Keynote Speaker

Okay, I was pretty sure I knew who I was going to vote for after our discussion in class but now after doing all this research, I just don't know! It's between Kiva and Sami for me. They are both so well-spoken, so articulate and have interesting backgrounds. I like that Kiva founded her own film journal--a feminist one no less. Her interview in which she discusses the founding of said film journal was so inspiring. I love that she actively encourages women to enter the world of film criticism. The film industry is significantly lacking a woman's perspective because of how male dominated every faction of the industry is, and I think what Kiva is doing is so important. Watching her interviews, it also really stands out how humble, reflective, and confident she is which I find really important in a keynote speaker. Finding someone who is reflective about what they have achieved is crucial to communicating anything worthwhile to the audience. I do think she can come across as maybe a little too serious for what we have been projecting thus far, so it depends how we want to be represented. Kiva seems to be the most accomplished of our options. I also really like Sami. Like Kiva, he is well-spoken and engaging. I like that he is on the other side of the film industry in that he's a filmmaker. Reading his twitter, he seems a bit more on edge than Kiva, in that he can be very critical/snobby but I think that may serve an undergraduate film festival and conference well. I also like that he's a reader and screenwriter, which I can see many students realistically doing after graduation, so that's cool..ahh I just can't decide! I'm definitely interested to discuss this in class tomorrow to see what everyone else is thinking. Can we have them both??