
Ava DuVernay Citywide Festival
Washington, DC

2020 One Woman One Vote DC city-wide tribute festival of Ava DuVernay’s work during the month of March spotlights the filmmaker’s national and global impact as a storyteller and champion of women and artists of color in the film and television industry.
Organizing Coalition
Planning for the ONE WOMAN, ONE VOTE Film Festival is being directed by an organizing council based in Washington, DC.Steering Committee
Bonnie Nelson Schwartz
Co-DirectorMichon Boston
Co-DirectorRuth Pollak
Advisor, History CommitteeMichel Carr
Honorary CommitteeSusan Barocas
Programmer, 2020 Film FestivalRobin Smith
Special ProjectsMichelle Delino
Public Relations/MarketingJudith Dawn Hallet
Educational PatnershipsRosemary Reed
SponsorshipsDonna Woolf
SponsorshipsBarbara Valentino
AdministrativeMelissa Houghton
Women in Film & Video DCFounding Coalition
Bonnie Nelson Schwartz
BNS Productions Int.Bonnie Nelson Schwarz is a Broadway producer of theatre, television, and concerts with more than 100 plays, films, television programs and concerts in Washington, DC, New York, London, and in South Africa to her credit. Ms. Schwartz is the founder and original producer of Washington, DC’s Helen Hayes Awards. She was a producer for NBC’s Closing Ceremonies at the Barcelona Olympic Games and co-created and produced The Olympic Woman, a multi-media exhibition book, Grace and Glory, for the Atlanta Olympic Games. She also authored the book Voices from the Federal Theatre based on her television special, Who Killed the Federal Theatre? Recent productions include Studs Terkel: Listening to America on HBO; Traveling While Black, a television and transmedia project premiering at the New York Film Festival, and The Power of 7, an international film and human rights campaign based on the play, SEVEN, that tells the remarkable story of 7 courageous women have changed their societies for the better.
Michon Boston
Michon Boston Group LTD.Michon Boston is founder and principal of Michon Boston Group Ltd providing consulting and strategic planning to film, media makers and organizations on impact campaigns to reach and inspire their target audiences. Client projects include ITVS, Firelight Media, Smithsonian Institution, AFI DOCS, and engagement campaigns for films featured on PBS and HBO. Michon is also a freelance journalist and a published/produced playwright. Her articles are published in The New York Times, Washington City Paper, The Washington Post Magazine. Her play, "Iola's Letter" about the anti-lynching activist, suffragist and journalist Ida B. Wells is published in Strange Fruit: Plays on Lynching by American Women Playwrights, edited by Kathy A. Perkins and Judith L. Stephens.
Susan Barocas
Independent Producer/WriterSusan Barocas is a writer and producer specializing in documentaries and films for non-profit organizations. Her screen credits include projects for Discovery, Channel 4 (London), Maryland Public Television and Sierra Club among others. She served as director of the Washington Jewish Film Festival and the Women in Film and Video International Festival. Her work includes building community and organizational support for films and film festivals for such clients as AFI Docs, National Geographic and the Washington, DC International Film Festival. She serves on the WIFV Advisory Council and is a past board member.
Michel Carr
Hillman & Carr Inc.Michelle Delino
Michelle Delino MediaMichelle Delino is a media strategist with over thirty years of experience working in television production, marketing, and public relations. She began her TV career as a talent booker and field producer with HBO in NYC, and years later she joined WUSA-TV (CBS) as a producer in Washington, DC. She took the leap of faith to work independently as a freelancer in 1998 and founded Michelle Delino Media LLC in 2012 to broaden the scope of her business.
MDM brings a high level of creativity and industry insight to brand development, digital marketing campaigns, and PR projects. Ms. Delino works primarily with small business owners, authors, physicians, industry experts, and talent who wish to hone their on-camera skills and increase brand awareness with digital media. MDM produces creative conscious content that reflects a client’s core values, message and contributions to society. Whether for TV, websites or social media, MDM produced content educates, enlightens and entertains audiences worldwide.
Michelle Delino is a Past President (2000-2001) and board member (1997-2001) of Women In Film & Video (WIFV) in Washington, DC. She currently sits on WIFV’s Advisory Board. She joined the Organizing Coalition of the 2020 One Women One Vote Festival, acting as PR and Marketing Committee Chair.
Ginny Durrin
Durrin ProductionsAmy DeLouise
Amy DeLouise ConsultingPhyllis Geller
Norman Star MediaPhylis Geller, President, Norman Star Media, has spent most of her career as a producer and production executive for PBS. She was a producer at Thirteen/WNET; later she served as Sr. V.P. of Production at KCET/Hollywood, WETA, Washington, and Maryland Public Television. Programs under her supervision included drama, music, arts, history, science and public affairs, and won some of the most prestigious awards in broadcasting. Since forming Norman Star Media in 2005, she has written, produced and directed multiple Emmy-winning or nominated programs for cable and PBS.
Judith Dawn Hallet
Judith Dawn Hallet ProductionsFrances Hardin
Hardin Media InternationalJennifer Lawson
Lawson ConsultingBarbara Matusow
WriterBeth Mendelson
Voice of AmericaRuth Pollak
Educational Film CenterRosemary Reed
Double R ProductionsRosemary Reed is owner and President of Double R Productions (Double R). Founded in 1987 and successfully operating in Washington, DC for 30 plus years, the communications, video and television production company has served. clients as varied as major national newspapers, Fortune 500 companies, the US government, associations, corporations, local arts organizations and many nonprofits. Reed is also a writer, producer, director and chief cook and bottle washer at Double R. Reed established her reputation in Washington, DC working for the FOX network as the executive producer of Panorama, the nation’s longest running “live” talk show with Maury Povich. She also produced the first weekend news hour for WTTG-TV-Channel 5 in Washington. Previously Reed’s career as a reporter, anchor and special projects television producer/director has covered all major regions of the country. Her assignments have taken her abroad to witness crisis situations in Israel and El Salvador. She has worked in countries all over the world for many network affiliates. She began her media career as a radio station news director.
Robin Smith
Video ActionRobin Smith is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker with 40 years of experience. She began her career as a network news producer in New York on CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt. In 1990, Ms. Smith established a not-for-profit in Washington D.C. to provide high-quality production services to artists, educators, community organizations and government agencies addressing the needs of vulnerable populations. Video/Action productions have been featured in a wide variety of venues, from film festivals, public television broadcasts, national conferences and art exhibitions to fundraising galas and gatherings of community activists in church basements. Under her direction, 7 documentaries and more than 550 public awareness videos have been released. Her work has been honored with an array of awards, including a CPB Gold Award for Excellence in Documentary Television Programming, four Capital Region Emmy Awards and dozens of CINE Golden Eagles, Telly, Aurora and Omni Awards. An active member of Women in Film and Video, Ms. Smith served as president of the Washington, D.C. chapter (1995-1996) and received its prestigious Woman of Vision award in 1998. She was named a Distinguished Alum in the School of Fine Arts at Ohio University in 2003 and received the University’s Medal of Merit in 2006.
Barbara Valentino
Evolving CommunicationsCatherine Wyler
Wyler-Rymland ProductionsAbout Ava DuVernay
Winner of the Emmy, BAFTA and Peabody Awards, Academy Award nominee Ava DuVernay is a director, writer, producer and film distributor. Her directorial work includes the historical feature film SELMA, the criminal justice documentary 13TH, and Disney’s A WRINKLE IN TIME which made her the highest grossing black woman director in American box office history.
Based on the infamous case of The Central Park Five, WHEN THEY SEE US recently garnered 16 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series and Outstanding Director and Writer for a Limited Series nominations for DuVernay.
Currently, she oversees production on the fifth season of her critically-acclaimed TV series QUEEN SUGAR and her new romance anthology CHERISH THE DAY.
Winner of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival's Best Director Prize for her independent film MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, DuVernay continues to amplify the work of people of color and women of all kinds through her multi-platform media company and arts collective ARRAY, named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies.”
DuVernay sits on the advisory board of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and co-chairs the Prada Diversity Council. She is based in Los Angeles, California.
Honorary Committee
Mrs. Michelle Obama
Don Cheadle
Actor, A Day in the Life of a PeopleJulie Dash
Director, Daughters of the Dust, Queen SugarAngie M. Gates
Director of OCTFMECatherine Hand
Producer, A Wrinkle in TimeKasi Lemmons
Director, Harriet, Queen SugarDavid Oyelowo
Actor, Selma, A Wrinkle In TimeJessica Oyelowo
ProducerBryan Stevenson
Founder, Executive Director, Equal Justice InitiativeTessa Thompson
Actress, SelmaCicely Tyson
Actor, Cherish the DayThe 2020 One Woman One Vote Festival’s Ava DuVernay DC city-wide screenings are presented in partnership with the District of Columbia’s Office of Cable, Television, Film, Music, Entertainment (OCTFME) and the presenting venues.
The free events feature additional films, documentaries, television drama, and titles released by ARRAY, DuVernay’s film distribution and resource collective. The screenings spotlight the filmmaker’s national and global impact as a storyteller and champion of women and artists of color in the film and television industry.
Sponsors




Thank You For Your Support
Ava DuVernay Festival Citywide Event Donors
Trailblazers
Michal Carr & Al Hillmann
Barbara Matusow Nelson
Robin Noonan-Price
Rosemary Reed
Robin Smith
Catherine Wyler
Friends
Suzie Galler
Phylis Geller
Patricia Goldman
Judith Hallet
Frances Hardin
Jennifer Lawson
Donna Limerick
Beth Mendelson
Michael Newman
Planning Committee
2020 One Woman One Vote Festival
Planning Committee for the Ava DuVernay Festival Events
Bonnie Nelson Schwartz and Michon Boston
Co-Directors, 2020 One Woman One Vote Festival
Sylvia Bugg
Michal Carr
Donna Limerick
Rosemary Reed
Robin Smith
Barbara Valentino
Donna Woolf
Catherine Wyler