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The Brotherhood presents: FOCUS ON WOMEN: SYMPOSIUM


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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19 – 34th Annual Olympia Film Festival
The Brotherhood presents
FOCUS ON WOMEN: SYMPOSIUM

Featuring: Megan Griffiths, SJ Chiro, Gillian Wallace Horvat, Myisa Plancq-Graham, Kristen Yoonsoo Kim, Danny Tayara, Courtney Sheehan
4:30pm doors / 5:00pm discussion
$12 general admission / $9 OFS members & students / $5 Kids

A panel of filmmakers, critics, and programmers discuss the importance of representation, diversity, and the expectations of female-identifying and non-binary artists in the film industry.

SJ Chiro graduated from Bennington College with a degree in theater and French literature. She spent much of her early career as an actor and director in Seattle’s theater scene. Her 2006 debut short film Little Red Riding Hood garnered awards for Best Live Action Short at Children’s Film Festival Seattle and Best Cinematography at the San Francisco Women’s Film Festival. Her next film, Third Day’s Child, premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival 2008 and screened at the Science Fiction & FantasyShort Film Festival, One Reel Festival of Shorts, and Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, among others. Next, her short film Howard From Ohio was awarded a special jury prize at SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival) 2011, best short film at Seattle’s Local Sightings Film Festival 2011, as well as the Director’s Award at the Boston Underground Film Festival. Her short film The Epiphany, based on a short story by Jonathan Lethem, was made for the Fly Film Challenge, SIFF 2011. This film marked the first collaboration with producer Mel Eslyn. In 2011 a tribute to Jørgen Leth’s The Perfect Human, was commissioned by Seattle’s The Project Room. Most recently a collaboration with Charles Mudede, The Third Wheel, premiered at SIFF in 2013. LANE 1974, Chiro’s first feature film, draws on her own experience as a child of revolutionary thinkers who retreated to a communal life in Northern California in the 1970s.

Kristen Yoonsoo Kim is a New York-based freelance film critic and journalist. She was born and raised in South Korea and studied media at New York University. During her schooling, she interned at The New Yorker and Vice. Previously Kristen was a staff writer at Complex Magazine. She now writes for various publications such as GQ, Vice, Elle, Nylon, Village Voice, and Pitchfork. She’s also always at the movies (there’s a good chance you’ll run into her at a New York rep theater).

Danny Tayara is a filmmaker and festival programmer in Seattle, WA. They founded Seattle Queer Filmmakers, a hub for people looking to make connections and find collaborators. Currently Senior Programmer with Three Dollar Bill Cinema, Danny is Festival Director for TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival and assists in programming for Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival. Danny’s career as a filmmaker began at Reel Queer Youth video production and media literacy training for LGBTQ youth and allies. She now manages the program. She also volunteers yearly for Camp Ten Trees summer camp for LGBTQ youth as a counselor, board member, and videographer. Danny collaborates with many different organizations to bring her projects to completion.

Megan Griffiths is a Seattle-based director and winner of The Stranger Genius Award for film in 2012. Her film, LUCKY THEM, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. In addition to being named one City Arts’ Artists of the Year, Griffiths won the Emergent Narrative Female Director audience award at SXSW in 2011.

Gillian Wallace Horvat is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, writer, and film programmer. Her short, Kiss Kiss Fingerbang, starring Anton Yelchin, Kate Lyn Sheil and Buck Henry was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in its category at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival. Sheis also the producer of the Sam Fuller documentary, A Fuller Life which premiered at Venice in 2013. Her latest work, Whiskey Fist, premiered at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival where it was nominated for Best Midnight Short.

San Francisco native, Myisa Plancq-Graham, began her photography career exploring the streets of Atlanta in 2011. Her growing appreciation for photography and videography culminated in the creation of Annie Graham Imagery which led to her work with The Hive Gallery & Studios in downtown Los Angeles. In 2013, she worked as photographer and graphic designer for a clothing company, Blu Pony Vintage. Myisa serves as lead director, videographer, and editor for documentary short series UNCODE, highlighting people of the African Diaspora.

As Executive Director of the Northwest Film Forum, Courtney Sheehan guides vision and strategy by overseeing artistic programs and services, operations, finances, and fundraising activities. Courtney has curated film programs and produced events for theaters and festivals on three continents. On a year-long Watson Fellowship, Courtney investigated the organizational structures, community roles, and programming strategies of twenty film festivals and media centers in India, Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia. As a journalist, Courtney has covered film events ranging from the world’s largest documentary festival (IDFA in Amsterdam) to South America’s largest animation festival (Anima Mundi in Rio de Janeiro) and her publications include Bitch Magazine, Senses of Cinema, The Independent, and NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies. She co-founded Cine Migratorio, a migration-themed film festival in Santander, Spain. Courtney first worked at Northwest Film Forum in2009 as a programming and Children’s Film Festival Seattle intern. She holds a degree in Visual Culture from Grinnell College.


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