Q&A with Songwriters

LYNN AHRENS (Lyrics) & STEPHEN FLAHERTY (Music)

Original Song: “How Can I Tell You?”

Director/Producer/Writer

JEFF KAUFMAN

Producer

MARCIA ROSS

Moderated by ANNE THOMPSON (IndieWire)

Screening Link provided with Registration Confirmation

YouTube Live Stream Q&A

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6 – 1:00pm PT

Secretly filmed in Iran by women and men who risked arrest to make this film. An immersive portrait of the world’s most honored human rights activist and political prisoner, attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, and of Iran’s remarkably resilient women’s rights movement. In the courts and on the streets, Nasrin has long fought for the rights of women, children, religious minorities, journalists and artists, and those facing the death penalty. In the midst of filming, Nasrin was arrested in June 2018 for representing women who were protesting Iran’s mandatory hijab law. She was sentenced to 38 years in prison, plus 148 lashes. Featuring acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, and journalist Ann Curry. Narrated by Academy Award-winner Olivia Colman. 

Not Yet Rated | 92mins

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty are considered the foremost theatrical writing team of their generation. They won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for the Broadway hit Ragtime and were nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes for Twentieth Century Fox’s animated feature film Anastasia. They also adapted Anastasia for the Broadway stage. Their musical Once On This Island won London’s Olivier Award and Broadway’s 2018 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Other theatre credits include Seussical (one of the most produced shows in America); Rocky, My Favorite Year, Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, Dessa Rose, A Man of No Importance, The Glorious Ones, Lucky Stiff, and two upcoming shows, Knoxville and Marie. They serve on the Council for the Dramatists Guild of America and co-founded the DGF Fellows Program for Emerging Writers. They are four-time Grammy nominees and recipients of the Oscar Hammerstein Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015 Ahrens and Flaherty were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. 

They were honored as SCL Ambassadors at the annual New York Holiday Party on December 10, 2019. 

Jeff Kaufman produced, directed, & wrote the Emmy-nominated documentary Terrence McNally: Every Act Of Life (aired on American Masters), and the documentaries The State of Marriage, Father Joseph, The Savoy King: Chick Webb and the Music That Changed America, Brush With Life: The Art of Being Edward Biberman, and Education Under Fire, plus a number of short films for Amnesty International, and programs for The Discovery Channel, and The History Channel. He also edited/designed a book based on the film Every Act Of Life, contributed cartoons to The New Yorker, and illustrations to The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, wrote/illustrated several children’s books, and hosted daily radio shows in Vermont and Los Angeles.

Marcia Ross produced the Emmy-nominated documentary Terrence McNally: Every Act Of Life, and the documentaries The State of Marriage, Father Joseph, and The Savoy King. Additionally, she has a 3-decade career as an independent casting director and casting executive, serving 16 years as EVP for Casting at Walt Disney Motion Pictures, and 5 years as VP for Casting and Talent Development at Warner Brothers TV. Some of her film and television credits include Clueless, Cujo, thirtysomething, Murder in Mississippi, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Princess Diaries, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, The Lookout, Enchanted, Oblivion, and Parental Guidance.

*** IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ ***

FREE for current SCL members (click HERE to check membership status).

Attendees will be emailed a Screening Link upon Registration and a Q&A YouTube Live Stream link on Wednesday, January 6, 10 minutes before Q&A start.

Attendees can ask questions on YouTube chat, and the SCL Host will pass them on to the Moderator. The SCL Member Code of Conduct applies to online Q&As.

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