Abigail Disney
| Abigail Disney | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 24, 1960 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Education |
Yale University (BA) Stanford University (MA) Columbia University (PhD) |
| Occupation | Filmmaker and philanthropist |
| Known for | Pray the Devil Back to Hell |
| Spouse(s) | Pierre Hauser (m. 1988) |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent(s) |
Roy E. Disney Patricia Ann Dailey |
| Family | Disney |
Abigail E. Disney, PhD (born 1960) is an American documentary filmmaker, scholar, philanthropist, and activist known for her documentary films focused on social themes. She is the Executive Producer and Director of the film The Armor of Light, which premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.
Abigail Disney was raised in North Hollywood, California, and was educated at Yale (BA), Stanford (MA, English Lit), and Columbia (PhD, English Lit). She is the daughter of Patricia Ann (née Dailey) and Roy E. Disney and granddaughter of Roy O. Disney, co-founder of The Walt Disney Company with his brother Walt Disney.
She turned to the family business of filmmaking with a documentary film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by Academy Award-nominated, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Gini Reticker.Pray the Devil Back to Hell brought to light the work of Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee by telling the story about the critical role women played in bringing peace to war torn Liberia. Pray the Devil Back to Hell won Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, and screened in 60 countries around the world on all seven continents.
In 2007, she and Gini Reticker founded Fork Films, a New York-based production company that seeks to shed light, evoke compassion, stir action and build peace. She is the President and CEO, and Reticker is the Chief Creative Officer.
In 2009, Fork Films and Film Sprout partnered together to create Pray the Devil Back to Hell's Global Peace Tour, a nine-month grassroots screening tour that culminated on the United Nations' International Day of Peace on September 21, 2009. In total, the tour brought the film to 31 foreign countries, 45 U.S. states and 235 U.S. cities. The film is broadly credited with highlighting the bravery and sacrifice of its lead figure, Leymah Gbowee, who received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.
The response to Pray the Devil Back to Hell led Disney to work on the five-part special series for PBS, Women, War & Peace, which aired in 2011 and was the winner of the Overseas Press Club's Edward R. Murrow Award, a Gracie Award, a Television Academy Honor and the America Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award (for I Came to Testify). This series created and executive produced by Abigail Disney, Pamela Hogan and Gini Reticker looked at the role of women in war in the modern age, not just as victims of conflict, but as active agents for peace in their communities. Also in 2011, Disney received an Athena Film Festival Award for her extraordinary use of film for social change.
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