Susan Koch – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

AWFJ @ Middleburg Film Festival – Sandie Angulo Chen reports

October 23, 2024October 22, 2024 Sandie Angulo Chen cortland jacoby, jazz tangcay, lauren bradshaw, Lauren Veneziani, leslie combemale, mae abdulbaki, Middleburg FF 2024, Middleburg Film Festival, roxana hadadi, sandie angulo chen, Susan Koch

Eight members of the Alliance of Women Filmmakers members convened at Middleburg Film Festival 2024 for the festival’s program of high profile films and to interview and mingle with the celebrated artists who’d been invited to present their work. DC-based members Mae Abdulbaki, Lauren Bradshaw, Sandie Angulo Chen, Leslie Combemale, Roxana Hadadi, Cortland Jacoby, Lauren Veneziani and LA-based member Jazz Tangcay were invited to attend the festival’s annual Women in Film luncheon. AWFJ is honored to be part of the covering press corps and delighted to share some of the attending members’ highlight moments of this year’s festival.

Festivals

AWFJ @ Middleburg Film Festival 2023 – Sandie Angulo Chen reports

October 30, 2023November 3, 2023 Sandie Angulo Chen jazz tangcay, lauren bradshaw, Lauren Veneziani, leslie combemale, Mae Abdulaki, Middleburg Film Festival, Middleburg Film Festival 2023, nell minow, roxana hadadi, sandie angulo chen, sheila johnson, Susan Koch

The Middleburg Film Festival turned eleven this year, showcasing 39 feature and documentary films in the bucolic Virginia town just an hour from Washington, D.C. The festival, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Sheila Johnson and run by executive director Susan Koch, always highlights women filmmakers and an impressive slate of titles. This year, the festival’s Best Narrative Feature went to American Fiction, written and directed by Cord Jefferson; Best Documentary Feature went to Invisible Nation, directed by Vanessa Hope; Best International Feature was director J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow; and the Special Presentation Audience Award went to filmmaker Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers’ The Last Repair Shop

Festivals

Middleburg Film Festival 2022: Female Focus – Leslie Combemale reports

October 18, 2022October 19, 2022 Leslie Combemale Gina Prince-Bythewood, jazz tangcay, Middleburg Film Festival, sheila johnson, Susan Koch, Terilyn Shropshire

The Middleburg Film Festival marked its 10th year in operation this October, and as founder Sheila Johnson and director Susan Koch have done from the start, they made the celebration of women in film both in front of and behind the camera one of the major priorities of the fest. There were 16 female-helmed films represented in the fest out of the 44 shown, including several by women of color, and many of those films also have female heads of departments, which is, of course, important to advancing gender parity overall.