Women in Film and Video

About Us

The Board

The board of Women in Film & Video/New England meets once a month. WIFV/NE’s board is a ‘working board’ and members serve two-year terms. Responsibilities of the board include serving as ‘ambassadors’ for WIFV/NE by attending industry events and making contacts with other community organizations; serving on committees, including a Programming Committee, Fundraising Committee, Screenwriting Event Committee; and working as a team to accomplish the goals of the organization. If you are interested in volunteering or in becoming a board member, please email us!

Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, President (click name to email) Cheryl Eagan-Donovan served as publicist for the award winning features ALL THE RAGE (Roland Tec 1996) and COULD BE WORSE! (Zack Stratis 2000) as well as the music documentary PAYOFF (Kaylyn Thornal 1998.)Her first film, ALL KINDSA GIRLS (2006) has played at film and music festivals in London, Toronto and San Francisco, as well as at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. Her second documentary, NOTHING IS TRUER THAN TRUTH, based on the life of Edward de Vere, is currently in pre-production.

Alexandra de Gonzalez, Vice President (click name to email) Alexandra de Gonzalez has worked on several historical documentaries and independent features since arriving in Boston nine years ago. Most recent projects include "Enlighten Up! a sweet and sour yoga story", PBS's American Masters, "Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home", and PBS's American Experience, "Building the Alaska Highway". Her documentary credits also include the Peabody award winning series I'll Make Me a World: A Century of African-American Arts, "Earth University, Costa Rica" and "International Crane Foundation, China". She is currently developing a short personal film about her mother, a former East German escapee now struggling with Parkinson's disease. Alexandra holds a bachelors from McGill University and a Masters from Suffolk University.

Rosalie Fay Barnes, (click name to email) Rosalie has her Ed.M from Harvard's Graduate School of Education in Technology & Innovation. Rosalie works as a curriculum developer for the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. She is interested in female filmmaking as a genre and curates as well as produces film & video.

Paulina Villaroel, Secretary (click name to email) Paulina received her B.F.A. from The Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. She currently works as the Video Production Manager for Facing History and Ourselves, an international educational non-profit committed to teaching civic responsibility, tolerance, and social action to young people, as a way of fostering moral adulthood. Paulina began the video department for this organization in 2000. Over the last ten years, she has worked on several independent shorts and features in New England and New York. Her documentary credits include This Far By Faith Episodes 1 and 5 produced for PBS, and Half Past Autumn, The Life and Times of Gordon Parks produced for HBO. In fall of 2008, Paulina will attend Harvard Graduate School of Education, pursuing an Ed.M in Arts & Education

Annie Berman, Web (click name to email) Recipient of the Lisa Robin Hurwitz Memorial Film Award in 1999, Annie is an active participant in the Boston film community, showing her own films, teaching, and working on local film and radio productions. Annie is currently producing the independent feature documentary "The Faithful" exploring the phenomenons of Elvis Presley, Pope John Paul II, and Princess Diana. Annie began her career as an intern for WGBH's Culture Shocks series. Past work has included the documentary You Can't Evict the Spirit, funded by a grant from the Brandeis Undergraduate Research Program, two short animations, screened at the WIFV/NE's Short and Edgy Festival at the Harvard Film Archive. Berman graduated from Brandeis University, Phi Beta Kappa, with concentrations in Psychology, Film Studies, and Women's Studies.

Nicole Prowell, (click name to email) Nicole is an independent documentary filmmaker in Boston. She recently completed her MA in Documentary Video from Emerson College. In addition, she has studied filmmaking at FAMU in Prague, where she produced a short fictional narrative piece about the westernization of Eastern European culture, in the Czech language. Prior to moving to Boston, she worked in New York for IBM and for the Jacob Burns Film Center, a non-profit art house focused on promoting visual media literacy. Currently, she works as a Project Manager at Charles River Media Group in Brookline, a production company specializing in HD video services. Her recent projects include a personal documentary about traveling across the country in search of happiness, entitled Happy Hunting.

Michele Davis, (click name to email) Michele has worked in many facets of the entertainment industry from marketing to theatrical and television production over the last 15 years in Boston and Los Angeles. Most recently working as a Marketing Consultant for 10th Annual Roxbury Film Festival. Prior to Michele's return to the Boston area, she worked in International Marketing for Sony Pictures Entertainment in Los Angeles. While at Sony, as well as a previous stint at Rysher Entertainment, Michele managed several marketing campaigns and productions including some award winning and nominated titles such as Pollock, Winged Migration, El Crimen Del Padre Amaro, Gangs of New York, The Opposite of Sex and Big Night.

Vanessa Vartabedian, (click name to email) Vanessa is an independent filmmaker living and working in the Fort Point artist community in Boston. She has produced and directed several award-winning shorts and is currently producing a feature-length documentary in Provincetown, MA. She works as a teen media educator in the Boston public schools, and previously started the new Media Technology Program at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. Before becoming a media professional, she graduated from NYU with a BFA in Acting and co-founded the Tidal Theatre Company (NY/Cape Cod) which produced new playwrights and obscure plays with a focus on strong roles for women. She has produced Tsumani Sound Waves, a series of plays performed for live radio, and directed several productions for companies locally and in New York. Her background in theater as a producer, director and actress have lent her the unique experience of deeply studying human behavior, which she continues to do with passion through her work as a filmmaker.

Loren Larsen, (click name to email) Loren began practicing law in Chicago in 2002. In 2004 she moved to New York City to continue her practice in commercial litigation with an emphasis on entertainment law. In 2004 and 2005 Loren co-produced and released the feature documentary, Swing State Ohio. Finding a natural fit as a producer, Loren secured interviews with figures such as Senators Ted Kennedy John Glenn, (since appointed) Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Rob Portman, Karen Hughes, Jenna Bush and Ken Blackwell, then Ohio’s Secretary of State. Loren is presently the Director of Outreach for Call2Action.com. The site, which is set to launch this winter, inspires change through media. This amazing project has allowed Loren to collaborate with wonderful filmmakers working to change the world and to create a means by which to give the subjects of the film unprecedented support.

STAFF

Thato Rantao Mwosa, Program Coordinator (click name to email) Thato is a local Filmmaker who focuses on the African Diaspora. Thato won the coveted “Emerging Local Filmmaker Award” at the 2005 Roxbury Film Festival for her film, “Don’t tell me you love me.” In early 2007, Thato produced her third film, “The Day Of My Wedding” which was selected for broadcast on BETJ’s “Best Shorts” program in November 2007. In 2007, Thato created and directed an international TV show, Ya Ma’Afrika. The show chronicles lives of African immigrants in America. Ya Ma’Afrika was broadcast on a satellite TV channel Telesud, which reaches Africa, Europe and America. Thato graduated with a dual degree in TV/Video Production and Marketing/Advertising Communications from Emerson College (2001). In 2004, she attained a Film Directing certificate from New York Film Academy.

We also have a robust Advisory Committee , click here for the list.

Past Board Members include: Angelika Allende-Brisk, Barbara Seidl, Amanda Johnston, Irena Fayngold, Nancy Fleisler, Ann Adelsberger, Cynthia McKeown, Cynthia Close, Christine Dall, Joan Kaufman, Alice D. Bouvrie, Kat Tatlock, Libba Ingram, Barbara Lipski, Elizabeth Gianakos, Amy Geller, Lisa Carey, Deborah Shariff, Melissa Zieve, Mary Benjamin, Alice Hoffman, Janet Krause, Lisa Simmons

Past presidents: Barbara Seidl, Rhea Becker, Priscilla Forance, Christine Sandvik, Kate Berhardt, Valerie Spain, Beth Harrington, Erin Trahan, Lucia Small, Britt Wahlin, Harriet Reisen, amongst others

Board Wiki URL: wifvneboard.pbwiki.com (password only)

email info@womeninfilmvideo.org