- Malala
We love to see women reach the highest levels of decision-making. In 2021, eight countries elected or swore in their first woman Head of State or Government! We are proud to be creating the next generation of women leaders at ConnectHER. In 2021, we continued to put women at the center of the story and we see the positive ripple effects from it every day:
On behalf of our team and the women and girls whose lives were uplifted in 2021 due to your generosity, we thank you deeply. Below is just a small example of the impact you made possible!
With thanks and best wishes,
Lila Igram
Founder ConnectHER
ConnectHER celebrated our 10-year anniversary in 2021! Whether you’ve been with us from the start or joined us this year, we thank you for being on this journey with us. Take a look back at our partners and Film Festival journey on our timeline.
At this year’s virtual ConnectHER Film Festival, we awarded $36,500 in scholarships to filmmakers with categories like Women & Work and, of course, our Judges’ Choice and runner-up. We screened excerpts from more than a dozen award-winning “Stories Worth Telling,” and watched young filmmakers tuning in from Africa, Asia, and the Americas excitedly accept their awards. Thank you to presenting sponsor Eloise DeJoria, major sponsors the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, HumanAct, WomenServe, and Dolby, and supporting sponsors Six Square, HEB, Leica, and the Thompson Knight Foundation for making this event and these awards that invest in young talent possible.
We launched our inaugural ConnectHER Fellows. Our fellows are leading hands-on filmmaking workshops for other young people in their communities, creating advocates for women and girls in the process.
We hosted a virtual event on International Women’s Day 2021 – “Her Voice Matters: Inspiring Global Change Through Women’s Stories.” More than 100 people joined us virtually—from Brazil, DR Congo, the Philippines, Romania, Sweden, and Zimbabwe. At this event we also held our very first PitchFest, a new initiative that invited filmmakers aged 13 to 30 to submit a 90-second video pitching a concept for a ConnectHER-commissioned film. These films create awareness or shine a light on solutions to a problem faced by women and girls. Congratulations to our first winner Liwonga Mahlawe!
Liwonga Mahlawe
ConnectHER PitchFest Winner
Portrait of Nadege Cibigo
ConnectHER+EAA PitchFest Winner
Halimah Tariq
ConnectHER+EAA PitchFest Winner