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Wifey.tv is collaborating with Film Fatales LA and Cinefamily to start a new screening series focused on women directors and their short films called Wifey Presents.

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The first of these screenings will happen on July 26th at Cinefamily and will feature six shorts directed by Shaz Bennett, Brooke Sebold, Sarah Shapiro, Maggie Kiley, Sian Heder, and Jennifer Phang.

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Here is an interview with Sian Heder, whose short, Mother, will be featured at the first Wifey Presents.

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What was moment you realized you wanted to be a filmmaker?

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I have always been a storyteller I just needed to find the right medium.  When I was a kid I used to script my birthday parties and send out elaborate character breakdowns to all the kids who came.  I would always get murdered at some point during the party and then put on a bald cap and glasses and come back to solve the crime by interrogating the guests.  I have a school paper from first grade where I said I wanted to be a director but I'm not sure I even knew what that was.  I grew up doing theater and went to Carnegie Mellon as an actor.  I loved being on stage and a part of the community that came with it.  Once I started working as an actor in film and TV, I realized how much more interested I was in being the person telling the story than in pretending to live it.  I remember specifically being on set on some procedural crime TV show (making myself cry while talking about getting raped, because that's what they do to female guest stars) and being told to go wait in my trailer while they changed lighting setups and thinking, "But I want to see how they do that.  In fact, I want to see how they do everything."  After that I applied to AFIs Directing Workshop for Women.

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When did you first feel like a director?

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It's hard when you've made short films and when people ask what you do you want to say that you're a director but you feel like you haven't quite earned it yet.  So I would say for me it was the first day of shooting my feature Talulah, (which just wrapped principal photography a few days ago).  I was so nervous the night before, total jitters and fear that here I had been working my ass off to get this film made for nine years but when push came to shove, I would have no idea what the hell I was doing.  That fear left the the moment the cameras rolled.  I felt totally in my element - I knew what to say to the actors, I knew where I wanted to put the camera.  Someone said to me "This is your first film?  It feels like your eighth."  And that's how it felt to me too.  Like I was doing exactly what I was meant to do.

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How has being a part of the Film Fatale's community helped you?

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It's inspiring and motivating to be around people who make things.  There's a lot of talk in this industry, but there's a big difference between the talkers and the doers.  The fatales are a bunch of doers.  Every meeting I go to I walk away feeling like I want to take over the world with these women.  It's a practical group - people are looking for help in executing their projects.  It feels different from other networking type groups I've been involved with for that reason.  It's about getting and giving answers - "Hey, I need an editor." Or "What was your experience like working with that DP?" Or "How the hell did you direct your movie pregnant, because I'm about to do it!"

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What is your favorite movie?

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Of all time?  Not sure I have one favorite.  I have favorite filmmakers - I love Ang Lee and Spike Jonze, Andrea Arnold and Pedro Almodovar, Michel Gondry and Alexander Payne.

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What is your favorite bad movie/guilty pleasure?

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I love Hairspray with Ricki Lake - obviously not a bad movie, it's John Waters, but definitely a guilty pleasure.  I have probably watched that film 50 times.  Also love The Secret of my Success.  Wrote that one into an episode of Orange is the New Black.

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 .Check out last weeks profile Shaz Bennett!

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 .Buy tickets to Wifey Presents!

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