Just last month, Jennifer Lee was named chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios following the accusations against and exit of former chief John Lasseter. Now, Lee will be one of various female role models featured in a new project aimed at emerging female filmmakers.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Disney and UN Foundation Girls Up, a global leadership development initiative, have teamed up on a digital short project. Twenty-one female filmmakers will be given the opportunity to create digital shorts featuring female role models from different professional sectors.
Participants will receive training from Apple and Summerjax, a female-led production company. All shorts will be shot with an iPhone X and edited with Apple products. They will then appear across Disney’s social media platforms in October.
According to Lee, the project’s hashtag, #DreamBigPrincess, is inspired by “the journeys journeys of characters like Anna, Elsa, and Moana. To inspire kids to dream big is at the very heart of what all of us at Disney do.” She added that the #DreamBigPrincess series “is the perfect extension of that vision, providing a powerful platform for the next generation of aspiring filmmakers to create content about the women who have inspired them.”
Disney and Girl Up’s previous campaign, a #DreamBigPrincess photography series, raised $1 million for Girl Up. This year, Disney intends to donate $1 to Girl Up for every like or share of a #DreamBigPrincess princess project, at a cap of $1 million.
According to Variety, shorts will be released October 10, and the donation period will run until November 20. Check out Disney’s #DreamBigPrincess campaign video featuring Lee below.