WIFV MM101 President Sara Barger and the Film Club
WIFV MM101 President Sara Barger and the Film Club[00:00:00] Welcome to media and monuments podcast presented by women in film and video in Washington, DC media and monuments is conversations featuring industry pros, speaking on a wide range of topics of interest. Two medium makers with is the premier women's media organization in the mid Atlantic region.
Welcome, and thank you for joining us on media and monuments podcast. My name is Tara Jabari and I'm your host. For this episode, we will be hearing from the whiff DC president, Sarah Barker, to discuss our events of 2021, her history with the organization and programs we are offering in 2020. We also hear from the whiff DC film club, another opportunity to build connections with fellow members of the film community.
So without [00:01:00] further ado, let's get started. I am Sara Barger and I'm the current president of women in film and video. Thanks Sarah for coming on the first media and monuments podcast episodes. How did you learn about with DC, um, your journey with, yeah, so I've actually been a whiff member on and off over the years since I graduated from American universities film program in 2005, which is dating me and I believe I had a professor who kept encouraging everyone to join with, and I didn't realize how great of a resource it was.
Um, and I'm sure you guys encounter this as well, where you're always telling people join with join with, but it's really hard to explain to us how great of an organization it is just from the name. But then I joined and I probably got my first dozen jobs from the whiff list serve directly. Just anytime I sell a PA job, I was just applying for.[00:02:00]
Since then I've gone on to have a great career in DC and was asked to join the board a few years ago and quickly became vice president. And now this year, president, some of the things that with DC and just these kinds of memberships offer to me, our most valuable resource is our listserv. It goes out to over 900 individuals and really just in addition to job, she has a wealth of resources.
I've used it when I was in an edit session and couldn't figure out how to get something in, after effects to work. And honestly, I ping the listserv and had seven people responding with the right answer within a couple of minutes. So the community that whiff has to me has always been the most important part in addition to all of our programs.
The pandemic has been pretty great as far as moving all of our programs online because there's so much more accessible to all [00:03:00] of our members in addition to presenters and speakers. So now you can have people from all over the world, sharing their wealth of information with our members and they don't have to fly to DC to host a workshop for which we've had panel discussions.
Last year, we had the directors from the movie, jingle jangle, come and talk to us about the making of that film and how it came to be in February. We're doing a four-part series on directing with Joan darling. I don't know if you're familiar with her, but she was the first woman ever nominated for an Emmy for television directing.
She got her started in the seventies and is still very active in the field. She's doing a four-part series for us Tuesdays from six to eight through February. And this is February, 2022. Yeah. Yeah. We've had people from all over the world come and do programs for us. I think we have someone in Taiwan or Japan, so we just scheduled it so that they were waking up and it was [00:04:00] like the end of the day for us.
But, and then our members really, I mean, so many people have left DC or moved out of the city during this pandemic. It's been really great that we can now provide. Networking events and programming for our members who are all over the country and really the world. I mean, Tara, you've been coming to events and you're able to do this podcast and you've been in Greece and everywhere else this year.
Yeah. That was something, I think it was towards the end of 2020 with DC hosts script DC, which is usually a weekend in October in DC, but we had to change. When the pandemic hit and we continued it where it was mostly virtual in 2020 and 2021. And I was able to moderate some of the panels. One was like film festivals.
When film festivals became all virtual. The filmmaker said, we were able to discuss our films with these tiny little rural [00:05:00] areas around the country and sometimes around the world that wasn't possible before. Like we're not going to, it's a lot of costs. It's a lot of energy to fly to a place in rural Pennsylvania to show your film in a small theater.
If it's from the comfort of your own home or wherever you are, you can still connect with audiences. And that was really special here and there. Like at the same time, you know, you don't get the same energy as if you were in person, but you take the good with the bad. I wasn't really located in DC anymore.
I was hopeful traveler and then the pandemic hit. So I was sedentary for a little. But now with vaccines out and just better protocols, I've been traveling more and I'm still able to call in and be a part of media and monuments podcast to speak with you and many others. And it's opened the doors while it's closed others.
Yeah, I will say I do miss [00:06:00] those in-person film festivals, zoom networking. Isn't the same. So while we've been doing, um, some zoom coffees and some happy hours, Once a month, we've been trying to bring back in person networking events, sadly, our annual holiday party, which normally happens in January. We ended up postponing this year.
We've done a couple of virtual open houses, which have been fantastic, but there's just nothing like getting in the same room with everyone. So we're waiting until March when hopefully the weather is a little bit warmer. Things might be a little bit safer to gather together. We're really looking for, to.
Getting more in-person events. We're going to keep some things online for the foreseeable future, just because they have been so accessible, but. At the end of the day, this is a social industry. You don't make movies in silos or any sort of media and in silos. So it is really important. Getting people out and networking.
We are fortunate enough this past year to throw 'em a small student film festival at the Wharf this fall. And that was a really great event. We had students [00:07:00] from every university in DC, as well as one high school student were able to screen their short film. We had a packed house outside. At DCS Wharf pier with a big screen projector on it.
So that was a really great event. We had another in person event in DuPont, at the Admiral with the Harvard club and TIVA and the actor's center. So hopefully we're going to do some more of those events. One's a worms back up again. We have a couple things I'm excited for coming up. We have our first queer meetups, LGBTQ, and I would love to get some yoga on the calendar.
Uh, just so we can have some events like that can be virtual until again, it warms up when we can be outside, but just events that don't necessarily have to revolve around drinking or coffee might be nice. And this time of year, I think we all need to be a little, take a little bit more time for us. And then we have this amazing new fellowship program coming up that is at least three years in the [00:08:00] making that's the narrative script development fellowship.
And that will be a nine month program that will help four to six fellows, which you must be a whiff member to be. Take their feature-length scripts from page to production. So if anyone's familiar with the docs in progress fellowship program, it will be very similar to that. But instead of for documentaries, this will be for narrative films and it will be for feature films as well.
So we're really excited about that program. In addition, we are in our second heading into our second year for our mentorship program. So if anyone's interested in being a mentor or getting, being a mentee. Please apply. I've been doing that program for a year and my mentee is amazing. I'm meeting with them this evening, in fact, to go over, getting their resume, ramped up and networking.
And this year was kind of a little bit more laissez-faire so to speak. And next year we're going to have a lot more structured programming. To really guide the program and take it to the next [00:09:00] level. So those are two things that we have coming up this spring that I'm super excited about. How can listeners find out more about everything that you were talking about?
The mentorship, the fellowship? Yeah, everything's on the whiff website. So that's just WIF fee.org. I really like using the calendar. So if you do with.org backslash calendar, you can find our calendar of events, but we can also probably post. For the right there, we will have it in our little description.
So listeners, you can just look through the description and we'll have them all linked up. Thank you so much. There's a lot of exciting things to look forward to.
Next up, we have a conversation with members of the whiff film club, Connie St. John Erica, Boston, and Kathy saw that the film club is a monthly movie watching club that meets online to discuss a different film. I kept the, in Erica, this is Connie and [00:10:00] we're the cohost of the whip building club. This has been so much fun.
I've loved being part of the film club. I've gotten to watch movies that either I've never seen before, or I haven't seen in a while. We've been watching some great movies and having really engaging discussions. It's been great to hear from such a variety of opinions on the films. It's fun to talk about movies, but especially from filmmakers, getting perspectives on structure and cinematography and themes, it adds a different element to the discussion.
I keep thinking about it. Like, you know, when you look at a work of art, right. And you see something and then the person sitting next to is like, but look at the flower, look at the bird, you know, and all of a sudden you're like, oh yeah, I didn't notice that. It's just been so interesting as we all watch the same movie, just to see what stands out to different people and realize I just saw the same movie and I didn't even notice [00:11:00] that.
I noticed it, but I had a completely different reaction to it. So it's been fun just seeing the different perspectives that everyone brings to the same film. Well, it's been really fun for me is when I watch movies with my family or friends, they're always so mad because I'm examining that dialogue.
Wasn't right. Or did you see what happened in the background, but like you're saying Kathy, when we're talking to other filmmakers, They're noticing things that as filmmakers it's important. And so it's a, it's like a peer conversation and a fan conversation, which is different. Yeah, definitely. What's been your favorite so far of the six movies we've seen, which one has been your favorite so far?
I will say the one we just watched the China syndrome. The more I watch film and appreciate film, the more it comes down to store. You can have a high production value in great costuming and [00:12:00] great soundtrack and whatever, if the story is not there. And that story was just so tight from the first beat, you just were on the edge of your seat and everything else, you know, the acting and locations, everything else was spot on as well, but I just love the China syndrome and I wouldn't have watched it, but for the film club, it was like on my list of films to watch.
And one day I was going to watch it and I finally got around to it because I had to be accountable to my fellow film club members. Erica. I don't have a favorite. I like different things for different reasons. And as we've kind of talked about some of the films we've watched, aren't things that I had necessarily seen, maybe it was something, it was on my list for a little while and just hadn't gotten around to it or something I hadn't seen in a long time.
And. Revisiting, it gave me a new appreciation, but honestly, I don't have a favorite. And I know that that seems like a, a [00:13:00] out, I will say that I'm looking forward to some of the things on our list that are upcoming. We've got some, some really great things in store for 2022. One of the ones I selected was enchanted April, and it's so wistful and I love and chanted April and takes me away.
If I had a favorite, it would probably be in chanted April, but it leads me to another question. We've collectively put the movies on the list. And we just throw on either what we're interested in seeing or what we're interested in, having someone else sees so we can hear their opinion, but how many of the films that you're selecting or films that you've never watched yourself?
I have watched everything that I put on the list for about seven or eight years. I've been keeping a list of moving. Like a movie diary. Sometimes I'll nominate a film based on something I've seen recently or, you know, I might kind of dig back through the list, but [00:14:00] I don't nominate it unless I have some kind of opinion on it already.
So, you know, the, the game starring Michael Douglas directed by David Fincher. When I nominated that, I remembered that I had enjoyed it. Hadn't seen it in a while. And so I decided to put that one on the. I will follow. That was one I'd put on the list and then Kathy nominated it or for her selection. And so, you know, that that was kind of cool.
Having someone else pick something that I had suggested. But yeah, it's always something that I have seen. I think for me, it's more, um, I use the film club to be my accountability partner, like a movie. I know, I should've seen, like, for example, the China syndrome, I hadn't seen it. I knew it was a great movie, putting it on the list, getting it up there.
It was going to force me to finally see it. Roma was another, I had seen Roma and I hated it the first time I knew everyone thought it was the greatest film and. [00:15:00] You know, such a darling, the year it came out and I said, I must be missing something. So I put that film on the list so that I could watch it again and hear what other people had to say.
And I loved it the second time. Like my eyes, I dunno, my eyes were opened or if something clicked in my brain, but I recognized it for the amazing film that it was on the second viewing. What I really like about film club it's I'm being exposed to more of the. I would, if I turned on the TV and saw what was streaming that month just forces you to go outside of your, your familiar territory, as we've experienced with some of the other movies, we can get some very lively discussions from that.
I definitely think the film club has made me a better, I mean, like we can all just sit down and watch a movie and be entertained right through film club. I've learned to appreciate things that I just. Think about before, just some of the comments people have made makes [00:16:00] me appreciate the art. That film is more than just, you know, the piece of entertainment, which is obviously still very important.
I really have learned to be a bit more educated as I watch. That's funny that you share that it's been a long time since I've been able to just watch a film, like a film goer. And so for me, I'm trying to select films that I was just in it just present and not until afterwards did I think through oh, wow.
That was really good for these reasons, because it's so hard for me to look at a film just for entertainment purposes. Maybe that's a reflection that you've been in the industry for a longer, and I'm relatively new to the entertainment world. And we have such a great group of people that have been joining us, people who have done all sorts of things in the entertainment world, some people who are just coming to the film club, more consumers, rather than people who've been involved in the production [00:17:00] side.
So it's nice getting that diversity of perspective. It's true. From your perspective, are you able to look at films from a consumer standpoint or are you looking at it as a filmmaker standpoint? Most of the time I've always find myself, at least for the first act, watching it as a filmmaker. I, and this is not just film club movies.
This is in general. I'm making mental notes about. Characters broad strokes and you know, what the inciting event is and turning points and you know what I think the theme could be and all kinds of things. And so it takes a little while to turn that off. Maybe once I feel like I have a solid direction about what the filmmakers.
Intent is maybe that's when my, my brain stopped trying to put together the puzzle pieces and can focus on the story a little bit more. But [00:18:00] I really think it depends as we've talked about in our film club discussions, there are so many things that can impact your viewing of the movie, even just to what you had going on that day can impact how you receive it compared to.
Watching it a second time. You'll you might have a completely different feeling about it. The discussions are the absolute best. You have some folks who have been with us, every single film. And then there are those that are starting to tune in now because they're starting to enjoy it, or they like the selection or whatever it might be.
With film club is a great way to get involved and connect around our shared love of films. I would say for anybody listening. Don't feel like you have to prepare, just watch the movie and then come. If you're someone who likes to talk there's opportunity. If you're someone who likes to do more listening, there's so many interesting perspectives shared.
And, uh, I always come away [00:19:00] from the film club meeting. Having learned something having learned about other films I want to go watch. Um, I'm always so impressed when people say, oh, it's like director so-and-so is film. I'm like, oh, who's that director. So-and-so, it's a easy way to learn a lot about the film craft in the film world.
And everyone with film club is free. Just coming in and being part of the conversation is free. And like you said, Erica, it's a really great way for people to learn more, not only about the films, but also about women in film and video DC, which is really great. So I've loved being one of the co-hosts. I actually adored both of you and I love the films that you've been selecting.
Yes, it has been awesome hosting with you, Connie and with Kathy, and it's bring your own popcorn with them. Club is the third, Monday of every month. It's at 7:30 PM for one hour. And to sign up all you do is go to [00:20:00] the whiff.org wi at, as in Frank, D as in victor.org website and click on the calendar. Look for the third Monday of the month and see what the film is going to be.
It gives a little description. It's got a link to sign up. It's free to sign up and watch the film in advance and then join us on the third, Monday at seven 30. Join us for the next episode of media and monuments podcast, where we will review our events of 2020. Thank you for listening to media and monuments, a service of women in film and video in Washington, DC.
Please remember to review, rate and subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast. For more information about width, please visit our website at w I F as in Frank, V as in victor.org.[00:21:00]