Women in Black
Students for Peace

IREWG

IREWG International Women’s Film Festival THURSDAYS, JANUARY 31 – MARCH 14, 2002

February 7 Earth India/Canada, 1999, 104 min. Feature Color, 35 mm Director: Deepa Mehta

EARTH tells a story of Lenny, an eight-year-old Parsee girl who is growing up rich in pre-partition Lahore in 1947, enjoying the warm, enveloping life that loving parents and a filial household of staff brings. When the film opens, the British are finally preparing to quit their empire in India and the searing process of splitting British India into Independent India and Pakistan is about to begin. Angry Hindus storm through Lahore one day, and angry muslims the next. Then the serious killing begins.

February 14 WISECRACKS Canada 1992, 90 min. Documentary Color, 16 mm Director: Gail Singer

"Perceptive documentary on the politically charged field of stand-up comedy, as practiced by 24 working (women) comics." New Yorker Films. Includes comics such as Whoopi Goldberg, Ellen DeGeneres, Kim Wayans, Pam Stone, Robin Tyler, and Jenny Jones. Vintage footage of Lucille Ball, Mae West, many other ‘oldtimers’.

February 21 Friends Britain/ South Africa, 1998, 109 min. Color, 35 mm Director: Elaine Proctor Passion and politics mix in this powerful drama set in South Africa about three young women, all close friends. Sophie is a white political activist, Thoko is a black schoolteacher, and Annika is an Afrikaner archaeologist. When Sophie plants a bomb that accidentally kills two innocent people, blinding forces test the strength of the women's friendship.

February 28 WHO’S COUNTING? MARILYN WARING ON SEX, LIES, AND GLOBAL ECONOMICS

Canada 1995, 94 minutes Documentary Color 16 mm Director: Terre Nash

Marilyn Waring is the foremost spokesperson for global feminist economics, and her ideas offer new avenues of approach for political action. With persistence and wit she has succeeded in drawing attention to the fact that GDP has no negative side to its accounts--such as damage to the environment--and completely ignores the unpaid work of women.

March 7 BLOSSOMS OF FIRE / RAMOS DE FUEGO

USA, 2000, 74 min. Documentary Color 16 mm

Producer-Director-Editor Maureen Gosling

will be present to speak about the making of BLOSSOMS OF FIRE!

The legendary women of Juchitan, a city in Oaxaca, Mexico, are described as 'guardians of men, distributors of food’, and celebrated for their beauty and intelligence. BLOSSOMS OF FIRE shows them in all their brightly colored, opinionated glory as they run their businesses, embroider their signature fiery blossoms on clothing and comment with angry humor on articles in the foreign press that flippantly and inaccurately depict them as a promiscuous matriarchy. The people interviewed in this film share a strong work ethic and fierce independent streak rooted in Zapotec culture. These qualities have resulted not only in powerful women but also in the region's progressive politics, manifested in their unusual tolerance of homosexuality.

March 14 Venus Beauty Institute (FREE SCREENING) FRANCE, 1999, 107 min, Feature Color 35 mm Director: Tonie Marshall We are obsessed with beauty. For some, the creation and pursuit of physical beauty is a way to make a living. For others, it is a way to spend the day, a way to help others feel better about themselves, a mere daily ritual or a miraculous cure for the blues. With Venus Beauty Institute, French writer/director Tonie Marshall takes us into the world of beauty and self-image and into the lives of four strong, smart women who make their living practicing beauty at a Parisian spa.

WEBSITE http://www.womenandgender.buffalo.edu/

Thursday evenings at 7 P.M. January 31 – March 14, 2002 Market Arcade Film and Arts Centre 639 Main Street, Buffalo NY 14203 (across from Shea’s Theater)

Ticket prices: $6.50 general admission and $4.50 students - TWO free screenings

Info: Institute for Research & Education on Women & Gender 716.829.3451