Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer If it’s possible to pull off solemn conversations about the stakes for women around the world and also have a fantastic party that toasts their remarkable achievements, Variety did just that on Wednesday in Beverly Hills.
In a sprawling takeover of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, heavy-hitting executives, producers, writers, talent and glitterati convened to celebrate the annual event and magazine feature.
Cover stars Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay, activist icon Malala Yousafzai, and actor Elizabeth Olsen were all in attendance to speak on behalf of causes important to each – as well as a path forward to equity in a time of unrest for women and other marginalized communities in the U.S.. “It’s a choice to be optimistic,” Hilary Clinton told the crowd, addressing the striking down of the landmark American abortion legislation Roe v.
Wade, the safety of women in Iran, and a list of other fragile rights. “My late friend and predecessor as secretary of state, Madeline Albright, was once asked if she was an optimist She said, ‘Yes.
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