A double-shot of Kerry Washington today… earlier, I posted an entry on her upcoming new ABC Shonda Rhimes series (Scandal), which included a video preview…

Now, I’ve learned that she will co-star alongside Jane Fonda in Vagina Monologues creator, Eve Ensler’s feature film directorial debut (she’s also penning the script), titled The Other Side.

In the film, which will be set in both New York and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fonda will play a “fancy Park Avenue psychologist who, after the death of her father, realizes her whole life has been lived to fulfill his dreams, not hers… When she is asked to go to Congo to act as a trauma therapist for rape victims, she accepts the offer believing she’ll be instrumental in helping the women. However, when she arrives, she is totally unprepared for the atrocities she witnesses and “all of her walls and constructs begin to cave in,” Ensler told Screen Daily a few days ago.

As for Kerry Washington… she’ll play “an ambitious journalist who follows a sort of opposite path to Fonda’s becoming more removed on her journey… It’s a story of change in relationships… and how we love people,” Ensler added.

The subject matter (the plight of women in the Congo) is said to be one that’s of special interest to Ensler, as she has reportedly made 7 trips there in the past 4 years, most recently opening a community for women survivors of gender violence.

Plans are to shoot the film within the next 12 months, provided financing comes together.

The trio (pictured above in 2008) coming together to work on this project shouldn’t be a surprise, given they’re all actively involved in a variety of women-centered humanitarian causes.

Stay tuned…