Accepting the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award, Curtis opened with a tribute to her fellow screen star, paraphrasing Fonda’s famous line from last year’s SAG Award acceptance speech: “By the way, ‘woke’ just means you give a damn about other people.” Curtis also paid homage to her late mother whose big-hearted efforts inspired her own. “This award is about caring for other people,” Curtis told Vogue. “I grew up watching my friend Dolores [Narr Nemiro], along with my mother and the other ladies of S.H.A.R.E., an organization that raises money for children, perform this big show every year. I wanted to bring Dolores as my date tonight and say thank you to her and the ladies of S.H.A.R.E. My mother would be so happy that Dolores and I are standing here together.”
At the front of the room, comedy tag team Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann were proudly in situ. Their daughter Maude Apatow, fresh from the premiere of her directorial debut Poetic License, was honored with the Max Mara Face of the Future award at the ceremony. “I’m just very grateful to be here,” Apatow told Vogue, in the middle of fan-girling over Jamie Lee Curtis. “I love making movies, I love women, and I love the women that I’ve worked with throughout my career—so I’m happy to be in any room full of women.”
Following dinner, the ceremony incorporated two panels. Crystal Award for Advocacy in TV honorees Mara Brock Akil and Regina King discussed receiving Judy Blume’s blessing to reimagine her young adult novel Forever and retell it as a coming-of-age story of two Black teens.
Crystal Award for Advocacy in Film honorees Tessa Thompson, Dede Gardner, and Gabrielle Nadig also explored the creation of Hedda. “I think what’s most important is for women to communicate, and to be in communal spaces,” Thompson had mused earlier in the night. “But I also think it’s important to make those experiences outside of beautiful honors like this—to be talking to each other, to be advocating for each other. All of the silent work people don’t see photographed, things you don’t dress up for.”
The night didn’t conclude without a suitably hilarious acceptance speech from funnywoman Kristen Wiig. Kaia Gerber, Wiig’s Palm Royale co-star, was on hand to present her with WIF’s inaugural Icon Award. “What a gift to have someone like Kristen show us that devastation and laughter are so closely woven together,” Gerber told the audience.
As guests made their final rounds at the end of the night, the feeling of possibility and positivity permeated the air. In particular, a note from Curtis about her upcoming film, Ella McCay. “The last line of the narration of the movie is telling. ‘There is no opposite word for trauma, but hope comes close.’ And today, I feel hope. I think we all do.”
