Join us Wednesday, January 13th at 7:30 PM CST as we talk about Charlie Kaufman’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” and the complexities of onscreen female characters written by men.
Synopsis: Full of misgivings, a young woman travels with her new boyfriend to his parents’ secluded farm. “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is now streaming on Netflix. Starring Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, Toni Collette, and David Thewlis.
Discussion Participants
Dawn Borchardt is a Salt Lake City-based film festival producer, film podcaster and filmmaker. She has worked at many film festivals around the US including Sundance and the LA Film Fest, and currently produces the Freeland Film Fest which focuses on sharing stories that inspire. She hosts the podcast Faux Reel interviewing indie filmmakers about how their personal histories and beliefs interweave with the stories they share on screen. Dawn’s lifelong love of horror film is what got her immersed in the film world, ultimately landing her focus on experimental work, documentaries and stories that inspire change.
Victoria Geil is an actress and a screenwriter with a passion for the female gaze. She began her studies at Occidental College in Critical Theory and Social Justice and completed her BFA at Portland State University in film and writing with a business minor. She has acted in Spike Lee’s “OldBoy”, “How I Met Your Mother”, and “Trinkets”. Publications written for include Verily Magazine and Complex Magazine. At her former live-in residency in downtown Los Angeles, she wrote over 100 live poems for visitors at the Brewery Artwalk.
She seeks to create works that exemplify intersectionality, empowerment, and inclusion.
*MODERATOR* Rebecca Martin is the Managing Editor of Cinema Femme magazine and the Festival Director of Cinema Femme Short Film Fest. She founded her publication in 2018 because she wanted to create a platform for female voices in the film community. She has hosted film screenings in Chicago, led virtual panel discussions, Q&As, is the Cinema Femme Short Films Director, and has covered festivals like the Chicago International Film Festival, Sundance, Tribeca, and the Bentonville Film Festival.
Veronica Miles dedication to the cinematic experience led to a career in Cinema Exhibition over the past 8 years: managing dine-in cinemas, producing large-scale screening events and premieres and working at the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, AFI Fest, New Zealand International Film Festival, TCM Fest, and more. She has now moved into Impact Producing for Spellbound Productions II, overseeing distribution of their award-winning documentary General Magic, which had a 25-city US theatrical run and is now available on Showtime and VOD. She is currently a Producing lead on their next project in development. Her latest short film “Bess” was completely self-produced and follows a woman seeking healing in New Orleans after her grandmother’s death.
Andrea Staley is a professional prudent eccentric and an amateur everything else. She is a connoisseur in hats, both literal and metaphorical as she as worn many of both. She has worked in the film and TV industry for seventeen years, doing everything from camera to post. Currently she is in the local Chicago union as a coordinator, working primarily on features and television. Her loves include cinema, cats, long walks and longer jokes. Please vote. The end.
Tavi Veraldi is a Chicago based Illustrator. Her illustration style is bold, playful, and busy. The inspiration behind most of her work is the genre, queer, classic Hollywood, and B movies she can get her hands on. Learn more about Tavi’s work here: taviveraldiworks.squarespace.com
