Lucy Liu , Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Olivia Wilde, Beanie Feldstein and Joanna Calo gathered together at a cocktail party Thursday evening in New York City to name the grant recipient of the 2024 Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program.

The five women served as this year’s jury for the annual program, which provides industry support and artistic development to self-identifying women and non-binary filmmakers. After an intensive, three-day workshop, Liu, Randolph, Wilde, Feldstein and Calo awarded writer-director Sophia Youssef and producer Céline Bava-Helms the grand prize for their short film, “Black Shore.”

“We felt that ‘Black Shore’ was very ambitious and world-building,” Liu told Variety at the cocktail event held on the upper terrace of the Greenwich Hotel’s Tribeca penthouse. “And it stood out from the other projects because of its expansive nature.”

Liu reminisced about the jury’s decision-making process after listening to pitches from the up-and-coming filmmakers. “We all have diverse perspectives, but we were unified in our vision,” she said. “These are powerful, intentional, decisive, and creative women. And being a part of this group was the primary reason I agreed to participate… It’s strength in numbers, and we also recognize that individually, we can stand strong on our own.”

Earlier at the cocktail party, Jane Fonda, a member of the Through Her Lens advisory board, made a special announcement regarding the program's future.

“Through Her Lens started in 2015 with a clear goal to inspire and empower the next generation of women filmmakers. Here we are, 10 years later, still guided by the spirit of [late Tribeca executive vice president] Paula Weinstein, who knew that mentorship and authentic connections are crucial to building careers for women,” said Fonda. “She also knew how challenging a career path this is. These past years, amid inflation, strikes and major changes in our industries, the path is more difficult than ever. That is why, in Paula’s memory, I’m excited to announce that Chanel is generously increasing the winner’s prize and the four other development funds this year.”

“Black Shore” will receive full production funding and support from Tribeca Studios. The description for the original short film reads, “Forced to care for her ailing mother back home in Santorini, Evangelina must confront the reality that her mother’s lifelong fascination with mythological monsters and an ancient family curse might not be purely imaginary, but a terrifying warning that some fates are inherited.”

Youseff was inspired by three members of her family “who had different genetic conditions that all led to locked-in syndrome,” a rare condition in which an individual is conscious but cannot move or speak due to complete paralysis of voluntary muscles.

“My family members and I spent 10 years assisting three paralyzed individuals as they slowly passed away, essentially,” Youseff explained to Variety . “So I wanted to take that fear of feeling like that was gonna be my inevitable fate as well — because I share genes with those people — and turn it into a narrative. And because I’m from Greece and my family lives there, it felt like Medusa was the perfect allegory to create a body horror story about that experience.”

Besides “Black Shore” receiving full funding, the other program participants — “Brace Yourself,” “Copy, Save,” “Haint” and “Selah” — each received a development grant.

“The future of film is in this room, and we were all incredibly fortunate to see such remarkable talent,” Wilde said to the filmmakers.

“Truly, I believe that each and every one of these young women will have a successful career,” Randolph told Variety . “I think just being here speaks volumes.”