a constitutional right taken away.”
Kate Winslet and director Ellen Kuras, awarded the Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film, talked about opportunities for women and their cinema Leeabout war photographer Lee Miller. Winslet pointed out that events like the WIF Honors didn't exist early in her career.
“Large groups of women working together in the film community are so meaningful because when you get to the end of an incredibly difficult day that started at 3:30 and you've spent the day chasing the light and not taking a lunch break,” she said. “When you get to the end of that day and you smile and you embrace it and you know that the blood, sweat and tears were all driven by women. I want on that set.
Kerry Washington was the evening's Entrepreneur in Entertainment Award winner. The multi-hyphenate explained why she was drawn to jobs outside of acting. “I love producing and directing because I love team sports,” he said. “I love being part of a collective. I'm not an artist who likes to work alone.”
The Crystal Award for Advocacy on TV went to Michelle Buteau and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel for their Netflix series Survival of the thickest. During the conversation, the couple talked about power and their partnership. “When you're on set with people for so long, you see all the people who've gone to therapy and you talk about what your therapist told you and someone said to you, 'People will meet you as deeply as they've met themselves. ,'” Buteau said.
“This is power,” he continued. “We're talking about the collective, but I think you have to get yourself together first.”
Joey King received 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 worked constantly from a young age, succeeding at the one thing I wanted to do in my life, but sometimes I never felt like I was enough,” King said, explaining that she focused on wanting to be included in things. “At 19 or 20 I felt much more at peace. I do not know. I felt less and less like I needed an invitation or an email to feel worthy and more focused on the beauty and fulfillment I already had in myself and in my world.
Another highlight of the evening was WIF Board President Amy Baer, whose term is expiring, announced that WIF Board Executive Vice President Syrinthia Studer will assume the position in 2025. “I am thrilled to pass the baton to an extraordinary woman, an executive and a friend,” said Baer, noting Studer's career accomplishments. “He has a clear, ambitious and exciting agenda for the WIF in 2025 and beyond.”