Contact Hostelling International USA for event and ticket information.
Saturday, March 07, 2009 at 12:00 PM - Sunday, March 08, 2009 at 8:00 PM (ET)
International Women's Day is celebrated in countries throughout the world with festivals, parades, and special events. Hostelling International is bringing the celebration to Boston with the International Women's Day Film Festival.
The mission of the Boston International Women's Day Film Festival
is to promote a greater understanding of the extraordinary lives of
women around the world through relevant and thought-provoking films and
discussions.
This is the second year of the festival, sponsored by Hostelling
International. The goal of this festival is to showcase films honoring
the struggles, victories, and remarkable experiences of women around
the world. Through this event, we aim to celebrate the lives and
contributions of women from all corners and walks of life.
For full festival schedule March 4-9, please visit www.hinewengland.org/iwdff.php.
Festival Pass:
Tickets for individual screenings are $10, available at www.brattlefilm.org.
Films at the Brattle Theater, March 7-8, 2009:
Saturday, March 7, 2009
12:00 p.m.
Perspectives: Short films from different views of the Middle East
Through the Negev (Egypt/Israel, 2007,
18 min)
Told through interwoven first-person accounts by the few women and children who have made the journey by walking from Egypt to Israel, Through the Negev is a short documentary that encapsulates the refugees' struggle for home and safety.
un(veiled): Muslim Women Talk About Hijab (United Arab Emirates, 2007, 36 min)
(un)veiled introduces the audience to ten Muslim
women from various backgrounds who now live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
In a time when Islam and especially Muslim women are represented as monolithic
and beset by backwardness, the women in (un)veiled show the diverse,
lively, argumentative debates in Muslim societies about the meanings of
modernity, emancipation, and feminism.
RuTH (Israel, 2008, 56 min) – U.S. Premiere
During the days of the Israeli withdrawal from the
settlements in the Gaza
strip, when the residents of the Katif Settlements are uniting to fight for its
existence, Ruth, a young teenager from the settlement, is searching for
excitement. RuTH is an
adolescence story of a young girl living in the most dangerous place in Israel. In a
society demanding a united front and common beliefs, Ruth fights to interpret
her faith in her own way.
2:30 p.m.
The Sari Soldiers (Nepal/USA, 2008, 90 min)
Filmed over three years
during the most historic and pivotal time in Nepal’s modern history, The
Sari Soldiers is an extraordinary story of six women’s courageous efforts
to shape Nepal’s future in the midst of an escalating civil war against Maoist
insurgents, and the King’s crackdown on civil liberties. The Sari
Soldiers intimately delves into the extraordinary journey of these women on
opposing sides of the conflict, through the democratic revolution that reshapes
the country’s future.
4:30 p.m.
Club Native (Canada, 2008, 78 min)
In Kahnawake, the
hometown of Mohawk director Tracey Deer (Mohawk Girls), there are two
unspoken rules: Don’t marry a non-Native, and never, ever have a child with a
non-Native. Club Native raises critical questions about belonging and idigenity, the
heartbreak of “marrying out” of the Mohawk Nation, and the unjust patriarchal
laws that disenfranchise Native women. It is a candid and engrossing work about
the pain, confusion, and frustration suffered by many First Nations women, but
also a testament to the triumph of love and the resilience of the human spirit.
6:30 p.m.
Maquilapolis (Mexico/USA, 2006, 68 min)
The inspiring story of women workers in Tijuana who, though laboring for poverty wages, still stand up to transnational corporations to win severance pay and to clean up toxic waste sites.
8:00 p.m.
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo (USA, 2007, 76 min)
Winner of the Sundance
Special Jury Prize in Documentary and the inspiration for a 2008 U.N. Resolution
classifying rape as a weapon of war, this extraordinary film, shot in the war
zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), shatters the silence that
surrounds the use of sexual violence as a weapon of conflict. Many tens of
thousands of women and girls have been systematically kidnapped, raped,
mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese
army. A survivor of gang rape herself, Emmy Award®-winning filmmaker Lisa F.
Jackson travels through the DRC to understand what is happening and why.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
2:00 p.m.
Women in Film and Video New England presents:
Women in Film and Television International Short Film Showcase
Take 3 (New Zealand, 2008, 12 min)
The audition room is a minefield for three Asian actresses who are expected to be Asian in ways they are not completely comfortable with. When the humiliations mount, they transcend their rivalry in one gleeful act of solidarity, empowering themselves with the very stereotype that they’ve been subjected to.
Montreal 1971 (Canada, 2006, 24 min)
Three part poetic portraits taking place throughout the 20th century in Montreal Canada. A story told with few words and great cinematography, Montreal 1971 follows a young woman on her journey through love, loss and loneliness. Each moment in her life and her memories unfolds in a serious of precious decisions similar to what many women face.
Love Letters (Australia, 8 min)
Steve, an 8 year old, corresponds with 8 year old Theresa, in Africa, through a sponsorship organization which only allows communication until she is 18. Before the contact is cut off, he has to tell her how he really feels.
Colors of the Veil (USA, 5.5 min)
A former U.S. soldier ultimately found her identity in the veil, and became a vanguard of the growing American-Muslim community. Share in her struggles to find a job that accepts her and how her trials have inspired others like her.
Lullaby (Australia, 11 min)
Sisters Poppy and Bella struggle to bring themselves up in a rundown warehouse above a burlesque club where there Mother is a singer.
Quarter
to Noon (USA, 2008, 14
min)
Enclosed in a stale office
with a single door and a single window and several framed “Best Worker” Awards
A worker works. She is good at her job. Consistent, dedicated, and high
performing. However, when she discovers a new world outside her office window…
she escapes to it.
4:00 p.m.
Local Filmmakers Spotlight
White Elephants (USA,
2008, 24 min) – World Premiere
White Elephants is a sensitive, slice-of-life story involving a young couple going through the normal course of their day, while coming to terms with an unexpected medical diagnosis. The film is a reflection on the unfortunate hardships that can befall any couple, the decisions we are sometimes forced to make, and the ability to support one another as best as one knows how.
Act As If (USA, 2009, 18 min) – World Premiere
One woman’s secret to winning at life is to “act as if,”
which transforms her from a feisty blue collar Boston kid into the championship
basketball coach at Harvard where she masterminds one of the greatest victories
of all time and overcomes cancer using the power of positive thinking.
Following the films, we will host a discussion with the filmmakers and special guests.
6:00 p.m.
Maimouna – La vie devant moi (Maimouna – The life in front of me) (Germany/Burkina Faso, 2007, 60 min) – U.S. Premiere
Winner of the Cross-Cultural Ambassador Award
Maimouna – The life in front of me explores efforts to
change attitudes towards the traditional practice of female circumcision. The
film follows the work of Maimouna, a young woman from Burkina Faso as
she visits villages and families as part of an NGO’s education and awareness
program on female circumcision. On her journey Maimouna explores the many myths
and contradictions about female circumcision within her own culture.
Maimouna’s story, which also tells the story of her society is above all a
story of hope.
Following the film, we will host a discussion with special guests.
Saturday, March 07, 2009 at 12:00 PM
- to -
Sunday, March 08, 2009 at 8:00 PM (ET)
Add to my calendarHostelling International USA (HI-USA) is part of a worldwide, not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing cultural interchange by facilitating worldwide travel. The organization operates nearly 60 hostels in the United States, and is part of the international network of 4,000 hostels in 75 countries. The Eastern New England Council, founded in 1983, is an affiliate of HI-USA whose mission is to promote global awareness, cultural understanding, education and community participation through hostelling. For more information, log onto www.HINewEngland.org.
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