FEMINIST FILM FESTIVAL NYC
FIVE FRIDAYS THIS FALL
Joy of Resistance is thrilled to announce that we will be presenting the FIRST EVER Feminist Film Festival at WBAI! It will take place on five consecutive Fridays this Fall, starting on September 26 and running through October 24 (Sept. 26, October 3, 10, 17, 24).
We’ll present “feminist classics”–the defining feminist films of many eras–and some of the directors will be present in person or via Skype. We’ll also show rare documentary shorts, feminist comedy, and have some live performance.
Showings will take place at “The Commons,” at 388 Atlantic Avenue.
Doors will open at 6:00 PM for short films, with main features starting at 7:30 PM.
This is a benefit for WBAI: Suggested donation is $20, but a sliding scale of $10-20. will be in effect. Wine and popcorn will be available.
If you sign up to become a WBAI Buddy, between now and September 24, we’ll give you a free pass to all five evenings of the festival. Your name will be at the door. Sign up at: https://www.wbai.org/baibuddy.php.
For further information and to get emails about the specific films to be shown on each night of the festival, email feministfilmfest@gmail.com or go to joyofresistance.wordpress.com.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE (check back for newly added releases):
Sept. 26, Jennifer Lee’s 2013 release “Feminist Stories from Women’s Liberation” (http://www.feministstories.com/film-clips) , getting rave reviews as it is shown across the country, with the Director to speak to us via Skype. Includes Betty Friedan’s last interview, the “Women of the World Unite” banner being placed on the Statue of Liberty in 1970, SNCC & feminism and much more. Followed by Bev Grant’s ‘Up Against the Wall, Miss America!’ (http://www.give2wbai.org/product_p/od0656.htm), documentary short of the Miss America Pageant Protest of 1968 (where women are rumored to have burnt their bras!). Bev Grant will join us in person to discuss the film.
October 3. “With a Vengeance: The Fight for Reproductive Freedom” by Lori Hiris (1989)http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c149.shtml)–a gutsy fast-moving film influenced by 60’s Avant-Garde cinema (Emile D’Antonio), shows history of abortion in this country, jump-cutting between movement pioneers, clashes with the Right, an early meeting of Black women formulating what would become “the reproductive justice movement” and much more. Cameo appearance by the great Flo Kennedy. “I Had an Abortion” (http://www.jenniferbaumgardner.net/i-had-an-abortion) by Jennifer Baumgardner and Jillian Aldrich. From a “celebrity feminist” to an 85 yr. old Harlem woman who tells what it was like in the 1930’s, women of many ages and communities tell their personal stories about abortion.
October 10th. An evening in Celebration of Indigenous People’s/Columbus Day. We’ll present “Salt of the Earth” (1954) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_of_the_Earth) a feature-length movie that was banned by the House-of Un-American-Activities Committee, about a strike by Mexican workers–within which women rebel against their husbands to participate in the strike. Then “La Operacion” (http://www.filmandhistory.org/documentary/women/operacion.php) by Ana Maria Garcia–the documentary that broke open the scandal that a third of Puerto Rican women had been sterilized in the 1950s/60’s because of U.S. population control policies. Films will be followed a LIVE PERFORMANCE by the Indigenous Women’s singing/spoken word group Mahina Movement! (https://www.facebook.com/mahinamovementcommunity) (Plus films TBA.)
October 17: Lizzie Borden’s cult classic “Born in Flames”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_in_Flames). A sci-fi journey into a post-revolutionary New York City where a Women’s Army, led by Black women, has formed to fully bring women into the revolution. With Flo Kennedy in a featured role! Must see!
October 24: Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker, (http://www.icarusfilms.com/cat97/f-j/fundi45.html) Joanne Grant’s brilliant film on the not-well-enough-known woman behind many of the great campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement. Features Sweet Honey in the Rock’s “Ella’s Song.” Sweet Honey in the Rock/Raise Your Voice! (http://www.whyy.org/community/sweethoney.html) Stanley Nelson’s award winning exploration of the world-acclaimed a capella singing goup will have you singing as you leave. (Plus films TBA.)
All screenings will take place at at 388 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, 1st Floor (between Hoyt and Bond streets–A, C or G to Hoyt-Schermerhorn/#2 or 3 to Hoyt Street).
