War, nature, and the quest for gold: Famous filmmaker to show clips on May 20

From the Vatican to Venezuela, from Berbers to buffaloes, from gauchos to gold, the documentaries of Judith Dwan Hallet span the map of the world. A documentary filmmaker for over 40 years, Hallet will discuss her career and her adventures making films.

The event will take place on May 20, at 7:00 p.m., in the National Press Club conference rooms. It is free for club members and $5 for nonmembers. To register, (http://www.press.org/events/evening-judith-dwan-hallet). There will be free refreshments and popcorn, and a cash bar.

Hallet's clips will draw from eight films, starting with The Painted Truck, made in Afghanistan in 1971 before the ravages of war devastated the country. Next, segments from three documentaries National Geographic Television -- The Life and Legend of Jane Goodall: My Life with the Chimpanzees; The Gauchos of Argentina; and El Dorado Gold: Gold miners in Venezuela.

She will also show extracts from Lords of the Garden, which is about the Korowai who live in tree houses in an Indonesian rain forest on the island of New Guinea; a film for the PBS series, “Nature”, The American Buffalo: Battling Back; Witness to Hope, a two-hour film biography on the life of Pope John Paul II that aired on PBS; and Moby-Dick, made for the Discovery Channel’s Great Book series.

After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College with a major in filmmaking, Hallet served in the Peace Corps in Tunisia, where she made a film on the Berber villages of southern Tunisia. In 1973, she became a producer/reporter at KUTV, the NBC affiliate TV station in Salt Lake City. In 14 years, she produced nearly 100 documentaries and won over 30 awards including an Emmy.

In 1987, she became National Geographic Television’s senior producer for its weekly news television show, “Explorer.” Since she formed her own company, Judith Dwan Hallet Productions, in 1991, she has produced and directed 14 award-winning documentaries for television. In 2008, she received an Emmy from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in recognition of her significant contributions to the broadcast industry.