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Kodak Moments to Forget, directors Fay Hauser-Price, Nandi Bowe, Donna Parish, Morgan, Lynn D'Angona, Marty Elcan, and Liz Ryan. - photos by Robert Hale - click images for larger view.
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WSC Co-Chair Kari Skogland.
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Director Marty Elcan with her one-sheet.
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WSC Co-Chair Donna Parish.
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One of the principle goals of the DGA Women’s Steering Committee (WSC) is to convey to the film industry and the public the depth and breadth of talented women in the Guild’s membership. On Monday, April 30, 2007, 600 DGA members and guests filled the Los Angeles theatre to catch a glimpse of that talent during a screening of a series of seven short films helmed by seven women members of the DGA.
Collaborating on the common theme “Moments to Forget,” directors Nandi Bowe, Lynn D'Angona, Marty Elcan, Morgan, Donna Parish, Fay Hauser-Price, and Liz Ryan set out to bring their own diverse interpretations to the screen. This project was shot under the DGA Experimental Film Agreement with a goal of providing exposure to emerging women directors.
Following a welcome by DGA Associate National Executive Director Warren Adler, WSC Co-Chair Kari Skogland laid the background for the bittersweet conception of the project by announcing some of the shameful employment statistics on women directors in the industry, such as the fact that only six of the 100 pilots shot this year were helmed by women. Committed to changing that reality, the WSC decided to create a showcase of films by DGA women members, after Morgan got the idea to solicit Kodak for film stock for just such a purpose. After Kodak came through with donations of film and some post-production services, the WSC members were off and running.
The resulting seven short films were: Ryan’s Awestruck, the story of a young lady camping in the woods who does her best to answer the call of nature; Hauser-Price’s Where There’s Smoke, a tale of what can happen when a man and a woman cross cultural lines; Morgan’s Oh Baby, where two customers in a convenience store discover they have more in common than they ever imagined; Parish’s marriage-on-the-rocks tale Nate & Al; Bowe’s What You See, where a homeless man, a well-to-do woman and an urban girl find themselves entangled by circumstances; Elcan’s Hit & Run, where a detective at a hit and run investigation discovers that his son may have larger problems than his father’s disappointment; and D’ Angona’s Girl Talk, where an innocent gesture at a summer pool party turns horrific. The films were intercut with behind-the-scene footage and interviews with the filmmakers.
Following the screening, the directors engaged in a panel discussion about their work and the future of women in the industry, moderated by DGA Movies for Television Directing Award nominee Julie Dash.
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