All posts by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan

Wonder Women! at the American Psychological Association Convention

apa-logoAmerican Psychologist William Moulton Marston penned the first Wonder Woman comic in 1941 as an alternative to what he called the “blood-curdling masculinity” of comic books. (Joyce, 2008)

Rather than physical brute, Wonder Woman wielded a golden lasso that required anyone in its grips to obey and tell the truth. Her weapon of choice was a creative extension of Marston’s research on deception, which also informed the modern polygraph.

For the next 70 years, Wonder Woman inspired countless young girls and boys to embrace a kinder, more compassionate type of power. She became an enduring icon of the U.S. women’s movement and remains one of the longest running comic characters ever published.

The WONDER WOMEN! documentary will bring the superheroine home to revisit her psychological origins when the film screens at the APA Convention in August. If you plan on attending the Convention, join us for the screening Sunday, August 10th at 9:10am to discuss the effects of mainstream gender representations on our collective psyche.

We’ll be with our fellow filmmakers from New Day Films in the APA Convention Exhibit Hall at Booth #144 where you can enter to win free DVDs. And of course, you can always order educational copies of the DVD here.

WONDER WOMEN! Austin Community Event March 11

The team behind WONDER WOMEN! will host a community event benefiting the Girls Empowerment Network (GENaustin) on Sunday, March 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Gallery Black Lagoon, 4301 Guadalupe Street, Austin, Texas, 78751.

Attendees will have the opportunity to

• See snippets from the documentary WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES.

• Listen to a Q&A with WONDER WOMEN! Director Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Producer Kelcey Edwards, moderated by Mary Celeste Kearney, Associate Professor of Radio-Television-Film and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

• Enter a superheroine/superhero costume contest.

• Enjoy food and refreshments.

• See superheroine artwork created by girls in GENaustin programs.

The event is free and open to the Austin community, a SXSW badge or film pass is not required to attend. Staff from GENaustin will be on hand to collect $5 donations for the organization. Created in 1996, GENaustin, supports and guides girls as they navigate the unique pressures of girlhood.

Second KICKSTARTER Goal Reached! New Sneak Peek

The final push took our KICKSTARTER to 139% funded! Because of our supporters, we have shipped the film, printed the posters, and are now putting the final touches together to begin our festival and outreach campaign. SO THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

We’d also like to share a new sneak peek from the film. Enjoy!

KICKSTARTER Ends Tomorrow! Special Prize for Donor Who Breaks 20K Goal!

We just sent off the final film print to SXSW and are counting down the days to the World Premiere!

Tomorrow is the final day of our KICKSTARTER campaign and your last chance to receive WONDER WOMEN! pledge rewards—bracelets, posters, t-shirts, books and more—AND to pre-order our DVD!

We’d love to meet our new 20K goal to support promotional efforts for the film and future screenings. We are offering a prize package of our hand-screened t-shirt, signed limited edition poster, AND the DVD to the individual whose pledge breaks the 20K goal.

We already have a number of exciting interviews lined up for SXSW and we look forward to reporting all the news from Austin! Basil Tsiokos mentioned the film in his blog post on festival documentaries. Click here to read commentary about the incredible line-up.

Thank you for your support and don’t forget to visit us in these last hours!

Only FIVE Days Left in Our KICKSTARTER Campaign‏

Women may have been underrepresented in last night’s Academy Awards, but by supporting WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, you are backing a 100% female directing, producing, and editing team. Only FIVE DAYS remain in our KICKSTARTER campaign!

This is the very last week to get involved and grab some of our awesome pledge rewards—including a signed limited edition poster for the film which we’ve just unveiled.

We are still offering bumper stickers, silicone bracelets, t-shirts, onesies, books and more! Come check it out before it’s too late!

The film continues to garner press, Kristy gave a fabulous interview to CNN last week that you won’t want to miss. You can read up here.

Thank you all for your continued support. Don’t forget it’s your last chance to get the word out about supporting our film’s premiere and to grab some goodies from our KICKSTARTER campaign this week!

KICKSTARTER Funded: Still Opportunity to Help and Take Home Awesome Swag

The entire team is ecstatic that we were able to reach 100% of our KICKSTARTER campaign goal for the film in under three weeks. We owe it ALL to our supporters. This week we are sound mixing the film and locking the picture in preparation for our World Premiere at South by Southwest.

If you haven’t had a chance to view our most recent trailer and visit the KICKSTARTER page, it’s not too late to check it out and get involved.

Any additional money we raise during the remaining days of the campaign will be directly applied to promoting the film during the festival circuit, publicity materials, building out our website with outtakes and insightful scenes that didn’t quite make the final cut, and supporting our community screenings and eventual broadcast. We want to bring this documentary to countless cities and start a dialogue about the involvement of women in comics and action-based media.

There are a number of awesome comic-themed rewards and they are only available during the campaign. Don’t miss out!

Also, the net has been buzzing about the film with mentions on Ain’t it Cool News, Examiner.com, Filmology, and many other blogs. Kristy also did a Q&A interview with ScienceFiction.com, you can read it here.

We’re so excited that people are already talking about the film.

Thank you again to everyone who helped us reach our KICKSTARTER goal. You are our superheroines and superheros!

Homestretch for KICKSTARTER campaign!

We are in the homestretch for our KICKSTARTER campaign! The outpouring of support is so inspiring; the entire team has been moved by such incredible enthusiasm. Keep spreading the word and help us hit 100 percent funded.

Also, we’d like to invite you to take a sneak peek at the film featuring one of our real life superheroines, KATIE:

Wonder Women! Sneak Peek from Vaquera Films on Vimeo.

Kicking Now at 60 Percent!


As of today we hit 60 percent of our Kickstarter fundraising goal. The entire team is simply in awe that we’ve come so far in such a short period of time. Keep the momentum going and help us reach our total goal! Tell friends, colleagues and family members about the campaign, especially if you know they would feel a special connection to the project. We are so close!

There has also been more great coverage online:

Chicken and Egg, one of our amazing financial supporters, announced on Indiewire their grant recipients, which include a Sundance Winner, an Oscar nominee and our film.

Harry Knowles at the awesome Ain’t It Cool News mentioned the film in a write up about SXSW.

Bowlegs promoted the film and Kickstarter campaign in their post “The Most Exciting Projects on Kickstarter Right Now Vol. 1

And SXSW as posted the trailer on their official YouTube channel.

And again thank you to everyone who has mentioned the film in blogs, Facebook and Twitter posts.

Some Great Recent Press Coverage!

Huffington Post

Read our interview with the Huffington Post

We’ve been busy since SXSW announced the film will premiere at this year’s festival. We want to thank everyone who has promoted it via email, Facebook, Twitter, blogs or simply word of mouth. Words cannot express how awesome it is to see the online support.

Here’s some of the great coverage we’ve received so far:

  • Bill Leff visited with Kristy on his radio show, which aired on WGN (720 AM) in Chicago.
  • The staff over at Huff Post Arts posted a Q&A with Kristy and Kelcey about the film.
  • Whitney Matheson over at USA Today’s Pop Candy gave us a shout out, as did Jill Pantozzi at The Mary Sue and The Beat:The News Blog of Comics Culture. The Linster also wrote a great post on AfterEllen.

    And a HUGE thanks to everyone who has participated in the Kickstarter campaign. You are essential to the film’s success and our heroes. Keep spreading the word to ensure we’ll reach our goal! Thanks again.
  • Executive Producer Joins WONDER WOMEN! Team

    Erin Prather Stafford has signed on as Executive Producer for WONDER WOMEN! THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN SUPERHEROINES.

    Erin’s interest in the film started in 2008 when Producer Kelcey Edwards mentioned it to her at a mutual friend’s wedding.

    Ironically it was their love of film that brought Kelcey and Erin together; they met and became fast friends while volunteering on the same crew at SXSW.

    “I was ecstatic about the film from the beginning,” says Erin. “A lot of commentaries about Wonder Woman mention she’s a difficult character for authors because they aren’t exactly sure what to do with her. I think that ‘challenge’ often applies to the mainstream media and how they generally depict female characters in action roles. There is a real need for more well-developed, complex and strong women in our culture, especially in visual mediums. And creating characters that simply act like men doesn’t cut it. I’m thrilled to be a part of this dynamic project that not only examines where Wonder Woman and her peers have been, but where they could go.”

    Erin earned her MA in Gender and International Development from the University of Warwick and is a communications specialist residing in Dallas. Among her awards for communications is a 2006 Barbara Jordan media award, given by the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities.

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