Other awardees for the evening included Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, Joey King, Ellen Kuras, and Michelle Buteau.
Women In Film held their 2024 WIF Honors on Thursday night, honoring a number of women in the entertainment business.
The Beverly Hilton hosts the yearly event, which funds the organization’s charitable and educational initiatives. According to a release, the gala, which had as its subject “The Power of the Collective,” gave out five prizes to “industry leaders who demonstrate how strength in collaboration, inclusion, and uplifting stories can change culture for the better.”
The evening’s first honor, the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award, was given to Annette Bening by Fonda herself. I’ve read interviews with Annette throughout the past few years. Fonda told the Bening audience, “I never miss an interview, especially when she talks about her craft, because you always learn something.”
She went on to mention her work as head of the Entertainment Community Fund, saying, “I found her empathy and her generosity.” After thanking Fonda, Bening launched onto several hot-button topics. According to Bening, “my generation was the first to have full reproductive rights.”
“We were sneaking out of Planned Parenthood to get our contraception and, in some cases, our abortions when I was in high school,” she recalled. “The first generation to lose a constitutional right is my two daughters.”
She went on to mention her work as head of the Entertainment Community Fund, saying, “I found her empathy and her generosity.” After thanking Fonda, Bening launched onto several hot-button topics. According to Bening, “my generation was the first to have full reproductive rights.”
“We were sneaking out of Planned Parenthood to get our contraception and, in some cases, our abortions when I was in high school,” she recalled. “The first generation to lose a constitutional right is my two daughters.”
For their Netflix series Survival of the Thickest, Michelle Buteau and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel were awarded the Crystal Award for Advocacy in TV. During the conversation, the two discussed their relationship and power. People will meet you as profoundly as they met themselves, Buteau added, “when you’re on set with people for that long, you kind of see all the people that have gone to therapy and you talk about what your therapist told you.”
“That is power,” she added. “You have to gather yourself first, even though we’re talking about the collective.”
The Max Mara Face of the Future Award went to Joey King. The 25-year-old thanked the women in her life while discussing her long acting career with the audience.
King explained that she focuses on wanting to be included in activities. “I’ve been working consistently since a young age, having success in the only thing I wanted to do with my life, but sometimes I just never felt like I was enough,” she said. I simply felt so much more at ease when I was 19 or 20 years old. I’m not sure. I became more aware of the beauty and fulfillment I already had in my life and in the world, and I felt less and less like I needed an invitation or an email to be worthy.
The announcement by WIF board president Amy Baer, whose tenure is coming to an end, that Syrinthia Studer, the organization’s executive vice president, will assume the position in 2025 was another highlight of the event. Baer highlighted Studer’s professional accomplishments and remarked, “I’m now thrilled to pass the baton to an extraordinary woman, executive, and a friend.” “Her goals for WIF in 2025 and beyond are exciting, ambitious, and well-defined.”
