2007 Women’s International Film Festival Program
Tickets become available: March 10, 2007
3 DOWN
John is unable to get his wife, Margaret, to acknowledge the death of their estranged son. It isn't until Ken's lover arrives that Margaret is forced out of her denial, and must finally confront the weight of her loss.
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Sunday, March 31st @ 3pm
Narrative Short-U.S.A.
15 minutes
Director: Kristyn Benedyk
Watch Trailer
THE A LIST
Darren Chandler leaves his safe home for the thrill of Hollywood. He struggles unsuccessfully until a twist of fate lands him on the A-list with surprising repercussions.
Cinemateque: Friday, March 30th @ 8:30pm
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 8pm
Narrative Feature-U.S.A.
1 hour, 28 minutes
Director: Sheira-Lee Shalit
Watch Trailer
ALL IN ONE BASKET
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Sunday, April 1st @ 3pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
23 minutes
Director:
Watch Trailer
ALL YOU’VE GOT
Radisson Hotel-Girl Power Conference: Saturday, March 31st @ 4pm
Feature Film-USA
92 minutes
Director:
Watch Trailer
ARRANGING LOVE
“Arranging Love” explores the realities of the arranged marriage and the rules of love and relationships for second generation Indians living in Australia. Following three second-generation Australians, “Arranging Love” attempts to look past the stereotypes of children struggling against their controlling Indian parents.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Friday, March 30th @ 7pm
Short Documentary-Australia
29 minutes
Director: Sheila Jayadev
Watch Trailer
AS OLD AS MY TONGUE: U.S. PREMIRE OPENING NIGHT!!!!
Rebel, Singer, Drummer, Women’s leader; Bi Kidude is a living legend on her home island of Zanzibar and has beguiled audiences around the world on her wide and varied travels. Stunning images, unheard musical traditions and poetic lyricism combine to tell Bi Kidude’s unique story in a unique style.
Bi Kidude challenges our perception of age, of stardom, and of women in a Muslim society. She’d never call herself a rebel but neither has she ever conformed. She’s been breaking the rules since she ran away from Koran school to the Stone town docks at the age of ten.
“As Old As My Tongue” reveals a life of dramatic contrasts and features a classic soundtrack comprising 100 years of Swahili music.
Peacock Park: Thursday, March 29th @ 7pm
Lyric Theatre: Friday, March 30th @ 7pm
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 8:15pm
International Documentary-England, Tanzania
1 hour, 6 minutes
Director: Andy Jones, Editor: Lisa Cazzato, Associate Producer: Rita Ray
Watch Trailer
BELIEVE IT BABY
“Believe It, Baby!” features twenty-seven 40+ beauties shooting from the hip about politics, power tools, pantyhose and perseverance. Watch it, and dare to believe that older women can be sexy, playful, and fearless.
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Sunday, April 1st @ 3pm
Narrative Short-U.S.A.
8 minutes
Director: Michael Murray Holton
Watch Trailer
BINTA AND THE GREAT IDEA (2007 OSCAR NOMINEE)
Binta is a 7-year-old girl who lives in a small charming village on the Casamance River, in southern Senegal. She goes to school. Her cousin Soda does not have the same good fortune. She is not allowed to learn about the things of the world.
Binta admires her father, a humble fisherman who, concerned about the development of mankind, is determined to carry out an idea that has occurred to him.
Byron Carlyle: Friday, March 30th @ 2pm
Lyric Theatre: Friday, March 30th @ 7pm
AMC 1 Theatre CocoWalk: Sunday, April 1st @ 5:30pm
International Documentary-Spain
30 minutes
Director: Javier Fesser
Watch Trailer
BREAST CANCER DIARIES
For ten years, Ann Murray Paige covered the news--but for the biggest story of her life she turned the camera on herself. When the former television reporter and anchor, learns she has breast cancer at age 38, she begins a series of video diaries on a camera set up in her bedroom. “The Breast Cancer Diaries” is an unvarnished memoir-punctuated with humor, poignancy and romance.
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 5:45pm
Documentary Feature-U.S.A.
1 hour, 18 min
Director: Linda Patillo
Watch Trailer
CALCUTTA HILTON
The sex districts of Calcutta, India aren't a place you'd necessarily expect to find much hope. They are filled with heartbreak and hardship. 'Freedom' isn't a word you are likely to hear often. Now, a New Zealand family are helping make a difference with a business - Freeset - that employs women who have been in the sex trade, providing them with a choice that until now they haven't been offered: a way out of prostitution.
Cinemateque: Friday, March 30th @ 8:30pm
Short documentary-New Zealand
22 minutes, 43 seconds
Director: John Sinclair
Watch Trailer
CLOSURE
Jess is an attractive, progressive, normal woman in her 30’s, but her dating experiences have been far from that. Join her on ten of those dates in this self-affirming, hilarious, urban comedy.
Lyric Theatre: Friday, March 30th @ 7pm
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 3pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
9 minutes
Director: Jaydee
Watch Trailer
DARK BEAT
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Friday, March 30th @ 3pm
Documentary (Local Film Maker)-USA
60 minutes
Director:
Watch Trailer
DIE BESUCHER (THE VISITORS)
Karla hosts a couple in trouble, and “The Visitors” occupy her apartment as it was their own. They involve the young woman in contradictory and dangerous lies and familiarities until Karla is almost unable to breathe anymore. She can't find out, who is telling the truth, but gets forced to help whether the one or the other. A story about the tiny step in the offside-trap.
Cinemateque: Sunday, April 1st @ 8:30pm
International Narrative Short-Germany
38 minutes
Director: Ulrike Molsen
Watch Trailer
DIVINE REUNITY
The filmmaker, Mika Kiburz, examines a personal history of her family and the once thriving religious movement that created it. June and Jack Kiburz were matched and married by Rev. Sun Myung Moon in the Unification Church. Twenty-five years later, after having been separated from the church for almost ten years, June and Mika seek some peace from their pasts. Through a journey to the places from her past, June reconnects and struggles with finding the acceptance and purpose of Rev. Moon in her life, while Mika observes.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Sunday, April 1st @ 3pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
29 minutes
Director: Mika Kiburz
Watch Trailer
THE EXCEPTION
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 3pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
4 minutes 55 seconds
Director:
Watch Trailer
EVE’S UNDERSTANDING
When Donna’s mother, EVE, dies, her sister, LISA, inherits everything of value; all Donna gets is a list of addresses and mementos from her mother’s life, to be delivered to the significant people of her past. Her mother’s dying wish sends Donna on a road trip from Texas to Arizona to make peace, uncover secrets, and find understanding in the life she's been dealt.
Cinemateque: Sunday, April 1st @ 8:30 pm
Narrative Feature-U.S.A.
1 hour, 33 min
Director: Alyson Shelton
Watch Trailer
FACES OF CHANGE
“Faces of Change” highlights the story of five activists from five different continents who relay unique video dispatches from their respective corners of the world. From their communities in Brazil, India, Mauritania, Bulgaria and the United States, these activists go behind the camera to find a common voice denied them because of their social, racial, gender or ethnic background. They walk us though their lives, experiences and societies, as we see the world through their eyes.
Lyric Theatre: Friday, March 30th @ 9pm
Documentary Feature-U.S.A.
1 hour, 20 minutes
Director: Michele Stephenson
Watch Trailer
FALLEN FROM PARADISE
AMC 1 Theatre CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 8pm
Documentary-USA
16 minutes
Director:
Watch Trailer
FLESH
Meat has always been a man’s domain; they are the hunters, the ranchers and the butchers. When women are thought of in relationship to meat, they are often considered to be one and the same. “Flesh” is an idiosyncratic documentary that breaks through the stereotypes, giving voice to a motley group of women who are tearing into meat, figuratively and literally.
Cinematheque: Saturday, March 31st @ 8:30pm
International Documentary Short-Canada
44 minutes
Director: Tami Wilson
Watch Trailer
HAENYO (SONG OF HAENYO)
This documentary is about the lives of 'Haenyo' who are women divers living on Jeju Island, located on the southern coast of Korea. Haenyo is the job title given to women who dive about 10-20 meters under the sea without a breathing apparatus, while holding their breath for about 2-3 minutes to pick marine products like abalone, top shells, and sea weed. There are about 5,000 Haenyo on Jeju Island whose number is dwindling.
Byron Carlyle: Friday, March 30th @7:30pm
International Documentary Short-South Korea
30 minutes
Director: Minjoo Lee
Watch Trailer
HIP HOP SISTAZ
Is there a contradiction of values between African cultures and hip-hop culture, MC Chi asks? Is it possible to reconcile the two? Her question threads together the obstacles encountered by fellow sistaz. Dj Sistamatic is challenged by a distorted portrayal of her persona in the media and candidly addresses the pressure to conform to male-formed images of women. World-renowned graffiti artist Smirk finds a way beyond her family’s initial misgivings about her art and prepares to merge living hip hop and becoming a mother.
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Friday, March 30th @ 9:45pm
Lyric Theatre: Friday, March 30th @ 9pm
Radisson Hotel-Girl Power Conference: Saturday, March 31sr @ 4pm
International Documentary-Canada, South Africa
50 minutes
Directors: Erin Offer, Vusi Magubane
Watch Trailer
JAMESIE KING OF SCRATCH
An engaging and spirited musical journey to the Caribbean, this documentary focuses on Scratch band music, an indigenous, grass-roots form of folk music from the Virgin Islands. 79-year old James Brewster is an uncompromising, humorous, and provocative musician known for his playful compositions and lively performances and is the legendary “King of Scratch”.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Friday, March 30th @ 9pm
Byron Carlyle: Saturday, March 31st @ 7pm
Documentary Feature-U.S.A.
1 hour, 10 minutes
Director: Andrea Leland
Watch Trailer
JOSEF’S DAUGHTER
At 50, as Linden enters menopause, her father Josef is dying of Parkinson’s Disease. She becomes immobilized by fear that the future is an inexorable journey towards decay and death. In an attempt to hold back her own physical decline, she decides to mold a new body through weight training. Linden turns the camera’s lens into a mirror, speaking directly to it, sharing her most intimate thoughts about youth, beauty, death and family.
Byron Carlyle: Saturday, March 31st @ 7pm
Documentary Feature-Canada
52 minutes
Director: Ilana Linden
Watch Trailer
LADY TITANS
The T.C. Williams High School women's crew team is lead by its determined coach Dee Campbell. As he teaches them to row with grace and abandon, the crew dreams of winning a national championship with each sunrise row. The film raises awareness about Title IX - the 1972 law that prohibits sexual discrimination in any educational program or activity within federally funded institutions.
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 5:45pm
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 8:15pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
33 minutes
Director: Jason Scadron
THE LESSON
Thin floors and an active upstairs prostitute cause Rose, a lonely middle aged Latino woman, to repeatedly bang on the ceiling with a broom in the hopes of a quiet evening... until one day a piece of the ceiling gives way to reveal a secret that changes both women's lives.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 5:30pm
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Sunday, April 1st @ 3pm
Narrative Short-U.S.A.
30 minutes
Director: Maninder Saini
Watch Trailer
LIKE A SHIP IN THE NIGHT
Abortion is illegal in Ireland, punishable by life imprisonment. And yet at least 8,000 women a year travel to England for abortions. They make this journey in secret and return in silence. LIKE A SHIP IN THE NIGHT follows Mary, Louise and Siobhan as they plan their journeys across the Irish Sea.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 3pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
30 minutes
Director: Melissa Thompson
Watch Trailer
LOOK US IN THE EYE: THE OLD WOMAN’S PROJECT
In this provocative and entertaining video, the three founders of the “Old Women's Project” in San Diego talk about ageism and activism. Wearing their multi-colored t-shirts that declare 'Old Women Are Your Future,' and carrying their giant puppet POWER (pissed old women engaged in revolution) they take on the stereotypes of an ageist culture and turn them on their heads.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 3pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
27 minutes
Director: Jennifer Abod
Watch Trailer
THE MANUAL
“The Manual” is about Sonny, an eight-year old boy who is sent away from home, as his father believes he has characteristics that could lead to homosexuality. After twenty-four years of treatment and psychiatric institutions, Sonny returns home for a funeral, and attempts to save his seven-year old niece from experiencing a similar fate.
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Friday, March 30th @ 9:45pm
International Narrative Short-Australia
15 minutes, 24 seconds
Director: Sophie Gregg
Watch Trailer
MARY SURRATT: MYSTERY WOMAN
Little is known about Mary Surratt and her connection with the Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy. This documentary goes into details about her life, death and involvement with assassin John Wilkes Booth and other co-conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 3:15pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
47 minutes
Director: Susan Gervasi
Watch Trailer
MURIEL
This funny and poignant film features Muriel, an
outrageous, Jewish New Yorker who lives in
Key West, Florida. Through quirky and sometimes
hilarious anecdotes, Muriel reveals her unusual spin
on a cheating husband, orgasm, a troubled teenager,
mental illness, food, and a bedroom ceiling fan.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 3pm
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 10pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
20 minutes
Director: Kim Romano
THE NEW LOS ANGELES
“The New Los Angeles” paints a portrait of an extraordinary city poised to reframe America’s dialogue about urban political and economic change. This powerful documentary takes the viewer on a journey from the bitterly fought, racially driven elections that brought Mayor Tom Bradley to power in 1973, to the historic 2005 election of LA’s first Latino mayor in more than 130 years, Antonio Villaraigosa. Along the way, “The New Los Angeles” examines how race, labor, and immigration have shaped and reshaped the city’s political life, and landscape.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 5:30pm
Documentary Feature-U.S.A.
55 minutes
Director: Lyn Goldfarb
POCKET PAIR
Sara was the woman who had everything. Then, she lost it all and she’s now on the verge of eviction. Expecting yet another visit from a collection agent, she instead gets a birthday present that turns her life in a different direction.
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 10:15pm
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Sunday, April 1st @ 3pm
Narrative Short-U.S.A.
Director: Mojisola Shabi
Watch Trailer
THE QUIET WAR
“The Quite War”; profiles of women fighting advanced breast cancer.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Friday, March 30th @ 7pm
Documentary Feature-U.S.A.
53 minutes
Director: Mary Katzke
Watch Trailer
REMAINS:
Andrea (Estefania Crespo) a girl with a dream and her father's bliss, involves a turmoil of emotions and a preponderant stepmother who will do anything possible to shatter her dream. A dark and sour love story when pleasure is thicker than blood.
Genre: Dramatic (Short)Running-USA
7 minutes
Director: Alpheus Joseph
Watch Trailer
ROSEMARY FURMAN
This brash, feisty New York paralegal helped open the doors of the courts to the poor and uneducated when no lawyers would. This is the true story of Rosemary Furman who worked fearlessly taking on the Florida legal establishment at her own peril, to provide 'Justice for All.'
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Sunday, April 1st @ 3pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
18 minutes
Director: Jane Akre
SEX SLAVES
“Sex Slaves” is a gripping documentary expose inside the global sex trade in women from the former Soviet Bloc. The spine of this feature documentary is the remarkable story of 'Viorel', a Ukrainian man on a mission to find his pregnant, trafficked wife in Turkey. Hidden cameras follow Viorel as he tries to find the pimp who 'owns' Katia, his wife, so as to buy her back. Bienstock interviews traffickers, cops, and victims as she takes us deeper into the world of modern sex slavery than anyone has before.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 10pm
International Documentary-Canada
1 hour, 28 minutes
Director: Ric Esther Bienstock
Watch Trailer
THE SHAPE OF WATER
Intimate stories and compelling footage of five women who abandon female genital mutilation, tap rubber trees to protect the rainforest, defend the biodiversity of the planet and oppose military occupations -- in Senegal, Brazil, India, Jerusalem. Experience their conflicts as they create a more just world (narrated by Susan Sarandon).
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 10:15pm
Cinemateque: Saturday, March 31st @ 8:30pm
Documentary Feature-U.S.A.
1 hour, 10 minutes
Director: Kum-Kum Bhavnani
Watch Trailer
THAI WOMEN CHALLENGING AIDS
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 3:15pm
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 10:15pm
Documentary Short-USA
10 minutes
Director:
Watch Trailer
TALKING ABOUT AMY
“Talking about Amy” is an 8 minute animated short about a Japanese pop artist Emi Iijima. Through her artwork and experience of pregnancy & childbirth in the US, the film approaches Emi’s unique notion about family and social norm.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Sunday, April 1st @ 3pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
8 minutes
Director: Yorico Murakami
Watch Trailer
THOSE I LEFT BEHIND
Trapped between the sea and the politics of governments, Cuban families on either side of the Florida straits have endured nearly a half-century of separation and loss. Filmed in both the United States and Cuba, this documentary explores the transnational ties that bind Cuban-Americans in the United States to their families still living on the island and sheds light on the controversial new travel restrictions imposed by the U.S. Government and its emotional impact on the lives of four Cuban families.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 3pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
45 minutes
Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey
Watch Trailer
THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL
A veteran law enforcement officer, D.R., exposes here family's 40 year secret of physical violence and emotional terrorism which had life-altering consequences for her mother and her siblings. Watch this edgy journey taken by a female Hispanic cop who grew up in the streets of Newark, New Jersey in the 1950's.
AMC 1 Theatres CocoWalk: Sunday, April 1st @ 3pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
49 minutes
Director: Donna Roman Hernandez
Watch Trailer
WATER MOCCASINS
A richly, layered look at family, fear, and the struggle for forgiveness in a land where cottonmouths, and clutter swim side by side.
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Friday, March 30th @ 9:45pm
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 3:15pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
15 minutes
Director: Lisa Cole
Watch Trailer
WELCOME MR. POSTMAN/MI CASA ES TU CASA
Four postmen and their families from four continents visit each other in this thought provoking film, which focuses on hopes and dreams, sorrows and laughter in their daily lives in countries as dissimilar as Mexico, Japan, Zimbabwe and Denmark. Through conversations and shared experiences, the postmen and their families address many of the main issues of the human condition. Why do we always talk about cultural diversity, but never mention the similarities?
Byron Carlyle: Friday, March 30th @ 7:30pm
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Friday, March 30th @ 6:45pm
International Documentary-Mexico
52 minutes
Director: Madeleine Bondy
Watch Trailer
WONDERFUL
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 10:15pm
-USA
19 minutes, 40 seconds
Director:
Watch Trailer
ZOE’S DAY
Subtle yet riveting performances drive Zoe’s Day, a short film full of laughter and tears. “?Zoe’s Day?” is a short film directed by Rebecca Gwynne that chronicles what should have been a typical afternoon for seven-year-old Zoe, played by Ruby Jerins (ABC’s Six Degrees, and the movie “Kidnapped”). Michael Kelly (“Invincible” and “Dawn of the Dead”), plays Zoe’s devoted father Bill. Together Zoe, and her dad romp through beautiful Park Slope, Brooklyn, on a whimsical journey of childhood wonder, only to discover that the world is not as simple as it seems.
Byron Carlyle: Friday, March 30th @ 7:30pm
AMC 2 Theatres CocoWalk: Saturday, March 31st @ 3:15pm
Documentary Short-U.S.A.
10 minutes
Director: Rebecca Gwynne
Watch Trailer |
