Learn about pitching and festival strategies, how to best utilize social media, and generally how to promote the heck out of your project to get the audience you want. Event starts at 5:30 with food and networking, followed by the program starting at 6pm.

Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for members, $20 non-members. Not a member but want to be? Visit our website to join!

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Many thanks to our sponsors for this event, Brave Berlin and Scooter Media!

A special screening of the 2018 documentary about the first female filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché, directed by Pamela B. Green. She is a long celebrated as the first woman filmmaker, and one of the earliest fiction filmmakers, Alice Guy Blaché has recently garnered a great deal of attention from cinema scholars, the public, and the press alike.

It’s time again for our Annual Member Meeting and Networking Event. Join us as we celebrate our community and discuss what’s coming up for Women in Film Cincinnati.

In person. Free. Open to non-members. Current members get two free drink tickets.

Register for the Event.

Working in a film can be stressful, let alone make your own film! With long hours, contract negotiations, deadlines…the list goes on!

We’ll talk with director and Oscar nomination contender Aaron Abelto, along with producer Sarah Felix about how they stay healthy and sane while making their films.

Register for the Event.

TRACY SONGER is an assistant professor in Electronic Media and Broadcasting at Northern Kentucky University and a member of Women in Film Cincinnati.

Prior to NKU, Tracy worked for over twenty years in the production industry. She served as executive producer for Upstream 360 and as a freelance producer in commercial production. Tracy was also the senior producer for many popular shows including DIY’s Desperate Landscapes and HGTV’s My Yard Goes Disney.

Who doesn’t love Aimee La Joie’s trending parody vids on TikTok? What amazing things has WIF Member Abi Esmena been up to?

Find out as we toast these two women on our debut event.

Mark your calendars & join us at the Cincinnati Art Museum on Jan 2nd at 7pm for the Cincinnati Premiere of My Days of Mercy. After the film, stay for a discussion with prominent Cincinnati filmmakers Karri O’Reilly, Kristen Schlotman and Amy Bradford. Moderated by Amy Faust.

My Days of Mercy was shot entirely in Cincinnati. Much of the crew was local including many of our Women in Film members! 
Women headed up many of the departments including production, casting, production design, hair, makeup & special effects. . 

Learn for more about our guest speakers below:

 Karri O’Reilly served as an executive producer on my Days of Mercy.  She oversaw the physical production of the film from pre-production to delivery.   Based in Dayton, Ohio,  she is a producer and production manager with extensive multi-state domestic and international experience.  Karri is a member of the Producers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.

 AMY BRADFORD, Cincinnati is leading special day effects supervisor, led the effects team on My Days of Mercy. Her effects work can also be seen in Captain America: Winter soldier, Miles Ahead, A Kind of Murder,  Hallmark’s A Christmas Melody and The Old Man and The Gun. 

 KRISTEN SCHLOTMAN is the Executive Director of Film Cincinnati. She has been with the commission since 1997 and began by coordinating production. Her many credits include, The Blunderer, Carol, Miles Ahead, Ides of March, Secretariat, Dreamer, Traffic, In Too Deep, Seabiscuit and Elizabethtown. Kristen was instrumental in developing a relationship with Killer Films and bringing My Days of Mercy to Cincinnati. 

 The panel will be moderated by AMY FAUST. As the key camera assistant & focus puller on “Mercy”, Amy played an integral role in the storytelling of this film. As the only female member of the camera department, Amy was often placed in intimate situations where the actresses would only permit female crew members to be in attendance. Amy is a Local IATSE 600 camera operator and serves on the National Executive Board in the central region. She is a founding, and currently serving, board member of Women In Film Cincinnati. Though she frequently travels for work projects, Amy has been a part of the camera department in virtually every major production in the Cincinnati area. Her clients include Netflix, Killer Films, HBO & MTV. 

Women in Film Cincinnati is very excited to be in partnership with the Cincinnati Art Museum to bring you the
Women Breaking Boundaries Film Series.

This carefully curated four-part film series focuses on films directed by women and celebrates leaders and pioneers both on screen and behind the camera. Each event will close with a discussion with guests from the community and invited guests, including filmmakers and scholars.

We begin with SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY. Director Mary Dore joins us for the screening!

Post-film discussion will be moderated by Women in Film Cincinnati President and Emmy award-winning director and producer, Rachel Lyon.

Our Panelists Include:

Adhrucia Apana

Adhrucia is Managing Director of Creative Wealth Media (CWM), a prolific film and television financing company that has executive produced over 50 movies, while raising and deploying in excess of $650 million for a portfolio of critical hits, commercial blockbusters and cult favorites. 

The company, through its joint venture label BRON Creative, recently closed a multi-picture, $100 million co-financing deal with Warner Bros. Pictures for Warner Bros. Pictures’ THE MULE, JOKER, and TORRANCE (working title), and New Line Cinema’s ISN’T IT ROMANTIC, THE KITCHEN, and SUPERINTELLIGENCE.  

Adhrucia serves as an Executive Producer on several of the films on CWM current slate including FONZO about notorious gangster Al Capone starring Tom Hardy directed by Josh Trank, and John Ridley’s NEEDLE IN A TIMESTACK starring Orlando Bloom, Frieda Pinto and Leslie Odom Jr.  

Prior to joining Creative Wealth Media, Adhrucia worked as an Executive at FilmHouse NY and Atlantic Screen Productions (now Empyre Media) and Hammerstone Studios (Oriah Entertainment). 

Milan Kumar Chakraborty

A chess champion growing up in Terre Haute, Indiana, Milan studied strategy at an early age. He continues to employ these skills to navigate the challenging geography of Hollywood and indie filmmaking.

Milan followed his lifelong love of film into the entertainment world at Time Warner Inc. As production auditor on Warner Bros and New Line Cinema productions, his credits include both feature films and television: SUPERMAN RETURNS, V FOR VENDETTA, ONE TREE HILL, BATMAN BEGINS, DUKES OF HAZZARD.  Milan then dove headfirst into the filmmaking side as a producer on Chris Dowling’s cult classic ROCK SLYDE. Milan produced many internationally recognized films such as MY FRIEND DAHMER, THE LIFEGUARD, ASSASSINATION NATION, WHERE HOPE GROWS, and many more.

Having spoken on panels around the globe, Milan is considered an expert in the industry when it comes to Value-Based Filmmaking and the changing landscape of Feature Film Distribution!

D. Lynn Meyers

Lynn is a proud member of the Casting Society of America (CSA). She has served as Casting Director, Producer and Location Casting for several film and television projects. Lynn is the founder and Casting Director of D. Lynn Meyers Casting and has handled all Lynn is known for her work with major networks and studios including: Hallmark, PBS, CBS, BBC, HBO, Paramount, and MGM. Her feature credits include: SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, CAROL, MILES AHEAD, THE KILLING OF THE SACRED DEER, GOTTI, IN TOO DEEP, GOAT, THE PUBLIC, EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL and VILE….and many more! Additionally, Lynn is the Producing Artistic Director of Ensemble Theatre where she has directed over fifty world and regional premieres!

Our Hosts Include:

Aymie Majerski

Aymie Majerski is a filmmaker with an extensive background in funding, development, production and post-production spanning the past 18 years. As owner of Barking Fish, Aymie has developed and produced nationally recognized projects including 4192, the official Pete Rose documentary and 7 BELOW starring Val Kilmer and Ving Rhames.

Kristen Schlotman

Kristen Schlotman is the Executive Director of Film Cincinnati. She has been with the commission since 1997 and began by coordinating production. Her many credits include, The Blunderer, Carol, Miles Ahead, Ides of March, Secretariat, Dreamer, Traffic, In Too Deep, Seabiscuit and Elizabethtown.

Host/Moderators Include:

Aymie Majerski : Aymie Majerski is a filmmaker with an extensive background in funding, development, production and post-production spanning the past 18 years. As owner of Barking Fish, Aymie has developed and produced nationally recognized projects including 4192, the official Pete Rose documentary and 7 BELOW starring Val Kilmer and Ving Rhames.

Kristen Schlotman is the Executive Director of Film Cincinnati. She has been with the commission since 1997 and began by coordinating production. Her many credits include, The Blunderer, Carol, Miles Ahead, Ides of March, Secretariat, Dreamer, Traffic, In Too Deep, Seabiscuit and Elizabethtown.

Our Guests Include:

Gwen Bialic: Gwen Bialic has been working in film and TV for over 20 years. She moved to New York in 1997 to work on Lisa Cholodenko’s first film High Art, building a career in independent film on projects like Karyn Kusama’s Girlfight, Rebecca Miller’s Peronsal Velocity, Larry Fessenden’s Wendigo and the cult film Pootie Tang. She is honored to have worked with singular directors like John Waters (A Dirty Shame), Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers), Michel Gondry (Be Kind Rewind), Julian Schnabel (Lou Reed’s concert film Berlin) and Todd Haynes, with whom she co-produced the feature film Carol and a video segment for the HBO documentary Six By Sondheim. She has co-produced several feature film projects including The Messenger, starring Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster as Army family notification officers, directed by Oren Moverman; Joshua Marston’s The Forgiveness of Blood, an Albanian language film about contemporary family blood feuds shot entirely in Albania; Outsourced, a feature film about call centers shot in Mumbai, India; and Little New York, a co-production with Luc Besson’s Europa Corp and the French production company Why Not. Documentary credits include Riker’s High about the high school in NYC’s detention center Riker’s Island; How Much Does Your Building Weigh, a biography of the architect Sir Norman Foster; and The Punk Singer, the Kathleen Hanna/Riot Girl music doc directed by Tamra Davis and Sini Anderson which she co-produced. Television credits include both seasons of Aziz Ansari’s Master of None for Netflix, the Judd Apatow/HBO comedy Crashing, and the extended pilot episode of Mr. Robot. Currently, Gwen produces the acclaimed anthology series High Maintenance for HBO (now in pre-production for season 4), a humanist love letter to NYC that makes her proud and thankful every day.

John Cioffi: John J Cioffi, III is Chairman of Avenue A Films Entertainment, a start-up production company based in the Midwestern United States. Designated to bridge the gap in the entertainment industry from the Coasts, John has launched the company with broad domestic and international ties. He has worked with some of the most sought after writers and directors based both here in the US and Europe, with multiple award winning feature documentary titles added to his resume. Armed with an MBA from the world’s best, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, John’s vast experience with complex and alternative funding transactions positions him uniquely with an ability to add structural value to the creative and developmental practice. Turning down a studio executive position, John has focused his energy in the world of independent production, where grass-roots passion projects require the disciplined eye of a professional, adept in connecting the two platforms of art and the business of entertainment. In a unique time where end-users digest content in ever-changing and unprecedented platforms, John aims to keep all ideas relevant and adaptable to the roving consumption habits of our collective audiences.

Sarah Lewis: Sarah Lewis counsels individuals and companies working in the entertainment industry at all stages of creative development, production, and distribution. She has extensive transactional experience in television, having served as studio and production counsel for Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc., TeleNext Media Inc. (a business unit of MediaVest Group) and others on the television network movies “Secrets of the Mountain,” “The Jensen Project,” “A Walk in My Shoes,” “Change of Plans,” “Truth Be Told,” “Field of Vision,” “Who is Simon Miller,” “Game Time: Tackling the Past,” and “Game of Your Life.” Sarah advises clients regarding a variety of guild and union issues, including those involving SAG, AFTRA, DGA, WGA and IATSE, and works with them to ensure compliance with guild regulations. Additionally, she has represented local personalities in the negotiation of their talent agreements with studios and other production entities and provides counsel to film production companies and media companies, such as Maker Studios, on talent and production agreements and copyright protection. Sarah also works with clients such as Scripps Networks on various matters involving online and social media marketing, privacy, behavioral advertising, endorsements, sponsorships, and product placement.