Golden Globe Award-winning actress Amy Adams, Director of the Telluride Film Festival Julie Huntsinger, and Golden Globe Award-nominated filmmaker Karyn Kusama will speak to students and aspiring young filmmakers at the fourteenth annual Archer Film Festival on Friday, April 11, 2025, at the Writers Guild Theater at 6:00 p.m.
As the entertainment industry navigates a cultural reckoning over equity, inclusion, and representation, the Archer Film Festival offers an unmissable opportunity for aspiring filmmakers to hear directly from three trailblazing women—Adams, Huntsinger, and Kusama—who bring a wealth of experience from behind and in front of the camera.
The Archer Film Festival, organized and led by students, seeks to empower female filmmakers and amplify the voices of those often overlooked in the industry. In addition to the Q&A panel featuring Amy Adams, Julie Huntsinger, and Karyn Kusama, the festival will screen a selection of finalist films. This year, the festival received over 300 student-produced film submissions from more than 30 countries worldwide. Esteemed sponsors of the event include Warner Bros. Television Group, Flawless, Mark Gordon Pictures, Paramount, Apache, Campfire Studios, and Paramount Pictures.
Amy Adams is a Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated actress. After a breakout role in the independent comedy, “Junebug,” Adams rose to fame with her portrayal of Princess Gisele in the Disney musical film “Enchanted.” Her film credits also include “The Fighter,” “The Master,” and “Arrival.” Adams has received six Academy Award nominations and won two Golden Globe Awards, for her portrayals in “American Hustle” and “Big Eyes.” Adams is also an ambassador for the RightWay Foundation.
Director of the Telluride Film Festival, Julie Huntsinger, has helped propel the Colorado-based festival to the top ranks of international film festivals over the past 18 years. The former producer began her career in the film business in 1993 when she worked alongside late Telluride founder and co-director Tom Luddy at Francis Ford Coppola’s film studio American Zoetrope in San Francisco. She served as producer for the first time on a project shot in China for Zoetrope’s Chrome Dragon Films. Huntsinger went on to produce a number of films, working across the globe with renowned, award-winning filmmakers. She advised Telluride for years before being appointed a Director in 2006. She has served on international film festival juries and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Prior to her work in film, Huntsinger received a BA in French literature from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed the Mass Media Institute’s program in Broadcast Journalism at Stanford University.
Karyn Kusama most recently directed the first two episodes of AMC’s horror anthology series, “The Terror: The Devil In Silver,” of which she is also an executive producer. The show is set to premiere in 2025. Karyn is also an executive producer of Showtime’s coming-of-age survival drama, “Yellowjackets.” The show has garnered ten Emmy nominations to date, including one for Karyn’s direction of the pilot episode. Prior to that, Kusama helmed the Golden Globe-nominated film “Destroyer” starring Nicole Kidman and written by her frequent collaborators, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. Her feature credits include indie thriller “The Invitation,” cult horror comedy “Jennifer’s Body,” sci-fi love story AEON FLUX, and her Cannes and Sundance-award winning debut, “Girlfight.” Kusama has also worked extensively in television, directing episodes for such series as “The Mysterious Benedict Society” (for which she won a Children’s and Family Emmy Award), “Dead Ringers,” “Halt And Catch Fire,” “The Outsider,” and “The Man In The High Castle.” In 2018, Kusama launched Familystyle Film, her production company with Hay and Manfredi, where they produce for film and television across multiple genres.
The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University has studied gender disparities in the top 100 grossing films since 2002. This year,
they examined over 2,000 characters appearing in the top performers in 2024. For the “first time in recent history,” the percentage of films featuring female protagonists equaled that of those featuring male protagonists. 37% of all speaking roles in top-performing 2024 films were held by women, up from 35% the previous year. Strides are being made when it comes to the lack of diversity and the gender gap, but there is still a ways to go. The Archer Film Festival aims to bridge these divides by providing a platform for students with unique perspectives to showcase their work. The festival strives to empower young creatives and advance the art of filmmaking.
For more information about The Archer School for Girls and the festival, visit
www.archer.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok at @ArcherSchoolforGirls.