Davis Feminist Film Festival

Location

203 East 14th Street at the Veterans Memorial Center Theatre

Dates & Times

Sixth Annual: April 14 & 15, 2011

Reception begins at 5:00PM; Films at 6:00PM

Cost

ADVANCE DISCOUNT TICKETS NOW ON SALE

$5-$15 sliding scale (pay what you can afford) avail at Women's Resource and Research Center,

North Hall, UCD campus, and the Davis Farmer's Market

Tickets also available at Armadillo Music for $7 students, $10 general

Tickets will be available at the box office on the nights of the festival for $10 students, $15 general

Website

http://femfilmfest.ucdavis.edu

Contact

<femfilmfest AT ucdavis DOT edu>

The Davis Feminist Film Festival, sponsored by the Consortium for Women and Research, is a grassroots event that uses alternative media as a springboard for linking art to social issues. The goal of the film festival is to showcase independent film spanning documentary, narrative, and experimental genres in order to explore perspectives often missing from mainstream media and culture. Now in its 6th year and increasingly international in scope, the festival provides 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. It is a fun, inspiring, community-building event for artists and audiences alike!

The Thursday and Friday night receptions, which begin at 5 PM, have food for sale from Monticello and beer from the New Belgium Brewery; the films begin at 6 PM. The Solar Community Housing Association (SCHA) is making possible the sale of beer, the profits from which will be used to save the Baggins End Cooperative Community (aka the Domes).
One of the oldest student housing cooperatives in the United States, Baggins End is now in danger of being eliminated; the money raised at the festival will help with the necessary physical and structural repairs needed to save it.

Git Along Little Dogies (9 min.)
Kate Lain, USA
This humorous experimental memoir tells the story of a girl struggling with gender expectations as she transitions from childhood to adulthood. Employing a “mockumentary” style, the film explores the gap between the promise of gender freedom and the reality of gender constraint in a world in which one size does not fit all.

Camas (10 min.)
Manuela Moreno, Spain
Exhilarating or disappointing, pleasurable or painful, sex is a subject about which men and women can — and often do! — differ. Expertly produced and varied in pace, mood, and perspective, these four bedroom vignettes examine the intimacies and anxieties surrounding heterosexual sex.

Red Dust (20 min.)
Karin Mak, China
After being diagnosed with cadmium poisoning, former employees of a battery factory in China unite in a quest for justice. The women must organize to save other workers from the same fate while also fighting to obtain the medical treatment they desperately need. This documentary explores sensitive labor issues in China as well as the role women play in the developing global economy.

Exposing Homelessness (21 min.)
Kerri Galwryn, USA
This film documents the experiences of three formerly unhoused women who use photography to express their thoughts and insights about homelessness in San Francisco. The documentary challenges stereotypes about homelessness and shows how artistic practice itself can be an empowering, healing force.

Lily’s Image (11min.)
Susanne Stich, Ireland
Lily is a quiet girl with an unconventional family and home life. Her parents are divorced, and her Dad has a new “friend.” Using her toys and her imagination, Lily grapples with her changing personal circumstances while trying to maintain the picture-perfect image of the “ideal” family. A thoughtful narrative with beautiful cinematography.

The Rehearsal (5 min.)
Doris Film, Sweden
When a young girl inadvertently discovers there is more to climbing rope than reaching the top, she shares the secret with her best friend. The Rehearsal is a charming look at innocence, discovery, and childhood bonding.

Goals for Girls (6 min.)
Ginger Gentile and Gabriel Balanovsky, Argentina
Young Argentinean girls who want to play soccer must battle deeply rooted sexism in their families and communities just to claim the time and space to enjoy sports. This short documentary shows how male peers, limited public space, and household chores can all get in the way of a girl’s soccer game.

The Witches of Gambaga (55 min.)
Yaba Badoe, Ghana
This powerful documentary explores a longstanding crisis in Ghana, in which women – often those who are strong-willed and successful – find themselves accused of witchcraft. The belief in witchcraft is still widespread and exerts considerable influence on the freedom and mobility of Ghanaian women. Some of the accused leave their villages for Gambaga, a camp that provides protection in exchange for labor. With care and sensitivity, The Witches of Gambaga gives these exiled women a space to tell their own stories.

Q & A with Professor Amina Mama, co-producer of The Witches of Gambaga (30 min)

Fish (10 min.)
Asa Johannisson, Sweden
Gerd is a lonely young woman whose only friend, a goldfish, suddenly dies. When she goes out to buy another fish, she discovers a new and unexpected relationship. Fish is a whimsical tribute to those of us who have wanted and found a kindred spirit. Includes some amazing acrobatics!

Hello Mimi (31 min.)
Sik Ying Ho, Hong Kong
Mimi is a male-to-female transsexual woman in Hong Kong who decided to undergo sex-reassignment surgery at the age of 56. Although she is “dismissed” from her job and rejected by her son, Mimi nevertheless continues to fight for acceptance with gentle determination. This intimate documentary demonstrates the many hardships experienced by transgendered people every day around the world.

Overnight Stay (8 min.)
Daniela Sherer, USA
Do you think people are naturally good or bad? This question sparks the reminiscence of an elderly Jewish woman about a small act of kindness experienced on a particular evening in Krakow, Poland, in 1941. This hand-painted animated film brings warmth and sensitivity to the somber subject of the Holocaust and the Second World War.

Long Haul (21 min.)
Erin Hudson, USA
Three dynamic women truck drivers share their views on working in a male-dominated occupation and how the job affects their lives and families. This short documentary challenges preconceived notions of truck driving while seeking to better understand the pleasures and sacrifices of the women who choose to live on the open road.

Panchito (16 min.)
Arantxa Echevarria Carcedo, Spain
Manuel, a Colombian immigrant in Spain, has a tough job as a delivery driver on the busy streets of Madrid. When his motorbike breaks down he finds himself in an increasingly difficult predicament. A light-hearted yet insightful look at the challenges faced by migrant labor around the world.

Soma Girls (27 min.)
Nandini Sikand and Alexia Prichard, India
This documentary provides an inside look at a shelter for daughters of sex workers in Kolkata, India. Soma Home is a hostel that aims to provide young girls with opportunities their mothers never had: to receive an education, to think for themselves, and to escape a harsh life of poverty by taking control of their own lives. Hard-hitting and serious, but also inspirational.

Not Sacks (9 min.)
Fiona Collins, UK
Quilting and prisoners meet in this eye-opening documentary that challenges traditional notions of femininity and masculinity. Within the walls of the infamous Wandsworth Prison in south west London, prisoners learn new skills and therefore new ways of thinking about themselves. Note how the film itself is quilt-like, assembling a “patchwork” of images into a vibrant whole.

August Moon, Safe Light (10 min.)
Rose Khor, USA
This experimental narrative re-contextualizes post-World War II images of the American occupation of Japan. Using footage from the 1956 Hollywood movie Tea House of the August Moon, about US soldiers who “help” a Japanese village during the war, the film examines the intersections of race, gender, and culture in mainstream American media.

Knock Off (11 min.)
Rosanne Flynn, UK
Teenager Jude struggles to balance her pregnancy with her social and academic drive to succeed. At the center of the narrative is Jude’s complicated and intense relationship with her only present parent, her father. The two clash, but then re-commit to facing the future together. A touching portrayal of love and hard choices against a backdrop of racial and gender inequality.

Attached to You (9 min.)
Carin Brack, Mia Hulterstam, and Cecilia Actis, Sweden
This playful claymation film illustrates the rich and varied experience of parenthood – from pregnancy and birth to growing up and letting go – all while emphasizing the lasting bond between parent and child.

Prohomo (3 min.)
Alayna Chamberland, Alix Hamilton, and Emilie Seguin, USA
Teens explore their queer experiences in this original rap video. Their playful, humorous rapping and rhyming reveal why it’s cool to express an identity that is true to your own sense of self.

• First Davis Feminist Film Festival to Be Held Tonight: Double-billed film fest showcases the minorities of media California Aggie October 20, 2005
  

• Davis Feminist Film Festival Premieres Thursday Night California Aggie February 21, 2007

2011 DFFF Poster.pdf

Comments:

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2007-09-06 18:22:29   greta and danielle are awesome people. i'm sure everyone else is too. —JessicaRockwell

If I go, should I castrate myself first? Just asking...—JoshLawson

2011-04-07 08:13:23   To respond to Josh's comment: In the past twenty years or so, feminism is increasingly paying attention to the fact that men "have" gender as much as women do, just like white folks "have" race. This means that a gender analysis informed by feminism can focus on the ways in which masculinity gets constructed and reproduced in the world, not just femininity. To be feminist today means much more than being pro-woman, it signals a sensitivity to how both masculinity and femininity work. I think that if you were to attend the Davis Feminist Film Festival you will notice that the films represent this broader notion of what feminism means. —Artemis