Reel Jersey Girls: A Century of Women Filmmakers symposium reflects on Alice Guy Blache’s innovations and achievements as it fits in with the present day potential and opportunity for women filmmakers. Emerging at the end of the nineteenth century, it wasn’t immediately clear whether cinema would become a viable industry beyond sideshow attractions. Work at the Solax Studio was written about in the media and its contribution to the economic growth and development of Fort Lee, New Jersey is still evident in a place where women played a prominent role in early cinema history. Screening of Alice Guy Blache-directed, Algie, The Miner (1912) produced at Solax Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey followed by Q&A.
Garden State Film Festival (March 22-25, 2012)
Saturday, March 24 • Time 2:30-4:30 p.m.
Shore Institute of Contemporary Art (SICA)
610 Cookman Ave
Asbury Park, New Jersey
Door: $10
Panelists:
Kimberly Skyrme, began her film career as a casting director in Washington, D.C., founder of Kimberly Skyrme Casting as a casting director as well as producing feature films and television programming under Wonder Wheel Entertainment. She is board chairperson of Women in Film & Television International (WiFTI), boards of Women in Film & Video (WiFV), National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts (NCDA) and founding board member of Television Internet & Video Association (TIVA).
Vicki Vasilopoulos, Producer/Director of Men of the Cloth, a documentary on Italian master tailors. Vicki is a former men’s fashion editor and has been published in The New York Times, Esquire and New Jersey Monthly. She has served as a film series programmer for New York Women in Film and Television (NYWiFT).
Ann Lewinson is a film critic for the Boston Phoenix, the Kansas City Star and the Santa Fe Reporter, and was the film critic for the Hartford Advocate for four years. She has written about movies for The Independent, the Sundance Daily Insider, the Tribeca Film Festival catalogue and Willamette Week, classical music for Andante and Stagebill and environmental activism for Biography. Her fiction has appeared in Agni, Hayden’s Ferry Review, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center’s Special Projects Writers’ Series and other publications. She grew up in Morristown, studied filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and briefly worked as a sound editor on independent films. She is a member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and the Boston Society of Film Critics.
Nancy O’Mallon, CEO of About Harvest, LLC, is a valued media source for stories about the science, history and relevance of agricultural crops that are grown and harvested around the world and was recently selected to lead the Food Science and Technology Group at The Global Leaders. Award-winning filmmaker and writer, she volunteers for several historical and film organizations in New Jersey.
Beth Rosen, is a screenwriter/film producer/actress/author/illustrator/songwriter who owns her own production company, Signature Beth Productions. She recently co-wrote, produced acted in and edited a short comedic film Photo Finish with Emmy award winning writer Mort Scharfman. She has written a #1 best selling book Living Proof: Celebrating the Gifts that Came Wrapped in Sandpaper with Lisa Nichols (co-author of Chicken Soup for the African American Soul) and she has her own radio show, Spotlight on Rhino on Air, by the arts for the arts. She teaches an online movie making course The Back Door to Hollywood and is a Professor of Yoga, a Healer and an international corporate insolvency lawyer.
Christina Kotlar, Moderator, is a writer/producer and independent filmmaker who represents the Fort Lee Film Commission in liaison with New York Women in Film and Television (NYWiFT), produces programming, moderates symposiums, panel discussions, Q&As on independent film, the making of documentaries, women in film and filmmaking. She founded March Hare Media & Entertainment and Film Festival reViews podcast and blog site, is a contributing blogger for DoddleNEWS and currently is communications chair for Women in Film and Television International (WIFTI).
FORT LEE FILM COMMISSION www.fortleefilm.org
The Fort Lee Film Commission actively raises funds to preserve films made in Fort Lee, and works with filmmakers who support promotion of Fort Lee’s role as birthplace of the American film industry.
GARDEN STATE FILM FESTIVAL www.gsff.org
Founded in 2002 to promote the art of filmmaking on all levels by showcasing film, video and animated works and provide educational programs in the creative arts to the public.
NEW YORK WOMEN IN FILM AND TELEVISION (NYWiFT) www.nywift.org
The preeminent entertainment industry association for women in New York City, NYWIFT supports women calling the shots in film, television, and digital media. Membership includes more than 2,000 women and men working both above and below the line.
WOMEN IN FILM AND TELEVISION INTERNATIONAL (WiFTI) www.wiftichapters.org
WIFTI is a global network of women in film chapters worldwide and over 10,000 members dedicated to advancing professional development and achievement for women working in all areas of film, video, and other screen-based media.
03/05/2012
NYWiFT