Dear Festival Family & Supporters!

We hope your year is off to a great start! Thank you to those who came out to our Holiday party in December! It's always great catching up with filmmakers, actors and supporters throughout the year!

The festival team is back into full swing planning a great year ahead including the launch of the brand new Script to Screen Program!


Script to Screen Program 2015
We are proud to announce Executive Director
Patricia DiSalvo Viayra is partnering with
Romell Foster-Owens of Jowharah Films to produce up to four winning screenplays from Lady Filmmakers 2013 and 2014!

We are pleased to announce Romell Foster-Owens is joining the
 Lady Filmmakers Festival Team as Director of Industry Relations.

The festival will produce these short films and plans to premiere the films at the 7th Annual Festival in September 2015. Filming is scheduled for April 2015 in Los Angeles. 

How You Can Help & What We Need! 
* Sponsors
* Industry Support
* Women Directors (Preference to Festival Alumni)
* Key Leadership
* Crew

**To Sponsor or to be a part of the productionEMAIL US!
 

Festival News
* Do you have news to share with the community?               Please submit HERE!

* Submissions are OPEN! SUBMIT HERE!
* Thank you to Porta Via in Beverly Hills
   for a great Holiday Party!


Alumni News!
 
 Julia Camara, Director of "House Cleaning" & "Bikini Blues" is proud to announce her latest project "Occupants" starring Star Trek Voyager's Roberto Picardo is currently in post-production and a sci-fi found footage film. The film is about a documentary filmmaker who discovers a parallel version of herself while filming her latest project. This is Julia's third feature film.
 
Diane Namm, Director of "Finding Hope" is a producer at Malibu Playhouse.
She produced and directed a SOLD OUT event / benefit of LOVE LETTERS with Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross in December!

Watch this promo for the Malibu Playhouse with Pierce Brosnan by Diane HERE.
 
 Rodrigo Garcia , Director of "Tired of Being Funny", premiere's his latest feature film "Last Days In The Desert" starring Ewan McGregor at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Scheduled for release in April 2015.

More details HERE.

 Wanda Lepionka, Producer of "The Last Night", is proud to announce "The Last Night" received three nominations for the New Zealand Film Awards 2014 - Best Self-Funded Short Film, Best Actor in a Short Film (Cohen Holloway) and Best Cinematography in a Short Film (Mathew Knight). http://www.nzfilmawards.co.nz/ 
Thank you for all of your support
and we look forward to seeing you soon!


Cheers!

The Festival Team

Lady Filmmakers Festival in 5 days!
September 26th-28th in Beverly Hills
 
Films * Parties * Networking Book Event & Art Night * Industry Speakers!! 

We have several wonderful films from all over the world with a record number of feature films & world premieres! We are screening 6 feature films and 41 short films. We also have an incredible line-up of industry speakers eager to answer your questions in an intimate setting!

Enjoy 5 great parties/events this year! 

*Book Signing/Meet The Author
*Vivica A. Fox Awards Presentation PLUS Reception
*Art Night PLUS Reception
*Opening & Closing Night Parties!

Our 2014 Extraordinary Honorees!

Vivica A. Fox, LisaGay Hamilton,
Neema Barnette,
Natasha Foster-Owens,
& Risa Bramon Garcia

The 2014 Season is off to a great start with outstanding submissions from all over the world! Just in case you missed our last newsletter, we announced our new team members Shahari Moore and Sandy Marquis!

We love our alumni, fans, and supporters!  Thank you for all of your support and please share with us any news! Check out what's new below!
 

Come mingle a little with us on 
Thursday June 26th in Beverly Hills @ flemings Steakhouse! First 20 people to RSVP will receive a free Happy Hour drink! Passed Hors' d' oeuvres the first hour. Great Happy Hour menu for additional purchase.

Now in our 6th year we have hundreds of filmmakers that can say they are a part of the Lady Filmmakers "Alumni Family". We are proud of our talented alumni comprised of women and the men who collaborate with them!
 
Call For Entries!

Next Submission Deadline is July 1, 2014!

Keep tabs on facebook and visit us online at www.ladyfilmmakers.com.
 
Alumni Accolades
 
In this section we highlight achievements and news from our past Filmmakers, Cast, Honorees, Speakers, and Team Members!

To Submit news please send us details HERE! 
 

Amy Belling and AJ Bond of Stress Position
(2013 Best Experimental Film) happily announce a successful theatrical opening in Toronto at the Carlton Cinemain April and further expansion including Vancouver on May 23, 2014 at the Vancity Theatre. Get your half-price tix HERE. They also have a new campaign to raise funds for their next project: Support the campaign for S16mm feature SONGS SHE WROTE ABOUT PEOPLE SHE KNOWS.

 
Eljon Wardally of Docket 32357 is thrilled to announce that in October of last year, Docket 32357 The Web Series was born. With the help of Seed & Spark, a crowd funding platform, we were able to raise enough funds to make Lois and Valerie's story continue. We are almost at the end of the post production process and are excited to announce that the series is now available here: www.docket32357.com 
 
 
Christine Elise McCarthy (festival programmer and alumni) has a new book Bathing and the Single Girl is 30% off on the eBook in the US, UK & Australia!!!! The sale begins in Canada on May 20th. Using the free Kobo app. You can then read it on your DESKTOP, eREADERS, TABLETS, IOS, ANDROID, WINDOWS. Go HERE and use discount code STOCKUP30. 


 Please Welcome our new Team Members!


Shahari Moore, Director of Diversity has joined the LFFF team! Shahari is an alumna of Chicago State University, where she earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and was a recipient of the Kanye’ West scholarship for emerging artists in 2007. As a post-graduate, she later completed workshops with Second City, the Hurston Wright Foundation, Nickelodeon Writers Lab, On The Page Studio and the Writers Guild of America West. Read moreHERE.



Sandy Marquis, Programmer and Advisor has joined the LFFF team! Sandy is a successful business owner with a wealth of arts/culture organization experience who has a devotion to,and a passion for,enhancing her community through the arts. In 2009,Sandy became a Board member of L/A Arts,the designated Arts Agency for Lewiston-Auburn,Maine and was subsequently elected Board Chair.While serving as Board Chair, Sandy created the L/A Arts’ Minerva Award which recognizes how the arts are used to address community-wide social, educational and economic development issues. The first Minerva Award was presented to a performing artist who has ties to both LA (east) and LA (west) – actor and philanthropist Patrick Dempsey, a Lewiston native and founder of The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing. Read moreHERE.
 

Did you attend last year's awards ceremony?
If not, check out the acceptance speeches of
 Sharon Stone and Camryn Manheim!
 

Send us updates about screenings and more immediate news to be posted by us on the Lady Filmmakers Facebook Page.
 

Please welcome our new Team Members!

Dear Friends! 

The 2014 Season is off to a great start with submissions from all over the world! Our Team has expanded to include Shahari Moore and Sandy Marquis bringing their wonderful backgrounds and expertise to make this a great festival year! We are making plans for an upcoming networking event along with the next festival in the fall. We love our alumni, fans, and supporters! Thank you for all of your support and please share with us any news! Check out what's new below!

Now in our 6th year we have hundreds of filmmakers that can say that they are a part of the Lady Filmmakers "Alumni Family". We are proud of our talented alumni comprised of women and the men who collaborate with them!

Call For Entries! Submissions are now open! Keep tabs on Facebook and visit us online at www.ladyfilmmakers.com.

Alumni Accolades

In this section we highlight achievements and news from our past Filmmakers, Cast, Honorees, Speakers, and Team Members!

Christine Elise McCarthy has a new book out inspired by her hit short film that blazed through the festival circuit of the same name! Check out her book Bathing and the Single Girl! It is the smutty, mercilessly irreverent and laugh-out-loud funny debut novel by actress Christine Elise McCarthy. Inspired by her one- woman short film of the same name, it’s the kind of novel Jonathan Ames might write if he’d dropped out of college and had been working as an actress in Hollywood for the last 20 years.

Aya Tanimura has created a #GayPropaganda movement with support from Madonna and Katy Perry and featured on The Adocate, Huffington Post, etc. Use the hashtag & raise your voice in support of LGBT people in Russia & around the world facing prejudice & violence. #GayPropaganda seeks to reclaim, educate, empower, and inspire LGBT people and their allies. Watch all 3 PSAs: http://bit.ly/GayPropagandaPSAPlaylist

Romell Foster Owens is one of 20 women being honored by the California Women's Museum in San Diego as part of a special exhibit. The honor is for contributions to the TV and Film industry, California and to her home town, San Diego. She was the first African American to win the crown of Miss San Diego City and County. Her formal gown and swimsuit is on display at the museum. She is the first African American to be in the top five of the Miss California Pageant. It was televised. The exhibit will run thru the end of March. www.jowharahfilms.com 

Please Welcome our new Team Members!

Shahari Moore, Director of Diversity has joined the LFFF team! Shahari is an alumna of Chicago State University, where she earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and was a recipient of the Kanye’ West scholarship for emerging artists in 2007. As a post-graduate, she later completed workshops with Second City, the Hurston Wright Foundation, Nickelodeon Writers Lab, On The Page Studio and the Writers Guild of America West. Read more HERE. 

Sandy Marquis, Programmer and Advisor has joined the LFFFteam! Sandy is a successful business owner with a
wealth of arts/culture organization experience who has a devotion to,and a passion for,enhancing her community through the arts. In 2009, Sandy became a Board member of L/A Arts,the designated Arts Agency for Lewiston-Auburn,Maine and was subsequently elected Board Chair.While serving as Board Chair, Sandy created the L/A Arts’ Minerva Award which recognizes how the arts are used to address community-wide social, educational and economic development issues. The first Minerva Award was presented to a performing artist who has 
ties to both LA (east) and LA (west) – actor and philanthropist Patrick Dempsey, a Lewiston native and founder of The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing. Read more HERE.



Send us updates about screenings and more immediate news to be posted by
us on the Lady Filmmakers Facebook Page.
To submit to the news please email us at: news@ladyfilmmakers.com

Thank you again to our Party Venues & Sponsors! 


Did you attend last year's awards ceremony? If not, check out the acceptance speeches of Sharon Stone and Camryn Manheim! See below!