 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Ladies First
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Ten years after the bloody genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 people in just 100 days, Rwanda's women are leading their country's healing process and taking their society forward into a different future. They are playing a remarkable role in politics and are also emerging as prominent figures in the business sector. In spring 2004 -- as Rwanda commemorated the 10th anniversary of the genocide -- WIDE ANGLE traveled to this fractured nation to make a film that looks forward instead of back. Profiling women on the forefront of change, "Ladies First" reveals the challenges facing them and their country as Rwanda struggles to build a sustainable peace between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis -- a peace that has eluded the country for almost half a century.
 Watch a preview video
Director Gini Reticker has been producing and directing independent films for the past decade. In 2001, Reticker produced the Academy Award-nominated short documentary ASYLUM, the story of a woman who fled Ghana and became enmeshed in the US immigration system. Most recently, Reticker codirected In the COMPANY OF WOMEN, an IFC documentary that chronicles the contributions of women in independent film. It premiered at Sundance in January 2004. Her other films include A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE (IFC), NEW SCHOOL ORDER (PBS), and THE HEART OF THE MATTER, which won the 1994 Sundance Freedom of Expression Award and aired on POV.
Producer Deborah Shaffer has been making social-issue documentaries since the early 70s. Her film WITNESS TO WAR won the Academy Award for Best Short Documentary; FIRE FROM THE MOUNTAIN, about the Nicaraguan author Omar Cabezas received an Emmy nomination for Best Direction; and DANCE OF HOPE, about women and human rights in Chile was awarded a Prix d'Or at FIPA in Cannes. Shaffer is also the executive producer of the Academy Award-nominated ASYLUM. She was recently awarded the Irene Diamond Lifetime Achievement Award by the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
Producer Colette Kunkel joined THIRTEEN/WNET in 2003 as associate producer of WIDE ANGLE's award-winning documentary, "AIDS Warriors," a film about the Angolan military's efforts to combat the AIDS crisis. Previous to her tenure at THIRTEEN/WNET, she field produced numerous documentaries for ABC NEWS PRODUCTIONS, and was involved in the production of "Women at War," and "Stories From The Wall," both part of The Learning Channel's acclaimed series, VIETNAM SOLDIERS' STORIES. Prior to her work in television, Kunkel was Program Associate for the Vietnam Fulbright Program, an international research and educational exchange sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies. She holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
