Why saying “Get off the internet” is terrible advice for victims of online harassment

I spoke with actor, writer, and intimacy coordinator Michela Carattini about her film “Remote Access,” which she cowrote and coproduced with screenwriter Leanne Mangan. Penelope Berkemeier directed the film. Michela, the daughter of a Panamanian-American military intelligence officer and an Australian ballerina, grew up in Germany, where she developed an interest in languages, obscure autobiographies, and criminal behavior. Michela’s award-winning storytelling is driven by her search for world’s compassion and intelligence.

International Women’s Day: Storytellers

Personally, I’d like to think that the changes in my life stem from my passions. I’m passionate about women’s stories through the lens of film. It is important that these stories are seen and heard. To celebrate International Women’s Day, I’d like to highlight some films directed by women who are great storytellers.

A conversation between Cinema Femme founder Rebecca Martin and filmmaker Meryl Goldsmith

“Sometime during that process, Michael Radner, he’s my godfather, he told me that Lisa D’Apolito was making “Love, Gilda” (2018). Once I finally had a chance to meet Lisa, I was really relieved, because Gilda’s story was a lot more personal. It was my role to make sure that number one, Gilda’s portrayed in a positive light, and thinking of things as a friend. So I met her and saw the assembly cut and thought, she knows what she’s doing, and she cared about how Gilda was portrayed. She would ask herself with every decision how Gilda would have felt about it. And Lisa has a background in advertising and production, so she did know film, and made everything look and sound great.”

A conversation between Cinema Femme founder Rebecca Martin and film critic Danielle Solzman

“This past season, GLAAD did their report, and there’s been an increase of trans actors in series, but a lot of that is because of “Pose” (2018). So it would be nice to see more trans actors taking on roles. But I’d like to see, not so much because of the story, but casting directors being like, “Hey, you don’t necessarily need to write this character as cis; it can be a trans person.” “The Sisters Brothers” (2018) and “Colette” (2018) both had trans actors playing cisgender characters.”

A conversation between Cinema Femme founder Rebecca Martin and filmmaker/actor Clare Cooney

I first heard about filmmaker and actor Clare Cooney after her buzzworthy short film “Runner” (2017) showed at the Chicago Critics Film Festival in 2018. A few months later, I had the pleasure of meeting Clare at the Midwest Independent Film Festival. With her female-focused film and her activeness in the Chicago film community, I was so happy she took the time to share her story.