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6December

Reproductive Justice on Film

June 24th 2023
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24June

Summer of Rage

Reproductive Justice on Film

June 24th 2023

We held a discussion about Reproductive Justice on Film with Cynthia Lowen (Battleground), Emma Pildes (The Janes), Tracy Droz Tragos (Abortion: Stories Women Tell), and Angela Tucker (Belly of the Beast).

With so many fundamental human rights currently under attack in this country, we’re gathering to listen, learn, and take action. Our conversation was with documentary filmmakers on the front lines of Reproductive Justice in the United States. We heard what they’ve seen, what they’ve learned, how they feel about the current situation, and what they, and we, as artists, can do now. And why we must continue to tell these stories.

We will continue to hold space for you all to work toward a more accessible and equitable society collectively. With support from community partners, Women Make Movies, New York Women in Film and Television, BVAC Media, and rePro Film.

Details

Date:
June 24, 2022
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Details

Date:
June 24, 2022
Event Categories:
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Panelists

Angela Tucker is an Emmy nominated producer, writer and director. She is in her sixth year as Series Producer of the PBS strand, Afropop and was Co-Producer on The New Black. Previously, she was the Director of Production at Big Mouth Films, a social issue documentary production company. There, she worked on several award-winning documentaries, including Pushing the Elephant (PBS’ Independent Lens). Her directorial work includes Paper Chase, a teen comedy in pre production; All Styles, a dance movie in post production starring Fik-Shun (So You Think You Can Dance) and Heather Morris (Glee); Black Folk Don’t, a documentary web series in its fourth season featured in Time Magazine’s “10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life” and (A)Sexual a feature length documentary about people who experience no sexual attraction that streamed on Netflix and Hulu for three years. In 2006, she co-founded TuckerGurl LLC, a production company passionate about telling compelling and irreverent stories about underrepresented communities. Tucker was a Sundance Institute Women Filmmakers Initiative fellow. She received her MFA in Film from Columbia University.

Cynthia Lowen is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and award-winning writer whose work uses the power of story to catalyze meaningful change, confronting timely social issues from bullying to online harassment to reproductive rights. Most recently, she is the director and producer of Battleground, an urgently timely window into the intersection of abortion and politics in America, premiering at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. She is also the director/producer of Netizens (HBO), a feature documentary about women and online harassment. “Bristling with rightful fury,” says Teen Vogue of the film, ‘Netizens’ follows three women as they confront digital abuse and strive for justice online. Cynthia is also the producer and writer of Bully, a feature documentary following five kids and families through a ‘year in the life’ of America’s bullying crisis. Bully was nominated for two Emmys, shortlisted for the Oscars, screened at The White House and received a DuPont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Journalism. Cynthia has held residencies at MacDowell, the Banff Center, Yaddo, Hedgebook, the Berlinale Talent Campus, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown among others, and received the Hedgebrook Women Authoring Change Fellowship from William Morris Entertainment. She has been a member of the Producers Guild of America since 2014.

Emmy-nominated filmmaker Emma Pildes has an extensive background in, and boundless love for, non-fiction storytelling. The Janes is Emma’s directorial debut. As one of Pentimento Productions‘ principal producers, Emma produced Spielberg, Jane Fonda in Five Acts, and Very Ralph — all for HBO Documentary Films. Spielberg had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival in 2017 and was later nominated for an Emmy. Jane Fonda in Five Acts had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 2018 and its international premiere at Cannes Film Festival. The film was nominated for the 2019 Emmys. Emma worked as a consulting producer on The One and Only Dick Gregory which aired on Showtime in 2021. At PBSAmerican Masters, Emma helped to produce the Emmy and Peabody-award winning LennoNYC, Emmy-award winning Inventing David Geffen, as well as American Masters: Billie Jean King. Born and raised in Chicago, Emma graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and is based in Brooklyn, NY. She is a Chicken & Egg grant recipient and a member of the Directors Guild of America.

Tracy Droz Tragos is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose credits include the Emmy-nominated HBO film Abortion: Stories Women Tell, about personal stories of unplanned pregnancies, which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, and Rich Hill, about at-risk teenagers living in her father’s hometown in rural Missouri, which won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. In 2018, Tragos completed The Smartest Kids in the World, based on the best-selling book by Amanda Ripley, which premiered at DOC NYC. Tragos’ first film, Be Good, Smile Pretty, won the Emmy Award for Best Documentary in 2004 and was lauded for its honest exploration of the profound and complicated feelings of loss caused by the deaths of American men in the Vietnam War, some 35 years later.

Event Partners

BAVC Media is a community hub and resource for media makers in the Bay Area and across the country, serving several thousand freelancers, filmmakers, job-seekers, activists, and artists every year. BAVC Media provides access to media making technology, storytelling workshops, a diverse and engaged community of makers and producers, services and resources. BAVC Media advocates for those whose stories aren’t being told, and provides the resources for anyone to create and share, and amplify their stories and those of their communities. BAVC Media’s diverse, innovative programs lead the field in media training for youth and educators, technology and multimedia focused workforce development, visually-driven new media storytelling and audio-visual preservation.

New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) connects, educates, and advocates for women to accelerate diversity in media. The organization energizes women by illuminating their achievements, presenting training and professional development programs, awarding scholarships and grants, and providing access to a supportive community of peers.

Through film and conversation, rePROFilm advocates for reproductive health, justice and bodily autonomy. We lift intersectional issues, using the power of storytelling as a catalyst for knowledge, intention and action.

Women Make Movies supports women producers and directors from the beginning, planting the seeds for a diverse and inclusive filmmaking landscape. As the world’s leading distributor of independent films by and about women, we amplify historically ignored voices and challenge the mainstream media.