Barbara Trent is an Oscar®-winning filmmaker, former welfare mother, seasoned activist, and trail blazer for change. She has publicly exposed criminal activities in the White House, Pentagon, and CIA; and has been the target of at least three FBI counter intelligence operations. Her personal story of courage risk and achievement, starting in the 1960s is inspiring to many. Trent fights to expose the forces controlling our media as well as our government's covert policies. Her films have been acclaimed, exhibited, and broadcast around the world. Broadcast resistance in the United States, however, makes her presentation particularly relevant. Drawing on a quarter century of filming and community organizing, Ms. Trent engages audiences in an exciting journey from skepticism to illumination to action. Her urgent message inspires audiences to find methods that will impact the federal government, the mass media, and the public at large. Ms. Trent examines the present day obstacles to having an independent and courageous media in the United States. She educates audiences to "see through" the daily news and assists them in identifying ways to access alternative perspectives. Appointed as an Expert Senior Training Specialist for the VISTA program under Jimmy Carter, Trent has been decorated with the Gasper Octavio Hernandez Award by the Journalist's Union in Panama, and is a recipient of the American Humanist Association's Arts Award for her "courageous advocacy of progressive ideas." She received the Academy Award in 1993. Trent co-founded and co-directs the Empowerment Project, a media resource center serving hundreds of progressive videographers and filmmakers each year. Her lifelong commitment to empowerment invariably inspires her audiences to assume more active responsibility for themselves, their society, and the world in which they live. Trent's thoughts on ethics the media, government, the drug crisis, women's issues, affirmative action, unfettered capitalism, international and national affairs are presented as a frank source of information, personal experience, and inspiration. Her documentary film credits include DESTINATION NICARAGUA (1985) and COVER UP: BEHIND THE IRAN CONTRA AFFAIR (1988), THE PANAMA DECEPTION (1992), IS WAR THE ANSWER? (2001), DAYS OF RESISTANCE (2002), STAND UP RISE UP and WAGING PEACE (both 2004), and SOLDIERS SPEAK OUT (2006).  Best Achievement in Documentary Features 1992: THE PANAMA DECEPTION - Producer (w. David Kasper) 1 nomination, 1 Award