The Women’s International Film & Television Showcase
Los Angeles – Continuing its tradition of recognising women of the twenty-first century who with talent and conviction strive to make a difference in today’s world, The Women’s International Film & Television Showcase (TheWIFTS) announces honourees in the top five categories for the 2014 TheWIFTS Foundation International Visionary Awards.
The honourees are among twenty women from eleven countries and six continents whose work in the fields of Film and Television, Business, The Arts and Humanities that was celebrated at the organisation’s seventh annual awards luncheon.
Lifetime Achievement Award – Film
Lenora Blanco, Lawyer – Distributor – Exhibitor – Producer – Benefactor
Lenora Blanco is honoured with TheWIFTS Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the growth and success of companies in the independent film business worldwide and locally in Venezuela where the family business Cinematografica Blancica is based. Together with her husband Tony Blanco, this dynamic duo of a strong partnership built on love, mutual respect, generosity and humour resonated in all the decisions they made, and the independent film sector was the richer emotionally and financially by their association. Underpinning their love and generosity, the Blancos established the Antonio David Blanco Fund at UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television, which has nurtured over 50 young Hispanic filmmakers by providing scholarships and fellowships in filmmaking.
Lifetime Achievement Award (Posthumously)
Susan Oliver, Actress – Director – Writer – Aviator
Susan Oliver is honored with TheWIFTS Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award (posthumously) for her individuality and strength of purpose at a time when all that she accomplished as an Actress, Director, Writer and Aviator was not recognised. Oliver is the beacon that shines on the ethos of TheWIFTS Foundation International Visionary Awards which celebrates ‘women as individuals.’
The Green Girl, an outstanding documentary directed by George Pappy which curates this extraordinary woman’s life, is also honored with The Documentary Award for Editing by Amy Glickman Brown.
Lifetime Achievement Award (Business)
Ela Bhatt, Founder – Self-Employed Women’s Association – India
Bhatt is the recipient of TheWIFTS Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for her ground breaking initiative to help women workers at the lowest level of society become empowered to take control of their lives by creating the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA).
Bhatt has spent her life fighting for the rights and welfare of India’s ‘invisible’ workers. Deeply influenced by Gandhi, Bhatt has followed his ideals all her life. She has pioneered the idea that people themselves, no matter how poor or uneducated, are able to solve their own problems if they organise together to do so. To help provide this, she founded SEWA, the Self-Employed Women’s Association. Called “one of the best – if not the best – grassroots programmes for women on the planet,” SEWA proved so successful that it has become a model for micro-finance programmes in other parts of the world.
The Visionary Award
Margo Krasojević, Architect – Lecturer – Mentor
For her singular vision on the academic, theoretical and practical design approach focusing on encouraging cross-disciplinary dialogue to re-evaluate existing building typologies in light of environmental, social and technological change, Margot Krasojević is the recipient of TheWIFTS Foundation Visionary Award 2014.
The Arts Advocacy Award
Ruth Lande Shuman, Pioneer – Innovator – Mentor
Ruth Lande Shuman, Founder and President of Publicolour, is the recipient TheWIFTS Arts Advocacy Award for her dedication to pioneering the use of colour, collaboration, design, and the discipline of the commercial painting to engage at-risk students in their education. Publicolour targets the most underserved communities, most underperforming schools and most disadvantaged middle and high school students.
The Humanitarian Award
Elspeth Garman, Crystallographer – Scientist – Mentor
For her work as THE leading authority in the field of X-ray Crystallography, which is used to study the internal structure of chemical and biological matter important in understanding and curing diseases, Elspeth Garman is the Honoree of TheWIFTS Foundation Humanitarian Award 2014.
X-ray Crystallography is currently celebrating 100 years, and is used to study the structure of molecules such as, for example, penicillin, insulin and DNA. While other scientists are awarded for cracking biological structures, Elspeth Garman works behind the scenes improving the methods and techniques used by every scientist in this field. As an example of her work, growing a single crystal of an enzyme that gives longevity to TB took Garman and her team 15 years. Garman is the go-to expert in this field.
