Emerson Women Get Sundance Experience

A group of Emerson College film students, alumnae, and faculty networked, marched,  brunched, and braved a blizzard at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, held January 19-29.

This was the third time a crew of Emerson students traveled to Park City, Utah, for the festival. Organized by Visual and Media Arts programming manager Anna Feder, it was open to all VMA graduate students, but the focus of the trip for the students was women in cinema.

In addition to attending screenings, the group attended the Outfest brunch, Women’s Brunch, and took part in the Women’s March on Main – Park City’s contribution to the worldwide demonstrations held January 21. Emerson also hosted its own party for alumni on Main Street.

Ramona Diaz ’83, director of the award-winning documentary, Motherland, came to speak to the group at a breakfast. Motherland, about the world’s busiest maternity hospital in the Philippines, won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Commanding Vision.

Graduate students on the trip included Ulya Aviral, Sonia Keshavaraz Haddad, Shannon Elliott, and Samantha Hagerman. Recent alumnae included assistant sound stage manager Nerissa Williams MFA ’15 and Amy DePaola MFA ’16,

The next film festival on Emerson’s schedule is SXSW in Austin, Texas, March 10-19, where Feder will be a speaker at festival’s 90-Minute Film School, talking about submitting your short to festivals.