Behind every story that moves us, every moment that lights up a screen, there are women shaping the future of how we see and connect. Diversified’s Without Boundaries: Behind the Screens Film Festival celebrates those creators and trailblazers whose impact often unfolds quietly but powerfully behind the camera.
This inaugural festival invited filmmakers to explore life behind the screens, revealing the creativity, challenges and triumphs of women working at the intersection of media and innovation. Through bold narratives and powerful documentaries, the films reflected the festival’s mission: to champion inclusion, celebrate authenticity and amplify the unsung heroes in technology and media.
What followed was an inspiring showcase of imagination and purpose, proof that when women create without boundaries, the results are extraordinary.
And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…
Meet the winners of the first-ever Without Boundaries: Behind the Screens Film Festival.
Honoring the most powerful story of the festival, the Unbound Voice Award celebrates a film that defies convention, uplifts unheard voices, and reimagines what’s possible through courage, creativity, and transformation.
When a bronze-skin bombshell shook up Sunday Morning Football, millions watched—but few knew the story behind the spotlight. Interception: Jayne Kennedy • American Sportscaster highlights the untold journey of the first black woman to break through the gender and racial barriers of sports broadcasting.
From beauty queen to boundary-breaker, Kennedy’s rise was powered by resilience, intellect, and unapologetic determination. This visually stunning, emotionally charged documentary explores how she redefined the “All-American Dream Girl,” proving that representation isn’t a trend but a transformation.
Safiya Songhai, MFA is an Emmy Award–winning television producer, filmmaker, and on-air personality whose work bridges history, culture, and empowerment. Raised during the Neo-Soul era, her storytelling reflects a spirit of optimistic Afro-futurism rooted in ancestor veneration and the strategies of historical icons.
A proud graduate of Howard University’s BA Film Program and NYU’s Graduate Film Program, Songhai brings both academic rigor and artistic vision to every project. Her work reimagines the past to inspire the future, amplifying voices that have long gone unheard and illuminating the power of representation in media.
Recognizing a film that ignites imagination and drives action, the Catalyst Award honors a visionary documentary that challenges convention and inspires the next generation to redefine what’s possible through science and storytelling.
When an artificial intelligence asks Ana, “Why did you choose this mission?” the question sparks a cinematic journey into purpose, innovation, and empowerment.
This Is My Mission fuses science and soul, showing how girls can code the future and rewrite the systems that once excluded them. Blending data, animation, and personal reflection, the film invites us to imagine a world where emotion and technology evolve side by side, led by the next generation of creators who dare to dream in code.
It’s a declaration: the future isn’t found, it’s built.
Ana Karen Ramírez is the founder of Epic Queen, a movement inspiring girls in science and technology. As an analog astronaut, content creator, and emerging documentary filmmaker, Ramírez uses cinema as a tool for transformation, fusing storytelling and science to champion gender equity in STEM.
Her work reflects a decade-long mission: to help girls see themselves as inventors, engineers, and dreamers capable of rewriting the code of tomorrow. With This Is My Mission, she brings that vision to the screen to remind us all that the future is not something we inherit; it’s something we build together.
The Script to Screen Award honors bold, imaginative storytelling that leaps from the page to the screen—celebrating a narrative that stirs emotion, challenges expectations, and embodies the fearless spirit of storytelling without boundaries.
On her long-awaited day off—and still reeling from a breakup—Willow, a nervous young assistant, is called in for a last-minute request: to help her powerful boss’s enigmatic husband with an unusual, secretive task. What unfolds is a tense, darkly humorous exploration of power, vulnerability, and identity in the modern workplace.
Willow & Wu peels back layers of professional politeness to reveal the quiet battles behind ambition. It’s sharp, hauntingly relatable, and a reminder that sometimes the smallest stories hit the deepest nerves.
Kathy Meng is a Chinese-American writer and director raised between Beijing and Massachusetts. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and recipient of numerous film fellowships, Meng crafts stories that delve into the emotional interiority of Chinese women navigating identity, intimacy, and belonging as outsiders in American society.
With Willow and Wu, she channels her own experiences as a personal assistant into a story about the quiet strength of women finding their voices in spaces that often underestimate them.
Awarded to a non-fiction film that reveals truth with courage and artistry, the Story truth Award honors a documentary that educates, exposes, and inspires through fearless storytelling.
Every story starts with a question and a blank page.
This Is Not a Blank Page dives into the tension between creativity and technology, exploring how women shape the digital tools we use to create. Inspired by the blinking cursor, it transforms emptiness into possibility—where imagination and persistence turn silence into art.
Through poetic visuals and personal reflection, filmmaker Michelle DeLateur celebrates creation as both rebellion and revelation, reclaiming authorship and finding courage in a world built on code, connection, and unshakable curiosity.
Michelle DeLateur is a Boston-based storyteller and video producer whose work bridges technology, narrative, and emotion. As Digital Storyteller at Boston University’s College of Communication, she leads projects that fuse cultural relevance with digital innovation. A contributor to ProVideo Coalition, she explores emerging tools and trends with both technical curiosity and artistic sensitivity.
Beyond her professional work, Michelle experiments with 8mm film, data sonification, and songwriting using rhythm and motion to expand storytelling itself. With This Is Not a Blank Page, she transforms introspection into inspiration, proving that no page is ever truly blank when filled with intention.
Celebrating the next generation of creators, the Rising Voice Award recognizes young storytellers, aged 16–21, whose authenticity, curiosity, and imagination are shaping the future of cinema.
Breaking the Lens: The Journey of Female Media Production Students pulls back the curtain on what it really means to be a woman in film school today. Through intimate roundtable conversations and striking visuals, Lauren and Megan spotlight the biases, barriers, and breakthroughs shaping women’s paths in media and technology.
The film captures a journey from uncertainty to empowerment, where mentorship fuels confidence, representation sparks resilience, and honest dialogue becomes a form of rebellion. It’s part reflection, part revolution—and a reminder that the stories we tell behind the camera matter just as much as those we tell on screen.
Megan House is a Cincinnati-based freelance filmmaker dedicated to advancing authentic and inclusive representation of queer women in film and media. She holds a BFA in Media Production and Screenwriting from the University of Cincinnati and is the founder of The Uptown Film Festival, a celebration of local musicians, artists, and filmmakers in the city’s university district.
Grounded in community and storytelling, Megan’s work reflects a deep love of the craft and a relentless pursuit of growth within the industry.
Lauren Delligatti is an NYC-based cinematographer and photographer whose visual storytelling shakes up the norms and pushes creative boundaries. Originally from Ohio, she graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a BFA in Media Production and a Fine Art Minor.
Drawn to fleeting moments and the play of light and emotion, her work captures intimacy with authenticity. With passions that extend beyond the lens, she’s an advocate for underrepresented voices in the film industry, especially within camera and lighting departments, championing inclusion behind the scenes.
Thank you to every filmmaker who participated. Your stories moved us, inspired us, and reminded us why we created the Without Boundaries: Behind the Screens Film Festival. Each film offered a new way of seeing the world behind the screens and celebrated the women shaping the future of technology, media, and storytelling.
In industries where women still have a hard time seeing their path forward, this festival represents a powerful step toward visibility, inclusion, and empowerment.
We’re deeply grateful to our presenting sponsors—Barco, Crestron, L-Acoustics, and Legrand AV—for their commitment to creativity, innovation, and equity. Together with the Diversified Women’s Empowerment (W.E.) Group and our partners—AVIXA Women’s Council, SVGW, #GALSNGEAR, AbelCine, and NextLVL Learning—we’re building a stronger, more inclusive community for storytellers everywhere.
We can’t wait to see what stories unfold next. To learn how to get involved in next year’s festival, please visit our website.
Because when you create without boundaries, there’s no limit to what your story can become.