Two North Texas film organizations have been recognized at the 2026 Global Production Awards in Cannes, France.
Pegasus Media Project received the Economic & Social Impact Award. It recognizes organizations working to expand workforce development, creative equity and economic opportunity in the film industry.
Founded as a nonprofit in 2021, Pegasus Media Project serves roughly 800 people annually through film and multimedia education programs, apprenticeships and youth workshops. The organization works primarily with underrepresented communities across North Texas.
“The spotlight came, we didn’t ask for it,” said Niloo Jalilvand, founder and executive director of Pegasus Media Project. “We were just doing the work and we got recognized.”
Meanwhile, the Fort Worth Film Commission won the Emerging Location Award, which honors film commissions demonstrating major growth in productions, infrastructure, crew development and industry support.
More than 300 film industry leaders from around the world attended the ceremony, hosted by Screen International. The Global Production Awards are judged by film industry leaders, including executives from HBO, Amazon MGM Studios, NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company. Pegasus Media Project competed against groups tied to major productions including Wicked, How to Train Your Dragon and HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones.
Judges praised Fort Worth’s “exceptional” growth over the last decade reflecting the rapid growth of film and television production across North Texas in recent years.
One judge stated, “Fort Worth has come out of nowhere in the last decade,” according to the press release announcing the award.
Pegasus media was nominated by the Dallas Film Commission because of its work helping aspiring filmmakers and creatives who often lack access to industry resources and training opportunities.
Jalilvand, a former teacher at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, said the roots of Pegasus began during her 21 years of teaching in Dallas.
“You have young people auditioning that have had training all their life … and then you have the kids that just come in from natural talent experiencing Booker T. is their first formal training,” Jalilvand said. “Two different worlds, demographics and culturally, but they have one thing in common and that's their interest in the arts.”
She later started an after-school film club that welcomed not only Booker T. students but also students across Dallas ISD who lacked access to media education programs.
“We had kids from all over...super talented and passionate and driven type of students who wanted to tell their stories,” she said. “They wanted to get to learn the technicalities of the process, learning all of the software and the equipment and really learning your tools to tell your story, whatever that might be.”
Jalilvand said many former students return years later as volunteers, teachers and board members.
The organization is now preparing for a major expansion. Pegasus will soon move into a larger two-story space in Dallas’ Wilson Historic District with support from The Meadows Foundation.
Jalilvand said the move comes as demand for Pegasus programming continues to grow among schools and students across North Texas, particularly campuses without film or communications programs.
“We can hardly keep up with all of the demands that we have,” she said. “We want to make sure that we're growing at an appropriate rate because fast growth can sometimes, you know, lower the quality of the service that you're providing.”
Pegasus Media Projects's annual film festival will run June 5 through June 7 at Mockingbird Station in Dallas.
