Apple Blossoms Screens at Juilliard's "Art of the Score"

NOVEMBER 2022: Apple Blossoms, the newest short film by the Rodrigues sisters screened at The Juilliard School’s Paul Recital Hall on Thursday, Nov 10th, 2022 for the culmination of the institution’s “Art of the Score” program, led by Dr. Edward Bilous at the Center for Innovation in the Arts. The program pairs composers with selected short films, recommended by the Gotham (formerly IFP).

Through a rare lullaby titled Apple Blossoms, a son reconciles with his mother who is slowly forgetting him. As her memory grows quiet, the song is revived by Juilliard composer Benjamin Pawlak who arranged the score for the film. Pawlak has played with the renowned New York Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra.

The original music, written by Gustav H. Kline and Marion May, was originally recommended to the directors by Christopher Callen (lead actor playing the mother) who, in a rehearsal, sang the lyrics her late mother had passed along to her. The directors researched the song’s origination and found that Apple Blossoms was in the public domain and could be used in the film. Although no arrangement could be found, the filmmakers and composer took it as a challenge to lift the song off the sheet music and into an instrumental piece, the full version playing over the film’s credits.

Entrepreneurial Support in FoundWell Cohort

MAY 2022 - Cinemanas’ Marlee Rodrigues joined the spring 2022 FoundWell Cohort, a program run through USC that helps entrepreneurs discover their own mindset by learning about neuroscience and high performance and sprinting toward a venture related goal.

FoundWell Fellows participate in a multi-week program that involves weekly meetings, daily habit building, and a supportive social network.

Marlee Rodrigues Joins Shoot4Earth West Coast Jury

MAY 2022 - Cinemanas invited filmmakers to participate in the annual Shoot4Earth 24-Hour Global Marathon. The aim of the marathon is to use film to raise awareness on how to protect and save our environment in accordance with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. The marathon was open to all ages, anywhere in the world. Winning short films received $5000 USC in cash and non-cash prizes. Select films went on screen at the International Cell Phone Cinema Showcase during the 2022 Cannes Festival and Market.

Marlee Rodrigues served as an international jury member and US west coast regional producer of the festival.

Karlee Interviews Brazilian Women Filmmakers for Another Gaze x Cinelimite

APRIL 2022 - Karlee Rodrigues brought Rio de Janeiro-based filmmakers Eunice Gutman and Maria Luiza Aboim together for an interview to discuss their films and their essential contributions to the documentary form in Brazilian cinema history. The interview belongs to a new programme, “MULHERES: UMA OUTRA HISTÓRIA”, a collaboration between Another Gaze, a feminist film journal with the mission of providing nuanced criticism about women filmmakers, protagonists and spectators and Cinelimite, a non-profit media arts organization dedicated to exhibiting, distributing, and restoring repertory Brazilian Cinema in effort to create opportunities for cultural exchange between the U.S. and Brazil.

Now streaming for free between April 24th-May 24th, this bilingual programme exhibits a total of six radical rare documentaries about work by Brazilian women filmmakers (1978-’94), including new digitisations, essays, and interviews.

Visit: www.another-screen.com/mulheres-uma-outra-historia

“The complicated preservation histories of all these titles reflect a longer history of women’s cinema being overlooked in Brazil both inside and outside the archives. Existing at the margins of canonical lists and rarely exhibited in cinemas or at festivals, the titles in our program have only been lauded more recently for their aesthetic brilliance and revolutionary spirit by feminist Brazilian film scholars, many of whom argue for their reinsertion into a larger discussion surrounding marginalised groups whose voices have not been considered throughout 20th century Brazilian film history.”

Project Selected for Gotham (formerly IFP) Owning It: Program

MARCH 2022 - Saudade, the latest film by the Rodrigues sisters, was selected as one of four narrative features to participate in Gotham’s Owning It: Spring Accountability Pitch cohort. The sophomore feature is a personal story of family, identity, and culture.

Owning It, a program of The Gotham Film & Media Institute, is dedicated to supporting, connecting, and empowering women and non-binary creators who break down boundaries in the entertainment industry. Participants in the program attend project workshops and gain insightful perspectives from mentors during one-on-one sessions.

The Gotham (formerly IFP) is a community of creators, producers and distributors working across film, TV, audio and beyond to advance the future of story. The Gotham Film & Media Institute is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to finding, developing and celebrating the people and projects that shape the future of story. Past Owning It guests include Rebecca Hall (Passing), Alice Wu (The Half of It), and Julie Deply (Two Days in Paris, The Before Trilogy, My Zoe).

Cinemanas at SXSW

Karlee Rodrigues on the SXSW Red Carpet.

MARCH 2022 - The Cinemanas team held meetings at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) from March 11th-20th in Austin, Texas. The festival celebrates the convergence of tech, film, and music industries, returning for the first time in-person since the pandemic.

Karlee Joins Global Women's Film Heritage Collective

JANUARY 2022 - Karlee was invited to join the Global Women’s Film Heritage Symposium, a collective of international filmmakers, cinema historians, and archivists in effort to make women and their films more visible around the world. This year’s events, running January 10th-14th, were hosted by Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and supported by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

As part of a series of lectures under the theme “Power and Politics”, Karlee highlighted Brazilian women filmmakers in cinema history and examined how policies can help propel gender parity in the industry by increasing women’s access to resources and funding.

Keynote speakers included: June Givanni (Pan African Cinema Archive), Iris Elezi (The Albanian Cinema Project), Nina Tedesco (Universidade Salgado de Oliveira) and Ana Camila Esteves (Mostra de Cinemas Africanos/Brazil African Film Festival. Organized by: Carmen Thompson (Indigenomics Institute), Lizelle Bisschoff (University of Glasgow), Ana Grgić (Monash University Malaysia), and Stefanie Van de Peer (Queen Margaret University). For more information: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/global-womens-film-heritage-networking-symposium-tickets-214627234837

“Little Miss Perfect” Broadcast in Italy

NOVEMBER 2021 - Catch Little Miss Perfect on Italy’s channel TV 2000 this Fall.

The film was dubbed in Italian for the national network’s DocFilm brand. DocFilm tells stories you don’t expect through films, documentaries and TV series to move audiences and make them think.

ITALIAN PRESS RELEASE

Marlee Rodrigues Selected for Gotham EDU’s Summer Program

MAY 2021 - Marlee Rodrigues was selected to participate in Gotham EDU’s summer program where she will be continuing to develop the Rodrigues Sisters’ sophomore feature, a personal story of family, identity, and culture.

Participants in the program work on Gotham initiatives, attend workshops dedicated to honing career development and technical skills, participate in master classes, and gain insightful perspectives from mentors during one-on-one sessions.

The Gotham (formerly IFP) is a community of creators, producers and distributors working across film, TV, audio and beyond to advance the future of story. The Gotham Film & Media Institute is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to finding, developing and celebrating the people and projects that shape the future of story.

The EDU program is a consortium of academic communities and non-profit organizations that share The Gotham’s goal of establishing transparency relating to career progression, the necessary skills and accessible entry points needed in order to create a more diverse and equitable ecosystem within the entertainment industry.

Submit Your Story: We are Empowerment Project

APRIL 2021: The Rodrigues Sisters photographed for the We are Empowerment project. Longtime collaborator Steve Rosenfield wanted to find a way to photograph the women in his life and highlight that which makes them feel powerful so he began reaching out to the friends and women around him, asked them to share their stories and photographed them in their surroundings.

While continuing to create a space for women to speak their truth, the We Are Empowerment project invites anyone to nominate a woman in their life and tell us what makes them strong.

"Cinema of Dreams" at Artivism Conference

MARCH 2021 - Karlee Rodrigues broke down how film consumption impacts global communities in an hour-long presentation at the Artivism Conference. Her presentation titled “Cinema of Dreams” is predicated on the question of how we can use the power of social imagination in film to bolster community, identity, and a collective dreaming.

“Artivism: The Power of Art for Social Transformation” is an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional event series that brings to light how the arts can redress inequities and push society forward. The mission of this interdisciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration is to engage people in changing society through the power of art.

The series was presented by Adelphi University, Teachers College, Columbia University and Sing for Hope to nurture change for continuous action in search of a more just society. The heart of this collaboration aims to create possibilities for a more dignified and meaningful coexistence.

Ladies who Launch: A Panel Featuring Women in Digital Media

MARCH 2021 - The digital media space is a multi-billion-dollar industry that's growing faster than ever. With the rise of diverse female driven content, these stories have directly contributed to the presence and overall growth of the digital media landscape.

In this panel discussion, trailblazing ladies from FBE/REACT, Buzzfeed and All Def Digital were invited to talk about how they are shaping female voices and influencing female driven narratives in digital media. The event will be moderated by Marlee Rodrigues and hosted by the Los Angeles Film School.

VIRTUAL PANEL: Mar 16, 2021 03:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET

Stream "Little Miss Perfect" on Amazon Prime

JANUARY 2021 - Throw yourself a watch party and catch Little Miss Perfect now available on Amazon Prime Video US.

Fireside Chat: Agents of Change

DECEMBER 2020 - The Athena Summit welcomed Marlee Rodrigues back to join a Fireside Chat with Suzy Ryoo (Co-Founder and President of Q&A) and Saweetie (recording artist and entrepreneur). The day-long conference celebrates women business leaders and their entrepreneurial journeys. It amplifies their stories and challenges, creating a vigorous and intentional arena for relationship-building and future collaboration.

The trio discussed creating social change through education, art, and entrepreneurship. “Hardship, Hustle, and Hope” was a recurring theme as they discussed how heavily influenced they are by their cultural backgrounds and upbringing.

Goals of Athena include increasing the number of women founders, investors, and providing access to funding capital and mentors.

The summit was hosted by the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, USC Marshall Master of Science in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Karlee Rodrigues joins UN as Youth Delegate

AUGUST 2020 - Karlee Rodrigues was invited to participate as a delegate in the 26th Youth Assembly hosted by the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation at the United Nations.

The assembly brings together the world’s foremost young leaders at the heart of global change in an effort to foster dialogue and generate partnerships between exceptional youth, United Nations high officials and staff, the private sector, and civil society.

Rodrigues’ focus for the assembly was her passion for advancing gender parity in the entertainment industry, spreading awareness about world challenges through film, as well as championing the medium as a way to encourage cultural exchange and preserve heritage.

The Friendship Ambassadors Foundation marks the power of friendship as a catalyst for greater understanding, shared learning, and sustainable action. Their expertise in cultural exchange brings collaboration to support the implementation of global commitments such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals. For over 45 years, they have facilitated youth exchange, development, and action for global change.

50+ Countries Represented

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, called this the Decade of Action urging everyone for accelerated solutions to our world’s biggest challenges.