Join NYWIFT, SAG-AFTRA, the School of Visual Arts Film Department, FF2 Media, Women in the Arts & Media Coalition (WAMC), HerFlix, ImageNation Cinema Foundation, 2020 One Woman One Vote Festival, African-American Women in Cinema (AAWIC), and the SVA Theatre for a screening of the documentary This Changes Everything in recognition of S.W.A.N. (Support Women Artists Now) Day, an annual event on the last Saturday of March that celebrates women artists. There will be a Q&A and reception following the screening.
This Changes Everything
137 min (2018)
Documentary
Tom Donahue (Director/NYWIFT Member)
Ilan Arboleda (Producer/NYWIFT Member)
Madeline Di Nonno (Executive Producer/NYWIFT Member)
Simone Pero (Executive Producer/President, NYWIFT Board of Directors)
Regina K. Scully (Executive Producer)
In the last 100 years, Hollywood has emerged as one of the most influential forces in shaping our society’s perceptions and expectations of women and girls in everyday life. As our country’s largest export, what comes out of Hollywood reaches the entire world. Who is creating these stories, and how does this shape the on-screen portrayal of women? It all begins with the storytellers.
Told first-hand by some of the industry’s leading voices, including Executive Producer Geena Davis, living legends like Meryl Streep, and younger talent such as Yara Shahidi and Chloe Moretz, This Changes Everything is a feature documentary that uncovers what is behind one of the most confounding dilemmas in the entertainment industry – the under-representation and misrepresentation of women. It takes an incisive look behind and in front of the camera, into the historical and empirical evidence, and systemic forces that foster gender discrimination and reinforce disparities in our culture. Backed by hundreds of stories and overwhelming data, director Tom Donahue illuminates and unpacks an inherently misogynistic Hollywood machine. The film is a call for change and accountability, seeking and proposing solutions from inside Hollywood and around the world.
Guest Speakers
Ilan Arboleda is the primary producer on all CreativeChaos vmg projects and the managing partner overseeing all creative development, business development, finance and operations for the company. He has worked around the globe, financing and producing films and television for diverse audiences. CreativeChaos is the full manifestation of his lifelong dream to merge his passion for filmmaking with his commitment to public service. His films and tv programs have appeared in dozens of festivals, on multiple networks, and have been screened in theaters around the world. He holds a degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Maria Giese wrote and directed the 1996 feature film When Saturday Comes starring Sean Bean and Pete Postlethwaite, and the award-winning digital feature film Hunger based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winner Knut Hamsun. She has also directed two Golden Cine Eagle-winning short films, and has written three screenplays that have been produced into feature films. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, Film Fatales, and the Alliance of Women Directors, and is founding chair of the annual Women’s Media Summit.
Simone Pero is the founder of For Impact Productions, a social impact film marketing and production company. She is currently a producer of the highly-acclaimed Emmy-nominated film The Tale, starring Laura Dern, Ellen Burstyn and Common and is leading the film’s ground-breaking outreach campaign around the world (dir. Jennifer Fox; distributed by HBO Films; U.S. Dramatic Competition, Sundance 2018). Pero is also an Executive Producer on Tom Donahue’s This Changes Everything with Geena Davis. Her other most notable film projects include A Woman, A Part with Maggie Siff; The C Word with Morgan Freeman; A Woman Like Me with Lili Taylor; and Matt Heineman and Susan Froemke’s Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare. Pero’s penchant for issue-driven film began as producer of Alice Elliott’s award-winning documentary Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy. In addition to her producing work, Pero is on the leadership team and faculty at the Stony Brook Killer Films MFA in Film program. Previously, Pero was Vice President for Corporate Communications at MTV and Director of Communication and Marketing at Rainbow Media/Cablevision (now AMC Networks). Prior to joining the media and entertainment industry, Pero’s career began in public policy and national politics.
SPECIAL THANKS
Sponsor Jan Lisa Huttner
Mary Lee Grisanti, Acting Chair, BFA Film and Animation, The School of Visual Arts
Adam Natale, Jess Jackson and the staff of the SVA Theatre
PARTNERS
SVA Theatre
333 West 23rd Street
(Between 8th & 9th Aves)
Free Admission
programs@nywift.org
Join the conversation on social media:
#nywift | @nywift
NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
