Monday, March 5

MUS 175, 11am – 12:50pm
Camera obscura aficionados may be interested in Minyong Jang's film The Dark Room which will be screened in Film 201 on Monday at 11am, in MUS 175, as part of a program on projection and unsettled screens.

For The Dark Room (16mm, 4 min, color/silent, 2001), Minyong Jang filmed inside the camera obscura at San Francisco's Cliff House, where the surroundings (seaside cliffs, ocean) are projected, via a rotating lens, into a parabolic screen parked in the center of the room. Viewers look down into this bowl of imagery.

Also screening is Alexi Manis Luminous (16mm, 3.5 min., color/sound, 2001) wherein filmmaker and projectionist Manis explores the light and imagery that haunts a projection booth during the projecting of a film.

Brent C's two monitor installation from 2005 -- "night flight: transmissions" -- will also be getting an encore presentation.

Also screening:

Available Light: Shift
(Luis Recoder, 2 x 16mm, color, silent, 12min., 2001)

Third Eye Butterfly
(Storm De Hirsch, 2x16mm, color/sound, 10 min. 1968)

The Lace of Summer
(Storm De Hirsch, Super8, color, 4 min., 1973)

Live to Tell
(Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, video, b&w, sound, 6 min., 2002)

Tuesday, March 6

UWM Union Theatre
Women Without Borders Film Festival http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/WRC/Women_History/WWB.html

In celebration of Women’s History Month, the third annual Women Without Borders film festival at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee will feature work by and about women who cross, erase and/or question borders of every kind.

7pm ** FREE **
Program: Private Eyes
This program features an eclectic selection of experimental documentaries and animated works from the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Norway and the United States. “The Intimacy of Strangers” follows a clandestine film crew that prowls the streets, capturing phone conversations. The filmmaker “steals” these intimate moments and explores the ever-shrinking gap between private and public spheres. “Deep Woods” is a performative video that lures male participants through evocative advertisements. These innovative works reveal the power of modern technologies to upend notions of privacy.

Wednesday, March 7

UWM Union Theatre
Women Without Borders Film Festival http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/WRC/Women_History/WWB.html

7pm ** FREE **
Program: Crossing the Borders of Biology: Destiny or …?

Period: The End of Menstruation?
As millions of women and girls take shots and pills to stop their periods, the meaning of menstruation changes. Current marketing of hormonal birth control attracts customers by promising freedom from monthly periods. For many consumers, menstrual suppression eliminates painful monthly flow, giving them more control in their lives. For others, menstrual suppression represents a frightening shift in thinking about the human body and another dangerous experiment on woman’s health. “Period: The End of Menstruation?” interrogates the cultural and medical side effects of suppression before ‘the curse’ disappears.

Followed by...

Black and White

A beautiful and stylish film about the creative collaboration between one individual and a photographer, “Black and White” also shines a sensitive light on a subject that is too often either shunned or sensationalized: the experiences of intersex people (sometimes called hermaphrodites). This fascinating film artfully explores the potent creative collaboration between Mani Bruce Mitchell and the acclaimed photographer Rebecca Swan. Portrayed through this lens, Mitchell’s story introduces viewers to notions of fluid gender identity, challenging the rigid categories of “male” and “female.

And...

Boy I Am

An important exploration of issues rarely touched upon by most films portraying female-to-male transgender experiences, this feature-length documentary sets itself apart from other recent films on this topic. Because some women in feminist and lesbian communities view transitioning as at best a “trend” or at worst an anti-feminist act that taps into male privilege, in-depth conversations about transgender issues have often been resisted in these circles. “Boy I Am” opens up this dialog between feminists, lesbians and transmen. This groundbreaking film promotes understanding of transgender issues for general audiences while also encouraging conversations heretofore unexplored between the lesbian, feminist and transgender communities.

Thursday, March 8

International Woman’s Day

UWM Union Theatre
Women Without Borders Film Festival http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/WRC/Women_History/WWB.html

7pm ** FREE **
Nalini By Day, Nancy by Night

In this insightful documentary, filmmaker Sonali Gulati explores complex issues of globalization, capitalism and identity through a witty and personal account of her journey into India’s call centers. Gulati, herself an Indian immigrant living in the United States, explores the fascinating ramifications of outsourcing telephone service jobs to India—including how native telemarketers take on Western names and accents to take calls from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

Followed by...

Transnational Tradeswomen

Inspired by organizers at the Beijing Conference on Women in 1995, former construction worker Vivian Price spent years documenting the current and historical roles of women in the construction industry in Asia – discovering several startling facts. Capturing footage that shatters any stereotypes of delicate, submissive Asian women, Price discovers that women in many parts of Asia have been doing construction labor for centuries. But conversations with these women show that development and the resulting mechanization are pushing them out of the industry. Their stories disturb the notion of “progress” that many people hold and show how globalization, modernization, education and technology don’t always result in gender equality and the alleviation of poverty.

Friday, March 9

UWM Union Theatre
Women Without Borders Film Festival http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/WRC/Women_History/WWB.html

7pm ** FREE **
I Was a Teenage Feminist

Why is it that some young, independent, progressive women in today’s society feel uncomfortable identifying with the “F-word”? Join filmmaker Therese Shechter as she takes a funny, moving and very personal journey into the heart of feminism. Armed with a video camera and an irreverent sense of humor, Shechter talks with feminist superstars, rowdy frat boys, liberated Cosmo girls and Radical Cheerleaders, all in her quest to find out whether feminism can still be a source of personal and political power. “I Was a Teenage Feminist” redefines the “F-word” for a new generation.

9pm ** FREE **
I Had an Abortion
Underneath the din of politicians posturing about “life” and “choice” and beyond the shouted slogans about murder and rights, there are real stories of real women who have had abortions. Each year in the United States, 1.3 million abortions occur, but the topic is still so stigmatized it’s never discussed in polite company. “I Had an Abortion” tackles this taboo, featuring 10 women – including famed feminist Gloria Steinem – who candidly describe experiences spanning seven decades, from the years before Roe v. Wade to the present day. Cutting across age, race, class and religion, the film unfolds personal narratives with intimate interviews, archival footage, family photos and home movies. The film personalizes what has become a vicious and abstract debate.

Saturday, March 10

UWM Union Theatre
Women Without Borders Film Festival http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/WRC/Women_History/WWB.html

7pm ** FREE **
They Call me Muslim
In popular Western imagination, a Muslim woman in a veil, or hijab, is a symbol of Islamic oppression. But what does it mean for women's freedom when a democratic country forbids the wearing of the veil? In this provocative documentary, filmmaker Diana Ferrero portrays the struggle of two women. To express themselves, one woman in France decides to wear the veil despite the government’s “anti-veil law” and another in Iran defiantly wears it her own way. The film highlights how women still must struggle for the right to control their own bodies, not only under theocratic regimes, but also in secular, democratic countries where increasing discrimination against Muslims and sexism intersect.

Followed by…

Linda & Ali: Two Worlds Within Four Walls

Ali Saigal and his wife, Linda, have been married for 20 years, raising their traditional Islamic family in Doha, Qatar. But their relationship is far from traditional. Linda was brought up Catholic in Arizona and met Ali at college in the 1980s. Shot over two years during the American invasion of Iraq, this poignant documentary shows how they struggle to surmount their cultural differences while raising their family.

9pm ** FREE **
Leila Khaled: Hijacker
In 1969, Palestinian Leila Khaled made history by becoming the first woman to hijack an airplane. As a Palestinian child growing up in Sweden, filmmaker Lina Makboul admired Khaled for her bold actions; as an adult, she began asking complex questions about the legacy created by her childhood hero. This fascinating documentary is at once a portrait of Khaled, an exploration of the filmmaker’s own understanding of her Palestinian identity and a complicated examination of the nebulous dichotomy between “terrorist” and “freedom fighter.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

noon-5pm
CAMERA OBSCURA – Ethan Jackson at Kenilworth

Visiting Artist Ethan Jackson to convert Inova / Kenilworth into a camera obscura.
Jackson will most likely still be installing / finishing up on Saturday, but all are welcome to stop by, lend a hand (unlikely, but maybe) and see the work take shape (room grows darker; outside moves in).

Sunday, March 11

UWM Union Theatre
Women Without Borders Film Festival
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/WRC/Women_History/WWB.html

5pm ** FREE **
Mohawk Girls

Filmmaker Tracey Deer intimately captures the lives of three exuberant and insightful Mohawk teenagers as they face their future. Like Amy, Lauren and Felicia, Deer grew up on the Kahnawake Native Reserve, but she left to attend school. Now, she returns to document two critical years in the lives of these teens who are contending with the unwritten rules of their close-knit community. To move away from the reserve means losing credibility, or worse, a person’s rights as a Mohawk. But to stay is to give up the possibilities offered by the “outside world.” With insight, humor and compassion, Deer takes us inside the lives of these three teenagers as they tackle the same issues of identity, culture and family she faced a decade earlier. Interspersed with home videos from Deer’s own adolescence, “Mohawk Girls” is a deeply emotional yet unsentimental look into what it means to grow up Native American at the beginning of the 21st century.

Followed by…

Far From Home

While busing may be a rapidly fading memory in most American schools, it continues to be a reality for more than 3,000 Boston students every year. “Far From Home” spotlights Kandice, an insightful, precocious African-American teenager participating in METCO, a voluntary Boston school integration program. Since kindergarten, she has risen before dawn each day to be bused to Weston, an affluent, predominantly white suburb. Now in her last two years of high school, she takes us inside her personal triumphs and daily negotiations – serving as the first black class president, playing the college admissions game, defying stereotypes she feels from white society, living up to her family’s tradition of activism. Kandice’s grandfather, a civil rights activist murdered in 1968, helped found the busing program and her mother was among the first black students bused to the suburbs in the late 1960s. Through cinema verité and interviews, the film weaves together Kandice’s current school life with a family history that has been profoundly shaped by racially integrated educational experiences.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

noon-5pm
CAMERA OBSCURA – Ethan Jackson at Kenilworth

Visiting Artist Ethan Jackson to convert Inova / Kenilworth into a camera obscura.
Ethan Jackson in attendance, with Official Opening from 3-5pm
Note: Daylight Savings time commences.