On Wednesday, February 4, at the Producers Club Theater in midtown Manhattan, HamptonsFilm presented a reading of selected scenes from our 2025 Melissa Mathison Award recipient Pepi Ginsberg’s original screenplay The Mirex.
Emily Fleischer and her team crafted a wonderful cast of actors (see below), who mingled with our guests at a reception following the reading. Congratulations to Pepi, and thanks to all who joined us. We look forward to seeing where Pepi’s immense talent takes her next.
Next up: our 26th Annual Screenwriters Lab on April 10-12!
Pepi Ginsberg received the 2025 Melissa Mathison Award for her screenplay The Mirex. Established in 2016 and named for the late, beloved Oscar®-nominated screenwriter, this award strives to foster the continued development of female writers in the industry. Previous recipients include completed feature films from Annabelle Attanasio (MICKEY AND THE BEAR), and Cathy Yan (DEAD PIGS). To support women in film, please consider a donation to the Melissa Mathison Award.
Read more about the project and the cast below.
THE MIREX
Screenwriter: Pepi Ginsberg
Pepi Ginsberg is a filmmaker and former singer-songwriter. Before turning to film, she released five albums, receiving critical acclaim from NPR, KCRW, Pitchfork, and more while touring extensively across the US. She then enrolled in NYU Grad Film, where she earned an MFA in writing and directing.
Pepi’s latest short film, WASSUPKAYLEE, premiered at SXSW ’25 and was acquired by ARTE. Her thesis film, THE PASS, premiered at Cannes ’22, and went on to screen at TIFF, BFI, Hamptons, and many more. THE PASS is distributed by Criterion, The New Yorker, Canal+, and Kanopy, and was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Ginsberg was a 2023 Purple List winner for her script HAAZER. She was a 2021 and 2023 NYU Development Studio Fellow with two separate projects, a 2021 Princess Grace Award winner and a 2021 IFP Marcie Bloom Fellow. Her first short BAD CANDY won first prize at NYU’s Wasserman Awards.
In addition to her narrative work, Pepi directs music videos for artists such as John Cale and helms commissioned projects for brands such as Gucci. She is currently in development on her first feature, THE MIREX.
Cast
Emily Fleischer, CSA: Casting Director
Emily Fleischer has cast a number of features and series including DEAD RINGERS for Amazon, GRAND ARMY for Netflix, and Paul Schrader’s Oscar-nominated FIRST REFORMED, as well as his film THE CARD COUNTER with Susan Shopmaker. She was nominated for Artios Awards alongside Shopmaker for their work on Terence Nance’s RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS for HBO as well as Darius Marder’s Oscar-winning SOUND OF METAL. With Vice President of the AMPAS, Kim Coleman, she also cast WU-TANG: AN AMERICAN SAGA for Hulu, GOVERNMENT CHEESE for AppleTV+, the upcoming A DIFFERENT WORLD sequel for Netflix, BEYOND THE GATES on CBS, Titus Kaphar’s EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS, Nikyatu Jusu’s Sundance award-winning NANNY, and Spike Lee’s reinterpretation of an Akira Kurosawa classic, HIGHEST 2 LOWEST. She also recently worked on Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning ANORA.
The annual HamptonsFilm Screenwriters Lab, celebrating 26 years in 2026 (April 10-12), pairs emerging screenwriters with established screenwriters, directors and producers for a collaborative weekend of one-on-one mentoring sessions each spring in the Hamptons.
