Girls Impact the World Film Festival Winners

Today, I received this email from Lila Igram, founder of Connecther, an organization that “helps women help themselves.” 

The Girls Impact the World Film Festival held its inaugural awards ceremony honoring girls who are impacting the world through film at Harvard College on Saturday, February 23, 2013. The Girls Impact the World Film Festival, co-sponsored by Connecther.org & the Harvard College Social Innovation Collaborative called on students to submit 3 - 5 minute films on issues related to advancing women and girls globally. The GITW Festival Awards Ceremony screened phenomenal films, all made by students, addressing global health, education, child marriage, sex-trafficking, women in media and many other issues. The winning film, International Boulevard by Zoë Simone Yi and Rebecca Dharmapalan, Oakland School for the Arts - was a shocking documentary about sex-trafficking in Oakland, CA. 

Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts had this to say about International Boulevard, "Great job bringing a global issue closer to home. Great use of experts, great film production. Had a very cohesive message and was informative all the way through."

"This film was excellent. The message was very clear and the use of interviews with people on the front lines was a strong mechanism to frame the issue." Jean Oelwang, CEO of Virgin Unite

Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus said, "Informative and insightful. Makes you think deeper into the issue of sex trafficking."

Other judges include Maria Eitel (CEO Nike Foundation), Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee, Pat Mitchell (CEO of the Paley Center for Media), Robb Moss (Harvard film-making professor), Zainab Salbi (Founder of Women for Women) and Jeff Skoll (Founder of Participant Media).

1st Runner up went to Teen Pregnancy Second Runner up & Cisco's Most Innovative Film Prize went to This is a Girl.

People's Choice went to Because I Am a Girl.

Please see what Jean Oelwang, CEO of Virgin Unite had to say about the event here.

We would love to hear from you. Please do write with comments and/or feedback. Also, check out & like our Facebook page for pictures of the event at: www.facebook.com/connecther

Looking forward to next year! This is only possible with your support!

The GITW Team

Lila also told me in the email that "In many ways, watching It Only Takes a Girl inspired us to do this . . . you continue to make a huge impact!" I am very honored that Connecther feels that my video played a role in inspiring this amazing project. This festival was a truly wonderful way to get girls involved in issues that affect all of our lives. For more information on Connecther, please check out my blog post “Highlighting Charities.” They are a great organization that I have been following for a long time. Please take a moment to watch some of these incredible winning videos, and spread the word!