Spotlight on Women and STEM

Admission to panel is free, but RSVP is required.

Following  Bombshell, the Hedy Lamarr Story, this panel of illustrious filmmakers will focus on the stories of powerful women in STEM fields and discuss the challenges of bringing these rich, and sometimes complicated scientific stories to life on the big screen.

This panel is moderated by Jen Schwartz.

Moderator

Jen Schwartz is a senior editor of features at Scientific American who specializes in the intersection of science and society. Previously she’s worked as an editor or reporter at Popular Science, GQ, New York, Outside, SELF, and The Boston Globe, where she wrote and produced stories across a range of topics including technology, health, environment, climate, economics, politics, culture, and social sciences. She is a veteran researcher skilled in fact-checking and investigative reporting. She holds a B.S. in journalism and a minor degree in environmental science from Boston University.

Panelists 

Cherien Dabis
Alex Dean
Lydia Dean Pilcher
Jenny Halper
Ginny Mohler

Cherien Dabis is an award winning filmmaker and television writer director who made her feature debut with Amreeka. The film world-premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI award at Cannes. Dabis was named one of Variety’s 2009 “Ten Directors to Watch.” Her second feature film, May in the Summer, opened the 2013 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition section and had its international premiere at the Venice Film Festival. She is currently developing her third feature, What the Eyes Don’t See, based on the book by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha. Dabis has written and directed TV series, including The L Word, Empire, Quantico, The Sinner, Sweetbitter, and Impulse.

Alexandra Dean is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer. She produced newsmagazine documentaries for PBS before becoming a series and documentary producer at Bloomberg television, producing the series Innovators, Adventures and Pursuits. She also writes about invention for Businessweek magazine. She is a founding partner at Reframed Pictures.

Lydia Dean Pilcher is a New York based filmmaker and founder of Cine Mosaic, an independent production company with a focus on stories driven by ideas around cultural perception and understanding. Pilcher has produced over 35 feature films that include eleven films in a longstanding collaboration with director Mira Nair including The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and Radium Girls, which she co-directed with Ginny Mohler. She is Vice President of Motion Pictures, Producers Guild of America, and Founding Chair of PGA Green. Currently, she is in pre-production to direct Miss Atkins’ Army, based on the true stories of women who worked as part of Churchill’s SOE during the French Resistance of WWII.

Jenny Halper is Maven Picture’s Director of Production and Development, and has worked on films including The Kids Are All Right, The Whistleblower, Bernie, Still Alice, Novitiate, Freak Show and American Honey. Most recently, she Executive Produced Sara Colangelo’s The Kindergarten Teacher, which premiered at Sundance 2018 to rave reviews. Her adaptation of Laura Van Den Berg’s short story What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, now titled The Burning Season, placed on the Athena List and the 2016 Black List. She is producing the project with Kate Sharp, and it will be directed by Claire McCarthy.

Ginny Mohler is the co-writer/director of Radium Girls, her first feature film. Her work as a writer, producer, and researcher for documentary television on networks like Discovery and A&E has fueled her passion for history and science. She is committed to telling the true stories of inspiring women across mediums. Her current focus is on women soldiers in WWI and the European witch trials. She has a BFA in Film & Television from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

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