upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024
Featured Artist: Sara Zia Ebrahimi, Tayarisha Poe & Laura Deutch
Over the past several years, web series have become a viable alternative for filmmakers to share their stories. As this format creates new ways for aspiring and established artists to reach new audiences and have increased control of their voice, what new hurdles do they create? Join us as we take a look at webisodes on a larger screen (some for the first time ever!) and hear from the creators about writing, shooting, fundraising, and what they've learned throughout the process.
The panel features Hye Yun Park creator and star of Hey Yun; Jen Richards, writer, producer, and star of Her Story; Sara Zia Ebrahimi (LTA ’14, ACG ’11, ’09) writer and director of Bailout, activist; Tayarisha Poe (ACG ‘15,’ 14)writer and director of Selah and the Spades: an Overture; And activist, Sharron Cooks will speak about the media representation of transgender women. Moderated by Laura Deutch (ACG '10), Director of Education & Production at PhillyCAM. About the Panel
Hye Yun Park is an writer, performer, filmmaker based in New York. She is Janet Mock's newest obsession and one of 12 Emerging Feminist Game-Changers in Media, Journalism & the Arts. Her award winning web series HEY YUN, which she writes, directs and stars in, premiered its first season November 2013 to a welcoming crowd. The first episode was invited to American Cinematheque's 9th Annual Focus on Female Directors screening, the LA Web Fest and it won the Audience Choice Awards at the Boxed Wine Film Festival and Indie Works. Season 2 premiered on Wifey TV. FIRST KISS NYC, a viral video she made has been written up by the Huffington Post, Daily Mail UK and many more. When not making films, she is prancing around town taking pictures of toys, clowning around or acting in other people's films. She hails from the salty seas of Busan, South Korea. www.hyeyunpark.com
Jen Richards is a writer & actress, as well as a consultant & advocate focusing on nonprofit management and gender and racial justice, who works with national organizations and media projects. She is the co-writer/star/producer of Her Story, a frequent guest on BuzzFeed Videos, was a series regular on Season 1 of I Am Cait, and featured in True Trans with Laura Jane Grace. She was the creator of The Trans 100, We Happy Trans, and several other projects.
Laura Deutch is a Philadelphia-based media artist and educator working at the intersection of documentary, new media and participatory art. Her work focuses on community stories and place-based histories. Her films and media projects have been showcased on television, at festivals and in gallery settings throughout the country. She currently works at PhillyCAM and serves on the board of the Termite TV Collective. She holds a BA in Media Studies from Ithaca University and an MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University.
Sara Zia Ebrahimi is a curator of film, visual art and new media and for over a decade has produced film screenings and exhibits in the Philadelphia area. She has worked as a consultant with Independent Television Service (ITVS) and with individual independent filmmakers on their engagement and outreach campaigns. A MFA graduate of Temple University, her own short films have screened internationally and been awarded grants from Chicken & Egg Pictures, Rooftop Films and the Leeway Foundation. In Spring of 2015 she released her first web series, Bailout, which she wrote and directed.
Sharron L. Cooks is a philosopher, community organizer, activist and consultant. She has a B.A in Philosophy with a focus on Ethics from Arcadia University. Sharron has help organize the Defiant Trans Archives exhibition, and was the Chairwoman of The MLK Day of Service at The William Way Center. She has facilitated workshops for The Trans Oral History Project and the Trans Youth Group at The Attic Youth Center. She has also worked with Equality Pennsylvania, Hearts On a Wire, and the Mazzoni Center's Trans Health Conference Planning Committee. Sharron has been honored and received numerous acknowledgements and awards for her dedicated service to the LGBTQ communities and for being an advocate for Trans Women of Color. She continues to help create positive change, equality and enrich the lives of LGBTQ and trans women with her company, Making Our Lives Easier LLC through community organizing, activism, advocacy and political consulting in The City of Philadelphia.
Tayarisha Poe received the ACG from the Leeway Foundation in 2014 & 2015 for her project Selah and the Spades. She was chosen as one of the 25 New Faces by Filmmaker Magazine in 2015, and in 2016 she received the Sundance Institute’s Knight Foundation Fellowship. Her film and photographic work has been profiled by Filmmaker Magazine, IndieWire, and Superselected. She believes that stories are inherently multi-sensory and multi-dimensional and therefore should be told that way.