An Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Penelope Lawson
We chat with Penelope Lawson about her short film, The Dinner Party, her experience founding her own production company, and fun cinema.

In July 1943, the Allies carried out heavy air raids on Hamburg. The day and night attacks, which lasted from July 25 to August 3, 1943, were codenamed “Operation Gomorrah.” Today, only a few survivors of the firestorm who consciously experienced and survived it are still alive. In the first part of this documentary, the so-called “experience generation” has its say. The second part is dedicated to the children of the survivors. What impact did their parents' traumatic war experiences have on those born in the 1950s and 1960s?
We chat with Penelope Lawson about her short film, The Dinner Party, her experience founding her own production company, and fun cinema.
It doesn’t offer an absolute answer for the dialectical ethical questions that emerged in search of justice but portrays the characters as living people beyond the identities of victims.
From its visually stunning opening credits, which show women dancing through a forest to musical rhythms that sound almost primal, to its quiet, heartbreaking final frame, Mona Fastvold’s historical rendering of the Shaker religious movement is an experience that will stay with me for a long time.
The 92nd Academy Awards had many strong contenders for best animated short. But which Oscar nominated short wins for diversity and inclusion?
The power to function. As people, we are richly blessed to have the wide ranging scope of what we can accomplish…physically and mentally…that aid in everything we desire to strive for and, ideally, accomplish. However, what if someone was experiencing daily life with these elements….only in a more muted manner?
On March 31st, International Trans Day of Visibility, following some COVID related delays, the trailer was finally dropped, and although Taylour Paige and Riley Keough look to impress as lead characters Zola and Stefani, a brief cameo from a queer icon was what convinced me I have to see this movie.