{"id":8829,"date":"2016-09-16T18:52:09","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T18:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=8829"},"modified":"2016-09-16T18:52:09","modified_gmt":"2016-09-16T18:52:09","slug":"female-filmmaker-panel-to-precede-exceptional-women-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/16\/female-filmmaker-panel-to-precede-exceptional-women-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"FEMALE FILMMAKER PANEL TO PRECEDE \u2018EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN\u2019 CONFERENCE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Documentary will screen, plus a book signing<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n

By Dana DuGan<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"SANTA
Maria Giese. Photo courtesy of Maria Giese<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About 20 years ago, newly out of UCLA film school, Maria Giese wrote and directed a feature film,\u00a0\u201cWhen Saturday Comes.\u201d\u00a0Her film screened at Cannes Film Festival and she signed with the William Morris Agency. She made another award-winning digital movie, \u201cHunger,\u201d and was preparing to direct episodic TV. She thought she was on her way.<\/p>\n

Born on Cape Cod and raised for a time in the tropics \u2013 her father was an oceanographer \u2013 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\u2019s degrees in filmmaking.<\/p>\n

Giese will be in the Wood River Valley for The Alturas Institute\u2019s \u201cConversations with Exceptional Women,\u201d Sept. 22-23 at The Community Library in Ketchum.<\/p>\n

She will first appear at the nexStage Theatre, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, for \u201cWomen Directors Who Run With The Wolves: Nell Shipman to the Supreme Court.\u201d The panel discussion, presented by Iconoclast Books and Boise-based filmmaker Karen Day, will also feature Day, whose documentary \u201cNell Shipman: Girl From God\u2019s Country,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Also on the panel will be London-based Cheryl Robson, editor of \u201cSilent Women: Pioneers of Cinema\u201d and \u201cCelluloid Ceiling,\u201d and Wood River Valley-based filmmakers Meredith Richardson and Whitney McNees. Iconoclast Books will hold a book signing with Robson.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s still ongoing.<\/p>\n

Through her experiences as an activist, Giese has become a figurehead. A subject of five feature-length documentaries, she\u2019s also writing a book, \u201cTroublemaker,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cTitle VII is almost entirely unenforceable,\u201d Giese said in a telephone interview from her home in Connecticut. \u201cWe have to galvanize and unify behind this EEOC investigation, and bring reform to Title VII. That\u2019s my dream: to elevate the conversation into the federal level and get legislative change made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giese said that though her career was \u201cdevastated,\u201d her activism \u201chelped to create a community of women filmmakers. It\u2019s blossoming, so I feel somewhat optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giese also believes that women\u2019s voices need to be heard on all levels to fully represent the world as it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s devastating to our civilization to keep half our population silenced,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a battle worth fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conference, Conversations with Exceptional Women, is a great opportunity, Giese said. \u201cFor me, success can be defined as service toward the collective good for all women.\u201d<\/p>\n

I believe we are all exceptional women \u2013 the women in the audience equally so,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat really stands out as exceptional is our unique opportunity at this time in history.\u00a0Together, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

Conversations With Exceptional Women<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Alturas Institute<\/b> 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, \u201cWhat is success?\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Speakers include:<\/b><\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Farrington, 2014 Olympic gold medalist winner in Sochi, Russia.<\/p>\n

Gina Bennett, CIA counterterrorism expert, author, subject of television documentaries.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, prize-winning director and producer, including acclaimed films \u201cMisrepresentation,\u201d \u201cThe Hunting Ground\u201d and \u201cThe Mask You Wear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria Giese, award-winning film director and producer, subject of television documentaries for instigating the EEOC investigation of gender inequality issues in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Kathleen Brown, former California treasury secretary, Wall Street executive.<\/p>\n

Dr. Caroline Heldman, academic, author, television commentator, internationals advocate for women.<\/p>\n

Dr. Joanne Freeman, prize-winning author, Yale historian, Alexander Hamilton expert.<\/p>\n

Shirley Babashoff, 1976 Olympic gold medal swimming champion, author, subject of acclaimed documentary.<\/p>\n

Anne Taylor Fleming, author, prize-winning television journalist, PBS essayist.<\/p>\n

Karen Crouse, prize-winning sports writer for The New York Times.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Redleaf, CEO, Hollywood film production company.<\/p>\n

Sue Toigo, president, Toigo Foundation, political activist, diversity advocate.<\/p>\n

Teresa Carlson, vice-president, Amazon WorldWide.<\/p>\n

Rachael McClinton, co-founder, actress, \u201cLiving Voices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christine Walker, award-winning film director and producer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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,\u00a0\u201cWhen Saturday Comes.\u201d\u00a0Her film screened at Cannes Film Festival and she signed with the William Morris Agency. She made another award-winning digital movie, \u201cHunger,\u201d and was preparing to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,6,18,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-art","category-event","category-news","category-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}