Producer Debra Martin Chase will speak at the 11th annual Harvard-Westlake Film Festival Friday March 14 at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.
Martin Chase’s work has focused upon women, tweens, dance and music, according to a biography from Martin Chase Productions.
Martin Chase’s filmography includes “The Princess Diaries,” “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and “The Cheetah Girls.”
“The highest Academy Award is accepted by the producer,” film festival faculty adviser and visual arts department head Cheri Gaulke said. “And yet many people don’t know what a producer does or who they are. Having an accomplished producer like Debra Martin Chase will give us some insight into this position which is so crucial to a film’s success.”
Gaulke also noted that Martin Chase will be the first African-American to speak at the annual event.
The festival will screen 25 films selected from a record 215 entries from California. Free tickets will be available at the door.
Filmmakers will arrive at 5:30 p.m. to be interviewed on the red carpet, and the event will start at 7 p.m. with Martin Chase addressing the audience.
An awards ceremony will end the festival at 10 p.m., and networking and workshops will be open to filmmakers of the selected entries Saturday in an event called the Day After, which will start at 10 a.m. on the upper school campus. DreamWorks CEO Stacey Snider (Katie Jones ’15, Natalie Jones ’17) will begin the day by discussing the business of filmmaking. There will also be workshops in screenwriting, acting, cinematography and special effects with more Harvard-Westlake parents.
