Mark Your Calendars: Less Than One Week Until the Directed by Women Celebration Kicks Off

directed by women 2Next Tuesday, September 1, the Directed by Women worldwide viewing party will commence running until September 15. The focus of this event, from founder Barbara O’Leary, is to have “film lovers will gather together in their communities around the world for film screenings & guest filmmaker visits designed to focus attention on and offer appreciation for women film directors and their work.” Over the course of those fifteen days, people from Seattle to New York to Spain to Montreal to Houston to India will gather together to celebrate the great cinematic output of women directors. Brittany Friesner has curated a special screening series at the fantastic Indiana University Cinema that includes visits from Penelope Spheeris (Decline of Western Civilization Parts I-III and Wayne’s World), the New Negress Film Society‘s Ja’Tovia Gary and Stefani Saintonge as well as Hannah Fidell who will host a special screening of her new film, 6 Years.

The Directed by Women events tumblr page is chock full of opportunities that may well be happening in your area. However, don’t be dissuaded if there are no group screenings in your area. Feel free to watch create your own screenings for yourself or others that you know. Be sure to post, Tweet, Facebook, Tumblr the hell out of what you are viewing, sharing your experiences with these wonderful films. Be sure to use the #directedbywomen tag.

I, myself, will be taking this opportunity to revisit the films of Lynne Ramsay, Ben’s at Home directed by Mars Horodyski, the documentaries of Barbara Kopple, especially Harlan County USA and I may just sneak some of Agnès Varda or Chantal Akerman‘s work in for good measure. I have had Barbara Loden‘s Wanda on my shelf for some time, so what better time than now to check it out?

The point is join in however you want. Showcase the work of women directors you love and find interesting. The fact that there is one female director for every 15 male directors working in narrative film which is unacceptable.

So join in however you want and however you can. You’ve got 6 days to get prepped and ready. Get there, people!

 

Here’s Your Chance to Contribute to Film Discussion & Celebration – Directed By Women: A Worldwide Film Viewing Party

directed by women

Here’s a fun opportunity for you to help fund for September of 2015 – Directed by Women: a worldwide film viewing party. From the website: “We’re throwing a worldwide film viewing party. Everyone’s invited to mobilize in their communities to celebrate women filmmakers and their work. It’s going to be so much fun… but we need people to take action now to make this possible.” The film viewing party will take place September 1-15, 2015, and the reason the campaign is being started now is to help participants join in the planning of the party and be an integral part of the project as it unfolds.

As of now, the project is 80% funded and the campaign has three days to go. You can read more from the initiative’s creator, Barbara O’Leary, in an interview she had with NUVO Magazine in Indianapolis here. So if you are interested in exploring women filmmakers and their work, check out the website or their Facebook page to see how you can help.

Good luck to Barbara and the Directed by Women team!