Abigail Disney
| Abigail Disney | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 24, 1960 California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Filmmaker and philanthropist |
| Known for | Pray the Devil Back to Hell |
Abigail E. Disney (born 1960) is an American filmmaker, and scholar known for her documentary films focused on social themes.
Biography
Early life
Abigail Disney was raised in North Hollywood, California and was educated at Yale (BA), Stanford (MA, English Lit), and Columbia (PhD, English Lit).[1] She is the daughter of Patricia Ann (née Dailey) and Roy E. Disney and granddaughter of Roy O. Disney, co-founder of The Walt Disney Company with his brother Walt Disney.[2]
Career
She turned to the family business of filmmaking after she met Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee in 2006. Her filmmaking career began with a documentary film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, about women in Liberia, made with Emmy Award-winning director Gini Reticker.[3][4]
In 2008, she launched Peace is Loud,[5] an organization described as "supporting female voices and international peace-building through nonviolent means." In 2009 Peace is Loud organized a Global Peace Tour which showed Pray the Devil Back to Hell at community screenings in the U.S. and other countries. It was part of the United Nations' International Day of Peace.[6] Peace is Loud also funded a 10-day project regarding "female peace-building capacity" three different cities in the US.
With partners Pamela Hogan and Gini Reticker, she produced the five part series Women, War & Peace which aired in 2011 on PBS. It was a 5 part special series that looks at the untold story of women in wartime around the world.[7] Also in 2011, Disney received an Athena Film Festival Award for her extraordinary use of film for social change.[8]
In 2012 she renounced her share of the profits from the Disney family investment in the Ahava cosmetics company whose factory is located in a West Bank settlement. She stated "I cannot in good conscience profit from what is technically the 'plunder' or 'pillage' of occupied natural resources...” For legal reasons she could not withdraw her investments and therefore donated the investments and profits "to organizations working to end this illegal exploitation."[9]
Filmography
As producer:
- Pray the Devil Back to Hell (2008)
- Playground (2009)
- Sun Come Up (2010)
- Sons of Perdition (2010)
- Family Affair (2010)
- Citizen Koch (2013)
- 1971 (2014)
- Food Chains (2014)
Community service
- Co-Founder and co-President of the Daphne Foundation,[10] which funds programs that confront the causes and consequences of poverty in the five boroughs of New York City with a particular interest in grassroots and emerging organizations.
- Board member of Roy Disney Family Foundation, The White House Project, the Global Fund for Women, the Fund for the City of New York, and Peace is Loud
- Board member of the Peace Research Endowment since 2011.
References
- ↑ UCR Newsroom: Award-winning Filmmaker to Speak at UCR. Newsroom.ucr.edu (April 27, 2011). Retrieved on 2012-03-28.
- ↑ Abigail Disney Isn't Interested In Cinderella Stories. Forbes.com (August 19, 2010). Retrieved on 2012-03-28.
- ↑ PBS Biography of "Abigail Disney" , PBS, retrieved on 2012-03-28.
- ↑ Pray the Devil Back to Hell official website.]
- ↑ Pray the Devil Back to Hell Peace is Loud website.]
- ↑ Marcy Gineris and Mike Zucconi, Disney heiress to speak at EMU commencement, Augusta Free Press, February 7, 2012 .
- ↑ Women, War and Peace, PBS website.
- ↑ The Athena Film Festival: http://athenafilmfestival.com/
- ↑ "Disney heir renounces profits from Ahava", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 16, 2012.
- ↑ Abigail E. Disney. The Huffington Post. Retrieved on 2012-03-28.
External links
- Abigail Disney at the Internet Movie Database
- Peace is loud
- Daphne Foundation
- Pray the Devil Back to Hell
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