Emily Abt is the Founder/President of Pureland Pictures (www.purelandpictures.com) and an award-winning filmmaker dedicated to creating both fiction and documentary projects that grapple with current socio-political themes. Emily's first film, TAKE IT FROM ME, is a feature length documentary about the human impact of welfare reform. TAKE IT FROM ME aired nationwide on PBS as part of the 2001 season of POV and was lauded by The New York Times, People Magazine and Vibe Magazine among others. In 2004, Abt received her MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University's graduate film school where she wrote, directed and co-produced two 16mm fiction shorts - AISHA, THE AMERICAN and FANCY GIRL. AISHA, THE AMERICAN, Abt's thesis film, was created when she was awarded a year-long Fulbright fellowship to live in London and collaborate with local Muslim girls. Emily Abt is the Founder/President of Pureland Pictures and an award-winning filmmaker dedicated to creating both fiction and documentary projects that grapple with current socio-political themes. Emily's first film, TAKE IT FROM ME, is a feature length documentary about the human impact of welfare reform. TAKE IT FROM ME aired nationwide on PBS as part of the 2001 season of POV and was lauded by The New York Times, People Magazine and Vibe Magazine among others. In 2004, Abt received her MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University's graduate film school where she wrote, directed and co-produced two 16mm fiction shorts - AISHA, THE AMERICAN and FANCY GIRL. AISHA, THE AMERICAN, Abt's thesis film, was created when she was awarded a year-long Fulbright fellowship to live in London and collaborate with local Muslim girls. Abt has worked as a freelance producer, camera operator and director for clients such as Johnson & Johnson, MTV News & Docs, the E! Network, True Entertainment and G2, the interactive division of Grey Advertising. In 2004, she developed a public service related reality television series for MTV's News and Docs Division. Also in 2004, Abt won faculty honors at the Columbia University Film Festival for her feature script TOE TO TOE, which was recently selected for the 2006 IFP Market. Abt has recently secured partial financing for TOE TO TOE and hopes the film (to be shot on Super 16) will go into production in Fall 2007. She is currently in post-production on MEHRET, her second documentary feature about a young doctor's fight against HIV/AIDS among black women. Abt's films have screened at festivals nationwide and she has received production grants from the UK Fulbright Commission, Jerome Foundation, North Star Fund, the Playboy Foundation, The Lucius & Eva Eastman Fund and the Third Wave Foundation.