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Women’s Empowerment Event Stirs Debate in Philly
On August 7, close to 300 people attended the Women’s Empowerment Film Festival in Philadelphia. Hosted at the Leeway Foundation’s event space downtown, the event was produced in partnership with the PBS station, WHYY; the Coalition of Labor Union Women; the Women’s Medical Fund; and the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians. Regional Outreach Coordinator Sara Zia Ebrahimi filed this report.
We showed five films over the course of the afternoon and evening — and several people stayed with us the whole day through every single film! We were incredibly lucky to have several special guests that helped enrich the audience’s experience at the festival. Alumenda Carracedo, director of Made in LA, and Robert Bahar, producer, had a Q&A where audience members were able to hear updates on the workers featured in the film and the ongoing issues around labor and undocumented workers in the US.
Two local community partners, the Coalition of Labor Union Women and the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, also tied the discussion to local debates and legislation in the region.
In the evening, Rocky Otoo, the subject of Bronx Princess, and Avery Klein-Cloud, from Off & Running joined for a panel moderated by Dr. Yaba Blay. Below is a short clip from the panel where Dr. Blay discusses what it means as a young black woman in the United States to ask “Who I am? How do I feel? And who can help me answer these questions?”
Women’s Empowerment Event Draws a Crowd in Seattle
From the lobby of Pigot Hall at Seattle University
National Community Cinema Coordinator, Patrick Baroch, reports out on another successful Women’s Empowerment Screening, this one, from Seattle.
Seattle’s first ever Women Empowerment Film Event & Meetings (WE FEM) packed in men and women along a broad spectrum of ages, genders, and ethnicities. Seattle University hosted the event at Pigott Hall, where the power of the films resonated in lively and impassioned discussion afterwards.
After the screening of A Girl’s Life the blunt question, “Why are girls so mean?” became a topic of much discussion and observation. The hit of the night was a Lieutenant from the Seattle Fire Department donning her full gear in 60 seconds. She also gave a fascinating tour of her tool belt.
After each film and workshop, the participants mingled in the atrium. At the end of the night, people continued to talk about what they had seen.
Women’s Empowerment Screenings Trigger Plans in Nashville
Chiquita Fields of Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee talks with audience members after a screening of Troop 1500
Our Women’s Empowerment Screening was a spirited collaboration of organizations and individuals. Series partner Nashville Public Library hosted us in its elegant auditorium and conference center. Nashville Public Television and the Nashville Film Festival – under the leadership of President and CEO Beth Curley and Director Sallie Mayne — who were both in attendance — helped fill the audience with PBS enthusiasts and independent film lovers. And the organization, Hands On Nashville, supplied us with more than a dozen enthusiastic volunteers.
Miss Navajo Screens for Colorado Springs
Chris Loud, film series coordinator for the Independent Film Society of Colorado, reflects on a successful WEI screening.
At the beginning of this summer, a film I was not very familiar with kept coming up in conversations and several people encouraged me to see it. Months later, I was excited that I was not only able to see the film, but was able to screen it before the Colorado Springs community through Community Cinema’s Women’s Empowerment Series. That film was Miss Navajo.
We had two screenings of Miss Navajo and I started each screening off by reading the letter from the filmmaker, Billy Luther. This offered an emotional connection between the audience and the creator. After the screenings I led the audience discussion by reading the Navajo creation story that was touched on several times during the film. The audience’s response was overwhelmingly positive.
Audiences that regularly enjoy films from Independent Lens always seem to to be made up of interesting people from the community that have some connection to either the film or the subject matter. These screenings were no exception. In the audience we had people who had once lived on the Navajo reservation, a couple which taught at schools on the Navajo reservation, and three young Navajo women that grew up on the reservation. This helped me facilitate a great discussion after each screening and these people were wonderful resources for the audience to ask questions.
One topic that came up during both discussions was about the loss of culture due to the harshness of the boarding schools in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Other films that related to the subject came up such as The Only Good Indian, Rabbit-Proof Fence (Australian Aborigines), and Our Spirits Don’t Speak English. These were just a few of the films suggested for future screenings.
ITVS Teams Up with All Roads Film Project at Nat Geo
Michon Boston, Community Cinema’s Regional Outreach Coordinator in Washington D.C., updates BTB on a new partnership between ITVS and the All Roads Film Project at National Geographic.
My first community partnership experience with the All Roads Film Project at National Geographic was in 2007 when ITVS and All Roads co-hosted a special screening of Miss Navajo for the All Roads Film Festival. We brought in filmmaker Billy Luther, and the film’s star Crystal Frazier (and her mom) to join the Q&A moderated by Francene Blythe, the festival’s director. The National Geographic special events team hired a vendor to make fry bread on the spot during the after-party on the patio. It was a night to remember; especially the fry bread. Additionally, ITVS International content has appeared on the National Geographic Channel in the past. The two organizations also partnered up this past summer for the premiere screening of Bhutto in Washington, DC and back in 2007 around the film Please Vote for Me.
Letters from Los Angeles
This past month, the Women’s Empowerment Film Series in Los Angeles partnered with the City of Los Angeles’ Gang Reduction Youth Development Office (GRYD). National Community Cinema Coordinator, Desiree Gutierrez reports on how the films were chosen and relays a message from one special member, involved in the curating process.
As a group, we decided that beyond showing female youth empowering films we could also create an empowerment opportunity by including the youth in our planning. We invited a few girls from the area’s GRYD zones to participate in our planning and to serve as film festival programmers.
The girls started with a list of 20 unique female-focused films and they worked there way down to our final three: Going on 13, Troop 1500, and Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story. The films selected resonated with the girl’s own experiences about growing up in the inner-city and the reality of making poor life choices or worse having a parent making poor choices.
Independent Lens Series Producer Lois Vossen stands between, Carmen Rios (L) and Ce'Airah Jenkins (R)
One of the young women to help us program the festival was Ce’Airah Jenkins. She is a bright and serious girl that has aspirations of being an actress. Ce’Airah had the opportunity to travel to Sacramento to meet with legislators and was unable to attend the festival she programmed. However, it was very important to her that the audience knew why Troop 1500 was a personal and important selection to her. Here is a note she asked that I share with the audience.
By Ce’Airah Jenkins
Troop 1500 is related to my life in so many ways because my mother was in prison for five years. When my mother went to prison, my sister and I moved back with my father. My mother wrote us and called us everyday. My father was a single parent and didn’t get help from anyone.
While my mother was in prison we didn’t get to visit her because my father didn’t have the time or money to fly us to where she was. My sister and I were too young to think of any programs to help us see our mother! So basically, we were stuck with phone calls, letters, and pictures.
Troop 1500 is such a good documentary for young ladies that have parents in prison. I really wish I knew about this program back in the day. My mom did her whole sentence, which was five years, and when she got out of prison she got really sick, and after about a year she passed away, when I was 10 years old.
My mom was great. I really want to spread the word that I still hold my head high because my mom told me to keep my head high, and I plan to be a success.
Chicago Hosts WEI Summer Series
Laura Fletcher is the Communications Manager for the Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW). Her group is partnering with ITVS on the upcoming Women’s Empowerment Summer Film Series at the Chicago Cultural Center on two Sundays, August 15th and 22nd.
Chicago Foundation for Women signed on as a co-sponsor of this film series because we know the power of media and art to change people’s minds on important issues. Our mission is to raise money to fund and support organizations that help women and girls — it’s all about making smarter connections between need, money, and solutions. And I personally was thrilled to make a connection that could spotlight the local nonprofits we fund that work with women and girls, as well as provide free community entertainment focused on our issues.
I remember two months ago when I first got a voicemail from Naomi Walker at ITVS. Unfortunately, Naomi’s phone cut out just as she left her number. Luckily she came up on a Google search, and I emailed her. Soon after, we were looking at the available films and brainstorming which of them reflect the issues important to women and girls in the greater Chicago area. We settled on four films that touch on all three of CFW’s issue areas: economic security, freedom from violence, and access to health services and information.
Made In L.A. documents the lives, struggle, and personal transformation of three Latina garment factory workers over a tumultuous three-year period.
Taking the Heat explores the history of women firefighters in America and the price they paid to serve their communities. Going On 13 follows four girls of color through puberty as they let go of childhood and fumble, or sprint, toward an uncertain future.
Troop 1500 focuses on a unique Girl Scout troop in Texas that unites daughters with incarcerated mothers.
The best part, for Chicago Foundation for Women, is that after each film, our fabulous grantees and community allies get to speak. For example, after Troop 1500, we will hear from a formerly incarcerated mother and her now grown daughter. They were helped by Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers. I’m also glad that Sarah Schriber from Health and Medicine Policy Research Group will speak about her group’s work with girls involved in the juvenile justice system. We’ll also have a representative from the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana (More details on all of our panelists and community supporters are on our film series webpage).
Many thanks to ITVS, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and our media sponsors, WBEZ 91.5 and Vocalo 89.5. We’re excited that WBEZ and Vocalo are moderating the post-film discussions — a special thanks also goes to Allison Cuddy and Carrie Shepherd.
Revisiting Sentenced Home and the Case of Many Uch
Filmmakers Nicole Newnham and David Grabias
Sentenced Home aired back in 2007 on Independent Lens and put a human face on a controversial immigration policy. The film followed three young Cambodian Americans, raised in inner-city Seattle, each of whom faced deportation for mistakes they made as teenagers. Filmmakers Nicole Newnham and David Grabias provide an update on the case of Many Uch, one of the three subjects featured in Sentenced Home.
In June, 2007, Many Uch decided to apply for a pardon for his 1994 crime from Christine Gregoire, the governor of Washington State. Although we knew it was a long shot, it was something that we had been hoping he would do for quite a while. We met Many while filming Sentenced Home in 2003, and we were struck by his gentle soul and his extraordinarily thoughtful perspective on his difficult situation: in limbo, living with the constant threat of an order of deportation to Cambodia.
Women’s Empowerment Series Heads to Philly
Maori Karmael Holmes serves as the Communications Director for the Leeway Foundation (in Philadelphia, PA) which is partnering with ITVS on the upcoming Women’s Empowerment Initiative Screening this Saturday, August 7th. Maori reflects on how the films in this series relate to local artists in the Philadelphia area.
In 2006 I received a Leeway Transformation Award, which came at a crucial point in my development as an artist and cultural worker. One of the unique aspects of the Transformation Award is that it is given to both emerging and established artists who create art for social change. I definitely consider myself an emerging artist and the award helped to push me to deepen my practice. Over the years I’ve worked to help provide a platform for women artists’ voices to be amplified. One of the ways I’ve done this is through my own filmmaking—Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip Hop documents the legacy of women in this crucial underground scene. I’ve also worked as a curator and festival producer for a variety of venues including co-founding the Black Lily Film & Music Festival and later coming full circle by serving most recently as the Communications Director at Leeway Foundation.
The Leeway Foundation is committed to art making as an integral part of social change, to movement building, and anti-oppression work. We support women and trans artists in the Philadelphia area through grants, workshops, and exhibition opportunities.
Partnering with ITVS to host the Women’s Empowerment Initiative—which highlights the contributions of women in their communities—was a natural fit for us. The kinds of issues that are highlighted in these films share similarities with the art-for-social change work we’ve funded locally over the years.
Taking Root tells the story of Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and how she helped spark a movement to safeguard the environment, defend human rights, and fight government injustice. Echoes of her work can be seen in that of Blanche Epps, a 2006 Art and Change Grantee, who shares her ancestral horticultural traditions with youth in her West Philadelphia neighborhood, as a means of reconnecting people to the natural cycles and functions of the earth.
Made in LA is a fantastic documentation of three garment workers organizing a campaign to win basic labor protections from a trendy clothing retailer. Locally we’ve funded a number of women and trans artists doing similar documentation work as the film’s director Almudena Carracedo in both radio and video formats. 2008 Art and Change Grantee Charing A. Ball keeps up with the pulse of local organizing campaigns on her podcast and radio show “People, Places and Things.” Milena Velis, recipient of a 2010 Art and Change Grant, is capturing the stories of emerging grassroots organizers on Labor Justice Radio. 2008 Art & Change Grantee Beth Pulcinella challenges the community to explore and express their creative potential. She sees screen-printing workshops as a powerful resource for generating political propaganda, developing sustainable business, and supporting cultural production.
Finally, Off and Running offers a poignant look into the issue of trans-racial queer adoption by following Avery Klein-Cloud, an African American girl with white lesbian mothers. Two of our grantees have explored similar intersecting issues of identity, race, and parents, as in the film, in their Art and Change Grant projects including Kimberly E. Rollins who began developing a series of African hair care workshops to assist foster, adoptive, biological and trans-race families in 2008. Additionally, Karl Surkan used his 2007 grant to create a documentary chronicling his “alternative family.” By telling his story as a transgender person facing infertility and a genetic predisposition to breast and ovarian cancer, he hopes to challenge and create awareness about gender expectation.
We’re delighted to be hosting these films in our community room and bridging these national and international discussions with local artists and activists.
On Their Own Terms in Lexington, Kentucky
Kentucky Education Television (KET) is the PBS affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky and has been involved with Community Cinema for over a year. KET’s Sara O’Keefe previews a host of upcoming screenings from the Women’s Empowerment Series, the first of which begins this Thursday, August 5th.
This summer we at KET were asked if we would like to host a special Women’s Empowerment Film series in August, to help jump start the next season of Community Cinema starting in October. I thought this would be a wonderful way to reach out to groups in our community and bring them into the KET family, making people aware of our programming and Community Cinema.
From the many film choices from ITVS we chose four for our series: Shadya, Made in L.A., Sunset Story, and Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. We’re putting these films under series title “On Their Own Terms,” since the women in the films were all standing up for what they believed, no matter what others told them, and overcoming difficulties to succeed on their own terms. We also wanted a diverse group of films and looked for those that could help start a dialogue within our own community about issues that we are facing here. Film can be a great gateway to conversations on topics that might not be easy to talk about.
By watching Shadya and having people from Islamic groups speak, I hope that everyone will leave with a better understanding of Islam and the Muslim culture.
We have a large and rapidly growing Hispanic population in Kentucky, and Made in L.A. seemed like a perfect fit. Hopefully, people will see the struggle many have to face on a daily basis just to make ends meet.
Often the senior population doesn’t have its voice heard. By showing Sunset Story, we hope to continue KET’s effort to educate the public about issues of aging. We are also excited to show Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. Conserving the environment is close to many Kentuckians’ hearts, and watching Wangari is truly inspiring.
We are showing our films each Thursday in August at 6:30 p.m. in the KET Visitors Center. Some of the groups that we are working with on the film series are the Kentucky Islamic Resource Group, Kentucky Department of Labor, The Richmond Human Rights Commission, La Voz, Bluegrass Area Agency on Aging and Independent Living, Lexington Senior Center, Bluegrass Sierra Club, and the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative…just to name a few.
Now that most of that planning is complete and the e-vites and flyers have been sent and posted, we are waiting in anticipation of Thursday evening’s screening of Shadya.
Thanks ITVS, for all you do and for giving KET the opportunity to show these inspiring documentaries!
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