Director Biography – Monika Ivonne (OMA)

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Born to a Latvian mother and Polish father who worked for an airline, Monika Ivonne found herself jumping from country to country throughout her childhood. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Monika and her family moved from Lithuania, to Russia (St. Petersburg & Moscow), to Latvia, and France. She completed her undergraduate studies at an American University in Rome, Italy. Upon her graduation, Monika moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA Film School where she obtained an MFA degree in film directing. She currently resides between Los Angeles and Riga.

Director Statement

As a Latvian who moved to America, my short film “Oma” depicts one of my greatest fears: loss of culture. Latvia is a small and frequently unheard of country, with an increase in the number of locals who move abroad. With an international background, I’ve come to learn about various cultural tradition, food, and history all over the world. For me, it’s important to portray these aspects in film, whether it’s through a language, a recipe, an actor, or anything else.

By femalefilmfestival

The irony of this festival is that its goal is to not be around in 5 years time. To eventually not be relevant because there is zero need to have a festival geared for female talent and female stories because the stories presented in Hollywood and around the world are a balanced showcase of the human experience from both sexes. Our goal is to achieve a lot of success and then fold into oblivion simply because there is no need for this festival. This festival was created by the FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival as a simple reaction to a strong need to showcase female talent from around the world in a more profound way. When putting together the weekly festival, the administration noticed a lack of a female presence in the stories being shown at the festival. A classic example and analogy to the frustration is how the festival noticed that even the smaller roles in a screenplay were written for a man to play. There was zero reason for this in many stories. How a police officer, or a political campaign manager, for example with 3-4 lines in a screenplay was a "HE" character. Why? And these are the screenplays written by the winners! The talented one who have obtained agents and have began/beginning their careers as a writer.

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