2019 Global Voices Film Festival
by USNC UN Women - SF Bay Area ChapterOn May 18, the UN Women Global Voices Film Festival hit the stage at Lucasfilm in San Francisco’s Presidio showcasing untold stories, fresh voices, and unique experiences of women around the world. The festival featured 10 brand-new, independent films—two feature-length films and eight shorts—all written, produced, and directed by groundbreaking women filmmakers. These films give light to the diverse and complicated experiences of women everywhere, from here in the Bay Area all the way to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and everywhere in between. By attending the Global Voices Film Festival, you support innovative women filmmakers and help raise funds for the life-changing programs of UN Women.
To cap off the night, guests joined us at Salesforce for the Filmmaker Awards Afterparty. While celebrating the winners, we all had the opportunity to mingle with them alongside other industry insiders, film aficionados, and women’s empowerment advocates. We heard from the filmmakers themselves during a lively panel discussion, on how we can change the representation and equity of gender in film.
May 18 | Film Screening Session 1 at Lucasfilm
May 18 | Film Screening Session 2 at Lucasfilm
May 18 | Filmmaker Awards Afterparty at Salesforce
Keynote Speakers
Film Screening Session at Lucasfilm Premier Theater
Keynote Speaker Rhonda Hjort
Session 1 – Rhonda Hjort, Deputy Chief Counsel.
Rhonda Hjort oversees business and legal affairs for the various Lucasfilm businesses, including production of original live-action and animated content for film and television, ILM visual effects and Skywalker Sound audio post-production, licensed products, and gaming. She has been with the company since 2007.
Prior to joining Lucasfilm, Hjort was general attorney at AT&T where she litigated a full range of employment claims, including wage and hour class actions, in federal and state court. She began her legal career at Carroll, Burdick, and McDonough as an employment law litigator.
Hjort is a graduate of Carleton College and received her J.D. from University of California, Davis.
Keynote Speaker Athena Portillo
Session 2 – Athena Portillo, Executive Producer Lucasfilm Animation.
Emmy® Award-winner Athena Portillo is an executive producer of the animated adventure series “Star Wars Resistance” on Disney Channel.
Portillo has won two Emmy Awards for “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and two Saturn Awards for “Star Wars Rebels.” She was named one of The Hollywood Reporter’s “Women in Entertainment Power 100” in 2016. Her other credits include “Blade II” as a production supervisor, “The Matrix Revolutions” as production manager and “Constantine” as associate producer.
Portillo was born and raised in San Francisco, California, and graduated cum laude from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and a Minor in speech and communications.
Salesforce Afterparty Keynote Speakers
Keynote Speaker Caroline Heldman
Caroline Heldman, Research Director for the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media and a professor at Occidental College
Dr. Heldman is the Research Director for the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media and a professor at Occidental College. She is the author of four books— Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age (Cornell University Press, 2017), Women, Power, and Politics: The Fight for Gender Equality in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2017), The New Campus Anti-Rape Movement (Lexington, 2018), and Gender and Resistance in the 2016 Presidential Election (Praeger, 2018). She works as a political commentator for CNN, and she co-founded the New Orleans Women’s Shelter, the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum.
Keynote Speaker Kathleen Tarr
Kathleen Antonia Tarr, Founder and Executive Producer of the annual Getting Played Symposium on Equity in the Entertainment Industry and Awards.
An award-winning vocalist and filmmaker with stage, film, television, and commercial acting credits, Kathleen’s artistic expertise intersects with her years as a civil and human rights attorney in her decades long effort to evolve industry employment practices. She has spoken at University of Oxford, Universidad de Los Andes, Harvard Medical School, Goldman School of Public Policy, Stanford Law School, Women’s Media Summit, Theatre Bay Area’s Annual Conference, State Bar of California Annual Meeting, International Black Women’s Film Festival, and more. Kathleen has published law review and popular articles about industry inequities, served as a Black Laurel Film Festival juror, and writes and produces for Novel Approach, LLC and What The … Productions. She currently serves as Advanced Lecturer for Stanford University’s Program in Writing and Rhetoric and Writing Specialist for the Public Policy Program.
