By Morgan Elyse Christensen
CineWomen 2013 was a huge hit in Kansas City and the committee will soon begin planning for next year’s “CineWomen 2014”!
Almost one hundred guests arrived at the Screenland Crossroads Theatre on March 14 to show their support for our area’s female student filmmakers. Five different Kansas City area universities and many community members came together to make the event a night to remember as we celebrated Women’s History Month with a panel discussion, a short film screening, and a networking reception.
The panel discussion turned out to be an incredibly motivating and educational segment as UMKC’s Professor Caitlin Horsmon, KU’s Dr. Tamara Falicov, and Avila’s Dr. Dottie Hamilton reported on the trials and accomplishments of women filmmakers in the past and present and spoke to the inspiration of our future women in film.
The crowd was ecstatic over the screening’s featured short films. We were privileged to have had the opportunity to show such quality work and are very pleased that most of the filmmakers had a chance to show the community what they have or will have to offer upon graduation. A well-known women’s film festival in neighboring Columbia, MO (Citizen Jane) even caught word of our event and lent a hand in helping promote the careers of each of our featured artists.
The evening ended with a tribute to the late Dr. Carol Koehler who broke ground in Kansas City as a female filmmaker and those in attendance were touched by the speech delivered by Dr. Poe, Associate Professor of UMKC and good friend to the Koehler family, the presence of whose members we were also graced with that evening.
Putting together events like this, there is not always a guarantee that you’ll have a good turnout or full support from a variety of community members and organizations. However, we had an amazing turnout for our first year and through the community enthusiasm that CineWomen seemed to unveil in Kansas City and through our mission of advocating, educating, and supporting women and their artistic contributions, this event is set to grow boundlessly over the years and become recognized as one of the most important platform events for the inspiration of young woman filmmakers in Kansas City, the education of our community, and the advancement of women in the film industry as a whole.