 | THE HOT PINK PEN is an advocate for women directors & screenwriters, creative filmmakers who are generally overlooked by the mainstream media. Even when their work is noticed, however, it's often misunderstood &/or rudely demeaned. THE HOT PINK PEN is now here to right these wrongs, & help women (& men) in audiences everywhere find wonderful films by women filmmakers. THE HOT PINK PEN: |
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Very bummed about missing 40th high school reunion this weekend L RB & I arrived @ O’Hare ~ 9:30 on Friday to board 11 AM flight, but by 3 PM after 2 cancelled flights, we realized some things are simply “not meant to be,” at which point we limped back to UNITED & begged them for our luggage… Hope you all had a great time, sniff, sniff! XOX, Jan
12.Sep.09 
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Kudos to filmmaker Ibtisam Mara’ana—her wonderful doc (renamed CONTESTANT NO. 2) premieres tonight on the PBS series WIDE ANGLE. Ibtisam’s film was my Top Pick in the “Doc” category in last year’s Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema & I’m delighted to learn it’s now available to all.
Message to Ibtisam: Hooray J
30.Jul.09 zBackfill/Misc Read more Comments (0)
Based on mid-year stats, SUNSHINE CLEANING (directed by Christine Jeffs & based on an original screenplay by Megan Holley) is already one of ’09 big Indie winners: Hooray! Hooray! Open IndieWIRE article & read to the bottom, & you will see that THE HURT LOCKER is following a similar distribution path.
So do your part & go to see THE HURT LOCKER as soon as it opens in a theatre near you! And if you haven’t seen SUNSHINE CLEANING yet, then you should definitely watch it soon on DVD.
Click HERE to read my FWA review of SUNSHINE CLEANING.
And click HERE to read my FWA review of THE HURT LOCKER.
24.Jul.09 zBackfill/Misc Read more Comments (0)
One of last year’s best films premieres on HBO tonight! TROUBLE THE WATER is a not-to-be-missed documentary by Tia Lessin & Carl Deal featuring footage shot by rap artist Kimberly Roberts as she faced the rising waters of Hurricane Katrina. TROUBLE THE WATER is a must-see film, included on our FF2 ‘08 TWOZIES List.
Click HERE for HBO schedule information.
Click HERE to read my full review for the Fund for Women Artists.
23.Apr.09 zBackfill/Misc Read more Comments (0)
Sending best wishes to all our cyber friends!
Jan (& Rich)
PS: I didn’t add the pink bow. It came on the card. How perfect!
13.Feb.09 zBackfill/Misc Read more Comments Off
Click here to download “Jan’s Inauguration Kit” as a pdf.
I have updated my Café Press items for Inauguration Day. Enjoy J
20.Nov.08 zBackfill/Misc Read more Comments (0)
Read Melisssa Silverstein’s article about Lauzen’s important new recent research! Women in the audience are NOT a “niche.” We are approximately half of humanity & therefore approximately half of all potential ticket buyers, so it’s time we demand the kind of films WE want to see!!!
14.Nov.08 zBackfill/Misc Read more Comments (0)
Hard copies of the Sept/Oct ’08 issue of University of Chicago Magazine are now arriving in snail mail boxes. If you’ve got one but you don’t know where to look for Ruth Kott’s profile of yours truly, just turn to page 52! A very good friend of mine said something truly wonderful this evening: “Jan, you’ve been talking about all of this for years now, but even though I wear my SWAN pin proudly all the time, this is the first time I really appreciate its true significance.” Bravo, Ruthie: You’ve done it! You’re a great writer!
23.Sep.08 zBackfill/Misc Read more Comments (0)
To all my
Special message to all of my sisters who supported Hillary Clinton (as I have since 1991!!!), let there be NO QUESTION in your mind about what to do next. As my t-shirt proudly declares: Hillary has my Heart; Barack has my Vote!!!
Special message to friends outside Illinois who ask why we’re invoking Abraham Lincoln in our Cafe Press items. (”Wasn’t Lincoln a Rebublican?”) Abraham Lincoln said many important things, but the one with most resonance today is: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Rich & I decry the implicit racism of Sarah Palin’s seemingly innocent remark: “America grows good people in small towns.” And we are SURE that “Honest Abe” would agree!!!
22.Sep.08 zBackfill/Misc Read more Comments (0)
Eddie Huttner would have been 86 today. Planet Earth lost him in 1991, but he’s still here with me in spirit every single day. One day in the late 80s, we were walking around Chicago during one of his periodic visits, & my father said to me: “Jan, I’ve made a lot of money in my life and I’ve spent a lot of money in my life, but the money I’m most proud of is the money that sent you to college.” Of course, when he said “a lot of money,” he said that from the perspective of a man who had once been a labor union organizer!
My Dad worked as a paperhanger alongside his brother Leon & his brother-in-law Benny (much like the family in AVALON), & then he became a wallcovering subcontractor. He worked very hard, so we were always comfortable but never flush. When my Dad sent me to St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD (”the Great Books school“), he really did pay every dime of my tuition with satisfaction & pride. So as you read this blog, please remember my Dad: a hard-working Jewish guy who really, really believed that “great books make great teachers,” & education is mankind’s best hope.
11.Aug.08 zBackfill/Misc Read more Comments (2)
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