Women In Film

WIF Member Jen Siebel Newsom's Girls’ Club Entertainment is currently developing a documentary about women's under-representation in entertainment and politics in the United States, and what we can do about it. In their research, they have found plenty of data to prove that there are very few women in elected office in the U.S. and that few women hold influential positions in the American media. In the face of these dramatic statistics, their central question is—why?

Nearly three years ago, Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband Scott hunkered down in their home in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. With no means to leave the city and equipped with just a few supplies and a video camera, they documented their harrowing ordeal as the storm raged, the nearby levee failed, and floodwaters filled their home and their community.

Today, Trouble the Water - which begins with the couple's chilling home video and then follows their astonishing story in the aftermath of the disaster - opens in theaters in New York and Los Angeles and in theaters throughout the country starting in September.

Women In Film is proud to announce the two, extraordinarily accomplished honorees for this year’s WIF Business Leadership Award: Susanne Daniels, former President of Entertainment at Lifetime Networks, former President of Entertainment at WB Networks, and current Media Consultant to Lifetime Television Network, and Rena Ronson, Sr. Vice President at William Morris Agency and Co-Head of William Morris Independent.
The Business in Leadership Awards, first presented by Women In Film in 2006 as a highlight of the Entertainment Forum, was created to acknowledge the extraordinary contributions of women on the business side of the industry—women who make decisions that shape careers and support talent. This year’s awards will be presented at a luncheon on Saturday, November 1 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City. Now in its third year, the Women In Film Entertainment Forum will take place on November 1 and 2, 2008 at the Intercontinental Hotel.

WIF Member Georgienne Bradley's project PROTECT THE COCOS ISLAND is a finalist in the American Express Members Project Grant Program.

Georgienne's project description: "Cocos Island, lies over 300 miles west of Costa Rica (CR), one of the earth’s last spectacular wild places. The UN inscribed Cocos as a World Heritage Site, a place of “outstanding natural importance to the common heritage of humanity.” But Cocos is now under threat. We will develop a “Virtual Cocos” exhibit providing CR, the US and the world with a breathtaking display of the beauty and the looming environmental crisis, providing a powerful tool to help conserve Cocos".

Vote for her project at the American Express Members Project website

Now in its second year, Members Project is an online program that enables passionate people to come together to dream up innovative ideas for projects that make a difference.

2008 FFF Winning film THE ACCIDENTAL ADVOCATE (produced and directed by Jessica Gerstle) will be screened at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 25, 2008 and the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis on September 1, as part of the Impact Film Festival. The Impact Film Festival is is a four-day event held during the 2008 Democratic and Republican Conventions in Denver and Minneapolis. The festival will showcase two to three socially-themed documentary and dramatic films per day and feature panel discussions with an engaging mix of filmmakers, entertainers, lawmakers and other civic leaders.