by Terry Haycock, PenPoints Editor
Jan Lisa Huttner Wins 'Oscar'
by Terry Haycock, PenPoints Editor
Each year, IWPA presents the Silver Feather Award to the member winning the
most categories in the Communications Competition. This year the award went
to film advocate Jan Lisa Huttner, managing editor of FILMS FOR TWO: The
Online Guide for Busy Couples, a website devoted to promoting films of interest
to both male and female audience members. Because Jan has been so instrumental
in promoting film, this year instead of a plaque we surprised Jan with a statue
fashioned after the film Oscars presented annually in Hollywood.
Jan is the author of numerous interviews with filmmakers such as directors Gurinder
Chadha (What's Cooking?, Bend It Like Beckham, and Bride & Prejudice),
Lisa France (Anne B. Real), Ivy Meeropol (Heir to an Execution),
Mira Nair (Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding and Vanity Fair),
Sally Potter (The Man Who Cried, Orlando, The Tango Lesson, and Yes),
and Alice Wu (Saving Face), producer Maggie Renzi (Girlfight, Lone
Star, Silver City and Sunshine State), and screenwriters Pamela Katz
(Rosenstrasse), Barbara Turner (Pollock and The Company), and
Lizzy Weiss (Blue Crush). She was also the first person to post an in-depth
interview with Professor Martha Lauzen, the woman most responsible for defining
and tracking the "Celluloid Ceiling" (which continues to restrict
opportunities for women filmmakers in Hollywood and beyond).
A regular contributor to the World Jewish Digest (published monthly in
Chicago and distributed internationally), Jan also writes a regular film column
for the bimonthly newspaper Chicago Woman. Her film-related articles
have been published in the Forward and the JUF News, and posted on various
websites including Critic Doctor, DVDWolf, Picklebird, Really Good Films,
Reel Chicago and Women's eNews. Since joining IWPA, Jan has served
as program and Printer's Row booth chair and has been instrumental in raising
our awareness of women involved in filmmaking.
Jan received a B.A. from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland (the "Great
Books" school), and Masters degrees in Psychology from Harvard University
and the University of Chicago. An active member of AAUW (the American Association
of University Women) since 1982, Jan currently holds the position of Director
of College/University Relations on the AAUW-Illinois Board. She also holds memberships
in CAWHC (the Chicago Area Women's History Network), and Hadassah's AGAM chapter.
In 2004, she began coordinating a new initiative called WITASWAN (Women in the
Audience Supporting Women Artists Now) to mobilize consumer support for women
filmmakers.
We are pleased to present Jan with her first 'Oscar' and wish her many more!