The Last Rodeo

THE LAST RODEO profiles a high school rodeo athlete as she must choose between maintaining her Hawaiian Paniolo family traditions, or leave Hawai‘i and move to the continental United States for college. Currently in post production.
Directors: Liz Barney & Alison Week
Editor: Shirley Thompson
$avvy
$avvy explores why it’s critical for women to understand and take control of their personal finances. $avvy investigates the historical, cultural and societal norms around women and money. With incisive humor and captivating honesty, $avvy questions why women often take a backseat to their finances and why it’s so important now more than ever for women to take control of their financial futures.
Director: Robin Hauser
Editor: Shirley Thompson
Website: finishlinefeaturefilms.com/savvy/
Reel Wāhine of Hawai‘i 3
REEL WĀHINE OF HAWAI‘I short film series chronicles the lives of trailblazing and emerging women filmmakers who tell uniquely Hawai‘i stories through the lens of a camera. These six new films take a behind the scenes look at the careers and creative processes of these outstanding Hawai‘i women filmmakers: Meleanna Aluli Meyer, Joy Chong-Stannard, Joan Lander, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Kimberlee Bassford and Zoë Eisenberg. Each film is a collaboration between a working female Hawai‘i director and an aspiring young woman filmmaker which she mentors through the creative process. The series is produced by Hawai‘i Women in Filmmaking with major funding by the National Endowment for the Arts.
2023 Emmy™ Award, Award of Merit, Special Mention, The IndieFest 2022. Official Selection, Hawai‘i International Film Festival 2021, Melbourne Women in Film Festival, Made in Hawai‘i Festival.
Series producers: Shirley Thompson & Vera Zambonelli
Directors: Heather H. Giugni, Erin Lau, Anne Misawa, Shirley Thompson & Vera Zambonelli
Embers of Awakening: From Firestorms to Climate Healing
Sixty mile an hour winds, tinder dry hills, firestorm tornadoes that melted cars while traveling the length of a football field every three seconds—in October 2017, Sonoma County lost 22 lives, 5200 structures, and awoke to the deep pain of climate change. Embers of Awakening blends the powerful personal stories of fire survivors with interviews from scientists, activists, politicians, and other community members to inspire each viewer toward positive engagement and action.
2023 Northern California Emmy Award nomination, Award of Merit for Editing The IndieFest 2022, Official selection AV Fest 2022.
Director/Producer: Phyllis Ann Rosenfield
Editor, writer, producer: Shirley Thompson
Sixty mile an hour winds, tinder dry hills, firestorm tornadoes that melted cars while traveling the length of a football field every three seconds—in October 2017, Sonoma County lost 22 lives, 5200 structures, and awoke to the deep pain of climate change. Embers of Awakening blends the powerful personal stories of fire survivors with interviews from scientists, activists, politicians, and other community members to inspire each viewer toward positive engagement and action.
Award of Merit for Editing The IndieFest 2022, Official selection AV Fest 2022.
Director: Phyllis Ann Rosenfield
Editor: Shirley Thompson
Crossing Spaces: California to Guam
It’s the Christmas season and a Chamorro family from Guam living in Northern California is busily preparing for their annual Nobenan Niñu Jesus. Through the preparation of kélaguen and singing traditional songs, the grandchildren learn about their culture and Chamorro language—a language that they do not speak—but will happily sing alongside their grandparents. The nobena practice, often led by women, continues to preserve and perpetuate the Chamorro language and values and brings together extended families across spaces.
Director: Dr. Lola Quan Bautista
Editor: Shirley Thompson
Four Winters
Over 25,000 Jewish partisans fought back against the Nazis and their collaborators from deep within the forests of WWII’s Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Belarus. Against extraordinary odds, they escaped Nazi slaughter, transforming from young innocents to courageous resistance fighters. The last surviving partisans tell their stories of resistance in FOUR WINTERS, revealing a stunning narrative of heroism and resilience.
Director: Julia Mintz
Trailer editor: Shirley Thompson
Website: fourwintersfilm.com
Betty Tells Her Story
Betty Tells Her Story is the poignant tale of beauty, identity and a dress – and is considered a classic of documentary filmmaking. Made in 1972, it was the first independent film of the women’s movement to explore the issues of body image, self-worth and beauty in our culture – and to explore the ways in which clothing and appearance affect a woman’s identity.
Director: Liane Brandon
Trailer editor: Shirley Thompson
Website: newday.com/films/betty-tells-her-story
Burma Film Festival
The Burma Benefit Film Festival, with a program of 50 films by and about Myanmar (Burma), raised over $65,000 in audience donations, providing humanitarian assistance in poor areas most severely impacted by food insecurity and emergency shelter needs.
Trailer Director: Ellen Bruno
Trailer editor: Shirley Thompson
Website: bsbff.eventive.org/welcome
A Jumping Night in the Garden of Eden
Re-released for a new generation: A Jumpin’ Night in the Garden of Eden was the first film to document the klezmer music revival.
Tracking two groups of brilliant young musicians, Kapelye and the Klezmer Conservatory Band, and containing rare footage of the elder immigrant musicians they learned from, it tells the story of 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants restoring their cultural legacy.
Director: Michal Goldman
Trailer editor: Shirley Thompson
Website: newday.com/films/a-jumpin-night-in-the-garden-of-eden