KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaican filmmaker Stephanie Hazle-Lyle, a member of Women in Film and Television Jamaica (WIFTJA) will be among 19 women from Women in Film and Television International (WIFTI) pitching their film projects to a panel of international film professionals on December 12.

The WIFTI Worldwide pitch is an initiative by WIFTI sponsored by global streaming platform Netflix. WIFTI chapters from around the world were each invited to submit one project for the WIFTI Worldwide Pitch. The criteria for the competition were to present a feature film project with a female or non-binary lead character and the project should be in early script, treatment or long synopsis development stage with a female or non-binary writer and director.

According to a release on Sunday, Hazle-Lyle’s film project ‘Hummingbird’ was the project selected to represent WIFTJA from six local submissions in November.

“I’m incredibly honoured to have been selected to represent the Jamaican chapter in WIFTI’s Worldwide Pitch Competition. I did not seeing it coming, but I was hopeful and it is encouraging to know that it’s always worth taking a shot because you never know where you may land. I hope this will inspire other Jamaican female filmmakers to pitch stories they would like to be told, regardless of the level of experience they may have,” Hazle-Lyle said.

WIFTJA reconvened in 2019 with its mission of empowering and increasing the visibility and professional development of female creatives in screen-based media.

“We are truly ecstatic that we have representation at the Worldwide Pitch competition and wish for Stephanie all the best. As we continue to play our part in the development of the film, television and new media in Jamaica we are confident that our representation at the WIFTI Worldwide Pitch will be a positive step in the right direction in fulfilling the organisation’s objective,” Nadean Rawlins President of WIFTJA expressed.

The WIFTI Worldwide Pitch is dedicated to the impact of the global community and is based on the belief of making us all love and live in a peaceful environment. The featured film projects will be from six continents around the world. The following chapters will present a project: New Mexico Women in Film, WIFT Jamaica, WIFT ISRAEL, WIFT Germany, Women in Film Guild Botswana, WIFT Namibia, WIFT Finland, WIFT Georgia, WIFT Greece, WIFT Brazil, WIFT Italy, WIFT Cyprus, WIFT Los Angeles, WIFT China, WIFT Austin Texas, WIFT Sweden, WIFT Abu Dhabi, WIFT Australia and WIFT Norway.