show bios Meg McLagan, Sgt. Shannon Morgan, and Daria Sommers

Meg Mclagan

Meg McLagan is a documentary filmmaker and cultural anthropologist. Her films include “Tibet in Exile,” which was broadcast on PBS, and “Paris is Burning,” which won the documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Arkansas native Sgt. Shannon Morgan served in Iraq with a Marine unit during the siege of Ramadi. She was among a group of women sent to the front lines of the war to defuse tensions with local civilians, which ultimately led to her fighting some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the war.

Daria Sommers

Daria Sommers got her start on the PBS series “Smithsonian World.” She wrote and directed the award-winning “Eastern Spirit, Western World,” a portrait of Chinese-American artist Diana Kan, as well as “Duncan's Shadow,” and the award-winning “Ready to Burn.” She recently completed “Sawadika American Girl,” a feature screenplay based on her experiences growing up in Thailand in the shadow of the Vietnam War.

Lioness: Ther for Action, Missing from History
Date: 5/16/2008

Directors Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers, discuss their documentary film “Lioness,” about the use of women soldiers in combat during the War in Iraq. “Lioness” chronicles when U.S. women soldiers are sent to the front lines to defuse tensions with local civilians, leading to those women fighting some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the war. Told through intimate accounts, journal excerpts, archive footage, as well as interviews with military commanders, the film follows five women, dubbed "Team Lioness" by their commanders, who served together for a year in Iraq. Also participating in the discussion is soldier Shannon Morgan from Mena, Ark., who is featured in the film.

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