NYWIFT Industry Screening: A Conversation with Gloria Steinem and “A Life Too Short” director Safyah Zafar Usmani (A Film about Honor Killing in Pakistan)

Join us on Friday, December 18th for a pre-recorded conversation with
A Life Too Short Director Safyah Zafar Usmani moderated by Gloria Steinem

Produced by Academy-Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, A Life Too Short examines the startling tragedy behind the killing of Pakistani activist and social media star, Qandeel Baloch.  A vocal, provocative proponent of women’s rights and freedom of expression, Qandeel challenged the highest ranks of power in her country with her open exclamation of women’s equality and sexuality. Her bravery and outspokenness ended in chilling violence that reverberates around the world. 

Watch the film: A link will be sent
Watch the Conversation: Friday, December 18th at 6PM EST
Cost: Free 

Register

Moderated by writer, political activist, and feminist organizer, Gloria Steinem.

Panelists:

Safyah Zafar Usmani, a Pakistan based Director/Producer/Writer works on creating socially motivated content to foster discourse on the rights of marginalized individuals. She uses her work to explore the concept of identity – how it is shaped and its correlation to one’s status in the society. Having worked in half a dozen countries over the last few years, Safyah has immense exposure in the international market in addition to maintaining an impressive understanding of stories from Pakistan. She has produced and directed across many formats- including TV Soap Operas, TV Commercials, Digital Video Commercials, Music Videos, Public Service Messages and Documentaries- to tell stories related to honor killing, child marriages, abortion rights, LBTQI issues, racial injustice, rape survivors and right to quality education. Her work has traveled across film festivals, been appreciated on NPR and broadcasted on Al Jazeera as well as Pakistani channels reaching an audience across continents. Safyah is a Fulbright alumna and holds an MFA in filmmaking from Wake Forest University. 

Gloria Steinem is a writer, political activist, and feminist organizer. She was a founder of New York and Ms. magazines, and is the author of The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off, My Life on the Road, Moving Beyond Words, Revolution from Within, and Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, all published in the United States, and in India, As If Women Matter. She co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Free to Be Foundation, and the Women’s Media Center in the United States. As links to other countries, she helped found Equality Now, Donor Direct Action, and Direct Impact Africa. For her writing, Steinem has received the Penney-Missouri Journalism Award, the Front Page and Clarion awards, the National Magazine Award, the Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Writers Award from the United Nations, and the University of Missouri School of Journalism Award for Distinguished Service in Journalism. In 1993, her concern with child abuse led her to co-produce an Emmy Award–winning TV documentary for HBO, Multiple Personalities: The Search for Deadly Memories. She and Amy Richards co-produced a series of eight documentaries on violence against women around the world for VICELAND in 2016. In 2013, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. In 2019, she received the Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum. She is the subject of Julie Taymor’s upcoming biopic, The Glorias, set to premier in Fall 2020.

Courtesy of MTV Documentary Films