A Good Wife
[2016 • Mirjana Karanovic • 91 min • Serbia • Drama] Milena faces devastating choices - not only has her doctor found a lump in her breast, but she has just come across a videotape that appears to implicate her husband's military unit in the Balkan War genocide. Is the façade of her comfortable family life about to crumble? The Good Wife explores how a woman long expected to be the caretaker of everyone around her must grapple with knowledge that compels her to take care of herself. Saturday, March 11, 2 p.m.
A Light Beneath Their Feet
[2016 • Valerie Weiss • 90 min • US • Drama] A high school senior must choose between enrolling at the college of her dreams and remaining at home to take care of her bipolar mother. Saturday, March 11, noon.
A Revolution in Four Seasons
[2016 • Jessie Deeter • 90 min • Tunisia • Documentary] The story of two women with opposing political views fighting for their different versions of a democratic future for Tunisia, the country that sparked the Arab Spring. On a public level, both women must navigate how females are treated in their society, while in their own homes they must make difficult choices to balance their public political roles with marriage and motherhood. Sunday, March 12, 6 p.m.
A Woman, A Part
[2016 • Elisabeth Subrin • 97 min • US • Drama] An exhausted, workaholic actress abruptly extricates herself from a successful but mind-numbing TV role, returning to her past life in New York to reinvent herself. But despite the desire for transformation, she cannot find herself outside of her career. When an upsetting personal betrayal unexpectedly leads to the role of her life, she must confront the reality of her past relationships in order to clear a path forward. Saturday, March 18, 6 p.m.
Absences
[2016 • Tatiana Huezo • 22min • Mexico/El Salvador • Short Doc • Subtitled] Absences exposes the ever-intensifying phenomenon of enforced disappearance in Mexico. A boy and his father disappear one morning, snatched off the road by armed men. Left behind, alone with her daughter, Lulu, a victim who refuses to give in, decides to tell the story: the unfillable void, the absence of loved ones, the unanswered questions, and the suffocating silence. This hauntingly beautiful short film illuminates the way disappearance affects women, and it broadens our awareness on disappearance and its social consequences in Mexico and Central America. Sunday, March 12, 4 p.m.
American Fable
[2016 • Anne Hamilton • 96 min • US • Thriller] American Fable is a fairy-tale thriller set in the 1980s rural Midwest about a courageous girl living in a dark and magical world. When 11-year-old Gitty discovers that her beloved father is hiding a wealthy man in her family's silo in order to save their struggling farm, she is forced to choose between saving the man's life or protecting her family from the consequences of their actions. Sunday, March 12, 8 p.m.
AWOL
[2016 • Deb Shoval • 82 min • US • Drama] An adrift young woman in rural Pennsylvania unexpectedly falls in love with a housewife just after a visit to an Army recruiting center. When she meets and falls in love with a rough-and-tumble housewife neglected by her long-haul trucker husband, that path diverges in ways that neither woman anticipated. AWOL is a beautiful romantic drama that is both tender and tough in equal measure. Friday, March 17, 7 p.m.
Balsa Wood
[2016 • Dominique Lecchi • 9 min • US • Short] Balsa Wood is a lighthearted slice of life about two mixed-race siblings visiting their extended Filipino family for lunch. It is a bubble of family functions and dysfunctions. The film explores what it is to feel like an outsider within your own family, while recognizing that belonging comes in many forms. Saturday, March 11, 8 p.m.
Beat Beat Heart
[2016 • Luise Brinkmann • 86 min • Germany • Romance] A playful romantic has waited for her true love to come back for quite some time now, when suddenly her newly-separated mother moves in with her and confronts her with a midlife-crisis, self-discovery, and newfangled love concepts. Sunday, March 19, 8 p.m.
Everybody Knows Elizabeth Murray
[2016 • Kristi Zea • 60 min • US • Documentary] This tribute to the dynamic artist Elizabeth Murray, an intrinsic figure in New York's contemporary art landscape from the 1970s until the early 2000s, highlights her struggle to balance personal and family ambition with artistic drive in a male-dominated art world. It also addresses her later battle with cancer, at the peak of her career. Saturday, March 18, 4 p.m.
First Lady of the Revolution
[2016 • Andrea Kalin • 71 min • US • Documentary] First Lady of the Revolution is the remarkable story of Henrietta Boggs, a Southern belle who takes a life-altering journey through marriage, civil war, and audacious democratic reforms to become the first lady of Costa Rica. Sunday, March 12, noon.
Florence Has Left the Building
[2015 • Mirrah Foulkes • 13 min • US • Short] Florence is a foul-mouthed resident of a nursing home trying to escape. She gets her chance with the help of a washed-up Elvis impersonator. Saturday, March 11, noon; Saturday, March 18, 4 p.m.
Free to Laugh
[2016 • Lara Everly • 14 min • US • Short] A documentary that explores the power of comedy after prison. Sunday, March 19, 6 p.m.
Girl from God's Country: The History of Women in Film
[2016 • Karen Day • 66 min • US • Documentary] The untold story of the first female independent filmmaker and action-adventure heroine, Nell Shipman, who left Hollywood to make her own films in Idaho. She rewrote the rules of filmmaking, with storylines of self-reliant women overcoming physical challenges in the wilderness and often, rescuing the male lead. Sunday, March 12, 2 p.m.
Girls Lost
[2016 • Alexandra-Therese Keining • 103min • Sweden • Fantasy • Subtitled] Three teenage girls at the bottom of the high school social hierarchy learn what it's like to walk as boys in this fantasy about gender identity and sexual awakening. It's a story of how we've created gender, and how to know who you are when society is telling you who you should be. Saturday, March 11, 6 p.m.
The Good Breast
[2016 • Bernadette Wegenstein • 90 min • US • Documentary] Through the intimate stories of breast cancer patients and their surgeons, The Good Breast explores the often opposing desires for individual breast cancer treatment and the cultural roots of the loss of the breast. Saturday, March 11, 4 p.m.
Have a Baby
[2016 • Amanda Micheli • 77 min • US • Documentary] Have a Baby gives a voice to infertility and unveils the class disparity within a topic that is often clouded by judgment and stereotypes. Oscar-nominated director Amanda Micheli's provocative and suspenseful documentary follows several aspiring parents who desperately want to have a baby but are struggling with infertility and the high cost of treatments. They place themselves in the hands of a fertility clinic that sponsors an annual contest offering a prize of a free round of in-vitro fertilization - with no guarantee of pregnancy. Sunday, March 19, 2 p.m.
Hold On
[2016 • Charlotte Scott-Wilson • 22 min • Holland • Short • Subtitled] A young cellist has to overcome her fears in order to keep her position in an orchestra. Saturday, March 18, 4 p.m.
The Honeys and the Bear
[2016 • Veena Rao • 3 min • US • Short] Members of the Harlem Honeys and Bears, a synchronized swim team for seniors, describe the freedom of the water. Saturday, March 18, 6 p.m.
Hooligan Sparrow
[2016 • Nanfu Wang • 91 min • China • Documentary • Subtitled] State surveillance. Harassment. Imprisonment. Human rights activist Ye Haiyan, a.k.a. Sparrow, knew she faced these risks when she went to Hainan Province to seek justice for six elementary-school girls who were sexually abused by their principal. But the scale and intensity of the government's reaction surprised even the most-seasoned activists across China. The film follows Sparrow as she is chased from town to town by local governments, national secret police, and even her own neighbors. Saturday, March 11, 8 p.m.
If Mama Ain't Happy, Nobody's Happy
[2015 • Mea Dols de Jong • 25 min • Netherlands • Short • Subtitled] If Mama Ain't Happy, Nobody's Happy explores the parent-child relationship when the child has flown the nest. Who is it that actually suffers from empty-nest syndrome? Sunday, March 12, 2 p.m.
Jewel's Catch One
[2016 • C. Fitz • 90 min • US • Documentary] Jewel's Catch One documents the oldest Black-owned disco in America and establishes the legacy of businesswoman, activist, and healer Jewel Thais-Williams, who stood up against hate and discrimination for 42 years. The story of Jewel and “The Catch” celebrates four decades of music, fashion, celebrity, and activism that helped change the course of our country by breaking down racial, social, and cultural barriers. Shown as part of opening gala, Friday, March 10 and on Friday, March 17, 5:30 p.m.
Join the Club
[2016 • Eva Vives • 5 min • US • Short] A writer's dilemma of whether to join a networking club unfolds during one therapy session. Saturday, March 18, 8 p.m.
Mabel
[2016 • Teresa McGinnes • 20 min • Canada • Short] Ninety-year-old Mabel Robinson has owned her hair salon for over 70 years, and she still provides shampoos and sets to a faithful but dwindling clientele. “They're all dying on me, but I'm still going strong,” she observes with customary wry humor. Mabel weaves animation and archival imagery with intimate interview footage, exploring the power of community and friendship. Sunday, March 12, noon.
Meral
[2015 • Süheyla Schwenk • 21min • Germany • Short • Subtitled] Meral, a young paraplegic girl, is not only bound to bed because of her illness but also to her traditional family - which she thought she had escaped a long time ago. Saturday, March 18, noon.
Noni & Elizabeth
[2016 • Nanna Blondell • 15 min • Sweden • Short • Subtitled] Despite the myriad social land mines, two stepsisters navigate fairly seamlessly through the alternate reality inhabited by the adults intended to care for them. Sunday, March 19, noon.
Ovarian Psycos
[2016 • Joanna Sokolowski/Kate Trumbull-LaValle • 72min • USA • Documentary] Riding at night through streets deemed dangerous in Eastside Los Angeles, the Ovarian Psycos use their bicycles to confront the violence in their lives. The film Ovarian Psycos rides along with the Ovas, exploring the impact of the group's activism, born of feminist ideals, Indigenous understanding, and an urban/hood mentality, on neighborhood women and communities as they confront injustice, racism, and violence as they take back their streets - one ride at a time. Sunday, March 12, 4 p.m.
Pangaea
[2016 • Olivia Peace • 7 min • US • Short] The story of a girl trapped on the roof after Hurricane Katrina. One stunning scene draws a visual parallel between how water separated the continents thousands of years ago with how water separated the girl's family. Sunday, March 19, 2 p.m.
Patience, Patience
[2016 • 85 min • Belgium • Documentary • Subtitled] In the 1960s, thousands of North Africans came to work in Belgium. Among them were women who had left everything behind to follow their men to an unknown country. “Patience, patience - you'll get to heaven” is what these women were repeatedly told to encourage them to put up with their lives without complaining. Fifty years later, seven North African Muslim women are finally starting to taste freedom after decades of raising their families behind closed doors. In this heartwarming documentary, we follow the seven women as they venture out together, discovering a whole world they hadn't previously known. Saturday, March 18, noon.
Playtime
[2016 • Lina Berger • 10 min • Sweden • Short • Subtitled] Jackie is 8 years old and wants to play floor hockey with her girlfriends, but the boys claim the space. The teacher says, “Boys will be boys.” But Jackie doesn't accept this statement and sets out to make change. Sunday, March 19, 2 p.m.
The Revival: Women and the Word
[2016 • Sekiya Dorsett • 82 min • US • Documentary] The Revival: Women and the Word chronicles the U.S. tour of a group of Black lesbian poets and musicians who become present-day stewards of a historical movement to build community among queer women of color. The film follows the group as it tours the country, revealing their aspirations and triumphs as well as the unique identity challenges of gender, race, and sexuality facing individual members. This is a rarely seen look into a special sisterhood - one where marginalized voices are both heard and respected. Sunday, March 19, 4 p.m.
The Right Bank
[2016 • Yvonne Li • 12 min • US • Short] In order to keep her relationship with her girlfriend, a Chinese lesbian seeks the blessing of her conservative mother. Sunday, March 19, 4 p.m.
Southwest of Salem
[2016 • Deborah S. Esquenazi • 91 min • US • Documentary] Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four excavates the nightmarish persecution of four Latina lesbians wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting two little girls in San Antonio, Texas. The film begins its journey inside a Texas prison, after these women have spent nearly a decade behind bars. As lesbian low-income women of color, these women hold intersecting identities that make them the most vulnerable to incarceration and juror bias. The film unravels the interplay of mythology, homophobia, and prosecutorial fervor that led to their indictment. Sunday, March 19, 6 p.m.
Staying Sally
[2016 • Kristen O'Hare • 6 min • US • Short] A documentary told in the words of the director's Gramma, a 78 year-old woman with Alzheimer's Disease. Her life, her stories, and her memories are told through a series of interviews held over eight months. Saturday, March 11, 4 p.m.
Terminal
[2016 • Natasha Waugh • 10 min • Ireland • Short] A girl and a woman meet in an airport gate. Just before they board a plane to Manchester, we witness a private exchange as they share the reasons that brought them to this moment - and the traumatic journey that awaits them. Saturday, March 18, 2 p.m.
Three Women Wait for Death
[2016 • Isabelle Sieb • 16 min • UK • Short Comedy] Miranda and her daughters, Hester and Rose, are crammed in a rotting little caravan to be near their Gramps in his final days. They love him, but his care bills are mounting. When they discover that he's hidden his savings, they could bloody kill him. Friday, March 17, 7 p.m.; Sunday, March 19, 8 p.m.
Trapped
[2016 • Dawn Porter • 90 min • US • Documentary] What remains of a woman's right to choose? U.S. reproductive health clinics are fighting to remain open. Since 2010, 288 laws regulating abortion providers have been passed by state legislatures. In total, 44 states and the District of Columbia have measures subjecting abortion providers to legal restrictions not imposed on other medical professionals. Unable to comply with these far-reaching and medically unnecessary laws, clinics have taken their fight to the courts. Saturday, March 18, 2 p.m.
Under Construction
[2015 • Rubaiyat Hossain • 88 min • Bangladesh • Drama] Under Construction is about a middle-class Muslim woman struggling to find herself in the sprawl of urban Bangladesh. Theater actress Roya is not interested in motherhood or traditional life, so she decides to reconstruct a famous and politically minded play for modern times, reclaiming her identity, her freedom, and her sexuality in the process. Sunday, March 19, noon.
The View From Tall
[2016 • Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss • 87 min • US • Drama] Precocious, isolated, and relentlessly bullied by her classmates, Chicagoland high school senior Justine reluctantly begins therapy in the aftermath of a messy public affair with a teacher. After a rocky first few sessions, she forms an unlikely bond with Douglas, her disabled therapist, who nurses demons of his own. The View from Tall is a story of self-discovery at more than one age. Saturday, March 18, 8 p.m.
Women Who Kill
[2016 • Ingrid Jungermann • 93 min • US • Dark Comedy] Commitment-phobic Morgan and her ex-girlfriend Jean, locally famous true-crime podcasters, suspect Morgan's new love interest is a murderer. Friday, March 17, 8:45 p.m.