Ally Acker

A New York City gal, and coming of age in the fervent, fabulous 70's with unsurpassed female role models (Gloria, Bella, Alice, Germaine...) Ally Acker believed that women could accomplish anything (with a father who backed her 1000 percent). Having gotten her BA at Northwestern (with Frank Gallati and Lila Heston as mentors), and her MFA in film and poetry at Columbia (with Bob Hass as a mentor), Acker was flummoxed when in 1985 she picked up a tidbit of herstory that historians forgot to write down, and teachers forgot to teach: More women existed in decision-making positions in Hollywood before 1920 than at any other time in history. For the next six years, doing all original research, Acker wrote REEL WOMEN: PIONEERS OF THE CINEMA, as well as directed and wrote ten documentaries on the subject, FILMMMAKERS ON FILM. The first of these award-winning documentaries premiered at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, DC. All the while, underneath the volcano, poetry flowed. First, SURVIVING DESIRE. Next, WAITING FOR THE BELOVED. And in 2010, SOME HELP FROM THE DEAD. 2010 is also the year of completion of Acker's documentary, "The Flowering of the Crone: Leonora Carrington, Another Reality. (www.reelwomen.com)