Women In The Director's Chair (WIDC) Selects Horror Filmmaker Lu Asfaha's THEY ECHO For Annual Award

Lu's feature-length screenplay, They Echo, is a psychological horror about a young woman, Trevi who returns to her childhood home to care for her dying mother, and is then confronted by the ghosts of her family's sins.

Women In the Director's Chair (WIDC) organizers are delighted to announce that Toronto-based filmmaker, Lu Asfaha will receive the 2024 WIDC Feature Film Award, which includes an impressive $350,000 worth of in-kind services.

 

Lu's feature-length screenplay, They Echo, is a psychological horror about a young woman, Trevi who returns to her childhood home to care for her dying mother, and is then confronted by the ghosts of her family's sins.

 

"I am incredibly proud and honored to be this year's award recipient," says Lu Asfaha, "joining an incredible group of talented and accomplished women directors that have won this award in the past. I am also excited to work with WIDC, Carol Whiteman and the They Echo team to bring this powerful story to life. My hope and wish is that They Echo can both entertain audiences and be part of an ongoing conversation in communities of colour."

 

"This year's jury described Lu Asfaha's They Echo as a page-turner they could not put down," says WIDC's Dr. Carol Whiteman (With Love and a Major Organ, Rustic Oracle, Red Snow) who provides executive producing services as part of the award. "Lu's work deftly utilizes genre to externalize the internal. Lu and her award-winning feature film screenplay, They Echo, were a unanimous jury choice."

 

They Echo is being produced by Toronto-based Snail Mail Media's Fonna Seidu (VIRGINS!, Dirty Bad Wrong, Being Black in Toronto) and co-produced by LaRue Entertainment (Someone Lives Here, The Amazing Gayl Pile). Executive producers also include Lindsay Blair Goeldner (I Like Movies, Queen Tut) and Joe Pirro (Driveways, We Grown Now). They Echo is funded by Telefilm Canada.

 

As part of WIDC's suite of offerings addressing gender equity and inclusion, the Feature Film Award provides development, production and completion services and has already supported 15 multiple award-winning feature-length films by Canadian women directors including Kim Albright (With Love and a Major Organ), Pamela Gallant (Monica's News) and award-winning BC-based Inuk/Scottish Settler filmmaker Lindsay McIntyre whose latest short, NIGIQTUQ (The South Wind) - a concept short for her upcoming feature, The Words We Can't Speak - is in consideration for the 2025 Academy Awards.

 

The 2024 WIDC Feature Film Award was announced at a hybrid event (Online and In-person) hosted by WIDC on December 4, 2024.