The Athena Movie Pageant at Barnard School (AFF) has introduced Jennifer Vanderbes because the third winner of the annual Alfred P. Sloan Athena Listing Growth Grant for her Athena Listing-winning script “The Gatekeeper.”
“The Gatekeeper” is a historic drama primarily based on the story of Frances Kelsey, an FDA medical reviewer who fought a serious pharmaceutical agency to maintain the drug thalidomide off the American market within the early Nineteen Sixties. The script is predicated on “Marvel Drug,” Vanderbes’ personal non-fiction ebook, which was additionally supported by the Sloan Basis. The ebook can be printed by Random Home in June 2023.
Vanderbes will obtain $20,000 to assist advance her script to the subsequent stage of growth. The fest will host a reception and dwell script-reading December 7 at Barnard School in New York Metropolis.
“Assist from the Athena Movie Pageant’s Sloan Basis Growth Grant will assist carry to the display screen this necessary STEM story concerning the largest drug scandal of the twentieth century,” stated Vanderbes. “Frances Kelsey was a unicorn of her day – a girl who held each a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and an M.D. She spent years battling authorities paperwork and company pursuits to maintain thalidomide off the American market, and her scientific brilliance, ethical integrity, and private pluck make her a wonderful heroine, ripe for the display screen, because the centerpiece of an epic battle in opposition to Huge Pharma.”
Finalists for the 2022 Alfred P. Sloan Athena Listing Growth grant included “Ray of Life” by Kate Sheffield and “Tidal Disruption” by Kiran Deol.
AFF’s partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Basis goals to bolster the pipeline of girls filmmakers working to spotlight the significance of girls within the sciences.
Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director on the Alfred P. Sloan Basis, commented, “We’re thrilled to accomplice with the Athena Movie Pageant to announce the third annual winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Growth grant, a part of our nationwide program to assist movies depicting scientific themes or characters and to spotlight the contributions of girls and underrepresented teams. We’re proud to assist Jennifer Vanderbes and her script ‘The Gatekeeper,’ primarily based on a ebook beforehand supported by our E book Program that tells the story of one other pioneering ‘hidden determine’ in STEM and the obstacles and prejudice she needed to overcome to safeguard human well being.”
Melissa Silverstein, Inventive Director and Co-Founding father of the AFF — and Girls and Hollywood’s Founder and Writer — added, “Our ongoing relationship with the Sloan Basis has introduced so many wealthy, necessary and largely unknown STEM tales of girls leaders to life. These girls have had a major impression in our world. The story of Frances Kelsey is a kind of tales, and we’re so thrilled to be part of getting this story the eye it deserves.”
The thirteenth annual Athena Movie Pageant will happen March 2-5, 2023 on Barnard’s campus in New York Metropolis.
