AFIC WDA ROOSEVELT HOTEL LAUNCH PARTY!
“If the mountain doesn’t come to us, we’re here today to make that journey to the mountain.”
In the AFI Fest Vizio lounge floating just above the noise of Hollywood Boulevard, the film directors amassed. The room was lit by tinsel town’s neon streets and the huge screens emblazoned “AFIC Women Directors Association.” These directors have worked together, attended school together, analyzed each other’s films, and some meeting for the first time are all here to launch a movement for Women Directors.
Introducing The AFIC Women Director’s Association.
The highlight of the evening was the founder of the WDA, Barbara Stepansky, expressing the reality of the glass ceiling and a vision of support for female directors:
“My name is Barbara Stepansky, and amongst a few other things I won for directing the DGA Diversity award, the Student Emmy, the Schaffner Alumni Award and my thesis was shortlisted for the Academy Awards. I’m not telling you this to toot my own horn because in fact, if you Google me, I come up as the “woman who didn’t get a job because she didn’t have a penis”. Just like Aaron Sorkin once, I believed in meritocracy until I hit that glass ceiling real hard. Like so many of us, all you can do is keep working. Improving. Finding chances. Which gets really lonely.
I’m so happy to be here today to assure you that you’re not alone.
If the mountain doesn’t come to us, we’re here today to make that journey to the mountain. This association is open to general membership, which includes access to panels, workshops and screening series. But we are in the process of setting up specific initiatives and programs for our AFIC Alumnae only starting in the new year that will span quite the range:
- Shadowing opportunities.
- Mentorship.
- First Looks for Digital Series.
- Micro-budgets features.
Our Board of Advisors currently includes Rob Spera, Marie Cantin, Rodrigo Garcia and Robin Swicord.
We have a website with our amazing directors that is in its infancy but please check it out and talk to us more about it. We will always be looking for new diversity programs, new supporters and executives that have fresh ideas for bridging our alumnae into the professional working environment.
Let’s face it we’re not doing rocket science. We just have to figure out how to break down those ceilings and walls. And I hope that we can do that together from now on.
Let’s not have any more “lost” generations of AFIC Alumnae. Let’s organize and let’s connect. “
The AFIC WDA Launch was made possible in partnership with:
Richard Gladstein and Jess Tsuei from AFI, Suzanne Lezotte from SIM Group and Jenni McCormick from American Cinema Editors.
Speakers were Romell Foster-Owens, Peter Markham, Melissa Hickey, and Barbara Stepansky.
Website by Jessica Janos, Sheena McCann, Edward Flanagan and Nick Atkinson.
Check out the AFIC WDA Launch Party on Facebook.
