(L–R) Dr. Chao-ting Wu, Wendy Calhoun, Nicole Perlman, Cady Coleman, and Cristina Costantini at Filmmaker Lodge on January 27, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Michael Hurcomb/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Sandy Phan
Director of SALLY Cristina Costantini, writer Nicole Perlman, Harvard professor of genetics Dr. Chao-ting Wu, and retired astronaut Cady Coleman are joined by moderator Wendy Calhoun for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s The Big Conversation: Breaking Barriers. This inspirational discussion is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Below are some of the highlights from the women who led The Big Conversation on January 27, sharing their stories of growth and persistence in gaining opportunities amid outdated institutional practices and societal norms. Click here to watch a recording of the event.
Cristina Costantini on why she was inspired to make SALLY. Sally [Ride] was a very complicated person. She didn’t like sharing herself with the public, and she had a public role. I think she loved astrophysics, and she loved being an astronaut, but it really drained her, and being in public really drained her. She did some things where she wasn’t always her best self. And to me, that’s very relatable. We’re all real people.
I think [SALLY] is for anyone who’s ever had to hide part of themselves to be where they want to be or to follow their dreams. So I want the film to be inspiring and an inspiration to how far we can go and how far we have come from the past.
Cady Coleman on the importance of allies. At NASA, I had someone who I flew with, [who] later came to me and said, “You know, you really tried to help me on my flight. You gave me a lot of advice, and I was afraid you weren’t the one to listen to, and I didn’t take it. I just want you to know that I was really wrong, and I apologize for that.”
A lot of people stood up for me when, for example, I wanted to be a [capsule communicator] in Mission Control. This is the person who speaks to the astronauts up there, and people were like, “You know, she talks a lot.” And a new guy said, “Listen, we’re going to have a space station. People are going to be there for a long time. We need more than ‘copy’ and ‘Roger.’ And, you know, if there’s anybody that can build bridges between the Earth and space, Cady’s one of them.”
(L–R) Dr. Chao-ting Wu, Nicole Perlman, Cady Coleman, and Cristina Costantini at Filmmaker Lodge on January 27, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Michael Hurcomb/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
Dr. Chao-ting Wu on the relationship between science and filmmakers. What is concerning is if filmmakers weren’t there to have the world understand what science is, which is basically working on the edge of what is not known. Every year we know the mistakes we made the year before. It is just part of the process, the process of course correction.
As we try and accelerate to address the issues that are out there, if we make a mistake and the community doesn’t understand the process of learning from our mistakes, then very promising technologies will be shut down before they have a chance to be tested in an effective way or even deployed. So I really wanted to thank filmmakers for working hard to portray the process of science.
Nicole Perlman on confidence and making space for others. Just because somebody doubts you, doesn’t mean you have to doubt yourself. A lot of times in these situations, it can be very easy to feel like the other people in the room are your enemy or you’re being pitted against each other, and I sort of lean into the opposite. I try to find allies, especially other women, but I try to find other people, and then we always amplify each other’s voices. Obviously I want my voice to be amplified, but maybe I’ll notice a friend of mine who I know has a great insight into character or theme or something like that, and be like, “Oh, what do you think?”
I try to make space for other people in the room, and I feel making space for others also allows you to be heard, and then they return the favor, and I think it’s sort of a virtuous cycle.
