Guest Post: Highlighting New Directing Talent

With a strong background in stop-motion animation, director Trisha Gum, currently assistant director at Robot Chicken, debuts her first live action short, LOSING FERGUSON. After the death of her family, a woman rekindles a relationship with her childhood imaginary friend. "As a female filmmaker it is important to me to tell stories from a woman's point of view. I love creating stories with strong and interesting female leads. Losing Ferguson gave me the opportunity to explore a quirky but lovable leading lady as well as her furry and cute imaginary best friend. It was amazing to see this script come to life and I am honored to have had a talented crew to help me make this film"- Trisha Gum

Playwright and filmmaker Jane Pickett explores explicit themes of male sexuality, intimacy, and the concept of public decency in her emotionally charged short film THE MEN’S ROOM, when a young man ventures into a park for a sexual encounter with a stranger.  "I read somewhere that shorts provide a good form for getting at controversial subject matter. That immediately grabbed me. And soon after, during one of my daily walks in Griffith Park, I passed by two guys checking each other out at a fork in the road. Now they may have just been hanging out, but nonetheless, it got me thinking about gay cruising in public and the heavily debated issues that come up there. It struck me how cinematic this kind of moment is ... how one must pick up and send out visual cues of interest meanwhile maintaining a public image of nonchalance" - Jane Pickett

Actress (SCRUBS) and writer-director Kit Pongetti follows two best friends as they camp out in a car and spy on parties in her coming-of-age film STAKEOUT - a story inspired by personal experience and pulled from her feature, GUY SPIES, set in 1986. "Stakeout is based on an autobiographical feature (Guy Spies) that I co-wrote with a friend from high school, about two teenaged best friends who stakeout parties instead of attending them.  But I what I really wanted to explore with the short, is the transformation that we went through - that every relationship goes through - when two people realize they want different things or are growing at different paces" -  Kit Pongetti

Music video director Bridget Palardy features Academy Award-nominated Karen Black in her original musical OOWIEWANNA. Her story follows a misfit 7 year-old who, transported to a vibrant other-world made of laundry, must face her deepest insecurities to escape intact.  “At it's heart, OowieWanna is a simple story about a little girl trying to overcome an insecurity.  By having our protagonist enter a fantasy world, we were able to dramatize this internal struggle into an epic psychedelic quest. OowieWanna was a collaborative art project at every step of the way-- from the music to the puppets to the production design.  I couldn't have asked for a more incredible cast and crew” - Bridget Palardy

The 2012 Directing Workshop for Women Showcase is today, May 8th, at 7:30pm. The DGA is located at 7920 W. Sunset Blvd. RSVP here.

More information on the eight directors and their films.