[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Academy Award® winner Geena Davis has joined the ground breaking The Power of Inclusion summit. Davis will speak alongside over 35 international and local history makers from the entertainment industry and beyond, at this pivotal event in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand on 3 and 4 October 2019. The summit will present a two day programme on pertinent issues in the inclusion and representation space in entertainment.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”67095″ media_width_percent=”100″ alignment=”center” img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Known for her vast acting roles including the iconic Academy Award® winning film Thelma & Louise, Davis is a longstanding advocate for gender parity in the entertainment and media industry. In 2004, stunned by the lack of female representation on screen as well as negative stereotypes perpetuated therein, Davis founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media at Mount Saint Mary’s University with the mantra, ‘if she can see it, she can be it.’
A powerhouse organisation, the Institute’s ground breaking research and guidance has prompted significant change in onscreen portrayals at major networks, studios, advertisers, production companies, guilds and agencies. It was recently announced that Davis will be the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the upcoming 2020 Academy Awards®.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image media=”67096″ media_width_percent=”100″ alignment=”center” img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) CEO Annabelle Sheehan said “It is such an honour to welcome Geena Davis to The Power of Inclusion summit. Her body of work and her activism are an inspiration. The Power of Inclusion hosts a ground breaking line up of entertainment sector speakers, of a depth and breadth not seen before in New Zealand and Australasia. The siren call of the conference has attracted speakers from across the global screen industry and in New Zealand, whose activism and production work are inextricably linked to the core issues of diversity and inclusion. As an industry we have a responsibility to empower, to amplify and to focus on equity in front of and behind the camera.”
Source: Power Of Inclusion[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
