'Women Talking' Stars Rooney Mara, Frances McDormand, Claire Foy and More, Early Screening at the KCET Cinema Series

When writer/director Sarah Polley read Miriam Toews' book, it sunk deep into her, raising questions and thoughts about the world she lived in that she had never articulated. Questions about forgiveness, faith, systems of power, trauma, healing, culpability, community, and self-determination. She imagined this film in the realm of a fable. While the story in the film is specific to a small religious community, she felt that it needed a large canvas, an epic scope through which to reflect the enormity and universality of the questions raised in the film. She wanted to feel in every frame the endless potential and possibility contained in a conversation about how to remake a broken world.

Immediately following the screening, Deadline's chief film critic Pete Hammond, who can also be seen on KCET's Must See Movies, shared with the audience his pre-recorded Q&A with two-time Academy Award-winning producer Dede Gardner ("Moonlight," "12 Years A Slave").

Listen to the full Q&A below.

The long-running in-person film series returns in October to the historic Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, while the popular virtual series continues on Eventive, a technology platform designed specifically to enhance the online film viewing experience.