As part of the Circle Cinema Film Festival, a screening of Rock Stars: Women in Petroleum Geology played to a packed house on July 11, in Tulsa. The documentary presents the history of women working in petroleum geology – from the first woman hired as a geologist by an oil company in 1917, to modern-day women who are present “from the wellsite to the boardroom.”

Vern Stefanic makes opening statements.

A Q&A panel following the screening included screenwriter/producer Vern Stefanic, who is also the director of Programs and Administration at AAPG; author/petroleum geologist Robbie Gries, who served as AAPG’s first female president and is the current president of GSA; composer/musician Elizabeth Curtis and moderator Kristie Luchtel-Ferguson, also a petroleum geologist. 

Panel (from left-right) Elizabeth Curtis, Robbie Gries, Vern Stefanic and Kristie Luchtel-Ferguson.

The film was a project inspired by Robbie Gries’ book, Anomalies: Pioneering Women in Petroleum Geology, and Gries was on hand to meet attendees and sign copies of her book at a reception hosted by the Circle Cinema. 

Author, historian and petroleum geologist, Robbie Gries.

The film was sponsored by the AAPG Foundation and AAPG.