Patty Jenkins on the Power of Storytelling

Award-winning director, screenwriter, and producer Patty Jenkins joins the Thomas Mann House for a special episode of 55 Voices.

October 1, 2024

Award-winning director, screenwriter, and producer Patty Jenkins joined Aida and Tom at the Thomas Mann House for this special episode. Jenkins is best known for the films Wonder Woman (2017), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), and her debut Oscar-winning feature Monster (2003). She also helmed the pilot and finale of AMC’s hit show The Killing, garnering her multiple awards. Wonder Woman smashed box office records and became the highest-grossing live-action film directed by a woman at the time. The feminist journalist and activist Gloria Steinem remarked that the film made Wonder Woman’s "Amazon origin story clear; she was stopping war, not perpetuating it; her strength was communicating in 200 languages; and she was exploring and learning without giving up her uniqueness.” During their insightful conversation at the Thomas Mann House, the three talked about the universal power of storytelling, superheroes, and the future of film in a changing media environment. 

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Aida Baghernejad is a journalist who studied media studies in Berlin, Barcelona, and London. Her work focuses on how cultural products such as music, film, and social media content influence the socio-political state of the world. In addition to numerous contributions for Die Zeit, Der Tagesspiegel, Missy Magazine, and others, she also co-hosts the podcast 55 Voices for Democracy. During her residency in California, Aida Baghernejad will explore the intersection between pop culture and politics in times of multiple crises. She will engage with the history of the Thomas Mann House and of the émigrés in Southern California, and their lasting impact on German and American culture.

Tom Zoellner is a journalist and author. He is New York Times bestselling author of eight nonfiction books, including Uranium Train and The Heartless Stone. He teaches at Chapman University and Dartmouth College. A former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, he is the politics editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books.

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