16th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival Announcement

Q: Where was the #1 panel discussion held in 2007 that The Film Panel Notetaker attended?
A: The Hamptons International Film Festival

Will it reach the same feat this year? You'll have to wait till the end of the year to find out, so in the mean time, here’s the festival's announcement below on what you can expect to see in October:

The Hamptons International Film Festival Sixteen Years in the Making

The 16th annual Hamptons International Film Festival will run October 15th through the 19th, celebrating some of the finest films from around the world. Spanning across the East End, from East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Montauk and Southampton, this year’s Festival promises everything we have grown to love from this culturally-rich festival, while expanding the international scope of films, industry and attendees. For more information: www.hamptonsfilmfest.org.

“This is a very exciting time,” says Executive Director, Karen Arikian. “The Hamptons International Film Festival has proven itself in so many ways over the past fifteen years, and is now poised to take a more prominent position in the global film festival market. I feel privileged to be part of the current team of hard working and highly creative individuals who are dedicated to fostering the growth of this wonderful festival.”

This year will welcome a number of new additions, while continuing many of the popular programs, including: Conflict and Resolution, World Cinema, Narrative & Documentary competitions, Spotlight Films, Shorts, The Rising Stars and (straight from The Berlin Film Festival) The Shooting Stars program, The Alfred P. Sloan Award, Conversation With…and many more.

“We continue to see new, exciting developments from filmmakers in countries such as Germany, Israel, Romania and Denmark - filmmakers willing to take risks and push the creative envelope in ways that are defining the new face of cinema,” Festival Programmer, David Nugent states. “We are honored to bring these films to audiences who might otherwise not know about the movements in film that continue to flourish around the world."

Some advance highlights of the 2008 Festival include:

The 2008 Festival poster will be an original creation by acclaimed artist and East End resident, Malcolm Morley.

A man of many talents and visions, know for his individuality in the art world, Malcolm Morley was the first artist to win the Turner Prize, in 1984. Morley’s life has been his source of motivation and his trials have influenced his work and styles over the years from Abstract Expressionism to Neo Expressionism. He has received many prestigious awards and continues to be courageous in the expression of his artwork.

Hamptons/indieWIRE ‘Industry Toast’
Founder and Co-Chairman of Fortissimo Films Wouter Barendrecht, will be honored at this year’s Industry Toast: an intimate Festival event celebrating his energy, vision, and acumen, which enhances the industry and propels the art of film to greater heights. Master of Ceremonies, John Cameron Mitchell, will join colleagues and friends, to raise a glass to Mr. Barendrecht. Past ‘Toastee’s include: Sony Picture Classics Co-President Marcie Bloom, Picturehouse President Bob Berney and producer Ted Hope.

Israel at 60
This year, the Hamptons International Film Festival will celebrate Israel's 60th Anniversary with a program focusing on films and filmmakers from contemporary Israel. The "Israel at 60" program will feature films both by emerging directors as well as acclaimed masters, and will shed light on the current state of the nation of Israel and it's culture, identity and people. In addition to the screenings, we will hold a panel discussion with the filmmakers and finally, we are offering our audiences the opportunity to “create peace in the Middle East” via the video game “Peacemaker”, designed by Asi Burak, and featured at Sundance Film Festival and other notable international events.

CNN iReport Film Festival
Excited about the election? Have a video camera? CNN has put out a call to all aspiring filmmakers to make a short film for the iReport Film Festival, an online festival of short films from the campaign trail! The films will cover anything from a topic or candidate, to a behind-the-scenes look at a campaign or grassroots political organization. Judges include Richard Roeper (At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper) and Alex Gibney, whose film, Taxi to the Dark Side wowed audiences at the 2007 Hamptons International Film Festival and later went on to win a 2008 Academy Award. The films chosen will have their world premiere at the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival. And from there the chance to be featured on Anderson Cooper 360°.

The Hamptons International Film Festival is once again proud to be teaming up the following sponsors: The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Heineken, Fox 5 New York, OK! Magazine, Kodak, The Hallmark Channel, Lifetime Movie Network and Silvercup Studios. In addition, the Festival is pleased to welcome new sponsors RoC (which has launched a national ticket sweepstakes to bring five lucky winners to the Festival), Andrew Saunders & Associates Real Estate, Nespresso, A&E Indie Films and Traditional Home Magazine. While the reach extends around the world, it would not be so without Presenting Sponsors, Altour International and American Airlines. Their significant contributions and support help bring filmmakers from around the world to the Hamptons for the intimate dialogues for which the Festival is famous.

The Hamptons International Film Festival has screened some of the best films of our time and the 16th year will be sure to continue this tradition. A few of the films that started at the Hamptons and went on to critical acclaim include: “Nowhere In Africa,” “No Man’s Land”, “Open Water,” “Evil,” “Hotel Rwanda,” The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till,” “A Touch of Greatness,” “In The Bedroom,” “Kinsey,” “Pollock,” “The Triplets Of Belleville”, “Walk The Line”, “Body of War”, “The Savages”, and many others.

The Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate independent film - long, short, narrative and documentary - introducing a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all. The 16th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival will be held October 15 through October 19, 2008. Announcements on additional films, programs, events and guests will be forthcoming.

8th Annual Screenwriter's Lab In Hamptons Announced

The Hamptons International Film Festival announced today that it will host its 8th annual Screenwriters’ Lab co-sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation this May 9-11 in East Hampton. Last fall, I sat in on the screenplay reading of Caitlin McCarthy's Wonder Drug during the 2007 HIFF. Looks like a great group of screenwriters have been selected for this Lab coming up this weekend. Coincidentally, I've been to a couple of screenplay readings in the last few weeks. First was Jay Paramsothy's and Catherine Torphy's The Emperor Has Arrived on April 21 and next up was Leah Meyerhoff's Unicorns on May 1. If anyone has any more screenplay reading announcements that will take place in and around New York, please send them my way.

More from the HIFF Screenwriter's Lab announcement below:

The Hamptons International Film Festival will host its 8th annual Screenwriters’ Lab cosponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation this May 9-11 in East Hampton. Over the course of one long weekend, emerging screenwriters will benefit from the expert tutelage of seasoned mentors who will advise them on how best to revise their scripts in preparation for production.

During the lab in the Hamptons, our emerging screenwriters will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one each day with established screenwriting mentors who will advise them on how to develop their scripts. Within this intimate environment, our screenwriters are encouraged to take risks and discover new possibilities for their projects. Participants also attend group discussions over meals, while evening events bring them together with board members, sponsors, the local artistic community, and other friends of the Festival.

Following the lab, The Hamptons will assist writers in making contact with friends of the Festival, including industry producers, agents, and development executives, and continue to support the writers as they revise their scripts. We will hold screenplay readings and eventually invite films developed at the Screenwriters' Lab to screen at the Hamptons Film Festival. This process allows the Lab in conjunction with the Festival to establish a community and ongoing support structure that develops and promotes diverse voices, artistic ambitions, and the audiences that rejoice in both.

“The Screenwriters’ Lab consistently provides one of the most exciting and fulfilling aspects of the Hamptons’ year-round activities,” states Director of Programming David Nugent. “The level of talent from both the writers and mentors is outstanding and the weekend is always a highly charged forum of ideas, creativity, discussions and great work. As always it is a pleasure partnering with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology originated at the Hamptons. With the Screenwriters’ Lab, we have established a year-round collaboration supporting selected filmmakers who turn their narrative talents to the realm of science and technology and explore those themes in fresh, innovative ways and depict scientists and engineers in a realistic and compelling fashion.”

Our 2008 Lab Participants, Screenplays and Project Descriptions:

1) ALEX R. JOHNSON - LA SOBRINA
Cookie Rodriguez had just started driving the night shift for a Brooklyn car service when her niece turns up dead in the Williamsburg waterfront. Frustrated with the police investigation, she starts one of her own and finds that her niece was caught up in a corrupt world of gentrification, bribery, and Brooklyn real estate.

2) JAMES PONSOLDT - REFRESH, REFRESHThree teenaged sons of Marine reservists fighting a distant war must prove to themselves their worth as men. In measures of heartbreak, brutality, and humor, REFRESH, REFRESH takes an honest, unflinching look at the unforeseen repercussions of violence and how we inherit a war at home.

3) BRADFORD TATUM - BOOK OF WATER
BOOK OF WATER combines historical fact with a vibrant magical realist style to tell the story of the life of Leonardo da Vinci. An Alfred P. Sloan supported script.

4) AVI WEIDER - ZEROES AND ONES
In creating an intelligent machine out of discarded computer parts, a young woman uncovers her grandmother's long-buried secret of her survival from Auschwitz and finds a release from her own haunting memories. An Alfred P. Sloan supported script.

2008 Screenwriters’ Lab Mentors Are:

1) MARIA MAGGENTI (filmmaker/screenwriter) Maria Maggenti began her career in 1995 as writer/director of THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURE OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE. Her second feature film, PUCCINI FOR BEGINNERS, produced by InDigEnt premiered in competition at Sundance in January 2006 and was released by Strand Releasing in February 2007. In January 2007 she was one of five filmmakers selected for the Sundance Global Short Film Project for the GSM Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Maggenti recently sold “The Beard”, a half-hour single camera comedy series to Showtime. She has also adapted Jane Green’s bestseller “Jemima J.” for Lifetime Television, and spent three seasons as a writer on the hit CBS/Bruckheimer drama “Without A Trace”. Maggenti received her MFA in filmmaking from the NYU Graduate Film Institute and received her undergraduate degree in Philosophy & Classics from Smith College. In 2001-02 she was an adjunct professor of feature screenwriting at the NYU Graduate Film Institute.

2) IRA SACHS (Ira Sachs is a filmmaker living in New York City. His most recent film, MARRIED LIFE, starring Rachel McAdams, Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan and Patricia Clarkson was produced by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Anonymous Content and was released by Sony Pictures Classics in March 2008. MARRIED LIFE screened at the 2007 Toronto and New York Film Festivals. His previous film, FORTY SHADES OF BLUE, starring Rip Torn, received the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. In 1999, Sachs was given a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship. His first feature, THE DELTA, was released theatrically in 1997 by Strand Releasing, after screening at the Sundance, Toronto, and Rotterdam Film Festivals.

3) JEFFREY SHARP (producer) Jeffrey Sharp, President and CEO of Sharp Independent, has produced numerous feature films, including BOYS DON’T CRY (1999), YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (2000), and PROOF (2005). Those adapted from books include NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (2002) adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens, A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD (2003) adapted by Michael Cunningham from his novel, THE NIGHT LISTENER (2006) adapted by Armistead Maupin from his novel, and EVENING (2007) adapted from Susan Minot's novel by Michael Cunningham and Susan Minot. Sharp Independent recently partnered with HarperCollins to develop and produce feature films from the publishers’ vast list of book titles. This partnership is called Sharp Independent at HarperCollins. Jeff holds an MFA from Columbia University and a BA from Colgate University.

4) WHIT STILLMAN (writer/director/producer) Whit Stillman is a former journalist and fiction writer who in the 90s came out with three films on “doomed” bourgeois youth – METROPOLITAN, BARCELONA and THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO. Taking the characters from the latter and extending their story, he wrote the S.F. Chronicle bestselling novel “The Last Days of Disco, with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards” (Farrar, Straus), winner of the first and last “Nightlife Literature Award.” Since 1998 he’s lived in Europe writing the scripts for a cycle of films on foreign subjects.

The Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate the American Independent film - long, short, narrative and documentary - and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all.

The Sixteenth Annual Hamptons International Film Festival will be held Wednesday, October 15 through Sunday, October 19, 2008.

2007 Hamptons Int'l Film Festival - "Body of War" - October 20, 2007

2007 Hamptons International Film Festival
Body of War
Southampton Theater
Southampton, NY
October 20, 2007
6:00 pm

A Film Still from Body of War: Tomas Young and Robert Byrd, Washington, D.C.

On Saturday, legendary daytime television talk show host Phil Donahue sat on a panel discussion that delved into issues of science and the media during the 2007 Hamptons International Film Festival at The Ross School in East Hampton. During the discussion, Donahue plugged his documentary Body of War, co-directed by Ellen Spiro, that would be playing later that evening in Southampton. I thought it would be very complementary to attend this screening and to write about it as an extension to my notes from the panel discussion.

Body of War shifts between the members of Congress who voted for or against the war in Iraq back in October of 2002, and the devastating physical and emotional effects the war had on 25-year-old Tomas Young, who was paralyzed from a bullet to his spine after serving in Iraq for less than a week. The film is an overall well-rounded personal story. We see Young through his hardships dealing with his disability and the people that love and care for him. But we also see his strength and determination to speak out against the war with other veterans, the community and even Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, who was one of the strongest opponents of the war. The film features original songs from Eddie Vedder.

Earlier in the day at the panel discussion, the issue of stem cell research came up. Donahue said that “stem cell research for spinal injuries is hugely complicated. We did our best to try to explain this in our documentary, but regret that this is one area in the film that didn’t make it completely into the final cut. It didn’t move the rest of the story along.” This is pretty much the one area in the film I wish they did delve into just a little more, as I wanted to learn more about what’s being done, or what’s not being done for that matter, in terms of stem cell research in the search for a cure to spinal injuries. I don’t necessarily think it would have been an entirely different movie, as this is a very pervasive matter that directly affects Young’s life.

Before the movie, Donahue said a few words. “We hope when this is over, you’ll agree with us. This is a close up look at harm in harm’s way. Seeing the pain is the point. Don’t sanitize the war. These injuries are life-altering, not only to the victim, but to the family.”

After the movie, there was a brief audience Q&A, though only one member of the audience asked a question. That question was, will this movie be seen across the country? Ellen Spiro said that they are currently working on distribution opportunities, and Phil said that they hope their film will be picked up and have success. Then Spiro asked a question of her own for the audience, that being how did the film start and why was it made. They had met Young at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and wanted to the nation to see his story.

Donahue added that “we’re up against the most secretive administration of my lifetime. We can never let this happen again. This administration has turned its back against the constitution” and to “return America to its original vision.”

As the audience exited the theater, they were handed a little booklet of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States of America.

2007 Hamptons Int'l Film Festival - Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Discussion - October 20, 2007

2007 Hamptons International Film Festival
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Discussion:
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
The Ross School – East Hampton, NY
October 20, 2007
3:00 pm

(L to R: Phil Donahue, David Schwartz, Stuart Firestein & Alec Baldwin)

Continuing with my science lesson, I attended the Alfred P. Sloan Film Discussion: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. In addition to discussing the film and its subject matter, the discussion went deeper into issues concerning science and the media with lots of impassioned audience interaction concerning the environment, stem cell research, medicine, PBS, and more.

Moderator:
(AB) Alec Baldwin – Movie & TV Star, Beetlejuice, The Cooler, 30 Rock

Panelists:
(PD) Phil Donahue – Co-Director, Body of War & Legendary TV Talk Show Host
(DS) David Schwartz – Museum of the Moving Image
(SF) Stuart Firestein, PhD - Professor, Biological Sciences, Columbia Neuroscience


Doran Weber of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation opened the panel by talking about the Foundation and its initiatives. He was followed by Hamptons Film Festival Programmer David Nugent who introduced everyone on the panel. Alec Baldwin, who moderated the discussion, joked and said, “I’m Alec Baldwin, noted neuroscientist.”

(AB) What was the significance of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly? Is there a distinction between films dealing with education and science?

(DS) It’s a remarkable film. A portrait of Jean-Dominique Bauby who devised a way to write using his eye. What’s amazing is that it’s a movie about perception, looking at the world, and finding a way to communicate very much by art. What’s great about The Sloan Foundation is that it sees the connection between art and science. This film makes us question the old dictionary definition of the word “vegetation.”

(SF) Most of the science we don’t know. It’s a locked-in syndrome caused by a cerebrovascular accident (CVA). A bleed in the brain that can cause a great deal of collateral damage. These things are likely to be congenital in nature. They’re almost always fatal.

(AB) From a historical standpoint, at what point did society decide to care for these people?

(SF) Don’t know. Look at the case of Terry Schiavo a couple of years ago. There’s a great deal of work now where MRIs or FMRIs (Functional MRIs) look at the activity of the brain. Trying to map the brain in this way to learn whether or not it’s conscious. It’s difficult to work out.

(PD) No other nation on earth faces the issue of taking Darwin out of text books. Film is a way to change this. Film fills the void left by corporate media. If you don’t understand Darwinian theory, you will never contribute to science. There’s a challenge by independent filmmakers to stand up to right wingers. Stem cell research for spinal injuries is hugely complicated. We did our best to try to explain this in our documentary (Body of War), but regret that this is one area in the film that didn’t make it completely into the final cut. It didn’t move the rest of the story along.

(SF) Stem cell research is a critical issue. You can blame the religious right, but also on scientists and educators who haven’t taken the time to teach it. One of the greatest books is Darwin’s The Origin of Species.

(AB) Science and its relationship to the media seem to be eclipsed by environmental science. Do you agree that science through the media is too top-heavy with the environment instead of stem cell research?

(DS) With Terry Schiavo, we had politicians and people diagnose her based on how she looked in videos of her. She really was vegetated. Politicians were interpreting her, not science.

(SF) Research is done through taxpayer money. I used to get money from NIH to study the sense of smell in salamanders. Your nose is one of the very few parts in the brain where you make new brain cells.

Audience Question: Media and the environment is sexier. Stem cell research is a political hot potato. Why isn’t it represented in television and film as much?

(PD) The people who are rewarded in this business are those who draw the largest crowds. Science in the States has been silent. There are very few people of power to speak out against this phenomenon.

Audience Question: If Bauby had his stroke today, would we be able to take care of him?

(SF) There have been advances. We know there’s more mental capacity than we thought.

(AB) Does memory come back?

(SF) We don’t know. There’s a great deal of work now for neuralprosthetics.

Audience Question: Where do you see the great strides in medicine going?

(AB) People do look at medicine like it’s Detroit auto making.

(SF) It’s so hard to see. Popular science magazines always put out issues relating to what’s going to happen in the next 50 years. It’s difficult to tell. The big issue is basic/fundamental research versus translational research. Basic research is what’s made biomedical research in the U.S. so great.

(AB) For someone who works in the media, my greatest criticism is public television. It was the mission under Nixon’s administration to address issues not addressed by commercial network television. It’s so horrific what they’re doing with public television. What is your opinion?

(PD) PBS is totally politicized. You need a politically active young group to make media reform and saying that corporate media is ruining our democracy. On PBS, you couldn’t be on the air and talk against the war unless you’re funded. You couldn’t be Bill Moyers. There was a Darwin series on PBS narrated by Neil Armstrong that no one watched.

(AB) Funding for public television has been cut. I had a program called “The History of Food” about the copious examination of where your food comes from.

(Doran Weber) I disagree respectfully. The Sloan Foundation supports science. The bottom line for PBS is, is the show entertaining? They care about the audience. The Foundation co-funded a Frontline special on nuclear power. It works both ways. I don’t think PBS is controlled by the right. There’s a lot of science on PBS.

(AB) The New York Times has been very brave on issues of campaign finance reform, but it doesn’t make a dime in political advertising. NYT has been disgraceful on the issue of nuclear power.

Audience Question: TV is for old people. You want to get a large number of younger people to watch.

(AB) Public television is free television. Only about 40% of people in the U.S. have cable TV. Flyover America watches public TV.

(SF) The critical issue here is what we do with information and now how we access it.

(AB) Another issue today is how many drugs are given to children with juvenile emotional disorders. Is this scary?

(SF) We don’t worry enough about the side effects of drugs. Drugs have become a lifestyle issue.

(AB) Are we doping our kids as a better relationship than parenting skills?

(SF) Parenting is a hard thing to do.

(AB) Perhaps we should leave it at that.

(PD) Big Pharma is playing a large roll in our lives. 1 pill can net $2 billion a year. It can save or make a company. There’s pressure to get it out, forgetting the side effects.

Audience Question: Is it a challenge for the media to re-engage the industry?

(DS) The is some science on dramatic shows like CSI and Numbers.

(Audience Answer) I produced a news series on ABC called Hopkins 24/7. The media is doing it, once in a while. Hopefully, when you do it, you get good results. I understand Alec’s point that the political environment has geared the channels. Funding is so reduced.

(PD) I produced and hosted a five-part series for NBC in the 1980s called The Human Animal. We went to rat labs to learn how we’re behaving. First episode was about love and sex, which had the highest ratings. Second was ware and violence, third was nature and nurture, and I forget the other two. The shows made it into the Top 20 on network TV. I was hot then. I had more power than I’ll ever have again. If we can find someone current and hot, it can be done again. We need a star, but one that’s promoted and assembled cleverly.

(DS) It’s 50th Anniversary of Sputnik. Science brought the community together then. We should support real science.

(SF) I second that. There are plenty of cases where science is entertaining. Entertainment is something science provides. The public will watch. We’re a scientific civilization. People are genuinely interested.

(AB) I’ve helped raise money for The Ross School. People have the right to step outside the public school system. My point is that people have the means to go to private schools that pay taxes for public schools, too. People need to turn their attention to what’s going on in public schools. If the cure for cancer exists in the brain of an African-American girl in Alabama, we have to get it out of her brain. We have to make a college education free for people who qualify because society is going to benefit from that.

(PD) I had 16 years of Catholic school education. My science education was a leaf in the dictionary. We weren’t inspired to see the mystery and fascination of science. This curiosity came late in life to me. We have not turned our kids into the excitement of this exploration.

Hamptons Int'l Film Festival - Screenplay Reading of "Wonder Drug" - October 20, 2007

2007 Hamptons International Film Festival
Screenplay Reading of Wonder Drug
Sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Ross School – East Hampton, NY
October 20, 2007
2:00 pm

("Wonder Drug" screenwriter Caitlin McCarthy and scientific advisor P. Harry Jellinck)

I hopped on the Hampton Jitney free shuttle bus from The Hunting Inn in East Hampton at about 1:45 pm, and arrived at The Ross School a bit early for a panel I planned to attend starting at 3pm. Upon exiting the Jitney at The Ross School, I saw Hamptons Film Festival Programmer David Nugent heading into the building. I went over to say hello and he invited me to the screenplay reading for Wonder Drug. It was already a bit past 2pm at that point, and I told David thanks, but I didn’t want to enter a screenplay reading if they already started reading it, as I missed the beginning, but then I read the program and noticed that Steve Guttenberg was participating, and I thought to myself, I can’t miss the opportunity to see Steve Guttenberg for the second weekend in a row (read last weekend’s notes from The Actors Dialogue panel at Woodstock Film Festival), so my theory about missing beginnings of screenplay readings went right out the window, and I went in. I probably only missed about the first 5-10 minutes, but was able to catch on pretty easily. This was the first of my science lessons for the day. More notes coming soon from the Sloan Foundation Film Discussion: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.

Screenplay Summary:
Wonder Drug is a scientific drama of how DES (diethylstilbestrol), the world’s first drug disaster, harms the lives of a Big Pharma executive, a feminist doctor, and a thirtysomething newlywed across different decades. Screenplay by Caitlin McCarthy.

The Cast:

Steve Guttenberg
Alysia Reiner
Suzanne DiDonna
John Lenartz
Rita Rehn
Kathy Searle


A Few Notes from the Q&A:

Screenwriter Caitlin McCarthy and P. Harry Jellinck, scientific advisor of Wonder Drug, answered some questions from the audience. McCarthy began by explaining the background for her screenplay. Two years ago, she found out that she had been exposed to DES. She researched it and wrote the screenplay. Jellinck said his job was to find out what happens to people with DES.

Q: What was the original intent of your screenplay?

(CM) For menopausal women or women with hysterectomies. One reason she wrote the screenplay is that she wants women to make informed choices.

Q: Where did you get your screenwriting skills?

(CM) Masters of Fine Arts from Emerson.

Q: Where will you go from here?

(CM) The script is a finalist in the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab.