A new photography exhibition spotlighting thirty film industry women is currently on display at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and features portraits of three noted women of animation. "Great Women of Film: Photographs by Helena Lumme and Mika Manninen" is intended be a celebration of the film industry's current female talents and includes women from a wide variety of professions and crafts in the motion picture industry. Animation directors Vicky Jenson (SHREK), Lorna Cook (SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON) and Brenda Chapman (THE PRINCE OF EGYPT), are represented in the exhibition alongside other women such as actors Joan Allen and Susan Sarandon, actor-director-producer Jodie Foster and producers Bonnie Curtis, Jane Rosenthal and Christine Vachon. The black-and-white and color prints depict the women in an array of styles and settings, with the three animation directors depicted as 1930s bathing beauties posed on a beach with cocktails and parasols. The images, along with interviews conducted with each of the women by Lumme and Manninen, are available in book form as well under the same title and published by Billboard Books. The interviews were also videotaped and Lumme and Manninen plan to produce a documentary utilizing the material. "Great Women of Film" is free and open to the public. The exhibition will continue in the Grand Lobby Gallery at the Academy through April 21, 2002. Viewing hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 am to 5 pm, and weekends, noon to 6 pm. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard, in Beverly Hills, California. For more information, call 310-247-3600 or visit www.greatwomenoffilm.com/.
