WIFVNE 2019 Annual Meeting

Special Guest:  Lisa Simmons

Lisa Simmons is the Director and curator of the Roxbury International Film Festival (RoxFilm), now in its 21st year, and Director of the Color of Film Collaborative, whose mission it is to support filmmakers, and present films and film programs that celebrate people of color around the world. In addition, Ms. Simmons is a Program Manager with the Community Initiative at the Mass Cultural Council. Ms. Simmons has produced theater and film in the Boston area, published and presented on the Negro Theater Project of the WPA and is working on a documentary about the Boston Negro Theatre Unit. She is the recipient of the GK Top 100 Influential People of Color Award, Image Award from WIFVNE, Diversity award from Our Place Theater Project, Leadership award from the Urban League Guild of Eastern Massachusetts and The President’s Award for Leadership from Dimock Community Health Center.

Special Guest:  Carol Conley

Carol Conley is the Assistant to the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office, a division of the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts. A New York native, Carol moved to Rhode Island in 1995. She has traveled the globe as a Tour Director and has participated in theater as an actor, producer and front of house. She has done voice-over work and appeared in movies, television shows, commercials, and industrials before going to work behind the scenes at the Film & Television Office in 2004. In 2015 she wrote, directed, executive produced and edited her first short film, PENITENCE, which has won numerous awards at film festivals across the country. She has also received the Rhode Island International Film Festival’s Producer’s Circle Award and Imagine Magazine’s Imaginnaire Award for her work with the New England film industry. She has written several additional short scripts which will go into production soon.

Keynote Speaker:  Michele Meek, Ph.D.

Dr. Michele Meek is a writer, filmmaker, professor, and the founder/publisher of NewEnglandFilm.com. In 2019, she published her edited compilation Independent Female Filmmakers: A Chronicle Through Interviews, Profiles, and Manifestos with Routledge, a book highlighting 15 legendary North American female filmmakers. She has written and directed numerous award-winning short films, including most recently Imagine Kolle 37 (2017), and she worked as associate producer on the documentary feature Salvage (2019), which premiered at SXSW Film Festival. Her scholarly research focuses on depictions of sexual consent in media and literature, and she presented her 2018 TEDx talk “Why We’re Confused About Consent—Rewriting Our Stories of Seduction," which is available on YouTube. She is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Studies department at Bridgewater State University, where she teaches film studies, digital media, and screenwriting. More info at www.michelemeek.com.