The Feminist Film Festival has become an annual tradition. Each year, the University of Illinois Women’s Resources Center (WRC) and the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations (OIIR) team up to host this grassroots event that “showcases short films from undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.”
The festival’s goal is to “bring social issues to the fore” through art and alternative media, and the WRC allows the filmmakers complete creativity. The final products range from documentary to narrative and experimental. The subject matter concerns “issues related to gender, race, class, sexuality, and other dimensions of social inequality.”
Rachel Storm (pictured below, left) is the Program Coordinator for the Women’s Resources Center, and she was kind enough to share three of this year’s films with Smile Politely, and she also answered a few of our questions over email.
Smile Politely: Congratulations on your 4th Feminist Film Festival! What can we expect from this festival that is different from past events?
Rachel Storm: Each year, the festival provides a new opportunity to showcase some truly unique student shorts and this year is no exception! Our lineup includes films tackling a variety of issues from environmental justice to healthcare, body image to the civil rights movement. And somewhere in there, there’s also wedding dresses, Hungarian folk dancing, and 1970s survivor manuals.
This year’s submissions are each very distinct in genre and tone. DIANA, a film by Robin Lee based on the Greek Myth of Diana and Actaeon, has an eery, beautiful sentiment to it. Healthcare in All the Wrong Places is a short adaptation of a full-length film made in Urbana featuring Dr. Patch Adams that focuses on problems with our healthcare system. Lust in Sensation by U of I alum, Nick Gooler, examines the ‘male gaze.’ Festival attendees will laugh as much as they’ll have their heart strings pulled in this year’s festival.
SP: You’re in your fourth year now. How many entries do you have this year? I imagine the festival has grown in size and number of entries.
Storm: We have ten films we’re planning to screen this year. A couple films are two-part and some are longer than others. The whole festival should have a running time of about [two hours]. Each year we receive more entries than the last. We still aren’t overflowing with entries by any means, which has been a blessing as it is then a rarity that a submission wouldn’t be included in the festival.
SP: Can you talk a little about the filmmakers?
Storm: Our filmmakers truly come from a variety of majors and backgrounds — some with substantial filmmaking experience and others with none at all. The collection of work tackles issues as diverse as the people who made them.
Filmmakers from the 3rd Annual Feminist Film Festival
SP: Is the festival still free? Will you be accepting donations?
Storm: The festival is completely free. Attendees are encouraged to buy concessions to help support the Art Theater Co-Op!
SP: How can we get tickets? Do we need them?
Storm: No advanced tickets are necessary this year — we’re doing it differently this time!
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Diana (6:45)
Diana is the most intriguing short that I’ve seen thus far from the Feminist Film Festival. Sure, I’ve only seen three total this year, but this is the film that makes a viable attempt at a cohesive short film. Diana is an experimental piece — and you may find yourself scratching your head and asking, “What the hell did I just watch?” — but it is filmed beautifully and has a seductive mystery that forces you to follow the temptress Diana, as she lures a suitor. To me, the text at the start of the film is a bit bulky, but the rest is stylistically tantalizing. Kudos to filmmaker Robin Lee for his bold choices and unique vision of the Myth of Diana and Actaeon.~~Jeremiah Stanley
Words Matter, by U of I Housing and The Trigger Words Video Development Team (3:10)
Words Matter opens with a slide meant to educate the viewer on what the First Amendment protects and what it does not. What follows are a number of young adults, from all walks of life, explaining why certain words and phrases are “triggers” for them. We hear why “ghetto,” “retarded,” and “gay” are words that hurt when used as pejoratives. And I have to admit that the necessity of explaining why the word “nigger” should not be used — that explaining this is still needed — is infuriating to me. All of the film’s participants speak clearly and directly. They are engaging and likable, without being preachy or humorless. I also like the music that the filmmakers chose: it adds a tension that reflects the seriousness of the subject matter.
All of that being said, I’m still going to use “bitch” in any number of ways because seriously, it’s a bitchin’ word.~~Tracy Nectoux
Fauxfolk, by Eszter Sapi (10:07)
I confess that I’m not quite certain of Sapi’s intent with Fauxfolk. There seems to be a clever twist around minute 1:45, but I can’t be sure that the “surprise” isn’t actually just bad camera work. Is she too close to the camera, or did she really mean for us to think she’s doing one thing, while actually doing another? I don’t know. Either way, considering what she’s wearing, the audience can’t really be faulted for assuming she’s folk dancing. And I hope that the ball doesn’t symbolize anything other than a ball, because that would be too easy.
Fauxfolk suffers from a lack of editing. It really should run only half of its 10+ minutes. A soundtrack would help enormously as well. However, the costume and scenery are very lovely, as is Eszter Sapi.~~Tracy Nectoux
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I’ve attended this festival in the past, and I’ve always enjoyed more films than I haven’t. And I’m aware that one person’s “meh” is another person’s “wow.” I may not have been moved by Sapi’s creation, but I also know that I damn sure couldn’t make a film that well myself!
And this is the beauty of the Feminist Film Festival. If you’re not thrilled with a film, it’s not a big deal, because another one will be along in, usually, less than ten minutes (all films are between five and fifteen minutes). The Feminist Film Festival is a really fun evening, and the filmmakers are always engaging and intelligent. Seeing the projects that the amazing students in our university are creating is such a delight. Try not to miss this event.
The Feminist Film Festival happens this Thursday, May 2, 7:00 p.m., at the Art Theater Co-op. It is free and open to the public. For more information, check out their Facebook event page. To read past coverage of this festival, go here.
All photos courtesy of the WRC’s Facebook page.