Women + Film VOICES Film Festival

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 08 March 2011 04:19

Written by L E Shannon

The Women + Film VOICES Film Festival is running March 8 - 13, 2011 at at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax, in Denver, Colorado. This brand new festival is being launched, fittingly, on the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day.

The Women + Film VOICES Film Festival showcases thought-provoking, inspirational stories of women from around the world. Each film will have a VOICES host -- a woman personally involved with the film or a Denver community leader -- to introduce the film and lead a post-film Q&A discussion.

In addition, the VOICES Salon Series will feature inspirational and accomplished women from the Denver area leading discussions on relevant issues featured in the Festival.

The Opening Night film is Miss Representation, directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, which premiered at Sundance this year. The film explores women's under-representation in positions of power by challenging the limited and often disparaging portrayal of women in the media.  As one of the most persuasive and pervasive forces in our culture, media is educating yet another generation that women's primary value lies in their youth, beauty, and sexuality and not in their capacity as leaders. 

The Closing Night film is Jane Eyre, the timeless Charlotte Brontë classic, this time on its fourth cinematic rendering, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (who brought the world the film Sin Nombre). With Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins.

The other selected films are:

Soul Surfer
Dir. Sean McNamara
This is the inspiring true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who fought to return to surfing after losing an arm in a shark attack at age 13. With AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood (in her feature film debut). AnnaSophia Robb and Bethany Hamilton will be present.

Pushing the Elephant
Dir. Beth Davenport
Rose Mapendo lost her family and home to the violence that engulfed the Democratic Republic of Congo. The film explores the long-term and often hidden effects of war on women and families, particularly those in traditional societies. The director will be present.

Rachel
Dir. Simone Bitton
In 2003, peace activist and International Solidarity Movement (ISM) member Rachel Corrie was crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003. A few weeks after her little reported death, an inquiry by Israeli military police concluded that Corrie died in an accident. Bitton, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who is a citizen of both France and Israel, "has crafted a dispassionate but devastating essay investigating the circumstances of Rachel Corrie’s death."

Potiche / Trophy Wife
Dir. Francois Ozon
A factory owner suffers a heart attack as his employees go on strike, and his hitherto stay-at-home wife steps in and saves the business, improving the working conditions in the process. But her husband recovers, eager to return to business as usual. Will the good times last? She's determined they will. With Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karin Viard. The screening is preceded by a wine tasting.

Queen to Play
Dir. Caroline Bottaro
An inquisitive French Riviera hotel maid becomes entranced by a vacationing couple as they play chess on the hotel balcony. Tired of her humdrum existence, she quickly cultivates her curiosity, which blossoms into a passion for the game and an eventual shot at a championship. With Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline. A dessert reception follows at Encore.

Beyond Belief
Dir. Beth Murphy
Two ordinary soccer moms living in the affluent suburbs of Boston are until tragedy strikes. Grief compels these women to focus on the country where the terrorists who took their husbands' lives were trained: Afghanistan. As they cope and struggle to raise their families as single mothers, these extraordinary women dedicate themselves to empowering Afghan widows whose lives have been ravaged by decades of war, poverty and oppression—factors they consider to be the root causes of terrorism.

screening with short film:
Waking Lions
Director: Allison Otto
Waking Lions is a short film about Mountain2Mountain and founder Shannon Galpin's ground-breaking mountain bike ride through Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley.

A Powerful Noise
Dir. Beth Murphy
Hanh is an HIV-positive widow in Vietnam, Nada, a survivor of the Bosnian war, and Jacqueline works the slums of Bamako, Mali. Although the three live very different lives and come from vastly different worlds, they have they have one thing in common—power. These women are each overcoming gender barriers to rise up and claim a voice in their societies.

Pink Saris
Dir. Kim Longinotto
"If you’re shy, you’ll die." This is just one of the catchy aphorisms uttered by the formidable Sampat Pal Devi, leader of the Gulabi Gang (aka the "Pink Gang"), in northern India’s state of Uttar Pradesh. The Gulabi Gang seeks to help women from the lowest caste, known as dalits or “untouchables.” Entrenched tradition continues to condone child marriages, dowry deaths and abuse inflicted upon wives by husbands and in-laws. The female gang members assert their presence by wearing bright pink saris and make good on Sampat Pal’s assertion that: “there is no higher power than a woman.” Author and co-founder of Dalit Freedom NetworkNanci Ricks will be present.

Jucy
Dir. Louise Alston
Jackie and Lucy are two 20-something best friends who’ve made an art of not doing much. They’re so inseparable that they’ve earned the collective moniker "Jucy." Working together in an alternative video store, they smoke pot, play video games and actively encourage each other’s eccentricities and often-delusional world view. With Cindy Nelson, Francesca Gasteen.

!Women, Art, Revolution
Dir. Lynn Hershman-Leeson
Starting from its roots in 1960s antiwar and civil rights protests, the film details major developments in women’s art through the 1970s and explores how the tenacity and courage of these pioneering artists resulted in what is now widely regarded as the most significant art movement of the late 20th century.

Mother, Caring Our Way Out of the Population Dilemma
Dir. Christophe Fauchere
Mother breaks a 40-year taboo by bringing to light an issue that silently fuels our most pressing environmental, humanitarian, and social crises - population growth. Director Christophe Fauchere and producer Joyce Johnson will be present.

For more information, go to www.denverfilm.org.

About Women + Film
Women + Film is a year-round program in Denver showcasing films by, for, and about women. The program was founded in partnership with Barbara Bridges and the Denver Film Society with film screenings occurring monthly at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax.

The Women + Film VOICES Film Festival
March 8 - 13, 2011

Denver FilmCenter/Colfax
2510 East Colfax
Denver, CO
(303) 595-3456

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