Documentary will screen, plus a book signing
By Dana DuGan
About 20 years ago, newly out of UCLA film school, Maria Giese wrote and directed a feature film, “When Saturday Comes.” Her film screened at Cannes Film Festival and she signed with the William Morris Agency. She made another award-winning digital movie, “Hunger,” and was preparing to direct episodic TV. She thought she was on her way.
Born on Cape Cod and raised for a time in the tropics – her father was an oceanographer – Giese was a visual storyteller inspired by the sea and her dreams. Her two critically acclaimed movies notwithstanding, she found that work dried up for her, along with other women, many of whom also held master’s degrees in filmmaking.
Giese will be in the Wood River Valley for The Alturas Institute’s “Conversations with Exceptional Women,” Sept. 22-23 at The Community Library in Ketchum.
She will first appear at the nexStage Theatre, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, for “Women Directors Who Run With The Wolves: Nell Shipman to the Supreme Court.” The panel discussion, presented by Iconoclast Books and Boise-based filmmaker Karen Day, will also feature Day, whose documentary “Nell Shipman: Girl From God’s Country,” will screen at the event. Shipman made more than two dozen independent films, many of them shot at her own studio on Priest Lake, Idaho, in the 1920s. The film also delves into the role of women in films and how what was once an industry friendly to women writers and directors became, in contemporary times, one completely at odds with the idea of gender equality.
Also on the panel will be London-based Cheryl Robson, editor of “Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema” and “Celluloid Ceiling,” and Wood River Valley-based filmmakers Meredith Richardson and Whitney McNees. Iconoclast Books will hold a book signing with Robson.
In 2011, Giese began to press the issue of underrepresentation of women directors in the U.S. She researched and wrote about legal strategies to remediate illegal discrimination against women in Hollywood, citing Title VII (of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) that addresses equal employment opportunity to all Americans regardless of race, gender or creed. Last year, after four years of activism in the Directors Guild of America, Giese instigated the biggest industry-wide federal investigation for women directors in Hollywood history, that’s still ongoing.
Through her experiences as an activist, Giese has become a figurehead. A subject of five feature-length documentaries, she’s also writing a book, “Troublemaker,” about her work getting the American Civil Liberties Union and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate this issue. Earlier this year, Giese was awarded the prestigious Equity Award from Stanford University.
“Title VII is almost entirely unenforceable,” Giese said in a telephone interview from her home in Connecticut. “We have to galvanize and unify behind this EEOC investigation, and bring reform to Title VII. That’s my dream: to elevate the conversation into the federal level and get legislative change made.”
Giese said that though her career was “devastated,” her activism “helped to create a community of women filmmakers. It’s blossoming, so I feel somewhat optimistic.”
Giese also believes that women’s voices need to be heard on all levels to fully represent the world as it is.
“It’s devastating to our civilization to keep half our population silenced,” she said. “It’s a battle worth fighting.”
The conference, Conversations with Exceptional Women, is a great opportunity, Giese said. “For me, success can be defined as service toward the collective good for all women.”
I believe we are all exceptional women – the women in the audience equally so,” she said. “What really stands out as exceptional is our unique opportunity at this time in history. Together, we really could use the momentum of the ongoing federal investigation for women directors to shift the perspective from which American stories emerge, and in doing so level the playing field for all women everywhere.”
Conversations With Exceptional Women
The Alturas Institute will feature a series of conversations with a selection of highly acclaimed women, drawn from the leadership ranks of the corporate world, government, journalism, Olympic sports, film, literature and academia. This outstanding lineup of national leaders will participate in casual conversations on the question, “What is success?”
This two-day event costs $85, which includes a reception for audience members and the speakers, Thursday, Sept. 22. Scholarships are available. Seating is limited, so register quickly at www.alturasinstitute.com.
Speakers include:
Kaitlyn Farrington, 2014 Olympic gold medalist winner in Sochi, Russia.
Gina Bennett, CIA counterterrorism expert, author, subject of television documentaries.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, prize-winning director and producer, including acclaimed films “Misrepresentation,” “The Hunting Ground” and “The Mask You Wear.”
Maria Giese, award-winning film director and producer, subject of television documentaries for instigating the EEOC investigation of gender inequality issues in Hollywood.
Kathleen Brown, former California treasury secretary, Wall Street executive.
Dr. Caroline Heldman, academic, author, television commentator, internationals advocate for women.
Dr. Joanne Freeman, prize-winning author, Yale historian, Alexander Hamilton expert.
Shirley Babashoff, 1976 Olympic gold medal swimming champion, author, subject of acclaimed documentary.
Anne Taylor Fleming, author, prize-winning television journalist, PBS essayist.
Karen Crouse, prize-winning sports writer for The New York Times.
Elizabeth Redleaf, CEO, Hollywood film production company.
Sue Toigo, president, Toigo Foundation, political activist, diversity advocate.
Teresa Carlson, vice-president, Amazon WorldWide.
Rachael McClinton, co-founder, actress, “Living Voices.”
Christine Walker, award-winning film director and producer.