about the film / video clips / crew / cast / press
THERESE SHECHTER (Director/Producer) deftly uses humor-spiked, personal narrative to chronicle 21st Century feminism, and is proud to have been labeled a “Brazen Advocate of Slut Culture” by conservative bloggers. Aside from being the chief curator of All Things Virgin, she is the writer and director of the in-the-works documentary How to Lose Your Virginity.
Her first feature documentary, the award-winning I Was A Teenage Feminist, is a personal and political journey to discover why women have rejected a movement that changed their lives for the better. A recipient of a generous grant Jerome Foundation grant, it has screened from Stockholm to Delhi to Rio and continues to be a Woman Make Movies top-seller. Last year, Shechter was honored to screen the film and be a panelist in Belgrade at Serbia’s first-ever Women’s Film Festival.
Shechter is currently in post-production on How to Lose Your Virginity, and she also blogs about virginity and female sexuality. Recognized for her expertise while still in production , she was a panelist at Harvard University’s Rethinking Virginity conference last spring and has presented the talk “Feels Like the First Time: A Virginity Primer” for audiences as disparate as Nerd Nite at Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space and the Hunter College’s Women and Gender Studies Program.
Shechter has won coveted spots in the Doc Lab Master Class for Emerging Filmmakers (Toronto Hot Docs Festival, 2008) and was one of five filmmakers selected for the Paley Center DocFest 2009 Pitch Workshop, and in 2011 the film was shown as DocuClub’s rough cut screening for April and the IFP Project Forum.
Shechter’s award-winning short documentary How I Learned to Speak Turkish has screened internationally and is distributed by IndiePix. Her production company Trixie Films is based in New York, except when she’s in Istanbul or Toronto.
DINA GUTTMANN (Editor) has been a part of the documentary world since 1996, editing films shot all over the world. She edited several PBS films including INDEPENDENT SPIRITS (2001), National Geographicºs THE LAST ROYALS (2005), and A HEALING ART (2010); and many film festival successes such as COWGIRLS (2002 USA Film Festival finalist), ILONA, UPSTAIRS (HBO Audience Award, 2005 Provincetown Film Festival), and MEZZANOTTE OBSCURA (Best Short Documentary, 2010 Kent Film Festival). Dina received a Bachelors of Arts in architecture with a specialization in film from Columbia University. She and her producing partner, veteran editor Toby Shimin, run the production company Dovetail Films.
LISA ESSELSTEIN (Co-Producer) is an award-winning writer, producer and editor with more than seven years experience creating content for film and television. Her experience producing live-to-tape award shows for Spike TV and the United Nations led to the role of segment producer on Sundance Channelºs rock god music talk show, SPECTACLE: ELVIS COSTELLO WITH… She currently produces national promotional campaigns for Sundance Channel films and original series like BE GOOD JOHNNY WEIR, LIVE FROM ABBEY ROAD and the critically acclaimed ICONOCLASTS. Lisa got her start at IFC Films producing behind-the-scenes documentaries for festival favorites like JOE STRUMMER: THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN, TRANSAMERICA, SAVAGE GRACE and ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW.
JUDE RAY (Senior Consulting Producer) is an award-winning director, producer, and writer with wide-ranging experience creating social issue, cultural and historical documentaries and investigative reports. A recent film (Co-Director, Co-Creator and Executive Producer), TRACES OF THE TRADE: STORIES FROM THE DEEP NORTH, is about the legacy of slavery and its impact on race relations today. It premiered at the Sundance and Human Rights Watch Film Festivals and was part of PBS’s series, P.O.V. Integral to her film career is experience helping to create, design and implement national and international outreach campaigns for high-profile social issue documentaries.
ANNELIESE PAULL (Cinematographer) A graduate of NYU’s film and television production program, Anneliese Paull has shot dozens of short films and videos, including Liesel Davis’s UNDER THE HARLEM MOON for which she won the Nestor Almendros Cinematography award at the First Run Festival.† She has also shot two narrative features, including the romantic comedy PUSSYFOOT.† Most recently, she held camera/producer positions on ABC’s award-winning documentary series “Hopkins” and the upcoming “NYC Med,” as well as the reality shows “Parking Wars” for A&E and “All Worked Up” for truTV.† Her work may be viewed at her website.
RUBEN O’MALLEY (Cinematographer) shoots for film and television and was one of the DPs of I WAS A TEENAGE FEMINIST. Most recently Ruben completed production on three feature films, ONCE MORE WITH FEELING (dir. Jeff Lipsky), TWELVE THIRTY (dir. Jeff Lipsky, opening nationwide in August 2010) and HARVEST (dir. Marc Meyers). Building on a strong documentary shooting background and his own film GO ARMY, he continues to work in TV, with FORGOTTEN ELLIS ISLAND (NEH, American Experience) and INDY SEX (IFC) currently airing.
JENNA ROSHER (Cinematographer) Since graduating from USC√s Annenberg School of Journalism, Jenna Rosher has produced, directed and shot a wide variety of documentaries for film, television and the music industry. Ms. Rosher worked as one of two cinematographers on Jesus Camp, the award-winning documentary about an evangelical summer camp for kids. The film earned the Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, the Sterling Award for Best Documentary at the 2006 Silverdocs Film Festival as well as a 2007 Academy Award Nomination for Best Feature Documentary.
