Dee Wallace Presented With Woman Of Influence Award At Women Filmmakers Showcase 2022 In Santa Monica

In honor of Women's History Month and Oscar weekend, Heartland Films, Inc., Cloud 21 PR International and Kultura PR International presented "Women Filmmakers Showcase 2022," a special panel event held at Laemmle Film Center Santa Monica on Oscar weekend. Following the panel was an exclusive cocktail reception at the Hypnomagnetism offices of holistic healer Richard Garnier, Ph.D.

The by-invitation-only event featured a panel of the top established names and rising stars of the industry, including Morgan Dameron, Anna Fishbeyn, Peggy McCartha, Tracy Vicory-Rosenquest, and Dee Wallace. Award-winning filmmaker Sue Vicory, founder of Heartland Films, moderated the hourlong panel, which she also curated.

At a special reception, Sue Vicory presented Dee Wallace with a special award. In making the presentation, Vicory said, "Making the difference, Woman of Influence awarded to Dee Wallace for her significant contribution within the film industry and world at large."

Event sizzle reel, spotlighting award presentation to Wallace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFF6f_lmK08

Full panel available to view:

Reception Interviews:

Joining Vicory, panelists, and event co-producers Nicole Goesseringer Muj and Gotham Chandna were holistic healer Richard Garnier, Ph.D., Gabrielle Stone, E! founder Larry Namer, Pooja Batra, BTYQWN's Mister D, Erika Stasiuleviciute, Dr. Jacqueline Nguyen, Maria Darkina, and many others.

Morgan Dameron is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker. She wrote, directed and produced feature film, Different Flowers, starring Emmy Award winner Shelley Long. The film premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, won Best Feature Film at KC Film Fest, and was released theatrically in 2017. Her script Monkey Girl placed on the 2019 Bitch List, the film industry's favorite scripts that pass the Bechdel Test, was selected for the second round of the Sundance Film Festival Production Track and was as second rounder for the 2019 Austin Film Festival. Her pilot script Upbeat! also advanced to the second round of the Austin Film Festival script competition. As a participant of Ryan Murphy's HALF Initiative, Ms. Dameron shadowed Gwyneth Horder-Payton on American Horror Story Season 7. She was also selected for the Paul Feig FUSE mentorship program, and a competitive Producers' Caucus grant.

Anna Fishbeyn, Founder and President of XOFeminist Productions and Anteriya Films, is an award-winning star of stage and screen, a filmmaker, director, author and actress. Her movie Galaxy 360: A Woman's Playground, which she wrote, directed and stars in, had its red carpet, world premiere during AFM 2021. The pre-release version of the film screened to a packed house at the Cannes and Big Apple film festivals and was a finalist of the Sundance New Frontier Exhibition. Ms. Fishbeyn wrote and starred in the award-winning web series Happy Hour Feminism and directed and starred in Invisible Alice, a short musical film is currently on the festival circuit. Pre-production has begun on her next movie How To Seduce Your Dinner Guest, as well as two optioned pilots for television, the comedy Healthy Nuts and the drama Infidelity Club.

Peggy McCartha has loved photography her whole life. She is known as the most industry-savvy headshot photographer in Los Angeles. She has brought over 30 years of professional photography experience into her cinematic expressions. Ms. McCartha has worked with some great cinematographers including Meosha Bean and the multi- Emmy Award-winning Michael Brueggemeyer. She has had the opportunity to be the cinematographer and director of photography for several great projects and enjoys being part of telling stories, especially thought-provoking stories that change our world. She has also enjoyed working as a 2nd assistant director, producer, and editor.

Tracy Vicory-Rosenquest is a playwright, screenwriter, teaching artist, entrepreneur, and mother living in Plattsburgh, NY. For 17 years, her stage plays have been produced in theaters across the US and Canada. Her screenplay, Avec Son Pinceau (With Her Paintbrush), was commissioned by Ita Bullard and was highlighted as part of the Indie Entertainment Showcase Panel hosted at Sundance Film Festival in January 2020.Her book After The Question was published in 2014 in conjunction with an award-winning documentary produced by Heartland Films. After the Question is now in pre-production to become an animation film. She is currently working on a commissioned screenplay with Heartland Films called The Latin Rose.

Dee Wallace was born Deanna Bowers and raised in a religious home in Kansas City, Kansas. She graduated from Kansas University with a degree in Theatre Education and taught a year of high school before leaving for New York to seek her fame and fortune in 1977. She soon landed co-star roles, which led to guest star parts, which led to films. Within four years after leaving Kansas, Blake Edwards cast her in the hit film 10, which led to Joe Dante's The Howling. Steven Spielberg saw her and called her in for an audition for Used Cars. She didn't book that, but Mr. Spielberg called her when E.T., The Extraterrestrial came around, and offered her the role of Mary. She went on to work for more greats like Lewis Teague (Cujo) and Peter Jackson (The Frighteners). Ms. Wallace is also a clairaudient channel and has written six books on the art of self-creation. She has a live radio show titled Conscious Creation and conducts monthly webinars on the subject.

The panel was moderated by three-time Telly Award-winning filmmaker Sue Vicory, who has been creating community-based films and projects within her not-for-profit production company Heartland Films, Inc. since 2003. Her works include Homelessness & the Power of One, feature documentaries One and Kansas City Jazz & Blues; Past, Present & Future and short films Absent and 1898, The W.F. Norman Story. In 2015, she founded Team XX, an all-female team of 25 filmmakers that created the award-winning film Down Stage.

She is the founder of womendocumentaryfilmmakers.com and recently premiered a historical documentary titled Original Jayhawker. Ms. Vicory was named the 2020 recipient of the French Riviera Film Festival's annual Industry Excellence Award and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award from Washburn University, her alma mater.

Event partners included Indie Entertainment Media , French Riviera Film Festival, filmfestivals.com, Hypnomagnetism, Social Sparkling Wine, and Chef Ryan Rondeno. Gift bag sponsors included Dr. J's Natural, Laritzy Cosmetics, Mesolyft, My Power of One, Nature2U, Peaches Skincare, and Skin Co USA. The event partnered with luxury silk scarf designer DiFiore New York, which will donate $30 from each sunflower scarf sold to the people of Ukraine.

Cloud 21 PR International and Kultura PR International have produced numerous successful industry special events, including the annual "Global Film Showcase" in partnership with ROSKINO during the Cannes Film Festival and Marché du Film, the annual "Production Without Borders" event during AFM, the annual "Indie Entertainment Showcase" in Park City, and "A Salute to Akira Kurosawa" with China's Jinke Entertainment in Cannes in 2017, plus many others. The companies have co-produced events and worked with top entertainment and technology brands, including E! Entertainment Television, Eurocinema, Metan Global Entertainment Group, 8K Miles Media Group, Maverick Entertainment, Sony Interactive, Oculus, Cinando, Euromed, ECU Film Festival, Creative Coalition, Davines North America, Vesilind, FanVestor, plus many others.

Photo credit: Tshombe Sampson

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