Malala Yousafzai, Spike Jonze Among Mentors For Vice’s Girl-Power Broadly Films Initiative

Vice‘s female-focused vertical is launching a new division that will provide opportunities for up-and-coming filmmakers. As first shared by The Hollywood Reporter, the two-year-old platform Broadly has launched Broadly Films, a unit that will finance 36 short films led by female creators.

The shorts, financed by a multi-million dollar commitment from Vice investor A&E, will cover topics like technology and women’s issues. The featured creators will receive assistance from a powerful group of mentors that includes feminist icons like Malala Yousafzai and Gloria Steinem as well as film industry notables like Spike Jonze and Ana Lily Amirpour.

“We need to empower the next generation of filmmakers. Often they have fantastic ideas but they don’t know how to execute them or they don’t have access to funding,” said filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who is one of the Broadly Films mentors

. “The only way to have an impact is to tell your own stories, in your own words, in your own communities. That’s when you’ll start to see an impact.”

All 36 projects included in Broadly Films’ first wave are expected to arrive on Broadly’s digital channels before the end of the year. Beyond that, the program will run for at least three years in total.