“I first met her 12 years ago when she was in ‘Scandal,’ and we dressed her in every single episode,” Max Mara ambassador Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti said Thursday night at the 2024 Women in Film Awards in L.A., where she was as starstruck as anyone to see and catch up with Kerry Washington, honored as Entrepreneur in Entertainment for her producing work.
Jane Fonda was another highlight. “She’s wearing Max Mara,” Maramotti beamed of the icon dressed in a soft sparkly sequin tuxedo jacket and pants look.
For the 19th year, Max Mara was sponsoring the gala that brought together women in Hollywood to celebrate achievements, empower and inspire and rally the troops during a particularly challenging moment for the entertainment industry when production and ticket sales are down.
“The days ahead, for business and for culture — and for our country — will be challenging. But the fact that we’ve come this far is proof that we’re up to the challenge,” said WIF CEO Kirsten Schaffer in her introduction.
One by one the evening’s honorees took the stage at the Beverly Hilton, starting with Fonda who presented the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award to Annette Bening, highlighting her career and her activism.
“I learn something every time I see one of her performances,” said Fonda, also praising Bening’s humanitarian work as the chair of the Entertainment Community Fund aiding people in need, as well as raising funds to open the Academy Museum. “I also respect her choice to age on camera as she actually is. May her bravery metastasize throughout this town that is so scared of the very things that bring depth of wisdom.”
Bening spent a lot of her speech praising Fonda’s work before speaking about the political season, the threat to reproductive and transgender rights, and climate change. Gripping her WIF Crystal Award, she vowed to keep up the fight: “I will consider this a prod not an ornament.”
Kate Winslet and cinematographer Ellen Kuras received the Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film, for their work on “Lee,” the upcoming film about pioneering female journalist Lee Miller. “Twenty, 30 years ago, when I was starting out, events like this didn’t exist. The idea that cheering on your friends, celebrating that person you stand shoulder-to-shoulder with and feeling proud of ourselves, large groups of women working together, it’s so significant,” said Winslet, urging women in entertainment to not take “no” for an answer and not make films with people who don’t want to make films with you.
The Crystal Award for Advocacy in TV went to Michelle Buteau and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel for their inclusive comedy “Survival of the Thickest.”
Following a cocktail celebrating the young performer on Wednesday night, Marimotti presented the Max Mara Face of the Future award to Joey King, 26 (“Ramona and Beezus,” “The Kissing Booth,” and “The Act”). “She is both young and seasoned, serious and funny, beautiful but makes it all look easy, casual and studied elegance just like the clothes at Max Mara,” Marimotti said.
King, who has been acting since she was 4, thanked the women in her life, her grandmother, mom and sisters, for helping her get there. “It’s nights like these that show so beautifully there is room for everyone at the table.”
Washington finished the evening, talking about finding power in saying “no.” “It was important for me to actually say ‘no’ because I didn’t want to participate in television shows or movies I thought were going to be bad for women or Black people,” she said, adding that as an actor, producer and director she’s gravitated toward projects “that allow for our full humanity.”
Before leaving the stage, she urged people to think about entrepreneurship as more than being willing to put up financial risk, but also being willing to put up reputational risk. “Because we are in the business of appearances and performativity, sometimes we think the goal is to be liked. But I think we have to be able to risk people liking us or not liking us by doing the right thing.”
