Diana Whitten has a decade of professional film/TV direction, production and design experience. She founded Sovereignty Productions in 2008, following a Fulbright Fellowship to Indonesia, and was the Director of Communications at Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program. VESSEL, her first feature film, premiered at SXSW Film Festival and won the Audience Award in the Documentary Competition, as well as a Special Jury Award for Political Courage. Additional awards include the inaugural Peter Wintonick Award from Sheffield DocFest, an Honorable mention for the Moving Mountains Award at Mountainfilm in Telluride, and the Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Filmmaking Award. Vessel screening in theaters internationally and is now available on VOD (Netflix, iTunes)
Winning Project: VESSEL
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Dr. Rebecca Gomperts sails a ship around the world, providing abortions at sea for women with no legal alternative. Her idea begins as flawed spectacle, faced with governmental, religious, and military blockade. But with each setback comes a more refined mission, until Rebecca realizes she can use new technologies to bypass law – and train women to give themselves abortions using WHO-researched protocols with pills. From there we witness her create an underground network of emboldened, informed activists who trust women to handle abortion themselves. Vessel is Rebecca’s story: one of a woman who hears and answers a calling, and transforms a wildly improbable idea into a global movement.
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