Cynthia Lowen is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and award-winning writer. She is the producer and writer of “Bully,” a 2011 feature documentary following five kids and families through “a year in the life” of America’s bullying crisis. Lowen is also an award-winning poet and winner of the 2012 National Poetry Series for her collection “The Cloud That Contained the Lightning.”

“Netizens” will premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival on April 22.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

CL: “Netizens” depicts three women who are the targets of online harassment. We follow them as they confront digital abuse and strive for equality and justice online.

I also filmed with several amazing advocates, writers, legal scholars, and others who delve into the complexity of the issue, and challenge the notion that abuse is the price of being a woman online.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

CL: In the fall of 2014, stories were emerging about women being targeted by coordinated online mobs, and how these attacks were forcing women to flee their homes for their safety. One of these women was Anita Sarkeesian, who subsequently became one of the central women in the film.

Frankly, I was outraged that these acts of violence, terrorizing, and silencing were not being taken seriously by law enforcement or by the online platforms being used to communicate and coordinate these attacks.

The attitude seemed to be, “It’s just the internet, what’s the big deal, just turn off your computer.” This response not only puts the onus on the victim to change their behaviors; it also normalizes this ubiquitous form of violence many of us witness on a daily basis, and suggests it’s not “real.”

Today, the internet is where we work, learn, express ourselves, figure out how to get from A to B. It’s a very real dimension of our communities and lives — logging off simply isn’t an option. So my hope was to use the power of film to depict how every aspect of a target’s life is impacted: her professional life, her education, her relationships, her personal safety, her ability to participate in all the internet offers.

If we see the impact harassment has on targets’ lives, perhaps we’ll question whether this is something we have to accept as part and parcel of the internet.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

CL: I want people to be cheering for the women in the film, and to feel that we all have stake in the fabric of the internet. But this film isn’t entirely about online harassment; it’s really about what online harassment has revealed about discrimination that permeates our cultures. The internet has shown that we have a long way to go towards equality and justice, and it has provided an incredible window into attitudes people may not feel comfortable expressing person-to-person, but are very real.

As people leave the theater, I want those who are fearful of expressing themselves online to feel courage. I want people who have been shamed by privacy violations to know the offense lies with the perpetrator. I want young women to know there is a huge community ready to champion their words and thoughts and ambitions.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

CL: At the outset, I knew I wanted to make a largely verité film, but the question was how I could depict online harassment through this approach. As it turned out, for all of the women I filmed with, their lives offline were so deeply impacted by the abuse they’d experienced online a verité approach was a really natural fit for the project.

Beyond that, of course, as an independently produced documentary, funding was also a challenge.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

CL: “Netizens” was funded through a combination of grants and crowd-sourcing. We were fortunate to receive early support from Fork Films, who took a leap of faith in the project before we’d started filming. Their grant enabled me to jump-start production. Next we received support from NYSCA, which helped us continue filming.

I think the biggest challenge was the necessity to be able to show proof of concept, while still being very much in the trenches in terms of capturing the initial story. So I launched a Kickstarter campaign so that we could begin editing and that could be used to demonstrate that we had a story to tell.

As we received support from Ruth Ann Harnisch, Babara Dobkin, IDA Enterprise Fund, as well as additional funding from Fork Films and others, we were able to make it to the finish line.

W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at Tribeca Film Festival?

CL: In the early 2000s, I was working as an editor at a poetry publishing company based in Tribeca and went to a screening of a documentary at the festival. It was one of those moments where this light bulb went off and I had this feeling, “This is what I want to do.” Shortly thereafter, I left my job in publishing and got an internship on a documentary production, which was the beginning of working in film for me.

So, it’s incredibly meaningful for “Netizens” to be premiering at the festival; as a first-time director, there’s a full-circleness to it. It’s such an honor for this film to be included among so many incredible projects and creators, and it’s also a great follow-up to having “Bully” premiere there, which I produced and wrote, and which received so much support at the festival.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

CL: Best advice: “Always say thank you.”

Worst advice: “Better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.” I think permission and trust is really important in this field!

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

CL: Assemble a team you really love — “Netizens” was made with an all-female creative team — and foster an environment that is conducive to creativity.

I’ve worked on projects where there were a lot of flaring tempers, chaos, fear, and bad morale, and it was totally corrosive to the project as a whole. I think respect for the entire team is very important in the creative process.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

CL: There are many, so I will mention the most recent that I just watched: “The Divine Order,” directed by Petra Volpe, which won the audience award at Tribeca last year. I love the depiction of the personal risks involved for each woman in deciding to fight for the right to vote in Switzerland. This was a film so clearly made by a woman — it showed the female characters as both champions and agents of change in their own lives, yet also deeply constrained by the forces of inequality around them.

W&H: Hollywood and the global film industry are in the midst of undergoing a major transformation. Many women — and some men — in the industry are speaking publicly about their experiences being assaulted and harassed. What are your thoughts on the #TimesUp movement and the push for equality in the film business?

CL: For a film about women and online harassment, “Netizens” is making its way into the world in this moment of profound reckoning around gender discrimination, and it’s my hope this film will be part of this broader conversation.

The entire “Netizens” production and creative team consisted of women, from producers to cinematographers to editor to composer. I didn’t just want this film to be about women and pervasive gender discrimination — I wanted the making of the film itself to be part of working towards equality in this industry. We still have a long way to go!