2018 Women Filmmakers: Immigrant Stories Screening Series – Production Workshop Shorts, When We Meet Again and Before David

For the fourth season, New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) presents the Women Filmmakers: Immigrant Stories Screening Series — afree screening series of work by women filmmakers focusing on the immigrant experience throughout the five boroughs of New York City. This series showcases a themed exhibition of short and feature-length films. Filmmakers are available for a Q&A and refreshments are available after each screening.

Films featured in this screening are shorts produced within the Immigrant and First Generation Women’s Media Workshop taught by Third World Newsreel. The films were made by 15 women who met for the first time and learned the basics of documentary storytelling and production on May 12th 2018. 

Also featured are the shorts When We Meet Again by Julie Winokur (Director) and Rachel Dennis (Producer) and Before David by Melissa Saucedo (Director).When We Meet Again 

Julie Winokur (Director)
Rachel Dennis (Producer)
13:28 mins

For millions of families, separation is the painful byproduct of immigration. For every undocumented person in the United States, there’s a mother, father, sibling or child left behind. When We Meet Again is an immersive journey for one family that begins on opposite sides of the border and delves into the emotional power of reunification. Gabriela Karina travels from her hometown of Tlaxcala, Mexico, to Brooklyn, New York, to see her sisters in the wake of their mother’s death. These sisters maintain a deep bond, despite the distance. Together after 14 years apart, they honor their mother on the first Day of the Dead since her passing.

Julie Winokur, Executive Director of Talking Eyes Media, has been a storyteller for over two decades, first as a magazine writer and then as a documentary filmmaker. She launched Talking Eyes Media in 2002 as a way to focus on creating visual media that catalyzes positive social change. Her work has appeared on PBS, the Documentary Channel, MediaStorm, National Geographic Magazine and Discovery online, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and MSNBC.com. Beyond broadcast and publication, Winokur works extensively with nonprofit organizations to develop their messages and put Talking Eyes’ films to work at the grassroots level. She is on the faculty of Rutgers University-Newark and has taught at the International Center of Photography in New York.

Rachel Dennis, Producer at Talking Eyes, joined the team in January 2015 after spending two years with the PhotogenX Around the World Track. The Track took her to five continents and 15 countries in which she helped produce the book, Rags and Riches, and several short documentary videos profiling people affected by global poverty. Her work at Talking Eyes, primarily focused on issues around immigration, has appeared on The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Guardian. Dennis is a 2012 graduate of the School of Media and Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she worked on the award-winning Living Galapagos project.

Before David
Melissa Saucedo (Director)
19:17 mins

The journey of a pregnant woman going through the symptoms of pre-partum depression without knowing about it, and the difficulties it poses when coping with the changes in her body, lifestyle, identity and ideology before giving birth in in the USA away from her family in Mexico.

Melissa Saucedo is a filmmaker from Northeast Mexico. She moved to New York City with The Fulbright Scholarship in 2011.  She is currently working at The Documentary Group on the award-winning educational series The Constitution Project. She also curates Mexican cinema in different venues in New York for the Proyector NYC film series. Her work focuses on issues of health, gender, education, and immigration. She holds a MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College, CUNY.

Date: Thursday, June 14th, 2018

Venue: Onderdonk House, 1820 Flushing Ave, Ridgewood, NY 11385

Time: 7:00 PM

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A Special Thanks to City Council Member Robert Holden
for support of the Cultural Immigrant Initiative.