Join the Women’s and Gender History Working Group for a screening of the Oscar-shortlisted documentary The Janes, a film about the women of the Jane Collective, an underground network for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions in 1970s Chicago. The screening will be followed by a discussion with directors Emma Pildes ’02 and Tia Lessin moderated by Associate Dean Lyde Sizer, history faculty.
Emma Pildes is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and Director/Producer of The Janes. As a principal producer at Pentimento Productions, Pildes produced Spielberg, Jane Fonda in Five Acts, and Very Ralph — all for HBO, with premieres at Sundance Film Festival, Cannes, and New York Film Festival. Pildes’s other producing work includes the Emmy and Peabody Award–winning LennoNYC and the Emmy Award–winning Inventing David Geffen.
Tia Lessen has been nominated for an Academy Award for her work as a director and producer of the Hurricane Katrina survival story Trouble the Water, winner of the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Gotham Independent Film Award. She directed and produced Citizen Koch, about the rise of the Tea Party in the Midwest. Tia received the Sidney Hillman Award for Broadcast Journalism for directing the documentary short Behind the Labels. She has produced Palme D’Or winning Fahrenheit 9/11, Academy Award-winning Bowling for Columbine, the Grammy-winning No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, and Where to Invade Next. Her work on the television series The Awful Truth earned her two Emmy nominations, one arrest, and a lifetime ban from Disneyland.
This event will be held on Sarah Lawrence’s campus and is open to the entire community. The discussion following the screening at 8:00 PM ET will be available for in-person or virtual participation.