I do think film can change culture, in a way that reading a story in the New York Times does not.
Julie SmolyanskyIn the documentary space, the biggest and most obvious difference is that in those films you're not in it for a financial gain. It's a piece of collaboration and artistic expression, that pushes change and self expression, in the sense that everyone has a story.
Julie SmolyanskyDuring the mourning period after my father passed, his friends and colleagues were saying there was no way the business would survive. There was no way that a 27-year-old woman could run a company. I was so pissed that this was a conversation during a mourning period, and that a woman who was educated and working at a high level at the company wasn't considered for leadership. This was my father's life work, something I was completely connected to, and I knew I could take the reins.
Julie Smolyansky