Thursday April 30 & Friday May 1, 2015 – Doors at 6:30pm, Films at 7:00pm
The 10th annual Davis Feminist Film Festival will bring a new selection of cutting-edge short films to the Veteran’s Memorial Center Theatre on April 30th & May 1st, 2015. Showcasing narrative, documentary, and experimental work, this grassroots event links art to social issues and exposes audiences to perspectives often missing from mainstream media. The films featured this year are variously funny, sad, charming, quirky, disturbing, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Filmmakers represent many countries around the world, including Cuba, Iran, South Africa, France, Spain, Iraq and Lebanon. The program is curated by students in a class at UC Davis who gain hands-on experience with festival organizing.
Now in its 10th year and increasingly international in scope, the festival creates an inclusive public space for under-represented artists – particularly women and people of color – to raise consciousness about gender, race, class, sexuality, and other dimensions of social inequality. The festival is a fun, inspiring, community-building event for artists and audiences alike!
Both nights of the festival will feature a block of short films, followed by a feature length documentary.
Thursday’s block of short films highlights feminism around the world—featuring films from Iran, South Africa, Spain and Australia. Thursday Night’s feature film is She is Beautiful When She is Angry. This film documents the near-forgotten history of second-wave feminism and the outrageous, often brilliant women who made it happen. Spanning the years from 1966 to 1972, the film highlights the founding of NOW, the emergence of more radical factions of women’s liberation, and thorny controversies over race, sexual orientation, and leadership. Artfully combining dramatizations, performance, and archival imagery, She is Beautiful recounts the stories of women who, together, fought for their own equality, and in the process created a world-wide revolution. It is a film about activists and activism, made to inspire and empower new generations of women and men to organize anew for feminism and human rights.
Friday’s feature film is In The Turn, a documentary about a queer roller derby collective. This documentary follows Crystal, a 10-year-old transgender girl growing up in rural Canada. Tormented at school by her peers and denied the right to play sports because of her gender, she is on the brink of emotional breakdown when her mother discovers the Vagine Regime, a queer roller derby collective comprised of people of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and identities. The Vagine Regime helps Crystal step out of the shadows and onto the track, as the girl begins the difficult journey from exclusion to empowerment. Crystal’s story unfolds against the backdrop of derby’s transformation from niche sport to international social movement rooted in the LGBTQ community. A powerful and uplifting documentary about hope, perseverance, and triumph.
The Friday night films will be followed by a Q & A discussion with an associate producer of In The Turn and founder of the Vagine Regime, Tori Harris Talavera aka “Injure Rogers,” and Konnor Robison-Williams aka “MisterSister,” one of the stars of the film.
A full listing of each night’s film line-up will be available on the festival website at http://femfilmfest.ucdavis.edu.
Tickets are on sale now! They are available in advance at the Women’s Resources and Research Center (WRRC) on the UC Davis Campus, or at the door the night of the festival. Tickets are by suggested donation—Students $5 to $10, and General $10 to $15.
A reception with food and beverages for sale will start at 6:30pm, films begin at 7pm. Come early and enjoy Peruvian street food from El Ajicito food truck or delicious vegan and gluten-free baked goods from the Butterfly Bakery. The Solar Community Housing Association (SCHA) will be selling beer donated by Lagunitas Brewing Co and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
The Davis Feminist Film Festival is organized and hosted by the Women’s Resources and Research Center (WRRC) at UC Davis. Proceeds go to support the WRRC, offering gender equity outreach and leadership programs on campus and in our community.
10th Annual Davis Feminist Film Festival Line-up
Night One: Thursday April 30, 2015
Thokozani Football Club: Team Spirit (19m)
One Thousand and One Teardrops (18m)
(One Thousand and One Teardrops Trailer)
Loneliness (13m)
Tradition Objectified (7m)
Fixed (7m)
Previous Scenes (28 min., 22 sec.)
Aleksandra Maciuszek, Cuba
In a small, ramshackle house full of memories, an old man, dying of emphysema, cares for his infant grandson while his daughter, the boy’s mother, works and cares for him. The bonds between father and daughter, grandfather and grandson, and mother and son are built and rebuilt from the small acts of daily life. Inspired by the lithographs from Ars Moriendi (medieval manuals for a “good dying”), this quiet, observational film provides an unadorned glimpse into the life of a poor family awaiting death — and nurturing life. A visual feast that is both low-key and intensely captivating.
Ngutu (4m)
***INTERMISSION****
She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (92 min.)
Mary Dore and Nancy Kennedy, USA
She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry documents the near-forgotten history of second-wave feminism and the outrageous, often brilliant women who made it happen. Spanning the years from 1966 to 1972, the film highlights the founding of NOW, the emergence of more radical factions of women’s liberation, and thorny controversies over race, sexual orientation, and leadership. Artfully combining dramatizations, performance, and archival imagery, She’s Beautiful recounts the stories of women who, together, fought for their own equality, and in the process created a world-wide revolution. It is a film about activists and activism, made to inspire and empower new generations of women and men to organize anew for feminism and human rights. (She Is Beautiful When She Is Angry Trailer)
She Is Beautiful When She is Angry Website
Night Two: Friday May 1, 2015
I Call It Love (9m)
Modou Modou (11) (Modou Modou Trailer)
Ants Apartment (11m)
Cordelias (26m)
Heart to Heart (5 min. 49 sec)
Nicolette Daskalakis, Davis CA
For the precocious Maggie Cardioid, life has always been about goals and checklists. We all have a little Maggie inside us: going through the motions and not realizing the beauty of what’s around. Or worse, doubting ourselves. After all, who could love a woman born without a heart? This charming romantic comedy from Davis shows us that it’s not the destination but the journey that counts, and yes, there is someone out there for everyone. Bright and visually playful, Heart to Heart perfectly embodies the old saying, “you complete me.”
Aabida (26 min.)
Maaria Sayed, India
After Aabida loses her husband, a police inspector, to the 2011 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, everyone expects her to unravel, undone by sorrow. But Aabida, out from under thumb of her controlling spouse, does not mourn. Unapologetic, she celebrates her newfound liberation – finally, she is free to wear what she wants, laugh as loud as she likes, and tend to her own desires. And yet her faith, and societal judgment of it, threatens to enclose her in the end. A poignant and, at times, funny film about expectations, obligations, and the joy of Indian cooking. Exquisite cinematography.
(Aabida Trailer) (Link to an interview with the Director of Aabida)
****INTERMISSION*****
In the Turn (90 min.)
Erica Tremblay, USA
Crystal is a 10-year-old transgender girl growing up in rural Canada. Tormented at school by her peers and denied the right to play sports because of her gender, she is on the brink of emotional breakdown when her mother discovers the Vagine Regime, a queer roller derby collective comprised of people of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and identities. The Vagine Regime helps Crystal step out of the shadows and onto the track, as the girl begins the difficult journey from exclusion to empowerment. Crystal’s story unfolds against the backdrop of derby’s transformation from niche sport to international social movement rooted in the LGBTQ community. A powerful and uplifting documentary about hope, perseverance, and triumph. (In The Turn Trailer)
Q & A: The Friday night films will be followed by a Q & A discussion with an associate producer of In The Turn and founder of the Vagine Regime, Tori Harris Talavera aka “Injure Rogers,” and Konnor Robison-Williams aka “MisterSister,” one of the stars of the film.
