32 Pills: My Sister's Suicide
BRATTLEBORO — [2017 • Hope Litoff • 85 min. • USA • Doc] After struggling with mental illness for most of her life, New York artist Ruth Litoff committed suicide at age 42 in 2008 by overdosing on prescription pills. Six years later, her younger sister, Hope Litoff, decides to film herself while she empties a packed-to-the-brim storage unit filled with Ruth's belongings. Hope is driven by the need to understand Ruth's illness and desire to end her life, but as she pores through the items her sister left behind, she must exorcise the demons that threaten her sobriety. Saturday, March 10, 8 p.m.
A Thousand Mothers
[2017 • Kim Shelton • 39 min. • Myanmar • Short Doc] An unprecedented look into the lives of Buddhist nuns,ranging in age from 7 to 70, in Sagaing, Myanmar. While the choices available to girls and women in that country are quite limited, the film poetically unfolds to reveal unexpected opportunity and beauty as young orphans find a refuge and an education. They also find a healthy environment with older nuns who have dedicated their lives to service, with the wit and wisdom required to live outside the pull of their rapidly modernizing culture. Saturday, March 10, noon.
Amma: A Song of Motherhood
[2017 • Yadu Aritra • 4 min. • India • Short drama] How complicated are the ties that bind between a mother and a child. The story unravels a day into the lives of three women. Saturday, March 10, noon.
And Nothing Happened
[2017 • Naima Ramos-Chapman • 16 min. • USA • Short drama] After an assault, a young woman juggles the mundane and the extraordinary in an attempt to leave her New York City apartment. Saturday, March 17, 8 p.m.
August in the City
[2017 • Christie Conochalla • 16 min. • USA • Short Drama] In this film set to the theme of love and loss, two women find themselves completely drawn to each other, but one fears the consequences from society in 1978. Friday, March 16, 8 p.m. (Queer Shorts Program).
Big Sonia
[2016 • Leah Warshawski • 93 min. • USA • Doc] In the last store in a defunct shopping mall, 91-year-old Sonia Warshawski - great-grandmother, businesswoman, and Holocaust survivor - runs the tailor shop she's owned for more than 30 years. But when she's served an eviction notice, the specter of retirement prompts Sonia to revisit her harrowing past as a refugee and witness to genocide. A poignant story of generational trauma and healing, Big Sonia also offers a laugh-out-loud-funny portrait of the power of love to triumph over bigotry, and the power of truth-telling to heal us all. Sunday, March 11, 2 p.m.
Birthright: A War Story
[2017 • Civia Tamarkin • 100 min. • USA • Doc] This film examines how women are being jailed, physically violated, and even put at risk of dying as a radical movement tightens its grip across the United States. Sunday, March 11, 6 p.m.
Count
[2015 • Clare Unsworth • 3 min. • UK • Short drama] In this vibrant and moving short poem set to film, a diverse group of women of all ages powerfully join to name and to challenge issues of everyday sexism. Saturday, March 10, 4 p.m.
Different Flowers
[2017 • Morgan Dameron • 99 min. • USA • Dramedy] On the day of her big Midwestern wedding, Millie, a persnickety bride, jilts her fiancé at the altar with the help of her spunky younger sister, Emma, and embarks on a life-changing adventure. Saturday, March 17, noon.
Dive (Salta)
[2017 • Marianne Amelinckx • 13 min. • Venezuela • Short drama] Julia goes back to the pool and remembers that, sometimes, life challenges us to keep going and make decisions. Saturday, March 10, 8 p.m.; Sunday, March 25, noon.
The Divine Order
[2017 • Petra Volpe • 96 min. • Switzerland • Drama] In 1971, a young housewife organizes the women of her Swiss town to petition for the right to vote. Saturday, March 10, noon.
Flora
[2016 • Alexandrina Andre • 10 min. • USA • Short drama] Flora, a transgender woman, is exposed to prejudice when she uses the women's bathroom for the first time during a visit to a small café. Friday, March 16, 8 p.m. (Queer Shorts Program); Sunday, March 18, 2 p.m .; Saturday, March 24, 2 p.m.
The Founders
[2016 • Carrie Schrader/Charlene Fisk • 85 min. • USA • Doc] They were not supposed to be athletes. They were not supposed to get paid to play. They were not supposed to call the shots. But they did. Sunday, March 11, 4 p.m.
Fry Day
[2017 • Laura Moss • 16 min. • US • Short drama] A coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of Ted Bundy's execution in 1989. Sunday, March 18, noon (Shorts Program).
Girl Unbound (Unveiled)
[2016 • Erin Heidenreich • 80 min • USA • Doc] In Waziristan, “one of the most dangerous places on Earth,” Maria Toorpakai defies the Taliban, disguising herself as a boy so she can play sports freely. But when she becomes a rising star, her true identity is revealed, bringing constant death threats to her and her family. Undeterred, they continue to rebel for their freedom. Saturday, March 24, 2 p.m.
Hobbyhorse Revolution
[2017 • Selma Vilhunen • 88 min • Finland • Doc] A funny and moving film about teenage girls with growing pains, who discover their own voice and talent through riding and grooming hobbyhorses. Saturday, March 17, 2 p.m.
House of Teeth
[2016 • Susanna Styron • 22 min. • USA • Short Drama] In this fictional narrative, the lead character, a recently divorced woman in midlife, sets out to find her bearings - and her mojo - as she discovers the challenges and surprises of life beyond marriage. Sunday, March 18, noon (Shorts Program); Sunday, March 18, 8 p.m .
Hux
[2016 • Mageina Tovah • 12 min. • USA • Short Drama/Science Fiction] A woman struggling with the isolation of autism, and trying so hard, but so unsuccessfully, to connect with others, suddenly finds herself truly alone when civilization comes to an end. But when she encounters another lost soul, the two find an improbable bond in the midst of their desolation. Sunday, March 11, 8 p.m.; Saturday, March 24, 6 p.m.
It's Criminal
[2017 • Signe Taylor • 80 min. • USA • Doc] This film highlights the economic and social inequities that divide the United States and offers a vision of how separated communities can learn to speak to each other. Poignant and personal, it shares the life-changing journeys of incarcerated women and Dartmouth College students working together to write and perform an original play. The project explores the often painful and troubled paths that landed the women behind bars and also shares some of their fragile visions for the future. The film delves into privilege, poverty, and injustice and asks viewers to think about who is in prison and why. Sunday, March 18, 2 p.m.
JessZilla
[2017 • Emily Sheskin • 8 min • US • Short Doc] Jesselyn “JessZilla” Silva is serious about boxing, and at 10 years old trains seriously with dreams of becoming a professional fighter. Her father, Pedro, finds himself caught in between supporting her dream and worrying about her future in boxing. Sunday, March 25, 2 p.m.
The Judge
[ 2017 • Erika Cohn • 76 min. • USA • Doc] In Palestine's West Bank, Kholoud Al-Faqih is the first woman judge appointed to any of the Middle East's Shari'a courts. In this courtroom drama, we witness how she applies the law, sometimes with a different emphasis than her male colleagues. We also see the resistance she faces, along with her male counterpart, a progressive Sheik. Al-Faqih is a charming figure who marshals her savvy and determination to navigate a world full of obstacles. Saturday, March 17, 4 p.m.
La Chana
[2017 • Lucija Stojevic • 86 min. • Spain • Doc] The film brings us under the skin and into the mind of La Chana, a talented Gypsy flamenco dancer as she returns to the stage to give a final seated performance after a 30-year break. Along the way, La Chana reveals the secret behind her disappearance when she was at the peak of her career. Saturday, March 24, 4 p.m.
La Cocinera
[2017 • Emily Harrold • 11 min. • USA • Short Doc ] Director Emily Harrold captures the suspense and pressure facing Daniela Soto-Innes, a 25-year old James Beard Award–winning chef tasked with running one of the hottest kitchens in New York City. Saturday, March 17, 4 p.m.; Sunday, March 18, 4 p.m.
Lane 1974
[2017 • S.J. Chiro • 79 min. • USA • Drama] Based on a true story, Lane is a 13-year-old girl coming of age on a northern California commune in the 1970s. While Lane enjoys the freedom of living off the grid with her mother and younger siblings, she craves a stable, “normal” life - a life she's seen only in pictures from a stolen Sears catalog. Lane must navigate her troubled mother, Hallelujah, while trying to care for her younger brother and sister. After a series of dangerous and isolating events, Lane decides to forge her own path in hopes of finding a better life after it becomes clear her family has fallen apart. Sunday, March 18, 8 p.m.
Left on Pearl
[2017 • Susie Rivo • 55 min. • USA • Doc • Opening Night Film] A documentary about a highly significant but little-known event in the history of the women's liberation movement, the 1971 takeover and occupation of a Harvard University–owned building by hundreds of Boston-area women. The 10-day occupation of 888 Memorial Drive by women demanding a women's center and low-income housing for the community in which the building stood, embodied within it many of the hopes, triumphs, conflicts and tensions of second-wave feminism. One of the few such takeovers by women for women, this action was transformative for the participants and led directly to the establishment of the longest continuously operating women's center in the United States. Film screens as part of the opening gala, 7 to 10 p.m., on Friday, March 9. No individual movie tickets will be sold for the screening.
The Light of the Moon
[2017 • Jessica Thompson • 90 min. • USA • Drama] After her world is irrevocably changed, a successful New York City architect struggles to regain intimacy and control in her life. Saturday, March 17, 8 p.m.
Little Stones
[2016 • Sophia Kruz • 87 min. • USA • Doc] An award-winning documentary that unites the personal narratives of four women from around the world who use art to create positive change in their communities. From a graffiti artist speaking out against domestic violence in the favelas of Brazil to a dancer rehabilitating sex-trafficking survivors in India, each of these women is contributing a stone to the mosaic of the women's movement through her art. Saturday, March 10, 4 p.m.
Losing Sight of Shore
[2017 • Sarah Moshman • 92 min. • USA • Doc] Four women set out to row across the Pacific Ocean, from America to Australia. As they row over 8,000 miles during their nine months at sea, they must overcome extreme mental and physical challenges to make history. Saturday, March 10, 2 p.m.; Sunday, March 25, noon.
Lucy in My Eyes
[2017 • Megan Park • 12 min. • USA • Short] On the eve of her wedding, Lucy has a conversation with her 6-year-old self. Saturday, March 24, noon; Sunday , March 25, 4 p.m.
Mrs Sommerville's Monument
[2017 • Rebecca Hurwitz and Liz Lister • 7 min. • UK • Animated Short] Mrs Mary Somerville, the Queen of Nineteenth Century Science, is writing another book and this time it's about science Nobel Prize winners. A lot of information comes her way, and not all of it seems relevant. But when some of that unwanted information starts to reveal another story, Mary takes decisive action.
Mum
[2017 • Anne Marie O'Connor • 14 min. • UK • Short Drama] Kate, a transgender woman, is heading off to visit her mum. When she arrives, she realizes that her mother is gravely ill and that her stepfather has failed to tell her. Friday, March 16, 8 p.m. (Queer Shorts Program); Saturday, March 24, 4 p.m.; Sunday, March 25, 6 p.m.
The Other Side of Everything
[2017 • Mila Turajlic • 100 min. • USA • Doc] A locked door inside a Belgrade apartment has kept one family separated from their past for over 70 years. As the filmmaker begins an intimate conversation with her mother, the political fault line running through their home reveals a house and a country haunted by history. The chronicle of a family in Serbia turns into a searing portrait of an activist in times of great turmoil, questioning the responsibility of each generation to fight for their future. Winner of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam best feature-length documentary award in 2017. Saturday, March 17, 6 p.m.; Sunday , March 25, 8 p.m.
Out Again
[2016 • Robin Cloud • 10 min. • USA • Short Drama] Cat visits her parents for the weekend and is confronted with her mother's inability to remember one key detail. Sunday, March 11, 4 p.m.; Friday, March 16, 8 p.m. (Queer Shorts Program); Sunday, March 18, 6 p.m.
The Peace Agency
[2017 • Susan Useem • 92 min. • Indonesia/USA • Doc] Lian Gogali and her 500 female students are a force to be reckoned with in the conflict-torn area of Poso, Indonesia. They are part of a powerful and successful movement for peace and justice in an area that has been wracked by inter-religious violence for over a decade. But five years ago, Gogoli was just a single mother living in rural Poso with a broken leg and a big dream to educate marginalized women. The Peace Agency follows her journey from her village to New York City to create the Women's School, an institution that transforms its all-female class into agents of peace and non-violent grassroots activism that has altered the course of the conflict in Poso, and possibly the future of Indonesia. Sunday, March 11, noon.
Porcupine Lake
[2017 • Ingrid Veninger • 85 min. • Canada • Drama] Porcupine Lake is a story of bravery and the secret life of girls set in northern Ontario during a hot and hazy summertime when adulthood has not yet arrived but childhood is quickly vanishing. Sunday, March 25, 6 p.m.
Post-Apocalyptic Potluck
[2017 • Guinevere Turner • 12 min. • USA • Short Comedy] Three friends gather for a potluck just as the world falls into apocalyptic ruin. Friday, March 16, 8 p.m. (Queer Shorts Program).
The Rain Collector
[2015 • Isabella Wing-Davey • 12 min. • UK • Short Drama] A film about the women in Victorian England who confounded ideas of what was appropriate or expected and finds purpose and maybe even love through science. Inspired by true events. Sunday, March 18, noon (Shorts Program).
The Rape of Recy Taylor
[2017 • Nancy Buirski • 91 min • USA • Doc] A film that concentrates much-needed sunlight on this period of U.S. history and the women who lived through it, The Rape of Recy Taylor brings attention to a little-discussed but common reality for Black women in the Jim Crow South: racially motivated rape by white men. Friday, March 16, 6 p.m.
Run Mama Run
[2017 • Daniele Anastasion • 33 min. • USA • Short Doc] After the best track season of her career, elite runner Sarah Brown became pregnant unexpectedly when her IUD failed. Run Mama Run follows Brown as she trains through her pregnancy to compete in the Olympic trials - only 14 weeks after giving birth. Saturday, March 10, noon.
Seeing Is Believing: Women Direct
[2017 • Cady McClain • 60 min • USA • Doc] There is nothing worse than to discover your calling only to find out that society doesn't think you should be doing it because you are a woman. A documentary about working-women directors and how they overcome obstacles. Saturday, March 24, noon.
Seventeen (Siebzehn)
[2017 • Monja Art • 104 min. • Austria • Drama] Paula, 17, is secretly in love with her girlfriend Charlotte, but Charlotte's going out with Michael. Lovelorn, Paula decides to try and take her mind of things by getting involved with schoolmate Tim, whose feelings for her are at least genuine. Paula must decide if she wants to follow her own feelings or yield to other people's. Saturday, March 24, 8 p.m.
Shhh!
[2017 • Clare Unsworth • 4 min • UK • Short] A poetry film about the systematic silencing of women - and about resistance to that silencing. The poem was written out of a passion to challenge the invisibility of the many ways women are silenced.
Signature Move
[2017 • Jennifer Reeder • 82 min • USA • Doc] Zaynab, a thirty-something Pakistani/Muslim lesbian in Chicago, takes care of her sweet and TV-obsessed mother. As Zaynab falls for Alma, a bold and very bright Mexican woman, she searches for her identity in life, love, and wrestling. Sunday, March 18, 5 p.m.
Submarine
[2017 • Mounia Akl • 21 min • Lebanon/USA • Short Drama] Set at the backdrop of Lebanon's current garbage crisis and its sociopolitical context, Submarine takes a look at those who find themselves forced to leave their homes and everything the crisis represents. Sunday, March 18, noon (Shorts Program).
A Suitable Girl
[2016 • Sarita Kheran and Smriti Mundhra • 94 min. • India • Doc] A Suitable Girl follows three young women in India struggling to maintain their identities and follow their dreams amid intense pressure to get married. The film examines the women's complex relationship with marriage, family, and society. Sunday, March 18, 4 p.m.
Toys
[2016 • Amanda Quaid • 3 min. • USA • Short Animated ] A father wants a son, but he gets a little girl. When he tries to toughen up his daughter by giving her toys intended for boys, his efforts backfire. Saturday, March 24, 2 p.m.; Sunday, March 25, 2 p.m.
Viola, Franca
[2017 • Marta Savina • 15 min. • Italy/USA • Short Drama] It's Sicily in 1965, and Franca is forced to marry her rapist to avoid becoming a pariah in her traditionalist community. But she rebels against the established custom and sets a precedent that alters the course of Italian history, paving the way for women's rights. Sunday, March 18, noon (Shorts Program).
Waiting for Hassana
[2017 • Ifunanya “Funa” Maduka • Nigeria • Short Doc] In 2014, 276 teenage girls came together for exams in Chibok, Nigeria. By dawn, nearly all had disappeared, and their school was burned to the ground. Jessica, an escapee, shares her haunting account of a friendship violently interrupted by Boko Haram, a militant Islamic group working to institute Islamic law. Sunday, March 11, noon; Sunday, March 18, 2 p.m.
Win by Fall (Schultersieg)
[2017 • Anna Koch • 81 min. • Germany/Bulgaria • Doc] Janny, Lisa, Debby, and Michelle are 12 years old when they leave home for the “Elite School of Sport” at Frankfurt/Oder, a boarding school in East German tradition. They grow up in a strict corset of training schedules, weight classes, and pressure to perform. As wrestlers, they all dream of a championship title, though off the mat each girl fights her very own battle. Sunday, March 25, 2 p.m.
Window Horses
[2016 • Ann Marie Fleming • 86 min • Canada • Animated Drama] Rosie Ming (voiced by Sandra Oh, of Grey's Anatomy and Sideways), a young Canadian poet, is invited to perform at a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran, but she'd rather go to Paris. She lives at home with her overprotective Chinese grandparents and has never been anywhere by herself. Once in Iran, she finds herself in the company of poets and Persians who tell her stories that force her to confront her past: the Iranian father she assumed abandoned her and the nature of poetry itself. The film is about building bridges between cultural and generational divides. It's about being curious, staying open, and finding one's own voice through the magic of poetry. Sunday, March 25, 4 p.m.
Woman of a Certain Age
[2017 • Amanda Cowper, Kate Dearing, Sami Kriegstein • 9 min • USA • Short Drama] Kate, in confronting the daily challenges of being an adult, is spontaneously visited by versions of herself at different ages - each offering her “best” advice. Like A Christmas Carol but without the pesky morals, Woman of a Certain Age explores what happens when we actually listen to the voices in our head. Saturday, March 10, 2 p.m.; Sunday, March 11, 2 p.m.; Saturday, March 17, 2 p.m.
The Women's Balcony
[2017 • Emil Ben-Shimon • 95 min • Israel • Dramedy] An accident during a bar mitzvah celebration leads to a gender rift in a devout Orthodox community in Jerusalem, in this rousing, good-hearted tale about women speaking truth to patriarchal power. Sunday, March 11, 8 p.m.; Saturday, March 24, 6 p.m.
Yours Sincerely, Lois Weber
[2017 • Svetlana Cvetko • 6 min. • USA • Short doc] In 1916, the highest-paid silent-film director at Universal Studios was a woman named Lois Weber - yet today, she is virtually unknown. Yours Sincerely, Lois Weber examines the achievements of this incredible woman as told through the eyes of a young magazine photographer hoping to impress her. Saturday, March 24, noon.