Visionary Voices

Diana Means interviews Executive Director of Women Voices Now Heidi Basch-Harod about their documentary film festival that takes place online March 1st - March 31st. 

ABOUT THE WOMEN’S VOICES NOW (WVN) FILM FESTIVAL
The Women’s Voices Now Film Festival is an international women’s rights documentary film festival supporting emerging women filmmakers. Since 2011, we have received 1070+ film submissions from 85+ countries and award...

Diana Means interviews co-producer Brooke Sebold about the Sundance 2022 audience award winner film "Framing Agnes" as well as Grandma Bruce which Sebold wrote edited and directed.  

About "Framing Agnes":
Agnes is a transgender woman who participated in Harold Garfinkel’s gender health research at UCLA in the 1960s. Director Chase Joynt blends fiction and nonfiction to widen the frame through which trans his...

Diana Means interviews Alexandra Velasco about her art-horror film "The Seventh Circle". 

About the film
The Seventh Circle features a frustrated man's descent into a horrific spiral of madness when he is confronted over and over again with his violent past. 

About the podcast
Visionary Voices podcast is produced and hosted by Diana Means founder of Alliance of Women Filmmakers, a non-profit dedicated...

Diana Means interviews Mexican American director of photography and cinematography Lesley Elizondo about her film "Basta" a documentary film based in Los Angeles California that exposes the normalization of sexual abuse in the janitorial industry.

About the film
Basta follows Veronica a 24 year old immigrant from El Salvador who was sexually assaulted while working as a night janitor in Los Angeles. Thanks to...

Diana Means interviews Lebanon director Vjosa Cerkinih about her film "Working Today Only For Tomorrow" a documentary film that exposes the inability of middle-aged women to find work in Kosovo. 

 About the film:

"Working today, only for tomorrow" is a short documentary that shows the inability of middle-aged women to find work in Kosovo. This documentary shares the stories of middle-aged women who have been discr...

Diana Means interviews Lebanon Director Hala El Kouch about her film "The Perfect Picture" a documentary film selected for the Women Voices Now film festival.  

About the film
In order to try and fix a traumatic event that has been disclosed for a year and a half, Hala decides to reside away from her parents for an entire week in a singular closed space. After preparing it, she invites them. She insists on revisiting a...

Diana Means interviews Ukraine, Kyiv screenwriter and Director Alona Shylova about her latest film "MAVKA" a short narrative film selected for the Women Voices Now film festival about two teenage girls speaking about their everyday life as young women and the problems of adulthood.  Swimming in the lake promises nothing special until one of the girls meets Mavka, a mysterious creature from Ukrainian legends.

About the Podc...

Diana Means interviews Executive Director of Women Voices Now Heidi Basch-Harod about the history and programs of Women Voices Now.

About Women Voices Now

Women’s Voices Now is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that uses film to drive positive social change that advances women's and girls' rights globally. Their annual film festival promotes emerging women filmmakers using social-change films to advocate for women’s and gir...

Diana Means interviews documentarian and director Maria Lobo about her latest film "Indebted To All Women" a documentary created for political and social advocacy that gives voice to  El Salvadorian women suffering and struggling to change one of the most restrictive laws in the world for sexual and reproductive rights. In El Salvador abortion is punishable by 20-40 years in prison regardless of circumstance. 

About Maria ...

"The Least We Can Do" chronicles the journey of a small group of women in British Columbia, Canada, who are relieved when the Canadian Government votes to bring Yazidi women and girls to Canada as refugees and provide them with comprehensive trauma care for their ‘unimaginable suffering’.

The women are horrified to later discover that the government has not followed through on all its promises. The Yazidi were brought to C...

In "Lessons" audiences see a heart-wrenching snapshot of Summer's lived experience of domestic abuse through the eyes of children.

"Lessons"  screens in the virtual presentation of The Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival Saturday, March 26 at 5:00 pm/PST

For tickets visit:  https://www.stellartickets.com/o/alliance-of-women-filmmakers/events/lessons--2/occurrences/aeb16f57-3e2b-4c81-bfea-b56f...

In "Finding Courage," a former journalist for the Chinese Communist Party (YIFEI WANG), living in exile in San Francisco, struggles to settle into life in America while working to heal her family’s wounds from their tragic past. She is seeking justice for the murder of her sister at the hands of the Chinese authorities. 

"Finding Courage" screens in the virtual presentation of The Los Angeles Women's Interna...

In " Lost Vegas Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow In Our Gender Diverse Community" director Bella Castellarin leads an all LGBTQI+ team, to document the history of Las Vegas' diverse community and give voice to those who are rarely heard.

This feature documentary screens Saturday, March 27 at 5:00 pm/PST

For tickets visit: https://www.stellartickets.com/o/alliance-of-women-filmmakers/events/lost-vegas-yesterday-today-and-t...

In "The Burden" 18-year-old Bianca must take care of her two younger siblings when their parents are unexpectedly deported back to Columbia.

"The Burden" screens  Saturday March 26 at 3:00 pm/PST

For tickets visit:  https://www.stellartickets.com/o/alliance-of-women-filmmakers/events/the-burden--2/occurrences/474cd71c-60c2-46b1-840d-56790c664e63

For more information about the Los Angeles Women's International ...

In "Tell Me About Orange," when Elliot’s best girlfriend expresses her romantic feelings for him, Elliot a blind teenage boy struggles to express his, but soon realizes that sometimes love really is blind. 

"Tell Me About Orange" screens  Saturday, March 26 at 4:00 pm/PST

For tickets visit: https://www.stellartickets.com/o/alliance-of-women-filmmakers/events/tell-me-about-orange--2/occurrences/439d6b6e-9ff7-49d6-b...

In April 2021, India made headlines all around the world as the second wave of COVID brought the country to its knees. “Critical Juncture” starts at this dramatic time but focuses on a different point of view: through the eyes of Priyanka, a 30-year-old filmmaker, audiences see how women stepped up to the frontlines, to help their country in need. India is a complex country based on a patriarchal society. The key question of this d...

In "Lioness" a mother's primal instincts kick in to protect her child's innocence when both are barricaded in a motel room. 

"Lioness" screens Saturday, March 26 at 4:00 pm/PST

For tickets visit: https://www.stellartickets.com/o/alliance-of-women-filmmakers/events/lioness--2/occurrences/ac0f4fcd-e5b9-4e73-aeac-b0b001e652f5

For more information about the Los Angeles Women's International Fil...

Clare Langford is an award-winning actress, writer, and director from Ireland. She began penning original scripts and adapting screenplays for the stage for her University Drama Society while studying Applied Languages. She later went to Drama Centre London. In Langford’s film “Mr. Wong’s Lullaby” Social worker Norah struggles to balance her demanding workload with caring for her elderly father Horace, an ex-POW who has dementia. O...

Filmmaker Cyrina Fiallo is a Cuban-Italian actress and writer, born & raised in Miami, Florida. Since moving to Los Angeles, her more-than-two dozen television appearances include NBC’s Brooklyn 99 and Community, Fox’s Glee, CW’s Supernatural to name a few. In Fiallo’s film “Someone To Carry You”, Serena receives an unexpected text from her childhood BFF that causes her to reminisce about the ups and downs of adolescence and me...