2024 WIF Honors Celebrate Annette Bening, Michelle Buteau, Joey King, Ellen Kuras, Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, Kerry Washington and Kate Winslet

On Thursday, October 24, 2024, WIF (formerly known as Women In Film, Los Angeles) celebrated the 2024 WIF Honors, an annual benefit supporting WIF’s educational and philanthropic programs, and its advocacy for gender parity in entertainment, at The Beverly Hilton.

Themed The Power of the Collective, the gala recognized industry leaders who demonstrate how strength in collaboration, inclusion, and uplifting stories can change culture for the better. The 2024 WIF Honors celebrated Annette Bening with the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award presented by Jane Fonda; Kate Winslet and Ellen Kuras with the Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film presented by Marion Cotillard, in conversation with The Hollywood Reporter Contributing Editor, Stacey Wilson Hunt; Michelle Buteau and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel with the Crystal Award for Advocacy in TV presented by Janelle James, in conversation with Danielle Young; and Kerry Washington with the Entrepreneur in Entertainment Award presented by Emayatzy Corinealdi, in conversation with Variety Senior Entertainment Writer, Angelique Jackson. Joey King was honored with the WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award presented to her by Max Mara Global Brand Ambassador Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti.

Actress and WIF Board of Directors member Jurnee Smollett (We Grown Now, The Burial, “The Order”), delivered the opening remarks. Additional attendees included Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary, 2022 WIF Honoree), Amy Baer (President, WIF), Alexandra Hedison (Director/Actress), Annie Gonzalez (Flamin’ Hot), Ari Graynor (Monsters), Christina Perri (Recording Artist), Dana Ledoux Miller (Writer/Director, Moana 2), Kirsten Schaffer (CEO, WIF), Lake Bell (Under the Lights), Lili Reinhart (Hal & Harper, 2022 WIF Max Mara Face of the Future), Nava Mau (Baby Reindeer), Jackie Tohn (Nobody Wants This), Jodi Long (Actress, SAG-AFTRA LA Local President), Monica Levinson (Co-Chair, WIF Honors Committee), Natasha Ofili (Actress), Rachael Harris (Mother of the Bride), Sherry Cola (Nobody Wants This), Sharon Lawrence (Walker), Storm Reid (Euphoria, The Last of Us), Talitha Watkins (Co-Chair, WIF Honors Committee), Linda Yvette Chávez (Flamin’ Hot, 2023 WIF Honoree), and more.

At the event, WIF Board president Amy Baer announced that executive vice president of the Board Syrinthia Studer will take the helm in 2025.

“I’m now thrilled to pass the baton to an extraordinary woman, executive, and a friend, WIF’s next Board president, Syrinthia Studer,” said Baer. “A 20-year industry veteran with a career spanning from marketing to development, and from film to digital platforms production in the U.S. and globally. Syrinthia is a bold and caring leader, and WIF has already benefited from her vast and diverse experience and extraordinary leadership skills as a Board member since 2018, and most recently, executive vice president of the WIF Executive Committee. She has a clear-eyed, ambitious, and exciting agenda for WIF in 2025 and beyond.”

Kirsten Schaffer, WIF CEO took the stage to speak about the event’s impact and timeliness, stating, “The days ahead, for business and for culture – and for our country - will be challenging. But the fact that we’ve come this far is proof that we’re up to the challenge.”

The Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award honoree Annette Bening shared during her speech, “I so appreciate the theme of this evening, about celebrating our collective strength. Something that resonates with all of us here I’m sure, and anyone who has ever been involved in a production knows, all great change and all great growth comes from the merging of talent, skills, heart, minds, souls.”

Kate Winslet and Ellen Kuras (Lee), recipients of The Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film, discussed the power of inclusive opportunities and the lack thereof early on in their careers.

“This is why events like this are so important,” said Winslet. “Twenty, thirty years ago, when I was starting out, events like this didn’t exist. The idea that cheering on your friends, celebrating that person you stand shoulder to shoulder with and feeling proud of ourselves, large groups of women working together, it’s so significant.”

“I think people are recognizing and seeing women as a viable force, even if they’re mothers, and they need to work,” added Kuras. “So I think there is change happening but there is a lot of room for us to keep working forward in the film industry.”

Kerry Washington, Entrepreneur in Entertainment Award honoree, on her advice to women in the industry shared, “Find your crew. As a producer, it gives me so much joy that so often our actors or other crew members will come to me and say ‘I’ve never been on a set like this before, it’s so inclusive, I feel seen, I feel represented, I don’t feel alone. Truly find your crew.”

When discussing how comedy has allowed her to professionally find herself, Michelle Buteau shared, “Comedy saved my life, comedy gave me a voice, it made me figure out how to ask for things that I want and make people laugh while they give them to me.”

When discussing her first job, and the mantra that she and her sisters have adopted through life, Danielle Sanchez-Witzel shared, “When the door opens, walk through. And when you walk through, be great. Don’t question why it opened.”

WIF Max Mara Face of the Future Award honoree Joey King gave an emotional speech thanking her grandmother, mother and sisters, sharing, “The women in my life are the only reason that I’m here today. And I couldn’t be named the WIF MaxMara Face of the Future without their leadership.”