The Empowerment Project
Director: Sarah Moshman
Producers: Sarah Moshman and Dana Michelle Cook
Writer: Sarah Moshman
Cinematographer: Alana Fickes
Editor: Margo Romero
Synopsis: The Empowerment Project: Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things is the incredible journey of five female filmmakers driving across America to encourage, empower, and inspire the next generation of strong women to go after their career ambitions. Driving over 7,000 miles from Los Angeles to New York over the course of 30 days, the documentary spotlights seventeen positive and powerful women leaders across a variety of lifestyles and industries. In celebration of the all-female focus in front of and behind the camera, the filmmakers turned the cameras on themselves, capturing their transformational journey to re-define empowerment in their own lives. Created for women by women, they challenge the audience to ask themselves, 'What would you do if you weren't afraid to fail?'
Screening Time:
September 27, 2014 4:00pm
Biographies:
Sarah Moshman:
Director/Producer/Writer Sarah Moshman grew up in Evanston, IL and loved using the camera growing up as a way to find her voice. She made her first documentary in high school and was hooked. With a career-driven Mom as a role model and a TV producer/documentary filmmaker Dad as a mentor and inspiration, Sarah always knew that working in television and film would be her path. She attended the University of Miami for Video-Film and then moved out to Los Angeles to seriously pursue her goals in 2008. She began working in reality TV and worked her way up to field producer on "Dancing with the Stars" as well as other shows for the Food Network, Bravo, NBC, ABC and MTV. Documentary filmmaking still remains her passion and teaming up with Dana Michelle Cook and starting Heartfelt Productions was their way of expressing their creativity and striving to empower women, an issue close to Sarah’s heart as she began to find her place in the world. Their first short documentary under Heartfelt Productions was "Girls Rock! Chicago" which is about an all girls rock camp in Chicago that focuses on building self-esteem in young women through rock music. Their second short doc is called "Growing up Strong: Girls on the Run," which is about the Chicago chapter of an international running program that encourages girls to be strong, confident and healthy while training for a 5K event. That film won a NATAS Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award in the Human Interest Category. "The Empowerment Project" is Sarah's first turn as director of a documentary feature film and she hopes to start conversations of empowerment and make a national impact through this film.
Dana Michelle Cook:
Producer Dana Michelle Cook grew up in Los Angeles, CA, near the heart of Hollywood and filmmaking capital of the world. Surrounded by the influence of the industry, Dana had always loved the art of storytelling, and knew that she’d one day combine her love for telling a good story with her passion for filmmaking. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in Communications, working as an intern for Fox News, Fox Sports, MTV, and Montecito Picture Company and Director Ivan Reitman. After college she joined Creative Entertainment Services, a boutique product placement agency, managing branded content for network shows and films for Warner Brothers, Disney, and Paramount studios. Since 2004, Dana has been working as a freelance Field Producer and Writer on shows like "Design on A Dime" for HGTV and "Dancing With the Stars" on ABC. She has also produced original content for NBC, TLC, DIY, The Food Network, Biography, Investigation Discovery, and more. Dana founded Heartfelt Productions in 2009 along with Sarah Moshman with the vision of telling stories with heart, and creating positive, uplifting content to inspire women everywhere. "The Empowerment Project" is Dana's first feature documentary and marks the pursuit of her and Sarah’s dream in keeping with their commitment to showcase strong females on film.