Women in Film Panel

Join us for a lively discussion about the current environment of women in film, television, and media with a group of extremely intelligent, talented, and highly successful women. This panel will address how women are working hard to level the playing field and reinvent female stereotypes in a male driven industry.

Moderator

ERIN TRAHAN
EDITOR, THE INDEPENDENT

Erin Trahan edits The Independent, where she has overseen the publication of two books on film distribution and spearheaded the preservation of the Association of Independent Video & Filmmakers’ organizational archive and print magazine. She’s a regular contributor to WBUR (Boston’s NPR news station) and has written about movies for The Boston Globe, MovieMaker Magazine, NewEnglandFilm.com and other publications. She has served as series moderator for The DocYard and created or led film discussions for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston Public Library, and served on juries for several film festivals. She is a past president of Women in Film & Video/New England and currently serves on the board of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists.

Panelists

RAE DAWN CHONG
ACTRESS, WRITER, PRODUCER

Born in Canada but raised between Los Angeles and Vancouver B.C. she has been in entertainment as an actor/writer/producer/director for over 40 years. Rae Dawn is best known for her roles in Commando, The Color Purple, and Soul Man. Most recently she can be seen in the Duplass Brother’s Jeff Who Lives at Home and currently in Pam Adlon’s Better Things. She is also trying to find a home for her self- produced pilot The Celebrant and has just completed writing her memoir while caring for her father, Tommy Chong, as he recovered from cancer. An activist and social media expert, she has a new podcast called “Only Always” where she tackles the current affairs and all things that annoy or inspire her. She hasn’t given up on the fight for more diversity in Hollywood and has high hopes for the future. Rae Dawn is a board member of the New Hampshire Film festival and is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her first grand daughter.

KATE KAMINSKI
PRODUCER

Kate Kaminski is an independent filmmaker living and working in Southern Maine. As Gitgo Productions, she and partner Betsy Carson have together produced four low-budget features, as well as short fiction and non-fiction works that have screened around the world. In 2010, Kaminski founded the Bluestocking Film Series, a one-of- a-kind, curated short film festival that requires female protagonist and Bechdel-Wallace Test compliance. Kaminski holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a master’s in Film Production. In addition to serving as Bluestocking’s Artistic Director, Kaminski teaches part-time at University of Southern Maine and Maine College of Art.

YOLONDA ROSS
ACTRESS, PRODUCER

Yolonda Ross has been nominated twice for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress: in 2002 for Cheryl Dunye's Stranger Inside and in 2014 for John Sayles' Go For Sisters. She has also worked with esteemed filmmakers Woody Allen, Angela Bassett, Todd Haynes, John Cameron Mitchell, Ira Sachs, and Denzel Washington. She is currently starring in Netflix’s series The Get Down, created by Baz Lurhmann and Stephen Adly Guirgis.

CAROLINE VON KUHN
MANAGING DIRECTOR, POINTS NORTH INSTITUTE

Caroline serves as Managing Director of the Points North Institute, coming from the Tribeca Film Festival where she worked in Industry and Publicity, after starting her career at the Film Society of Lincoln Center (NYFF) and the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (Qatar). von Kuhn is a narrative filmmaker – most recently producing Ian Olds’ The Fixer (Tribeca Film Festival 2016). She holds an MFA in Fine Arts from University of Manchester (UK) and a BA in Financial Economics from the University of Virginia.