Don't miss out this opportunity to win a remarkable chance to talk to one of Hollywood's most important directors, Joyce Chopra! You can ask her about being a woman director, discovering Laura Dern and her upcoming memoir.
Joyce has produced and directed a wide range of award-winning films, ranging from "Smooth Talk", winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature at the Sundance Film Festival, to the A&E thriller "The Lady in Question" with Gene Wilder. She has received American Film Festival Blue Ribbon and Cine Golden Eagle Awards for her numerous documentaries, including "That Our Children Will Not Die", about primary health care in Nigeria, and the autobiographical "Joyce at 34", which is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Joyce was born in New York City and after graduating from Brandeis, she and a partner opened a European-style coffee house in Boston where everyone from Joan Baez to Bob Dylan performed. Her own film career began with documentary filmmaking in 1963 and gained recognition by feminist film scholars with her autobiographical documentary "Joyce at 34" (1974). The film stars Chopra and examines the effect her pregnancy and motherhood had on her career. Her first narrative, feature-length film, "Smooth Talk" (1985), was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Director and won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival. The film is an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates', "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", and was adapted by Joyce's husband, Tom Cole. Her second feature-length film, "The Lemon Sisters", was made in conjunction with producer and star Diane Keaton. The film explores the long-term female friendships between Eloise (Diane Keaton), Franki (Carol Kane) and Nola (Kathryn Grody). Since "The Lemon Sisters", Joyce has directed numerous television dramas to made-for-TV movies. In addition to directing her own films, Joyce is a frequent mentor for BYkids, a nonprofit pairing master filmmakers with youth from around the world to create short documentaries. Her first mentee, 16-year-old Jayshree Janu Kharpade of India, created "Fire in Our Hearts" (2012), which was selected for the 2012 India International Film Festival. Then she mentored "My Beautiful Nicaragua" a 24-minute documentary about the devastating effects of climate change on coffee production in Nicaragua and, most recently, "Faith's World" made by 16-year-old Faith Guilbault, about living with cerebral palsy.