2015 Family of Woman Film Festival
Name:
2015 Family of Woman Film Festival
Date:
February 24, 2015 - March 1, 2015
Event Description:
The 8th annual Family of Woman Film Festival, focusing on issues confronting women and girls around the world through compelling cinematic stories with this year’s theme, “Women and Their Dreams,” will kick off with the second Bonni Curran Memorial Lecture on the Health and Dignity of Women at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Sun Valley. Jill Sheffield, the Founder of Women Deliver, will be the featured speaker.
Sheffield is a global educator and advocate who has worked to promote women’s health and rights around the world for more than three decades. In 2008, she won the United Nations Population Award for outstanding work in sexual and reproductive health and rights. Women Deliver, the 2015 beneficiary of the Festival, is a leading global advocate for girls’ and women’s health, rights and well being, bringing together diverse voices and interests and constituencies from around the world to improve the lives of girls and women in their communities. Learn more at www.womendeliver.org.
“Each film we select has exceptional artistic merit and many have gone on to win major awards,” said Festival Co-Chair Peggy Elliott Goldwyn. “But the main purpose of the Festival has always been educational. I’m most proud of the many students who volunteer and intern from all our schools, the free screenings and school appearances of our speakers and filmmakers and the partnerships we have forged with many local organizations, such as The Community Library, Higher Ground and St. Luke’s to name a few.”
The Festival’s screen schedule will commence with a premiere presentation of “The Supreme Price” (75 min.) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Sun Valley Opera House. This feature documentary from Nigeria will be jointly presented by filmmaker Joanna Lipper and the subject of the film, Hafsat Abiola. Abiola’s father was Nigeria’s first democratically elected president. After he was overthrown in a coup, her mother was assassinated while campaigning for his release, and he mysteriously died in prison. A college student in America at the time, Hafsat did not return to Nigeria until 1999, after the transition from military dictatorship to civilian rule, where she founded Kudirat Initiative For Democracy, an NGO dedicated to advancing the status and rights of Nigerian women and girls. Visit www.thesupremeprice.com.
On Friday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Sun Valley Opera House, the Festival will present, “Sepideh”(90 min.), a feature documentary from Iran, which will be presented in the U.S. for the first time outside of the Sundance Film Festival. Former NASA astronaut, Barbara Morgan, will join Iranian-American private astronaut, Anousheh Ansari, featured in the film, in conversation following the screening.
The star of her village school’s astronomy club, Sepideh lugs a telescope as tall as herself to a mountaintop to stargaze. She confides her dream of becoming an astronaut like her idol, Anousheh Ansari, in a journal addressed to Albert Einstein. When she’s passed over for a university scholarship and suitors come knocking at the door, her determination is seriously tested. This film is suitable for all ages.
Visit http://www.radiatorfilm.com/sepideh.html.
On Saturday, Feb. 28, the Festival will offer a free matinee at 11 a.m. at the Sun Valley Opera House, of two short films by international investigative film journalist, Reed Lindsay, who grew up in Ketchum. Both explore the role sports plays in the lives of girls in developing countries, with one film, “Kicking Machismo” (26 min.) set in Brazil, featuring a young girl with a passion for soccer, and the other, “Fists of Fury” (11min.) from India, telling the story of a 15-year old striving to be a champion boxer. These films are suitable for all ages.
At 3 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 28, also at the Sun Valley Opera House, Reed Lindsay will return to discuss and introduce the film “Light Fly, Fly High” (80 min.) a feature documentary from India. This remarkably intimate documentary takes a close look at the phenomenon of girls in conservative societies turning to sports for self-fulfillment. Thulasi is literally willing to fight for the right to be herself and achieve a career as a professional boxer. A Dalit or “untouchable” born outside of caste, she has rejected her place on society’s lowest rung. Visit http://lightfly.no/about/.
The featured screening at 7 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Sun Valley Opera House will be “#chicagogirl” a feature documentary from Syria and U.S., with the film’s subject, Alaa Basatneh and filmmaker Joe Piscatella. From her childhood bedroom in suburban Chicago, Alaa, a 19-year-old American girl, coordinates protests in Syria through Facebook, Twitter and Skype. Working with a score of citizen journalists in Homs, she plans protests and escape routes and helps protesters find each other. As the situation grows increasingly desperate, she sneaks into the country herself at great risk. Visit www.chicagogirlfilm.com.
The Festival will conclude on Sunday, March 1, at 1 p.m., at The Sun Valley Opera House, with a premiere screening of “Pakistan’s Hidden Shame” (47 min.) presented by filmmaker Mohammad Naqvi. Commissioned by the BBC, this feature documentary reveals the plight of Peshawar’s street children, most of whom are believed to have experienced sexual abuse at some stage in their lives. According to some estimates, there are 1.5 million street children living in Pakistan, whose poverty makes them particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation. A staggering 90 percent of them are thought to have been molested at some stage. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uykffu-jKU.
The Festival is also honoring Naqvi as the second returning filmmaker in a new special event, launched in 2014. He first presented “Shame” at the first Family of Woman Film Festival in 2008. A compelling documentary about a young Pakistani woman who displayed remarkable courage in bringing the men who gang-raped her to justice, “Shame” shows how international public support allowed Mukhtaran Mai to open a school for girls in her village and enroll as a first grader. Visit http://blip.tv/the-alcove-with-mark-molaro/shame-interview-with-mohammed-naqvi-on-his-documentary-on-mukhtaran-mai-233485.
“Shame” will be presented as a special Festival Filmmaker Update at The Community Library at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23, to conclude a series of films from past Family of Woman Film Festivals staged as part of library programs. The Festival has donated copies of over 35 films to the Community Library collection. A complete schedule of the weekly screenings leading up to the presentation of “Shame” is available both on the Community Library website, www.comlib.org or The Family of Woman Film Festival website, familyofwomenfilmfestival.org.
Naqvi is uniquely positioned to interpret both the humanitarian and political landscape of today’s Pakistan to Americans. He not only lives and works in both countries, and his films explore social and historical themes. He has recently completed a feature biography of former Pakistani President, Pervez Musharaff, having been given extraordinary access, including accompanying Musharaff on his ill-fated return to Pakistan.
Concurrently with the Festival in Sun Valley, Boise audiences will be treated to two special free screenings from this year's films, with featured guest speakers. Astronauts Barbara Morgan and Anousheh Ansari will speak at a screening of Sepidah on Wednesday, Feb. 25, and on Friday, Feb. 27, Hafsat Abiola and filmmaker Joanna Lipper will be present for the screening of “The Supreme Price.” These events recognize Boise State’s sponsorship of the FOWFF and are a joint program of the Idaho Film Collection, Arts and Humanities Institute, Gender Studies and the Women’s Center at Boise State. For information on the Boise screenings, visit events.boisestate.edu.
“Each year the Family of Woman Film Festival brings a little bit of the world to Sun Valley, Festival Co-Chair Stephanie Freid-Perenchio said. “This year’s festival has raised the bar to include films, speakers and presenters who are in the current world’s eye from Syria, Pakistan and Nigeria, to name a few. Their lives are making a difference in the world we live and connecting our valley and Idaho to the greater good and causes that need attention for women and girls.”
For more information, visit www. familyofwomanfilmfestival.org. For images, press and media inquiries, email Sabina Dana Plasse at sdanap@gmail.com.
Sheffield is a global educator and advocate who has worked to promote women’s health and rights around the world for more than three decades. In 2008, she won the United Nations Population Award for outstanding work in sexual and reproductive health and rights. Women Deliver, the 2015 beneficiary of the Festival, is a leading global advocate for girls’ and women’s health, rights and well being, bringing together diverse voices and interests and constituencies from around the world to improve the lives of girls and women in their communities. Learn more at www.womendeliver.org.
“Each film we select has exceptional artistic merit and many have gone on to win major awards,” said Festival Co-Chair Peggy Elliott Goldwyn. “But the main purpose of the Festival has always been educational. I’m most proud of the many students who volunteer and intern from all our schools, the free screenings and school appearances of our speakers and filmmakers and the partnerships we have forged with many local organizations, such as The Community Library, Higher Ground and St. Luke’s to name a few.”
The Festival’s screen schedule will commence with a premiere presentation of “The Supreme Price” (75 min.) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Sun Valley Opera House. This feature documentary from Nigeria will be jointly presented by filmmaker Joanna Lipper and the subject of the film, Hafsat Abiola. Abiola’s father was Nigeria’s first democratically elected president. After he was overthrown in a coup, her mother was assassinated while campaigning for his release, and he mysteriously died in prison. A college student in America at the time, Hafsat did not return to Nigeria until 1999, after the transition from military dictatorship to civilian rule, where she founded Kudirat Initiative For Democracy, an NGO dedicated to advancing the status and rights of Nigerian women and girls. Visit www.thesupremeprice.com.
On Friday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Sun Valley Opera House, the Festival will present, “Sepideh”(90 min.), a feature documentary from Iran, which will be presented in the U.S. for the first time outside of the Sundance Film Festival. Former NASA astronaut, Barbara Morgan, will join Iranian-American private astronaut, Anousheh Ansari, featured in the film, in conversation following the screening.
The star of her village school’s astronomy club, Sepideh lugs a telescope as tall as herself to a mountaintop to stargaze. She confides her dream of becoming an astronaut like her idol, Anousheh Ansari, in a journal addressed to Albert Einstein. When she’s passed over for a university scholarship and suitors come knocking at the door, her determination is seriously tested. This film is suitable for all ages.
Visit http://www.radiatorfilm.com/sepideh.html.
On Saturday, Feb. 28, the Festival will offer a free matinee at 11 a.m. at the Sun Valley Opera House, of two short films by international investigative film journalist, Reed Lindsay, who grew up in Ketchum. Both explore the role sports plays in the lives of girls in developing countries, with one film, “Kicking Machismo” (26 min.) set in Brazil, featuring a young girl with a passion for soccer, and the other, “Fists of Fury” (11min.) from India, telling the story of a 15-year old striving to be a champion boxer. These films are suitable for all ages.
At 3 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 28, also at the Sun Valley Opera House, Reed Lindsay will return to discuss and introduce the film “Light Fly, Fly High” (80 min.) a feature documentary from India. This remarkably intimate documentary takes a close look at the phenomenon of girls in conservative societies turning to sports for self-fulfillment. Thulasi is literally willing to fight for the right to be herself and achieve a career as a professional boxer. A Dalit or “untouchable” born outside of caste, she has rejected her place on society’s lowest rung. Visit http://lightfly.no/about/.
The featured screening at 7 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Sun Valley Opera House will be “#chicagogirl” a feature documentary from Syria and U.S., with the film’s subject, Alaa Basatneh and filmmaker Joe Piscatella. From her childhood bedroom in suburban Chicago, Alaa, a 19-year-old American girl, coordinates protests in Syria through Facebook, Twitter and Skype. Working with a score of citizen journalists in Homs, she plans protests and escape routes and helps protesters find each other. As the situation grows increasingly desperate, she sneaks into the country herself at great risk. Visit www.chicagogirlfilm.com.
The Festival will conclude on Sunday, March 1, at 1 p.m., at The Sun Valley Opera House, with a premiere screening of “Pakistan’s Hidden Shame” (47 min.) presented by filmmaker Mohammad Naqvi. Commissioned by the BBC, this feature documentary reveals the plight of Peshawar’s street children, most of whom are believed to have experienced sexual abuse at some stage in their lives. According to some estimates, there are 1.5 million street children living in Pakistan, whose poverty makes them particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation. A staggering 90 percent of them are thought to have been molested at some stage. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uykffu-jKU.
The Festival is also honoring Naqvi as the second returning filmmaker in a new special event, launched in 2014. He first presented “Shame” at the first Family of Woman Film Festival in 2008. A compelling documentary about a young Pakistani woman who displayed remarkable courage in bringing the men who gang-raped her to justice, “Shame” shows how international public support allowed Mukhtaran Mai to open a school for girls in her village and enroll as a first grader. Visit http://blip.tv/the-alcove-with-mark-molaro/shame-interview-with-mohammed-naqvi-on-his-documentary-on-mukhtaran-mai-233485.
“Shame” will be presented as a special Festival Filmmaker Update at The Community Library at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23, to conclude a series of films from past Family of Woman Film Festivals staged as part of library programs. The Festival has donated copies of over 35 films to the Community Library collection. A complete schedule of the weekly screenings leading up to the presentation of “Shame” is available both on the Community Library website, www.comlib.org or The Family of Woman Film Festival website, familyofwomenfilmfestival.org.
Naqvi is uniquely positioned to interpret both the humanitarian and political landscape of today’s Pakistan to Americans. He not only lives and works in both countries, and his films explore social and historical themes. He has recently completed a feature biography of former Pakistani President, Pervez Musharaff, having been given extraordinary access, including accompanying Musharaff on his ill-fated return to Pakistan.
Concurrently with the Festival in Sun Valley, Boise audiences will be treated to two special free screenings from this year's films, with featured guest speakers. Astronauts Barbara Morgan and Anousheh Ansari will speak at a screening of Sepidah on Wednesday, Feb. 25, and on Friday, Feb. 27, Hafsat Abiola and filmmaker Joanna Lipper will be present for the screening of “The Supreme Price.” These events recognize Boise State’s sponsorship of the FOWFF and are a joint program of the Idaho Film Collection, Arts and Humanities Institute, Gender Studies and the Women’s Center at Boise State. For information on the Boise screenings, visit events.boisestate.edu.
“Each year the Family of Woman Film Festival brings a little bit of the world to Sun Valley, Festival Co-Chair Stephanie Freid-Perenchio said. “This year’s festival has raised the bar to include films, speakers and presenters who are in the current world’s eye from Syria, Pakistan and Nigeria, to name a few. Their lives are making a difference in the world we live and connecting our valley and Idaho to the greater good and causes that need attention for women and girls.”
For more information, visit www. familyofwomanfilmfestival.org. For images, press and media inquiries, email Sabina Dana Plasse at sdanap@gmail.com.
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