Backed by a group of anonymous female film executives, The Alice Initiative regularly releases a list of up-and-coming female directing talent, ready for their first studio feature. Called The Alice List, this year it includes long-time WIFT member, director Roseanne Liang. It's actually the second time Roseanne has made the list; the first was in 2018 for her feature film My Wedding And Other Secrets, this one is for her work on the 2021 feature Shadow In The Cloud.
The Alice Initiative’s 2022 List of Emerging Female Directors is voted on every two years by executives and producers and is made up of 10 directors who have directed at least one, non-studio feature and another 10 directors that have yet to direct a feature but have garnered attention for their work on TV or in short films.
Past list honourees have included The Farewell’s Lulu Wang and Portrait of a Lady on Fire‘s Céline Sciamma. The Alice Initiative is named after French filmmaker Alice Guy-Blache, who is widely considered the first female director. She was a pioneer and directed more than 1000 films during her career in the early 1900s.