Since 2015, Chanel and Tribeca Enterprises (founded by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal) have selected young, female and/or nonbinary filmmakers to participate in their joint mentorship fund competition Through Her Lens. The candidates, a group of about 10, get paired up with mentors—experts in script-to-screen development, casting, music composition, costume design, producing, and directing—and because Chanel is involved, the group is always top-notch, made up of the discerning sorts of figures you might expect to see sitting front row. They include Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Diane Kruger, Julianne Moore, Katie Holmes, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathryn Bigelow; while the likes of A.V. Rockwell, Nikyatu Jusu, and Hannah Peterson have competed, going on to screen their work at Sundance, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the BlackStar Film Festival.

In years past, Through Her Lens has kicked off with a luncheon, usually at De Niro’s Locanda Verde in New York, that unfolds like a parade of Chanel-clad film-industry talents. In the three days that follow, participants get one-on-one mentoring sessions and master classes dedicated to the development of short film projects. The program culminates with a lucky three being awarded grant money to help realize their films. This year, there will be no tweedy lunch or face-to-face mentorship sessions, but Chanel and Tribeca Enterprises are committed to continuing the program 2020 style: virtually.

Ahead of this year’s lineup, we caught up with Emilia Clarke, who will serve as mentor alongside Glenn Close, Niki Caro, Lucy Boynton, and Uzo Aduba. Calling her involvement “an absolute no-brainer,” the former Game of Thrones star rang from London, and her firecracker enthusiasm could be felt through the transatlantic call. She’s been at home for much of 2020, which has allowed her the time to develop projects for her own production company and to work with her charity, Same You, dedicated to brain injury recovery. Through Her Lens is just another chance for Clarke to give back. Below, she stresses the value of mentorship, the need to know your references, and the glorious benefits of binge-watching cinema.

For eight seasons on Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke battled Dothraki, ice zombies, and Lannisters as the warrior queen Daenerys Targaryen. But unbeknownst to her fans and colleagues, the actress was also fighting a private battle: During her time on the show, she suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms, which necessitated multiple surgeries and punishing recoveries. Clarke kept her health issues a secret until shortly before the premiere of Thrones’ final season, when she penned a widely acclaimed essay for The New Yorker detailing her fight for her health. In this excerpt from his new book, Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Official Untold Story of the Epic Series, author James Hibberd reveals how Clarke kept working on the series while recovering from brain surgery.

Clarke wouldn’t reveal the real reason behind her exhaustion for another eight years. After filming Thrones season one, she had suffered a brain hemorrhage at a gym in London. “I immediately felt as though an elastic band were squeezing my brain,” Clarke wrote in The New Yorker. As she was rushed to the hospital, Clarke recalled lines of Daenerys Targaryen’s dialogue to try to calm herself. The actress underwent emergency surgery and for several days couldn’t even remember her own name, let alone speeches in Dothraki.

Somehow, just weeks later, Clarke returned to work on Thrones, despite still having a second growth on her brain that a doctor said might — in theory, though it was unlikely — “pop at any time.” Day after day on set, Clarke’s performance gave no indication of her fatigue, fear, and pain.

EMILIA CLARKE (Daenerys Targaryen): It was crazy intense. We are in the desert in a quarry in like 90-degree heat, and I had the consistent fear that I was going to have another brain hemorrhage. I spent a lot of time just being like: “Am I gonna die? Is that gonna happen on set? Because that would be really inconvenient.” And with any kind of brain injury, it leaves you with a fatigue that’s indescribable. I was trying so hard to keep it under wraps.

BRYAN COGMAN (co–executive producer): Only a very select few people knew about that. I was completely unaware. I heard a little bit that she had some problems between seasons, but nothing to that extent. And I had no clue while we were shooting.

ALAN TAYLOR (director): We were afraid for her. She’s so brave, because it never affected her commitment to the work.

Emilia Clarke—known for displaying strength as Daenerys Targaryen and exuding warmth in movies like Last Christmas and Me Before You—is no stranger to hospitals and healthcare workers. After suffering two brain aneurysms starting in 2011, her road to recovery brought her to a deep appreciation for the care she received during her journey back to health—and to want to enable others with brain injuries to find similar resources, the actor shared in a TIME100 Talks that aired on Sept. 24.

Clarke’s own experiences have provided her with what she called an “armor of sorts” to face the pandemic. “When you personally come very close to dying—which I did twice—it brings into light a conversation which you have with yourself which goes to the tune of: appreciation for the things you have in your life, thanks for the people who are here,” she said.

SameYou, Clarke’s brain injury recovery charity, attempts to help serve that purpose. But like many other organizations this year, SameYou has felt the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I have added a few portrait photos of Emilia Clarke from 2018-2019 that missing to the gallery. You can go there to take a look. More gallery updates are coming!

Lockdown Theatre, in association with The Royal Theatrical Fund, will present a virtual reading of Noël Coward’s Private Lives September 13 at 7 PM GMT (3 PM ET).

Jonathan Church will direct a cast that includes Oscar winner Emma Thompson (Howards End, Sense and Sensibility) as Amanda, Tony and Olivier winner Robert Lindsay (Me and My Girl) as Elyot, Sanjeev Bhaskar (Art, Spamalot) as Victor, and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, The Seagull) as Sybil.

The Zoom reading will be followed by a live Q&A with the cast and director, moderated by Paul Jackson.

Tickets are £35, and all the funds raised will be used as a crisis grant to support those struggling financially in the theatre industry due to the ongoing pandemic. For tickets and additional information, visit RTFLockdown.com. [Source]

Finally, we got some news about Emilia’s movie Above Suspicion. I have added the trailer and some stills to the gallery.

Thanks to my sister, Anne, I have added the Emilia Clarke captures from Game of Thrones Season 6. You can go to the gallery and enjoy!

The Edinburgh TV Festival has announced new speakers and sessions for the 2020 line up including actor Emilia Clarke .

Emilia Clarke will team up with Paul Feig, who last year directed her in the movie Last Christmas, for a peer-to-peer session that will take in their work and careers. 

The team behind Sky original Gangs of London, Sky’s biggest drama launch since Chernobyl, reunite to dissect the appeal of the critically acclaimed family crime epic. The show’s stars, Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù and Pippa Bennett-Warner join award-winning creator and director Gareth Evans, writer Lauren Sequiera and Pulse Films executive producer, Thomas Benski, to discuss the challenges and opportunities for storytelling on TV versus film, choreography of the fight scenes, and how they delivered the style of big budget, US sensibilities to the UK’s small screen.

Other sessions include Europe’s top public broadcasters giving their take on the challenges and opportunities ahead. Joining Noel Curran, Chair of the European Broadcasting Union, the panel includes Delphine Ernotte, chief executive, France Télévisions; Thor Gjermund Eriksen, director general, NRK and Ulrich Wilhelm, chairman, ARD. [Source]

I have added scans of Emilia Clarke for Harper’s Bazaar Mexico. Go to the gallery and enjoy the scans!