Bias challenges us to confront our hidden biases and understand what we risk when we follow our gut. Through exposing her own biases, award-winning documentary filmmaker Robin Hauser (CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, Running for Jim) highlights the nature of implicit bias, the grip it holds on our social and professional lives, and what it will take to induce change.

Interview with Director Robin Hauser

Watch Bias on Vimeo on demand, Vudu and Prime Video

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

While making and screening CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, I spent two years travelling the globe talking to people about the lack of diversity in tech. When I spoke with experts and audiences, one term kept surfacing: unconscious bias. Unconscious - or implicit - bias, I was told, is the underlying precursor to many of the “isms” that plague our society: sexism, racism, ageism... And what’s more, we all have it.

I consider myself an open-minded person, but the more I learned about unconscious bias, the more I saw how it influenced my life. My closest friends are a lot like me. I make assumptions about people based on their appearances and where they grew up. I began to wonder: what biases do I have that I’m I am not aware of and how do they affect my choices and actions? From these questions, bias documentary was born.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

Many of us have felt like we are, or have been, a victim of bias. What we should also consider is our own relationship with bias. As humans, we all have implicit bias. Bias documentary sheds light on how our implicit biases affect those around us and how we can learn to mitigate harmful bias.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

As a director, I expose my own biases in the film. This vulnerability allows the audience to look inward and consider their own bias in a non-defensive way. The film is universal because every human is biased in one way or another.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

We were halfway through filming before we decided to make me a character in the film. We wanted to make a film that was non-accusatory. By exposing my own biases, we make the film more accessible to the audience.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

The film has won multiple awards and rave reviews from the audience. Several well-known companies have licensed the film to screen internally, as part of their unconscious bias training. The film has also been screened at educational institutions such as Harvard Law School.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

No, not really. This is what we were aiming for.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

We would love to have more corporate and community screenings.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

In several months we would welcome the opportunity to put Bias documentary up on Netflix or Amazon Prime.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

We would like this film to encourage everyone to look inward to consider how implicit bias affects their lives and the people around them.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Can you control your implicit bias?

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

$avvy - a film about women and financial literacy.

Interview: October 2019

We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

Bias

Length: 1:28:00

Director: Robin Hauser

Producer: Christie Herring

Writer: Jack Youngelson

About the writer, director and producer:

ROBIN HAUSER is the director and producer of cause-based documentary films at Finish Line Features and President of Unleashed Productions. Robin’s award-winning film, CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2015, and has caught the attention of the international tech industry and of policy makers and educators in Washington, DC and abroad. Robin’s most recent documentary, Bias, explores unconscious bias and how it affects us socially and in the workplace. She delivered a TED talk about the impact of unconscious bias on artificial intelligence and is a frequent speaker at major conferences on topics including diversity and inclusion, the importance of ethical AI, and gender equality. Robin has been featured in international publications: Forbes, Fortune, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, USA Today, Wired, Marie Claire, and San Francisco Business Times. She has appeared on Bloomberg TV, CNN, NPR, CNBC.

CHRISTIE HERRING is an award-winning editor, producer, and director who has worked in documentary filmmaking for over 20 years. She recently edited and produced CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap and edited (with Jean Kawahara) NOVA’s Point of No Return. Christie’s credits include work with PBS, National Geographic, A&E, MBC1, the History Channel, and numerous nonprofit and corporate clients. Her ITVS-funded film The Campaign aired on public television and screened at numerous film festivals and universities. She received her MA in Documentary Filmmaking from Stanford University, was a 2013 San Francisco Film Society Film House Fellow, is a member-owner of New Day Films, and is a 2018 American Film Showcase Expert.

Key cast: Mahzarin Banaji, Iris Bohnet, Jerry Kang, Ron Tyler, Abby Wambach

Looking for: distributors

Facebook: Bias

Twitter: @BiasFilm

Instagram: @biasfilm

Hashtags used: #biasfilm

Website: www.biasfilm.com

Made in association with: Gilead Sciences

Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? DTLA Film Festival, October 27, 2019 LA Regal Live, Los Angeles 1 PM