Visionary Voices

Diana Means interviews British-Turkish-Iranian documentary filmmaker and musician Sheida Kiran to talk about her documentary film 'Harvesting Our Tea' screening in the online Women Voices Now documentary film festival  March 1st - March 31st. 

ABOUT SHEIDA KIRAN
Sheida is a British-Turkish-Iranian documentary filmmaker and musician based in London. She conducted research on women and migration during her BSc Social Sciences studies at UCL. This led to her MA in Documentary Film at LCC and position as a production coordinator at award-winning charity Medical Aid Films, where she supports the production of health films for vulnerable women and children. Driven by her passion for ethnographic storytelling, her most recent work focuses on documenting women in agriculture and their rights to land ownership.

ABOUT HARVESTING OUR TEA
For centuries, women have picked tea on the steep slopes of Turkey's Black Sea region. It is grueling work, and much of what they earn has traditionally been handed to their husbands. ‘Harvesting Our Tea’ follows a new generation of women who are turning their backs on tea picking and the overall submissive culture. As these young women hope for change the older women fear for their way of life.

ABOUT THE WOMEN’S VOICES NOW (WVN) FILM FESTIVAL AND HOW TO ATTEND
The Women’s Voices Now Film Festival is an international women’s rights documentary film festival supporting emerging women filmmakers. Since 2011, we have received 1070+ film submissions from 85+ countries. See link below to purchase tickets through Eventbright.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-2023-womens-voices-now-film-festival-holding-ground-under-siege-tickets-529692373147
Discounted tickets can be requested by emailing: [email protected]. 

Alliance of Women Filmmakers is proud to partner with Women Voices Now to present this podcast. 

Editing by Otaku Media

Diana Means interviews Executive Director of Women Voices Now Heidi Basch-Harod about their documentary film festival that takes place online March 1st - March 31st. 

ABOUT THE WOMEN’S VOICES NOW (WVN) FILM FESTIVAL
The Women’s Voices Now Film Festival is an international women’s rights documentary film festival supporting emerging women filmmakers. Since 2011, we have received 1070+ film submissions from 85+ countries and awarded $118k in cash prizes to filmmakers.

THIS YEAR’S THEME: Holding Ground Under Siege
Around the world we see backlash against the progress made in the global women's rights movement. Women face new challenges precisely because of the advances made toward realizing their full human rights. Instead of pushing forward, is now a time to maintain our gains? Looking through the lenses of our filmmakers: Where should we focus our efforts in the coming years?

HOW TO ATTEND
Anyone with access to the internet can purchase a ticket for the Festival on Eventbrite for $36 here. Users will gain access to the competing films once they’ve purchased a ticket to the festival via Eventbrite. No one is turned away for lack of funds.  Discounted tickets can be requested by emailing: [email protected]
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-2023-womens-voices-now-film-festival-holding-ground-under-siege-tickets-529692373147

Alliance of Women Filmmakers is proud to partner with Women Voices Now to present this podcast.
Editing by Otaku Media

Diana Means interviews co-producer Brooke Sebold about the Sundance 2022 audience award winner film "Framing Agnes" as well as Grandma Bruce which Sebold wrote edited and directed.  

About "Framing Agnes":
Agnes is a transgender woman who participated in Harold Garfinkel’s gender health research at UCLA in the 1960s. Director Chase Joynt blends fiction and nonfiction to widen the frame through which trans history is viewed with an impressive lineup of trans stars who render, impressive reenactments.

This film is Distributed in Canada by Mongrel Media
http://www.mongrelmedia.com
http://www.instagram.com/MongrelMedia
http://www.facebook.com/MongrelMedia
http://www.twitter.com/MongrelMedia

About "Grandma Bruce":
is a magical short comedy about a queerdo (they/them) whose old car comes to life with the spirit of their judgmental Jewish grandmother, a backseat driver from the ever after.

About the podcast:
Visionary Voices podcast is produced and hosted by Diana Means founder of Alliance of Women Filmmakers, a non-profit dedicated to the advancement and equality of women in entertainment. For more filmmaker conversations with Diana Means please visit www.visionaryvoicespodcast.com

Alliance of Women Filmmakers is proud to partner with Women Voices Now to present this podcast. 

Their annual film festival promotes emerging women filmmakers using social-change films to advocate for women’s and girls’ rights around the world.For more information about WVN including their film selection process please visit The Women's Voices Now Online Film Festival

Editing by Otaku Media

Diana Means interviews Alexandra Velasco about her art-horror film "The Seventh Circle". 

About the film
The Seventh Circle features a frustrated man's descent into a horrific spiral of madness when he is confronted over and over again with his violent past. 

About the podcast
Visionary Voices podcast is produced and hosted by Diana Means founder of Alliance of Women Filmmakers, a non-profit dedicated to the advancement and equality of women in entertainment. For more filmmaker conversations with Diana Means please visit www.visionary voicespodcast.com

Alliance of Women Filmmakers is proud to partner with Women Voices Now to present this podcast.


Their annual film festival promotes emerging women filmmakers using social-change films to advocate for women’s and girls’ rights around the world. For more information about WVN including their film selection process please visit The Women's Voices Now Online Film Festival

Editing by Otaku Media

Diana Means interviews Mexican American director of photography and cinematography Lesley Elizondo about her film "Basta" a documentary film based in Los Angeles California that exposes the normalization of sexual abuse in the janitorial industry.

About the film
Basta follows Veronica a 24 year old immigrant from El Salvador who was sexually assaulted while working as a night janitor in Los Angeles. Thanks to her resilience and strength, she did not stay silent and created a grassroots movement to change the janitorial industry and fight its normalization of sexual abuse in the workplace.

About the Filmmakers Cecilia Albertini and Lesley Elizondo
Cecilia Albertini is an Italian born-American based director and writer whose work focuses on socially relevant female-centric stories.

Cecilia’s documentary “Francis Ford Coppola’s Live Cinema”, which followed the legendary director during the making of his latest Live Cinema workshop, was nominated for a American Association of Cinematographer’s Heritage Award. The episode that Cecilia directed for the show “Sanity” was nominated for a student Emmy Award in 2017.

Lesley Elizondo is a Mexican American director of photography and cinematography educator born and raised in Los Angeles.

In 2019, Lesley’s DP work with the activist group “Ya Basta” was featured in a week-long video installation on Sacramento and Washington DC’s capitol buildings. Her cinematography has also been featured in the Senorita Cinema Film Festival in Houston, the Pride Arts Center Film Festival in Chicago, the Stella Adler Academy Hollywood Short and Sweet Film Festival in LA, and the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase in St. Louis. On Youtube, “Pa Delante” has over 96 thousand views and “MacBeth” has over 3.6 thousand views.

About the podcast
Visionary Voices podcast is produced and hosted by Diana Means founder of Alliance of Women Filmmakers, a non-profit dedicated to the advancement and equality of women in entertainment. For more filmmaker conversations with Diana Means please visit www.visionaryvoicespodcast.com

Alliance of Women Filmmakers is proud to partner with Women Voices Now to present this podcast.

Their annual film festival promotes emerging women filmmakers using social-change films to advocate for women’s and girls’ rights around the world. For more information about WVN including their film selection process please visit The Women's Voices Now Online Film Festival

Editing by Otaku Media

Diana Means interviews Lebanon director Vjosa Cerkinih about her film "Working Today Only For Tomorrow" a documentary film that exposes the inability of middle-aged women to find work in Kosovo. 

 About the film:

"Working today, only for tomorrow" is a short documentary that shows the inability of middle-aged women to find work in Kosovo. This documentary shares the stories of middle-aged women who have been discriminated against in the labor market and are now forced to take on the risk of working in the black labor market as cleaners in private homes. 

About the Director:

Vjosa Çerkini has finished her Bachelor's and Master's studies in Journalism and Public Relations at the University of Prishtina. Vjosa is a journalist by profession. She started her career in Germany in 2015, she became part of the German television “Bayerischer Rundfunk” in Munich. Since 2019 she is working as a journalist for the German television “Deutsche Welle” and as a correspondent for “Perspektiva.plus” in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2020 she started working as a freelance author for the German Press Agency in Hamburg. In 2020 she was part of the Federal Press Office within the German government in Berlin. She has also been published in other German media such as ZeitJung.de, Pur Magazine, etc. She is the winner of many journalistic scholarships in the Balkans for investigative research.

About the podcast:

 Visionary Voices podcast is produced and hosted by Diana Means founder of Alliance of Women Filmmakers, a non-profit dedicated to the advancement and equality of women in entertainment. For more filmmaker conversations with Diana Means please visit www.visionaryvoicespodcast.com

Alliance of Women Filmmakers is proud to partner with Women Voices Now to present this podcast.

Their annual film festival promotes emerging women filmmakers using social-change films to advocate for women’s and girls’ rights around the world. For more information about WVN including their film selection process please visit The Women's Voices Now Online Film Festival

 
Editing by Otaku Media

Diana Means interviews Lebanon Director Hala El Kouch about her film "The Perfect Picture" a documentary film selected for the Women Voices Now film festival.  

About the film
In order to try and fix a traumatic event that has been disclosed for a year and a half, Hala decides to reside away from her parents for an entire week in a singular closed space. After preparing it, she invites them. She insists on revisiting and disclosing the incident by overcoming her fear of communication with her parents, but things absolutely do not go as planned.

About the Director
Hala El Kouch is a director, editor, photographer, voice-over artist, and writer. She grew up in Nigeria, then moved to Lebanon for her studies in 2008. With a BA in audiovisual and an MA in film directing from the Lebanese University Of Fine Arts, she graduated with distinction. She worked as a cinema teacher in Action For Hope, as a creative director at The Actors Workshop Beirut, and as a freelancer. She has directed more than 6 short films, one of which was "Fishing Out of the Sea" which won several first-place awards in national and international festivals.

About the Podcast
Visionary Voices podcast is produced and hosted by Diana Means founder of Alliance of Women Filmmakers, a non-profit dedicated to the advancement and equality of women in entertainment. For more filmmaker conversations with Diana Means please visit www.visionaryvoicespodcast.com

Alliance of Women Filmmakers is proud to partner with Women Voices Now to present this podcast. 

Their annual film festival promotes emerging women filmmakers using social-change films to advocate for women’s and girls’ rights around the world. For more information about WVN including their film selection process please visit The Women's Voices Now Online Film Festival

Editing by Otaku Media

Diana Means interviews Ukraine, Kyiv screenwriter and Director Alona Shylova about her latest film "MAVKA" a short narrative film selected for the Women Voices Now film festival about two teenage girls speaking about their everyday life as young women and the problems of adulthood.  Swimming in the lake promises nothing special until one of the girls meets Mavka, a mysterious creature from Ukrainian legends.

About the Podcast

Visionary Voices podcast is produced and hosted by Diana Means, founder of Alliance of Women Filmmakers, a non-profit dedicated to the advancement and equality of women in entertainment. For more filmmaker conversations with Diana Means please visit www.visionaryvoicespodcast.com

Alliance of Women Filmmakers is proud to partner with Women Voices Now to present this podcast. 

Women’s Voices Now is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that uses film to drive positive social change that advances women's and girls' rights globally. Their annual film festival promotes emerging women filmmakers using social-change films to advocate for women’s and girls’ rights around the world. Since 2011, our independent film festival has received 965+ impactful social-change films from more than 85+ countries, brought them to millions of viewers in 178 countries around the world, and awarded $118k in cash prizes. For more information about WVN including their film selection process please visit The Women's Voices Now Online Film Festival

Editing by Otaku Media

Diana Means interviews Executive Director of Women Voices Now Heidi Basch-Harod about the history and programs of Women Voices Now.

About Women Voices Now

Women’s Voices Now is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that uses film to drive positive social change that advances women's and girls' rights globally. Their annual film festival promotes emerging women filmmakers using social-change films to advocate for women’s and girls’ rights around the world.

About Heidi Basch-Harod

As Executive Director, Heidi brings her experience in international human rights advocacy from her work with Tibetan Nuns Project, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. Congress, and the Palestine-Israel Journal. She is a published author whose works can be found in several publications, including: Open Democracy, Palestine-Israel Journal, Tel Aviv Notes, Working Mother, The WVoice, and the edited volume, Kurdish Awakening: Nationbuilding in a Fragmented Homeland. She wrote the monograph, The Kurdish Women of Turkey: Building a Nation, Struggling for Gender Parity, (Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies). Heidi is a producer of the award-winning documentary HonorDiaries, and also of the acclaimed short film In Search of America, Inshallah. In 2021 Heidi received a Daytime Emmy for her role as Producer of the “Girls Voices Now” series, in collaboration with Here Media.

Organizations and links discussed in the podcast

• Tibetan Nuns Project https://tnp.org
• Palestine-Israel Journal https://www.pij.org
• The WVoice https://medium.com/the-wvoice/the-most-invaluable-lives-of-them-all-c639255284f
• Women Voices Now Call For Entries https://filmfreeway.com/WomensVoicesNow

Alliance of Women Filmmakers is proud to partner with Women Voices Now to present this podcast. 

Editing by Otaku Media

Diana Means interviews documentarian and director Maria Lobo about her latest film "Indebted To All Women" a documentary created for political and social advocacy that gives voice to  El Salvadorian women suffering and struggling to change one of the most restrictive laws in the world for sexual and reproductive rights. In El Salvador abortion is punishable by 20-40 years in prison regardless of circumstance. 

About Maria Lobo

Maria Lobo has worked in media for almost two decades and has been part of the technical and directing team in documentary films such as "Yindabad" (2007) a documentary awarded at three international film festivals that narrates the struggle of the Adivasi tribes against the construction of a dam in India, and “Within the Circle”(2012), a story about mental health told by the protagonists of an audiovisual project of social inclusion. As a freelancer Lobo has also worked for TV and independent production companies.

Organizations and links discussed in the podcast

• AGARESO - Galician Association of Communication for Social Change) Our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/agareso 
• Maria Lobo's freelance website: Gingko 
  • Lobo's first documentary in India: Yindabad 
  • Lobo and team's first project with women at risk and/or imprisoned: Sweet Precaution 
  • Lobo and team's second film on mental health Within the circle 
  • Lobo and team's work with intellectual disabilities and women: We don't want to be invisible

About the podcast

Visionary Voices podcast is produced and hosted by Diana Means founder of Alliance of Women Filmmakers, a non-profit dedicated to the advancement and equality of women in entertainment. For more filmmaker conversations with Diana Means please visit www.visionaryvoicespodcast.com

Alliance of Women Filmmakers is proud to partner with Women Voices Now to present this podcast. 

Women’s Voices Now is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that uses film to drive positive social change that advances women's and girls' rights globally. Their annual film festival promotes emerging women filmmakers using social-change films to advocate for women’s and girls’ rights around the world. Since 2011, our independent film festival has received 965+ impactful social-change films from more than 85+ countries, brought them to millions of viewers in 178 countries around the world, and awarded $118k in cash prizes. For more information about WVN including their film selection process please visit https://filmfreeway.com/WomensVoicesNow

Editing by Otaku Media