Q&A with the Producers/Directors: The Inspiration Behind “HER” Documentary

During my Q&A with Producers/Directors Melodie Carli and Juan Carlos Borrero, I asked about their inspiration to make their new documentary, “HER” and they discuss where the idea for the project came from.

Q: What inspired you to make “HER” documentary?

Melodie: “HER” documentary was inspired by our first documentary, “A Call For Peace” which is based around the peace process of Colombia and other peace processes in the world. After realizing that we had to interview a lot of people for that documentary, we saw that a lot of the people that were negotiating the process were both men and women, but in the case of final negotiation and people being at the table to do the final negotiation of a peace process, most of the time it would only be men. And the question we asked ourselves is how come a lot of the women were participating actively behind closed doors and behind the scenes; how come those women are not involved in the final peace process agreement at the final table? After being asked so many times how come not many women are involved in “A Call For Peace” documentary, we decided to go ahead with this documentary solely dedicated to women. The women who have different lifestyles, who come from different backgrounds, who have different cultures, who have different impacts on the world, and so we decided to take a woman from most of the continents who provide a substantial gift to the SDGs and try to make an important change in the world by either making the world a better place by education, by giving back to their community, by leading other women into becoming leaders themselves, so the whole purpose of “HER” documentary was showcasing women around the world who have a leadership role and overcame all sorts of difficulty based on gender, based on culture, and hierarchy of the society that doesn’t allow women to progress in their workforce to be represented in this documentary, and be showcased and recognized for what they do.

I think the reason behind “HER” is fascinating because there are still many different fields where you don’t see much of a female presence or women involvement. With this documentary, it will be a way for people to see the impacts of women and their success. It will be a commentary that women are capable of doing great things and making change whether in their community, country, or even the world.