Week 2 - 2023
Intro
We had a great start to the year with lots of new business inquiries coming in. If you are interested in working with our team, drop me a line at hello@togetherfilms.org. It’s awards season, and so the diary is always filled with interesting events during this time.
Good luck to all of those who are still in the race - there is such an incredible lineup this year!
✅ Stranger At The Gate - Malala joins as Executive Producer
We are proud to be supporting another film currently Shortlist for Best Documentary Short - Stranger At The Gate. This is one of the 4 titles that The New Yorker has on the shortlist this year!
Synopsis:
An Afghan refugee named Bibi Bahrami – and the members of her little Indiana mosque – come face to face with a U.S. Marine who has secret plans to bomb their community center. But Mac McKinney's plan takes an unexpected turn. Directed by Joshua Seftel, 'STRANGER AT THE GATE' is a story of grace, transformation, and hope.
On Friday we welcomed Executive Producer Malala Yousafzai to a special screening in London where Director Joshua Seftel and subject Bibi Bahrami were in conversation with Sajid Varda (UK Muslim Film) moderated by Simon Chinn. You can read more about the origins of this film via The New Yorker website.
Watch Stranger At The Gate via The New Yorker below:
✅ Holding Moses Oscar Shortlited - Watch our virtual event hosted by Anna Smith
This week we hosted a live panel for our good friends at Frankly Speaking Films: Rivkah Beth Medow & Jen Rainin. You can watch on-demand below:
Synopsis:
For Broadway performer Randi, birthing her son felt triumphant, then confusing as he was whisked away to the NICU. When doctors shared that Moses was profoundly disabled and faced a tenuous future, Randi fell into a well of grief before unearthing a new language by which to learn and love her son – one born and honed in the body.
Randi’s story laces together family, queerness and disability with vulnerability. Hers is a parenting journey we rarely speak openly about in our culture. HOLDING MOSES illuminates the often invisible story of the caregiver and sparks conversations that help shift the shame narrative around the stunning challenges and surprising gifts that come with the birth of a disabled child.
You can watch Holding Moses via The New Yorker below:
✅ Maternity planning is ramping up
As I get closer to my official maternity date, I’ve been doing a lot of forward planning with my team, mainly around who is going to key my key objectives whilst I’m out. We will be able to announce some strategic new hires soon, who combine all the right skills I was looking for to keep our client’s projects on track whilst I’m off.
For any readers who are also running creative businesses - what were the best bits of advice you received about how to juggle maternity & entrepreneurship?
Feedback this week
“Thanks so much for stepping in and supporting us. I wish we would have brought you in earlier - your help has been so valuable!” - A client who recently signed with us from the US.