Lights, camera, action! Chanel and Tribeca are marking the 10th anniversary of Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker program with serious star power thanks to celebs like Meghann Fahy and Issa Rae.

The three-day event, which kicks off in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 16, and runs through Thursday, Sept. 18, will give U.S.-based women and non-binary filmmakers a chance to experience creative support, funding, and career-launching opportunities.

Participants will refine their ideas with script development, music composition, and costume design insights from Sarah Paulson, Kerry Washington, and Jane Fonda, in between enjoying candid conversations with Lucy Liu, Olivia Wilde, Tessa Thompson, and more industry leaders. 

The workshop ends with a live pitch session, where finalists will present their projects to a jury that includes Fahy and Rae, plus Jenny Slate, Allison Janney, and Kaitlyn Dever. One team is then granted full financing to make their short film with support from Tribeca Studios, while the four additional teams will walk away with development grants.

“Through Her Lens isn’t just a program — it’s a community Tribeca and CHANEL have built with purpose,” Jane Rosenthal, Co-Founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, said in a press release.

“Throughout these ten years, we’ve created a space where women filmmakers champion each other’s work, alumni open doors for one another, and belonging to this network truly means something in our industry. In partnership with CHANEL, we’ve been steadfast in our commitment to amplify voices that have always been here but too often go unheard,” she added.

“Through Her Lens is about consistency, perseverance, and meaningful change — the kind that shifts the very fabric of our culture at a moment when it’s needed most,” Rosenthal said.

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On a late summer evening in Tribeca, a small group of guests steps quietly into the working studio and NYC flagship store of Cynthia Rowley—iconic designer, CFDA award-winner, and one of the rare American fashion figures who has remained both visible and enigmatic over the course of her career. Inside: racks of silks and colorful hand-embellished separates line the walls.

This is the site of Rowley’s new and intimate Airbnb Experience—a private, highly curated event blending styling, photography, and candid conversation. The event begins casually, with chilled wine, mocktails, and plated snacks passed among a small group of guests—no more than a dozen or so. The ease of the atmosphere might be due to the fact that the space is not a showroom, but an active part-studio, part-store where Rowley spends most of her working days collaborating with a tight-knit team she’s worked alongside for over 20 years.

Cynthia Rowley’s Store & Studio in Manhattan

Courtesy Airbnb

The event doesn’t feel like a presentation or an excuse for any launch. Admittedly, as a homegrown New Yorker, I was wary of a fashion brand’s collaboration as a potential poorly-concealed attempt at selling something, anything. But to my elation, it was a genuine, authentic experience: simply a handful of fashion-forward guests and Rowley herself who guides the evening. With the ease of someone who’s spent decades balancing spontaneity and risk-taking with precision, Rowley opens the event, unrehearsed, generous, and wry.

She explains, almost offhandedly, how the experience came to be: the Airbnb Experience team reached out to coordinate, and she agreed: “Why not?” She shrugs and says she’s used to hearing questions from buyers, stylists, and curious visitors who ask about the shape of a sleeve or a fabric choice. “I’m always happy to stay open about the process,” she says. “If someone wants to know, I’ll tell them.”