Alberta, Julia, and Catalina are three Chatino migrant women who have had to leave their communities to work on the Oaxacan coast. Catalina sells food, while Alberta and Julia work in lime and papaya orchards. The three women endure discrimination and the challenges of survival in an unknown place—all in order to improve their families’ quality of life.
Étoilé.e.s
A documentary that proposes a conversation about the way children are praised. While girls are often praised solely for their appearance, boys can receive compliments by highlighting their skills. "Rethink the Praise" reflects on the power of words and culture that has brought an imbalance in the way we commend our boys and girls.
A quartet of refined elderly ladies gets together for coffee. Neatly dressed in houndstooth and pearls, they sip from elegant china and nibble on sweet cakes while discussing Viagra, cock rings, orgasms and quickies. Nothing's off the table as they reminisce about the past and revel in the sexual revolution that's come up around them, empowering their pleasure well into their twilight years.
What does beauty look like? In this award-winning short, Kenyan filmmaker Ng’endo Mukii combines animation, performance, and experimental techniques to create a visually arresting and psychologically penetrating exploration of the insidious impact of Western beauty standards and media-created ideals on African women’s perceptions of themselves. From hair-straightening to skin-lightening, YELLOW FEVER unpacks the cultural and historical forces that have long made Black women uncomfortable, literally, in their own skin.
Outraged by the controversial January, 1988 article in Cosmopolitan magazine, the women in the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, (Act Up, New York), organized the first AIDS demonstration focused on women. Doctors, Liars and Women:AIDS Activists Say No To Cosmo not only documents the efforts of the Women's Committee to organize this protest, it also serves as a how-to-guide for direct action.
The story of an American hero and the Cherokee Nation's first woman Principal Chief who humbly defied all odds to give a voice to the voiceless.
Documentary about the world of the Japanese geisha. Unattainable by all but the wealthy and powerful, geisha are the ultimate massagers of the male ego. Behind the delicate fan and enigmatic smile can also be found a darker side to the geisha story, including treachery and suicide.
The inspiring story of a young Indian Muslim woman who trades her burka for dreams of playing on the Mumbai Senior Women's Cricket Team and how the harsh realities for women in her country creates an unexpected outcome for her own family, ultimately shattering and fueling aspirations.
Two Muslim converts promoting women's rights through music… and finding their own voices on the way. A documentary film about 'Poetic Pilgrimage'.
Authors, teachers, social activists and feminists explore manifestations of contemporary women's spirituality in the Western world.
She Makes Comics traces the fascinating history of women in the comics industry. Despite popular assumptions about the comics world, women have been writing, drawing, and reading comics since the medium’s beginnings in the late 19th century. And today, there are scores of women involved in comics and its vibrant fan culture. Featuring dozens of interviews with such vital figures as Ramona Fradon, Trina Robbins, Joyce Farmer, Karen Berger, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Becky Cloonan, She Makes Comics is the first film to bring together the most influential women of the comics world.
Jeju-do is the largest of Korean islands and lies between Korea and Japan. There, for hundreds of years, women dive without breathing apparatus, to the ocean floor and collect shellfish, octopus, and urchins that they sell. The divers are in their sixties and seventies and their daughters do not want to inherit their work, lifestyle, and health problems that go with diving. As a filmmaker I was privileged to meet many of these women and dive with them. Their stories of hardship and pride confirmed my desire to record this unique and ancient tradition.
A creative journey into the unique mind of René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of Noma, voted best restaurant in the world four times.
An intimate journey into the twilight world of the devadasi, Hindus who are married to god in childhood and at puberty sold for sex. The girls of Karnataka, southern India who are forced to live in this ancient tradition despite it having been declared illegal for more than 60 years.
Barbara Wong interviews HK women (of all ages (even 4 year olds), all walks of life, all sexual preferences, singles, wives, mistresses, prostitutes) with an all women crew and gets some wild and frank responses. The documentary is bold, honest, funny and touching. Highly recommended to any man who wants to understand women better and any woman who wants a fun girls' night out.
Toma cero: pionera
Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser's efforts to document and present the reality of Tibet were considered a "political problem" by the Chinese Party-state and she was fired from her job. Since then, she has persevered as an independent writer and has continued to speak out for the sufferings of Tibetan people. Zhu Rikun, the director, came into possession of Tsering's official dossier which then became the main thread of this film. The first half of the movie is centred around her reading of the dossier; be patient as the theme grows and her interviews document the changed direction her career took including footage from Tibet.
This film illustrates the struggles of Canadian prairies women to achieve a more just and humane society within the farm movement and at large. During the early 1900s, women on the prairies looked for ways to overcome their isolation. Out of the resulting farm women's organizations grew a group of women possessing remarkable intellectual abilities, social and cultural awareness, and advanced worldviews.
From behind the closed doors of women's washrooms, The Powder Room reveals women sharing intimacies in the privacy of each other's company. Originating from the director's observation that women trade secrets with friends and strangers in public washrooms, this innovative and candid documentary takes us to high school bathrooms, seniors centres' powder roooms, Newfoundland dance halls, New York nightclubs, a sauna in Copenhagen, a Casablanca hamman and country-and-western bars in Texas. In each location, as women are filmed in verité sequences, they confess their joys, their frustrations and their pain about love, sex, relationships with men and friendships with each other.