Shifting the Focus: Women in Film

For more than 20 years, the Jacob Burns Film Center has supported women and nonbinary individuals working in the film industry. The Celluloid Ceiling Report revealed that women made up only 12% of directors working on the 100 top-grossing films of 2021, down from 16% in 2020. Broadening the scope to 2021’s 250 top-grossing films, women represented 17% of directors.

Shifting the Focus: Women in Film is an important and timely initiative that intersects all of our programs. Through our film curation, community discussions with special guests, fellowships, residencies, and education programs, we elevate underrepresented voices, cultivate a more inclusive approach to filmmaking, and celebrate the contributions of women in the film industry.

Screenings & Conversations

Greta Gerwig

Filmmaker Greta Gerwig has joined us for two Q&As over the years; for Lady Bird in November 2017, and for Little Women—which screened on 35mm—in December 2019. During her 2019 visit, Greta met with filmmaking fellows from our Creative Culture initiative to shed insight on life as a working filmmaker.

Maggie Gyllenhaal

The JBFC honored filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal at the 2018 Silver Screen Circle Dinner, which included a screening of Gyllenhaal’s film The Kindergarten Teacher, which was followed by a live Q&A.

Mariama Diallo

Fresh from its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Master screened for one night only at the Jacob Burns Film Center in March 2022. Writer-direct Mariama Diallo appeared for a live Q&A after the screening.

Deep Focus: Curators

Bruni Burres

As the longtime curator for the JBFC’s Jewish Film Festival and a mentor/partner with the Close-Up documentary training program for emerging Middle Eastern and North African filmmakers, Bruni has enriched film programming at the Theater.

Lina Matta

A Lebanese-American based in Dubai, Lina is the director of MBC Group’s TV channels 2, 4, Max, and Variety. She has programmed annual series Contemporary Arab Cinema for the JBFC since 2012, hosting Q&As, rarely-seen screenings, and more.

Dr. Mia Mask

A professor at Vassar College, Dr. Mia Mask has curated and hosted a number of screenings at the JBFC over the years, including events in JBFC Series REMIX: The Black Experience in Film, Media, and Art, as well as Jonathan Demme’s Rarely Seen Cinema.

Empowering the Female Voice

Melissa Lesh

Former Artist-in-Residence Melissa Lesh sold the rights for an as-yet-untitled documentary to Amazon Studios for $30 million, one of the biggest documentary sales in history. Melissa worked on the documentary—which follows a young vet with PTSD and his relationship with an orphaned ocelot—during her residency at the JBFC.

Iliana Sosa

Filmmaker Iliana Sosa used her Artist Residency to finish editing What We Leave Behind, a documentary that went on to win The Fandor “New Voices” Award and The Louis Black “Lone Star” Special Jury Award at SXSW 2022.

Cueva & Galant

On the heels of their Creative Culture fellowships, filmmakers Maya Cueva and Leah Galant crafted the documentary On the Divide. It earned an official selection at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, screened on PBS as part of POV, and opened for a run at the JBFC Theater in April 2022, coming full circle as they returned to the JBFC not as Fellows—but as the special guests for a Q&A.

Partnerships

In partnership with Film Fatales/Athena Film Festival, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and Girls Inc.