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THE HOT PINK PEN

Focus on Women Filmmakers

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:
Because the Pen is Mightier than the Sword!

What?

WITASWAN:

WOMEN IN THE AUDIENCE SUPPORTING WOMEN ARTISTS NOW 

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WHY WITASWAN?

(Click on the link above to visit the WITASWAN site, or read about the shocking statistics that sparked its “birth” below.)

2002:    In the Sunday New York Times, Jan read an article about the “Celluloid Ceiling.” The article, quoting statistics by Communications Professor Martha Lauzen, was so outrageous that Jan, a longtime member of AAUW, was sparked to action. She wrote a letter to the Times, they published it, and a new project was launched.

2003:    Working with Program VP Linda Henning Cohen, Jan presented a workshop at the AAUW-Illinois Spring Convention. 42 people attended, including Penny Parish, Donna Sprotson, and many others who have since become critical to WITASWAN’s success. They watched A Jury of Her Peers together, and the power of the film, combined with the subsequent discussion with filmmaker Sally Heckel, resonated with all who were there that day. Branches began inviting Jan to come speak.

2004:    At the summer board meeting, President Kim Benziger and the AAUW-Illinois Board asked Jan to provide an update for the five Fall District Conferences, so the project needed a name. After weeks of brainstorming with input from over two dozen AAUW-Illinois members, Barbra Zeitz had a brilliant insight: with a slight but significant modification to the acronym WITASWA, we could all be swans. Everyone agreed: We were “Women in the Audience Supporting Women Artists NOW!” The roll-out began at Illinois Valley Community College on October 2, 2004, and we’ve been growing ever since.

>Support WITASWAN and become a “swan.” Through our support for women filmmakers, we will redefine what consumers get to see on their movie screens, and as Martha Lauzen told Jan during their 2003 chat:

“IF WE CHANGE MEDIA MESSAGES, WE CHANGE THE WORLD.”

>Read Jan’s 2003 chat with Martha Lauzen.

>Read 2007 article about WITASWAN in the Chicago Reader.

>Read the 2006 “Celluloid Ceiling” report by Martha Lauzen, Ph.D.

>Read the 2002 “Celluloid Ceiling report by Martha Lauzen, Ph.D.

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