November 7, 2019 | 7 p.m.

Directed by Mary Dore, 2014, 92 minutes

Director Mary Dore joins us for the screening, followed by a post-film discussion moderated by Women in Film Cincinnati president and Emmy award-winning director and producer, Rachel Lyon.

Directed, produced, and edited by women, SHE’S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE’S ANGRY is a provocative and rousing look at the birth of the women’s liberation movement in the late 1960’s. The film offers a unique focus on local and lesser-known activists, including the Boston authors of Our Bodies, Ourselves, the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union, and grassroots organizations across the country, using never seen before archival footage, great music from the period and artful re-enactments.

The film shows many strands of feminism, including the voices of women of color and struggles over issues of class and lesbian rights. Major themes appearing throughout the film include the struggle for freedom and equality and a woman’s right to control her own body. Dore’s weaves together interviews with galvanizing figures, including Alix Kates Shulman, Rita Mae Brown, Kate Millett and Denise Oliver-Velez, to form an investigation of how movements are born. The film ultimately reflects not just on the 1960s women’s liberation movement but also on organization around human rights today.

Mary Dore began her career working with a Boston film collective that produced independent historical documentaries, including Children of Labor (1977) which premiered at the New York Film Festival. She has produced television series for Maine Public Broadcasting and 13/WNET in New York. She produced and co-directed the feature documentary The Good Fight: the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War (1984), which screened at the Toronto, Sundance, and London Film Festivals. View Calendar Page

December 5, 2019 | 7 p.m.

Directed by Ida Lupino, 1950, 75 minutes

Content warning: This film contains scenes that evoke sexual violence. This film focuses on the experience of a survivor of rape.

When protagonist Ann Walton (Mala Powers) walks home from work one night, a stalker, who has made unwanted passes at her, assaults her. Lupino, who also co-wrote the script, follows Ann in the days after, offering an examination of rape culture in a time when—due to the strictures of the Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code)—it was not permissible to even speak the word “rape” in a feature film.

Lupino was a trailblazing indie director, writer, and producer. A remarkable presence at the height of the Hollywood system, her career encompasses a number of “firsts,” including first woman to join the Director’s Guild in sound era Hollywood, and first and only woman to direct an episode of The Twilight Zone. View Calendar Page

After the film, join for a discussion with special guest Dr. Nicole Richter, moderated by Jaime Meyers Schlenck.

Jaime Meyers Schlenck’s editing career spans more than two decades in both Los Angeles and Cincinnati. She has edited feature documentary including the Primetime Emmy Award winning series A Lion in the House, TV series including HBO First Look, and more than 60 behind-the-scenes documentaries for major studio releases. Schlenck is a co-founder and board member of Women in Film Cincinnati.

Dr. Nicole Richter is a leading international film scholar whose research focuses on women, gender and sexuality in cinema. She is the Head of the Tom Hanks Center for Motion Pictures at Wright State University and Professor of Film Studies, and she is the founder of Kino Femme, a women's filmmaker collective, and Kino Queer.

January 2, 2020 | 7 p.m.

Directed by Tali Shalom Ezer, 2017, 108 minutes

Cincinnati premiere featuring post-film discussion with Amy Bradford, Amy Faust, Karri O’Reilly and Kristen Schlotman.

The daughter of an inmate waiting execution, Lucy (Ellen Page) has spent eight years protesting the death penalty with her siblings outside state penitentiaries. She meets Mercy (Kate Mara) on the opposing side of a protest, and the two fall in love amid the complicated unfolding of truths for both women. Mercy details a love story that transcends the divided culture that can grow around sensitive political issues, portraying an LGBT+ love within the context of a larger world.

Israeli director Shalom Ezer’s Princess (2014) was awarded the Grand Prix at the Kiev International Film Festival and was honored as best debut feature at Raindance Film Festival. Her first feature made in the United States, My Days of Mercy was shot in Cincinnati. The film was produced both above and below the line by many strong women guided by Shalom Ezer in a collaborative and communal working experience, where creativity and sensitivity thrived.

Our post-film discussion features My Days of Mercy contributors Karri O’Reilly (executive producer) and Amy Bradford (special effects), and Film Cincinnati executive director Kristen Schlotman. My Days focus puller and Women in Film Cincinnati member Amy Faust will moderate the discussion.

February 6, 2020 | 7 p.m.

Directed by Julie Dash, 1991, 113 minutes

At the dawn of the 20th century, a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina – former enslaved West Africans who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions – struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore while contemplating a migration to the mainland, even further from their roots.

With Daughters of the Dust, Dash became the first African American woman to direct and produce a full-length feature film that was widely distributed in theaters across the country. Released with beautiful color restoration in 2016, Dash’s visionary work is still an inspiration for filmmakers today.

Michelle Materre, lead on the 1991 theatrical distribution of Daughters of the Dust, will participate in post-film discussion moderated by Ainsley M. Cameron, CAM Curator of South Asian Art, Islamic Art and Antiquities. Materre serves as Director of the Media Management Program and Associate Professor of Media Studies and Film at The New School, and has a professional background as a film producer, writer, arts administrator, and distribution and marketing specialist.

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