News Archive

May 01, 2018

Bentonville Film Festival Opening Red Carpet

Geena Davis, Founder, and Madeline DiNonno, CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media are on the red carpet at the opening of the Bentonville Film Festival. Watch Video…

May 01, 2018

Women on Top Series:

Women on Top, an original Whistler Film Festival (WFF) event, returns on June 15 in Vancouver with Academy-Award winning actor and activist, Geena Davis. Guest of Honor Geena Davis will give keynote at June 15, 2018 keynote luncheon at Sutton Place, Vancouver. Madeline DiNonno, CEO of Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, will give keynote on November 30, 2018 at Whistler Film Festival. Read More…

April 27, 2018

Bentonville Film Fest Co-Founder Geena Davis Touts Power of Emerging Female Filmmakers

The fourth annual Bentonville Film Festival, running May 1-6, will continue its overarching quest to increase gender equality and cultural diversity in the entertainment biz, both in front of and behind the camera. The Arkansas-based event, co-founded by Geena Davis and Inclusion Companies CEO Trevor Drinkwater and sponsored by such companies as Coca-Cola, Walmart and AMC, has been committed to the ideals of pluralism in Hollywood well before the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements emerged on the scene. Davis herself has been at the forefront of instituting positive systemic change in media content since 2004 when she founded the nonprofit Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the first research-based organization of its kind to, per Davis, “engage, educate and influence content creators, marketers and audiences about the importance of eliminating unconscious bias, highlighting gender balance, challenging stereotypes and creating role models and scripting a wide variety of strong female characters in entertainment and media.” Read More…

April 20, 2018

Grey’s Anatomy: Geena Davis books return for Arizona’s exit

Geena Davis has booked a return trip to Grey’s Anatomy. The Oscar-winning actress will reprise her role as Dr. Nicole Herman in the penultimate hour, which, according to the logline, sees her returning to Grey Sloan to talk to Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) about an exciting opportunity. Read More…

April 19, 2018

Women who like ‘The X-Files’ more likely to work in STEM: study

Conducted by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and 21st Century Fox, the study verified the theory of “The Scully Effect,” the belief that the influx of women in STEM jobs was a result of being exposed to the Dr. Dana Scully character, played by Gillian Anderson, on The X-Files. “That’s really a societal norm shift,” said Madeline Di Nonno, CEO of the Geena Davis Institute, in a statement. Read More…

April 18, 2018

70 of the Most Inspirational Women Leaders Impacting the World in 2018

The latest report from Business.org explores the most influential women in the United States as well as some of the most amazing women inspiring change around the world. Our team spent weeks identifying some of the most accomplished women born in each US state then rounded out the report by finding amazing women in Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, and North and South America as well. We were absolutely blown away at how powerful these women are, and we think you will be too! Read More…

March 20, 2018

How The X-Files Helped Shape Modern Fandom — Including Shipping

One of the most important aspects of The X-Files is The Scully Effect. In 1993, there were few female characters on television that went beyond the traditional ideas of a woman. Most were wives and mothers, and if they did have careers, they were never in STEM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics] fields. Scully’s expertise helped encourage young women to pursue careers in the field. In a 2018 survey by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, 63% of women in STEM fields cited Dana Scully as a role model. I am not scientifically inclined, but I did consider a career at the FBI when I was younger. Then I learned that the X-Files was not a real division and that was the end of that. Read More…

March 13, 2018

Netflix 20th Anniversary: Beetlejuice was the first movie ever shipped

Time flies when you’re watching movies. The first disc ever shipped from Netflix was Beetlejuice starring Geena Davis, Michael Keaton and Alec Baldwin. Read More…

March 02, 2018

Looking at Children’s Programming through a #MeToo Lens

We are all familiar with the negative images of girls and women in movies and other media — and how ubiquitous they are. From the physical portrayal of women as ultra-thin, super sexy and scantily clad to the sexualized roles they often play, it’s enough to make you wish you could put your daughters in a bubble to shield them. Of course, you can’t. Even that “Prince Charming” narrative, in which their lives are not complete until they meet the right guy and that guy decides to love them in return, is everywhere. Read More…

February 21, 2018

Geena Davis, David Yurman brand seek change with new documentary looking at gender in Hollywood

According to a study released by The Times, women made up 11% of writers, 11% of directors, 16% of editors and just 4% of cinematographers on the top 250 U.S. films released last year. Only 1% of films last year employed 10 or more women as directors, producers, editors, writers and cinematographers — compared with 70% of films that had 10 or more men in key roles. “It’s not only on-screen. It’s who’s behind the camera,” Davis said. “Who are the storytellers? Whose point of view are we profoundly leaving out? Where are the intersectional women in all of these stories?” Read More…

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