Alexandra Pelosi and Sheila Nevins will discuss their Showtime documentary “American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself” at the next Girls Club event. The conversation will take place Friday, November 6, at 2 p.m. EST and is open to the public. Be sure to register in advance.
Founded by Women and Hollywood publisher and founder Melissa Silverstein, the Girls Club is a community for women creatives, culture-changers, and storytellers to connect, create, network, advocate, support, and redefine entertainment. The Girls Club is offering a one-month membership free of charge when you sign up. If you identify as a woman and would like an invitation to this community, please email girlsclubnetwork@gmail.com and let us know a bit about who you are and what you do.
Find Girls Club event details, “American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself’s” synopsis and trailer, and Pelosi and Nevins’ bios below.
Synopsis: From celebrated filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi comes a visceral cross-country journey during one of the most tumultuous years in history: “American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself.” Chilling in its foreshadowing, the film fearlessly enters the heart of a nation and reflects back urgent, and at times, uncomfortable, truths. Placing viewers directly within the most consequential events of our era, Pelosi takes the pulse of the country capturing the fervor of this precise moment. Powerful and provocative, “American Selfie” raises critical questions about the stark divisions in how Americans feel, and asks if it’s possible to ever find a way to a more perfect union.
Pelosi’s journey begins taking the temperature of America in a massively consequential election year, yet as previously unimaginable perils engulf the land, she bravely captures the rising tensions among warring factions of a nation on an existential precipice.
Executive produced by Sheila Nevins, “American Selfie” is directed and produced by Pelosi, who also served as cinematographer. Chris O’Coin edited the film.
Bio for Pelosi: Alexandra Pelosi has written, produced, and directed 13 HBO documentaries. She started off her career at NBC News where she served for a decade as a field producer. In 2000, she was assigned to cover the Bush campaign, which led to her first Emmy award-winning documentary, “Journeys with George,” following future President George W. Bush on the campaign trail. Since then she has made the following HBO films: “Diary of a Political Tourist” (following the 2004 presidential hopefuls); “Friends of God” (documenting the growing influence of evangelicals in America); “The Trials of Ted Haggard” (following disgraced former Pastor Ted Haggard); “Right America: Feeling Wronged”(documenting the birth of the Tea Party movement); “Homeless: Motel Kids of Orange County” (documenting the lives of homeless children); “Citizen USA: A 50 State Road Trip” (attending naturalization ceremonies to meet brand-new citizens to find out why they chose America as their home); “Fall To Grace” (about disgraced former governor Jim McGreevey); “San Francisco 2.0” (about the tech invasion of her hometown); “Meet the Donors” (about the billionaires bankrolling our democracy); “The Words That Built America” (a reading of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution); and “Outside The Bubble” (an exploration of Trump’s America). Pelosi is also the author of two books, “Sneaking into the Flying Circus: How the media turn our elections in a freakshow” and “Citizen USA: A 50 State Roadtrip.”
Bio for Nevins: Sheila Nevins is currently serving as an Executive Producer at MTV Networks. Nevins is the former president of HBO Documentary Films and Family Programming for Home Box Office. At HBO, she was responsible for overseeing the development and production of more than 1,500 programs for HBO, HBO2, and Cinemax.
As an executive producer or producer, she has received 32 Primetime Emmy Awards, 35 News and Documentary Emmys, and 42 George Foster Peabody Awards. During her tenure, HBO’s critically acclaimed documentaries won 26 Academy Awards including “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” “Citizenfour” (2015), “Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1” (2015), “Saving Face” (2012), “Strangers No More” (2011), “Music By Prudence (2010), “Smile Pinki” (2009), “The Blood of Yingzhou District” (2007), “Born Into Brothels” (2005), “Chernobyl Heart” (2004), “Murder on a Sunday Morning” (2002), “King Gimp” (2000), “One Survivor Remembers” (1996), “I Am a Promise” (1994), “Educating Peter” (1993), and “You Don’t Have To Die” (1989). The series “Cinemax Reel Life” has featured a number of award-winning documentaries, including “Big Mama,” winner of the 2001 Academy Award for Best Short Subject, “The Personals: Improvisations on Romance in the Golden Years” (1999), and “Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien,” an Oscar winner in 1997.
Nevins has been honored with numerous prestigious career achievement awards, including the 2018 Realscreen Legacy Award and the 2017 DOC NYC Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the recipient of the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and is a NYU Tisch School of the Arts Honoree. Other awards include: a Gotham Awards Tribute; an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the art of the documentary, the first time the National Television Academy awarded a Lifetime Achievement recognition to a documentarian; and a Personal Peabody in recognition of her work and ongoing commitment to excellence. Women in Film presented Nevins with a Lucy Award for her outstanding achievements in advancing documentary filmmaking and the National Board of Review presented her with the Humanitarian Award for her contribution to the advancement of social reforms and the promotion of human welfare through film. Nevins has been inducted into Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame, and has garnered an IDA Career Achievement Award and the New York Women in Film & Television Muse Award for Outstanding Vision & Achievement. She won the first George Foster Peabody Award ever presented to a cable program for “She’s Nobody’s Baby,” which was produced with Ms. Magazine.
Nevins is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
She is the New York Times bestselling author of “You Don’t Look Your Age… and Other Fairy Tales,” published by Flatiron Books.
Nevins holds a BA from Barnard College and an MFA from Yale University School of Drama in Directing.
