Jen Ahlstrom, Finance Coordinator (x304) financeassist@wmm.com
Jen Ahlstrom, originally from New Jersey, graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut with a degree in Music and moved to Spanish Harlem soon afterwards.  A long-time video editing aficionado with internship experience at major TV networks as well as small independent production companies, she decided to take a position at a documentary film company that specialized in international films about tea (yes, tea the drink). She worked there as marketing coordinator, finance coordinator, and office manager for over two years while pursuing music on the side.  After moving to Brooklyn in 2008, she traveled to San Francisco to record her first record of original music, a project entitled Elizabeth Rex(www.elizabethrex.com), which will be released in Fall 2009.  She is also the keyboard player/singer in a 70s cover band.  She joined WMM as finance coordinator in 2009 and is happy to be supporting films by and about women.

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Jessica Drammeh, IT / Facilities Coordinator (x316) jdrammeh@wmm.com
Jessica has been involved in the independent film community in New York for 10 years, and has experience in production, distribution, exhibition and non-profit administration. After earning her B.F.A. in Film and Television Production from New York University with a minor in Africana Studies, she worked at distributor Kino International, the IFP/NY, Film Forum and was Post-Production Associate on Thomas Allen Harris' E Minha Cara/That's My Face. As an independent filmmaker, she has concentrated on social issue documentaries, and has been the recipient of mentorships from the Center for Asian American Media, IFP’s Project:Involve, and Film/Video Arts. Jessica has also been active in progressive mixed race community work. She is delighted to be a part of the Women Make Movies team.

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Beth Federici, Production Assistance Program Manager
(x302) bfederici@wmm.com
Beth Federici is an independent filmmaker, educator and media activist. Most recently she co-directed/produced the feature length documentary SPACE, LAND AND TIME: Underground Adventures with Ant Farm, a film that delves into the work of the renegade 1970s art/architecture collective best known for its iconic Texas land-art piece Cadillac Ranch. In 2008, she co-directed/produced the feature documentary Neither Here Nor There, which documents a Bosnian refugee family making Missouri their new home while struggling to come to terms with the past they left in Srebrenica. She also spearheaded Columbia Access Television, the public access television channel and media center in Columbia Missouri and served as Executive Director from 2004-2008. Federici was awarded three gold Telly awards while producing/editing for the Columbia Channel in Columbia, Missouri, as well as a Merit Finalist award from the Worldfest Houston film festival for her documentary Bauhaus Gotham.

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Tracie Holder, Consultant - Production Assistance Program
(x307) tholder@wmm.com
As the Program Consultant for the Production Assistance Program, Tracie organizes skill building workshops, a Meet the Funder series, and works with fiscally sponsored filmmakers to fine tune their funding proposals, screen rough cuts and provide fundraising advice. When she is not consulting for WMM, Tracie is making films. She is the co-producer/director/
writer of JOE PAPP IN FIVE ACTS, a feature-length documentary and a co-production with PBS/American Masters which is in the final stages of completion. For this project, she has been awarded funding from numerous public and private foundations including: NEA, NEH, NYSCA, NYCH, the Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Sulzberger Foundation, CPB, PBS/American Masters, ITVS, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, among others. An active member of NYC’s local film community, Tracie has served on the boards of New York Women in Film & Television and Manhattan Neighborhood Network, and she has been a guest lecturer at many film organizations and universities. Just recently, she received a Masters in Non-Profit Management from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service.

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Maya Jakubowicz, Finance & Administrative Manager (x309) mjakubowicz@wmm.com
Maya Jakubowicz joined WMM in June of 2007 as the Finance & Administrative Manager. Born and raised in Los Angeles, film was an integral part of her childhood and unsurprisingly blossomed into a career. After graduating with a Film Studies degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, she returned to L.A. to work in film production. Her early career included the obligatory production assistant jobs on independent films; internships at both Samuel Goldwyn Films and Trimark Pictures; and finally, an assistant position at Montana Artists Agency, a below-the-line talent agency. Maya moved her way up the ranks and by the end of her seventh year she oversaw all day-to-day operations as the Vice President of Finance & Operations. Deciding that her run at Montana was a long and fulfilling one, she chose to accompish another long term goal --- living in New York City. In May 2007, she moved to Brooklyn in order to experience some East Coast living. Responsible for the Finance, Operations, and Human Resources functions at WMM, Maya is excited to have become part of the WMM team.

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Andrea Janes, Distribution Coordinator (x312) ajanes@wmm.com
Andrea Janes joins Women Make Movies after several years in independent film distribution at Kino International, where she started as an intern and eventually became Assistant Director of Sales.  A native of Canada, she has a degree in Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto and has worked at Hot Docs and the Toronto International film festivals.  Following a summer internship at NYC-based production company Five Spot Films, she decided she had to live in New York City and enrolled in a master's program in Liberal Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center in 2003.  After obtaining her M.A., she worked as a development intern at CineMosaic where she learned the science of reading screenplays, until one fateful day she picked up a DVD of Sherlock Junior, called the number on the back, and procured her internship at Kino.  Since then she has learned the art of film distribution, watched a lot of movies, written several screenplays, and developed her twin infatuations with film and New York City history (she will talk about Mabel Normand, Preston Sturges, and 17th century New Netherland for as long as you will let her). Andrea is grateful to be living and working in a cinephile's paradise.

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Shahira Motani, Online Marketing & Outreach Coordinator (x317)
smotani@wmm.com
Shahira Motani was born and raised in New Jersey. She graduated from Rutgers University in 2009 with a BA in Communication and a BS in Psychology. She then interned at Passion River Films in NJ during her senior year, where she discovered an interest in Marketing, and was hired after graduation as Interactive Marketing Manager. Now, one year later, she’s been hired as the Online Marketing & Outreach Coordinator at Women Make Movies and has made the exodus to The Big Apple. Shahira loves traveling to the West Coast and watching independent comedies, especially those that feature celebrities before they became famous. She’s excited to be working in NYC and to be a part of the WMM team!

Amy O'Hara, Office Manager (x300) ao@wmm.com
After graduating from Bard College, Amy O’Hara taught English at Europa Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt and der Oder, Germany, worked at Kitchen Sink Press in Northampton, MA and finally landed in Provincetown, MA where she spent 9 years first working as a chef and then as the office manager at the Fine Arts Work Center. Throughout her teenage years and adulthood Amy has been flirting with film, from creating movies with her brother and cousins as a teenager to working at small, independently owned cinemas and video stores to doing craft service for friends’ movie productions. Recently relocated to New York City, Amy is thrilled to be a part of Women Make Movies.

Abby Peck, Marketing Manager (x306) apeck@wmm.com
Abby Peck is excited to join Women Make Movies as the Marketing Manager. Previously, she was the Events Manager for Jewish Funds for Justice, a progressive social justice organization. From 2006-2008, she was the Events, PR and Communications Manager for The Hetrick-Martin Institute, the oldest and largest LGBTQ youth agency in the nation. A Maine native, but raised in Ohio, she received her BA in English from Kenyon College and then flew off to London, where she lived for the next three years, obtaining an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of London, Birkbeck College. She returned to America in 1999, settled in New York City, and has spent the last decade enjoying life in the greatest city in the world.

Julie Whang, Sales & Marketing Manager (x320) jwhang@wmm.com
A west coast native, Julie has been living and working in NYC since 1995. She received her BA in Visual Arts Media from the University of California, San Diego where her passion for film and video began. Her first job in NYC was with WMM, starting as an intern, moving up to shipper and then Distribution Manager. After four years at WMM she left to pursue an MS in Nonprofit Management at New School University. She worked in various nonprofits until one day, she was led to a job in financial services marketing. After seven years, Julie returns to WMM as the Sales and Marketing Manager.

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Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director
(x301) dzimmerman@wmm.com
Debra Zimmerman has been the Executive Director of Women Make Movies, a non-profit NY based film organization which supports women filmmakers, since 1983. During her tenure it has grown into the largest distributor of films by and about women in the world and our internationally recognized Production Assistance Program has helped hundreds of women get their films made. Films from WMM have won prizes at the last three Sundance Film Festivals including THE OATH by Laura Poitras, ROUGH AUNTIES, Best Documentary World Cinema and Best Director, Natalia Almada for EL GENERAL. She is in great demand around the world as a speaker on independent film distribution, marketing and financing as well as on women's film. She has moderated panels and given master classes at the Sundance Film Festival, MIPDOC and Reel Screen as well as film festivals in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. Zimmerman has been closely affiliated with the International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) as the co-host of the Talk of the Day and as a tutor for their Summer Film Academy. In addition, she has mentored filmmakers at the Ex-Oriente Film Workshop in Vienna and for many years at the National Alliance of Latino Independent Producers’ (NALIP) Academy. She has consulted with foundations and non-profit arts organizations, most recently as a member of the Gender Montage Advisory Board project for the Soros Foundation’s Open Society Institute. She is also a member of numerous Advisory Boards for media and film organizations, including the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC); the Banff World Television Conference; The Center for Social Media at American University, Cinema Tropical, NY; Cine-Arts Afrika, Kenya, and the Black Lily Film Festival in Philadelphia. She has also been a jury member for many international film festivals, and regularly sits on foundation and government funding panels. Most recently she served on the NJ State Council on the Arts media panel and the Pew Charitable Trust’s prestigious Media Fellowship panel as well as on the jury for the Leipzig Documentary Film Festival and the Cleveland International Film Festival.

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