Film Forum

Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah is a Contributing Writer for The New York Times Magazine where she writes cover stories. Her essays and articles have appeared in The Paris Review, The Believer, Bookworm, Transition, Rolling Stone, Virginia Quarterly Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Buzzfeed, and other publications. She has taught writing at Columbia University, Bard College, and the Virginia Quarterly Review’s Summer Institute, and has been interviewed on shows such as Buzzfeed’s ‘Another Round’ podcast, The New York Times’ ArtsBeat, the Longform podcast, and PBS NewsHour’s ‘Brief but Spectacular.’ Her profile of Dave Chappelle in The Believer was a finalist for the 2014 National Magazine Award. Junot Díaz has called her work ‘brilliant.’ She lives in New York.

Michelle Materre’s professional background spans decades of experience as film producer, writer, arts administrator, distribution/marketing specialist, film programmer and college professor. In 1992, the company she co-founded along with her three partners, KJM3 Entertainment Group, was responsible for the successful U.S. distribution and marketing of DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST. Her critically acclaimed film series, Creatively Speaking, has been a premiere forum for presenting works by and about women and people of color for twenty-one years. In February 2015, Creatively Speaking co-presented the unprecedented film series “Tell It Like it Is: Black Independents in NYC 1968-1986”, with The Film Society of Lincoln Center which was awarded the Film Heritage Award by the National Society of Film Critics. She recently co-produced the ground-breaking documentary by Crystal Emery, BLACK WOMEN IN MEDICINE, which was called an “inspiring doc” and “essential viewing” by film critic Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times. In addition to holding a position as Associate Professor of Media Studies and Film at The New School, Ms. Materre is also an independent media consultant, advising filmmakers and organizations on fundraising, distribution, marketing, and exhibition strategies. Ms. Materre is a current member of the Board of Directors of Women Make Movies; former member of the Board of Directors of New York Women in Film and Television; a recipient of the “Distinguished Teaching Award” from The New School in 2005; a recipient of The Pen and Brush Society’s “Accomplished Women in the Arts” Award; as well as a featured artist in the much-acclaimed annual journal documenting contemporary artists, Artist and Influence.

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