SF International Women's Film Festival Call For Entries (Early Deadline: 8/31)

San Francisco International Women's Film Festival 2011 Call for Entries Early Deadline is now approaching!

“We’re open to professional and emerging filmmakers of narrative, documentary, music video, animation, and experimental works,” says festival founder Scarlett Shepard. “The only constant is that submissions must be directed or co–directed by women.”

SFWFF will be accepting online entries submitted via Withoutabox.com global filmmaker community. Their internet-only submission platform uses one master entry form and is an economical, eco-friendly, and secure alternative to traditional hard-copy DVD submissions: https://www.withoutabox.com/login/4231

The early deadline for submission is August 31, 2010. Entry fee: $20. Any questions regarding submissions can be emailed to: sfwomensfilmfestival@gmail.com or call (415) 754-3456.

Founded in 2004, the SFWFF celebrates the achievements of women working behind the camera and raises awareness about the need for more opportunities for female filmmakers: http://www.sfwff.org

About the Women’s Film Institute (WFI):
'Amplifying the Voices of Women and Girls through Film + New Media'
WFI is the presenter of the annual San Francisco International Women's Film Festival (April 6-l0, 2011), WFI Shorts Tour, and year-round educational programs and events. WFI is fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media. Independent Arts & Media is a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to expand civic dialogue by increasing access to independent voices: http://artsandmedia.net

Check out SF Weekly Photo Booth Pics from GHMAP Benefit

The Women's Film Institute (WFI) held a night of fun and networking to raise funds for Generation HERstory Media Arts Project initiative (GHMAP) with special guest Jan Wahl (Photograph: Left, Jan Wahl. Right, Scarlett Shepard, Executive Director of WFI). GHMAP identifies and fosters the next generation of media-makers and broadens public access to arts enrichment by providing free hands-on filmmaking training and mentoring for diverse low-income and at-risk young women (ages 12-19) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Young women are given the tools to create short films and public-service announcements that authentically reflect their voices.

Check out SF Weekly Photo Booth Pics:
http://www.sfweekly.com/slideshow/generation-herstory-media-arts-project-2081788

About WFI:
WFI's mission is to honor, showcase, and facilitate the creation of films that are directed or co-directed by women. WFI is the presenter of the annual San Francisco International Women's Film Festival (SFWFF), WFI Shorts Tour, Generation HERstory Media Arts Project, and year-round educational programs and events. WFI is fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media. Independent Arts & Media is a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to expand civic dialogue by increasing access to independent voices. Independent Arts & Media is dedicated to producing and promoting independent media and supporting and serving independent artists and media producers: http://www.sfwff.com, http://artsandmedia.net

Join WFI and Jan Wahl to benefit Generation HERstory Media Arts Project

San Francisco based Women's Film Institute is holding a night of fun and networking to raise funds for our Generation HERstory Media Arts Project initiative (GHMAP).

GHMAP identifies and fosters the next generation of media-makers and broadens public access to arts enrichment by providing free hands-on filmmaking training and mentoring for diverse low-income and at-risk young women (ages 12-19) in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Young women are given the tools to create short films and public-service announcements that authentically reflect their voices. Films created in GHMAP will premiere at the 7th Annual San Francisco International Women's Film Festival (April 2011).

All proceeds from the event will go toward providing scholarships for up to 8 young women to enroll in GHMAP free of charge for the Fall session beginning in September.

Stop by for a drink, to learn more about the Women's Film Institute and Generation Herstory, and participate in our silent auction:

Location: Tonic Bar, 2360 Polk Street (at Union) San Francisco (21 + with Valid ID): http://www.tonic-bar.com

Time: 6-9pm

Date: Thursday, August 12th

• We'll be behind the bar mixin and fixin up drinks for the crowd (No host bar). All tips made during the evening will be donated to Generation HERstory.

• 6-7pm is happy hour-- all drinks are two for one!

• Silent Auction. Bid on some great film-centric and lifestyle items!

To RSVP: http://tiny.cc/wfi0812

We hope you will celebrate with us! Please RSVP, as space is limited.

WFI Benefit is co-presented by SF Weekly:
http://www.sfweekly.com/

About the Women’s Film Institute (WFI):
WFI is the presenter of the annual San Francisco International Women's Film Festival (SFWFF), WFI Shorts Tour, and year-round educational programs and events. WFI is fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media. Independent Arts & Media is a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to expand civic dialogue by increasing access to independent voices. Independent Arts & Media is dedicated to producing and promoting independent media and supporting and serving independent artists and media producers. Visit us: http://www.sfwff.org, http://artsandmedia.net

SFWFF 2011 Call For Entries Is Open!

The Women’s Film Institute announces its call for film and video entries in all lengths and genres for the 7th annual San Francisco International Women’s Film Festival (SFWFF). The festival will take place April 4-10, 2011.

“We’re open to professional and amateur filmmakers of narrative, documentary, music video, animation, and experimental works,” says festival founder Scarlett Shepard. “The only constant is that submissions must be directed or co–directed by women.”

SFWFF will be accepting online entries submitted via Withoutabox.com global filmmaker community (Deadline for submissions is December 1, 2010). Their internet-only submission platform uses one master entry form and is an economical, eco-friendly, and secure alternative to traditional hard-copy DVD submissions:
https://www.withoutabox.com/login/4231

“The festival is a powerful and vital forum that brings the voices of women to a wider audience, as well as celebrating their achievements in the world of cinema,” notes Shepard.

Founded in 2004, the SFWFF celebrates the achievements of women working behind the camera and raises awareness about the need for more opportunities for female filmmakers: http://www.sfwff.org

About the Women’s Film Institute (WFI):
WFI is the presenter of the annual San Francisco International Women's Film Festival (SFWFF), WFI Shorts Tour, and year-round educational programs and events. WFI aims to bring the highest quality films to the community. WFI is fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media. Independent Arts & Media is a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to expand civic dialogue by increasing access to independent voices. Independent Arts & Media is dedicated to producing and promoting independent media and supporting and serving independent artists and media producers: http://artsandmedia.net

Coming soon to SF Jewish Film Festival: You Won't Miss Me by Ry Russo-Young

San Francisco International Women's Film Festival is proud to co-present the following film at this year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival:

You Won't Miss Me (2009 | USA | Color and Black & White | 81 min) Directed by Ry Russo-Young

Loner, dissenter, flirt, enemy, lover, that's Shelly Brown, and 23-year-old alienated urban misfit recently released from a psychiatric hospital. She's back in New York City seeking solace and affirmation but finding little of either.

Balancing order and abstraction, verite and high theatricality, Russo-Young applies a daring and emotionally honest style to the material reminiscent of indie filmmaking pioneers John Cassavetes and Agnes Varda.

Date: Sat, July 24, 2010 at 10:15 p.m.

Admission: $12.00 (General ), $10.50 (Senior discount)

Location: Castro Theatre, San Francisco, CA

For more information and to purchase tickets:

http://www.sfjff.org/film/detail?id=5093

Coming Soon: 30th Annual SF Jewish Film Festival

San Francisco Women's Film Festival (SFWFF) is proud to be a community partner at this year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

SFWFF co-presents a film screening of Grace Paley: Collected Shorts directed by Lily Rivlin

Lily Rivlin's (Gimme a Kiss, SFJFF 2002) intimate documentary is rich, inspiring portrait of Jewish writer and activist Grace Paley, who passed away in 2007. Paley's acclaimed first short story collection, The Little Disturbances of Man, established her reputations with its brilliantly sad and funny chronicles of Jewish American urban females much like herself.

Paley's New York tales, filled with an emotional and sexual frankness especially bold at the tail end of the frightened 1950's, soon became classics of the short fiction form. Not content to rest on her laurels, however, Paley combined her evolving literary career with passionate pursuit of her political concerns through the 1960's, 70's and 80's.

"Art is too long and life is too short," wrote the outspoken Paley, "There's a lot more to do in life than writing."Indeed she spent the rest of her life on the front lines of the anti-war and women's movements, where she endured being arrested time and time again.

Rivlin's film confidently juggles all aspects of Paley's extraordinary story, told in candid recollections and passionate reading by Paley herself, along with fond remembrances by literary critics, family and writer-friends Alan Gurganas and Alice Walker.

Throughout, Grace Paley: Collected Shorts casts and important and penetrating light on a brilliant and highly principled woman who consistently reinvented her life and art.- Thomas Logoreci

Location: Castro Theatre, San Francisco, CA

Date: Sunday, July 25, 2010

Time: 11:00 a.m.

Admission: $12.00 (regular), $10.50 (Senior discount)

For more information and to purchase tickets:
http://www.sfjff.org/film/detail?id=4871

New Podcasts: Interviews with Joan Braderman director of Heretics & LA Film Grant with Carole Dean

We are excited to relaunch our podcast that highlights notable women in the world of cinema.

Interview with Carole Dean

In this podcast interview, Lindsay Castillo talks with Carole Dean. In 1992 Carole Dean created the Roy W. Dean Grant Foundation in honor of her late father. To date Carole’s grant and mentor-ship programs have provided filmmakers with millions of dollars in goods and services and have played an instrumental role in establishing the careers of some of the industry’s most promising filmmakers. Learn more about Carole Dean and how to apply for the LA Film Grant (Due June 30, 2010).

Listen to podcast interview:

http://www.sfwff.com/podcast

Interview with Joan Braderman

In this podcast interview, Scarlett Shepard, Executive Director of the Women's Film Institute, talks with Joan Braderman about her latest documentary film 'Heretics.'

Braderman traces the influence of the Women’s Movement’s Second Wave on art and life, The Heretics is the exhilarating inside story of the New York feminist art collective that produced “Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics”.

In this feature-length documentary, cutting-edge video artist/writer/director Joan Braderman, who joined the group in 1971 as an aspiring filmmaker, charts the collective’s challenges to terms of gender and power and its history as a microcosm of the period’s broader transformations.

On the road with her camera crew from New Mexico to Italy, Braderman reconnects with 28 other group members. Still funny, smart and sexy, the geographically dispersed participants revisit how and why they came together and the extraordinary times they shared—supporting and exploring women’s art and demanding the right to be heard.

Listen to podcast interview:

http://www.sfwff.com/podcast

Coming soon to Frameline34

SFWFF is proud to be a community partner at this year's Frameline34, San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival!

SFWFF co-presents a film screening of Heretics directed by Joan Braderman on June 26th at 11:00 am at the Victoria Theater. Admission: $8 (General Admission) and $7 (Members).

For more information and to purchase tickets: 
http://www.frameline.org/frameline34

THE HERETICS uncovers the inside story of the Second Wave of the Women’s Movement for the first time in a feature film or video. Joan Braderman, director and narrator, follows her dream of becoming a filmmaker to New York City in 1971. By chance, she joins a feminist art collective at the epicenter of the 1970’s art world in lower Manhattan.  In her first person account, THE HERETICS charts the history of a feminist collective from the inside out. 

That group, the Heresies Collective, published: “HERESIES; A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics” from 1977-1992.  Unlike more traditional  “documentaries,” the film is framed with striking new digital motion graphics that extend the aesthetics of the magazine into the digital realm and onto the screen.  THE HERETICS focuses on The Heresies Collective as a microcosm of the larger international women’s movement, in which thousands of small, private groups of women met together in forms unique to their own settings, to consider their situation -- as women in a man’s world -- and to devise strategies for unlocking the potential in women’s lives. 

The hundreds of collective members, now scattered around the globe are accomplished artists, writers, architects, painters, filmmakers, designers, editors, curators, and teachers. Twenty-four of these women, speak intimately with the filmmaker about the extraordinary times they shared, challenging the terms of gender and power and re-imagining the lives of generations to come. 

Designing expressive ways to layer images, we work with: text, animation, archival stills and footage, the magazine itself, completed artworks and art as it is being made on sites world-wide. We collage all these elements in a language that evokes the collective experience and the aesthetics of the magazine.  The original soundtrack for THE HERETICS mirrors the "radical collage" aesthetic, mixing acoustic rock guitar, scat-singing, jazz piano and violin, made mainly by women.

Check out all 27 issues at:

http://helios.hampshire.edu/nomorenicegirls/heretics

Coming soon to Frameline34

SFWFF is proud to be a community partner at this year's Frameline34, San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival!

SFWFF co-presents a film screening of Heretics directed by Joan Braderman on June 26th at 11:00 am at the Victoria Theater.

Admission: $8 (General Admission) and $7 (Members).

For more information and to purchase tickets:
http://www.frameline.org/heretics

More about the film:
Welcome to the New York City art world of the 1970s, where women are underrepresented in the MOMA, in publishing, in theaters, as well as in pretty much every other artistic institution. What’s a group of feminist woman artists — painters, filmmakers, designers, writers, architects — to do? Form an art collective, hold endless meetings and publish a progressive magazine called HERESIES: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics. That’s what.

Filmmaker Joan Braderman, a member of the collective, tracks down twenty-four other members who are now accomplished artists living around the globe. The women talk about the magazine that published Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker and Barbara Ehrenreich.

They reminisce about what it was like to be a woman in a man’s world: from an instructor who praised Ida Applebroog, “That is good, you paint just like a man,” to Mark Rothko, who said to Lucy Lippard, “You’re too cute to be an art critic.” They also recall differences and disagreements; since editors changed for each issue, some women protested when it was determined that only self-identified lesbians would edit the magagzine’s Lesbian Art and Artists Issue.

A collage of intimate interviews, archival footage and photographs, digital animation, contemporary art works, and music by women, this is far from an historical piece. Rather, The Heretics emphasizes that collective feminism is as relevant today as ever. It’s a call to action to transmit this “gift, this collective energy of woman’s togetherness” to the younger generation.
— NANI RATNAWATI

The 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF53)

The 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF53) returns April 22-May 6 with more than 100 unique programs of the finest independent, documentary and international cinema, combining a range of marquee premieres, international competitions, digital media work and star-studded gala events into the best two weeks of the year.

Check out films made by women at SFIFF53: A Brand New Life, Budrus, Cairo Time, Cracks, Empire of Silver, Everyone Else, Father of My Children, Joan Rivers—A Piece of Work, Lourdes, My Dog Tulip, My Queen Karo, Night Catches Us, The Oath, Pianomania, La Pivellina, Russian Lessons, Seducing Charlie Barker, Way of Nature, White Material, and Winter’s Bone.

For more information and to purchase tickets:

http://www.sffs.org

Orgasm Inc. screens tonight

Orgasm Inc. The Strange Science of Female Pleasure directed by Liz Canner

In the shocking and hilarious documentary ORGASM INC., filmmaker Liz Canner takes a job editing erotic videos as part of a pharmaceutical drug company’s drug trial. Her employer is developing what they hope will be the first Viagra drug for women that win FDA approval to treat a new disease: Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD). Liz gains permission to film the company for her own documentary. Initially, she plans to create a movie about science and pleasure but she soon begins to suspect that her employer, along with a cadre of other medical companies, might be trying to take advantage of women (and potentially endanger their health) in pursuit of billion dollar profits.

ORGASM INC. is a powerful look inside the medical industry and the marketing campaigns that are literally and figuratively reshaping our everyday lives around health, illness, desire — and that ultimate moment: orgasm.

Upbeat, engaging, enlightening, and provocative, ORGASM INC. will change the way you think about sex.

Date:Thursday, April 8, 2010
Time: 7:30 PM
Time: $10 adv, $12 door
Location: The David Brower Center (Tamalpais Room)
2150 Allston Way, Berkeley

http://www.sfwff.com

SF Women's Film Festival begins Tonight

We are thrilled to announce that the SF International Women's Film Festival, presented by the Women's Film Institute, was awarded with a Mayor proclamation on April 1, 2010. It is official, Gavin Newsom, Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, has proclaimed April 7, 2010 as "SF International Women's Film Festival Day."

Get out and see a movie! Don't miss the 6th annual SF International Women's Film Festival (SFWFF) celebrating women in all areas of film will take place April 7th through 11th at the Roxie Theater and other community centers across the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2010 selection of diverse films celebrates the exceptional contributions of women in the world of cinema and represents a convergence of excellence in filmmaking from around the globe.

Use special discount code: film2010 and receive half-off on advance ticket purchase on all festival screenings and events.

SFWFF 2010 full festival schedule: http://www.sfwff.com

SF International Women's Film Festival Day begins April 7, 2010

We are thrilled to announce that the SF International Women's Film Festival, presented by the Women's Film Institute, was awarded with a Mayor proclamation on April 1, 2010. It is official, Gavin Newsom, Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, has proclaimed April 7, 2010 as "SF International Women's Film Festival Day."

Get out and see a movie! Don't miss the 6th annual SF International Women’s Film Festival (SFWFF) celebrating women in all areas of film will take place April 7th through 11th at the Roxie Theater and other community centers across the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2010 selection of diverse films celebrates the exceptional contributions of women in the world of cinema and represents a convergence of excellence in filmmaking from around the globe.

Use special discount code: film2010 and receive half-off on advance ticket purchase on all festival screenings and events.

SFWFF 2010 full festival schedule: http://www.sfwff.com

Animation Shorts Program with Valerie LaPointe from Pixar

SF Women's Film Festival is proud to present

Saturday, April 10, 2010 at 1:00 PM

SFWFF 2010 presents the best in children’s animation shorts program, including films by Valerie LaPointe. Valerie is currently employed as a story artist for Pixar Animation Studios. Since 2007, she has worked at Pixar on PRESTO, CARSTOONS, and various other films. Summer Storm is her fourth personal film. Her previous films Night Light (2002), Upside Downed (2004), and Lolly’s Box (2005) have screened in various film festivals worldwide. Check out Lolly’s Box and other award-winning animation at this year’s festival. Valerie LaPointe will be in attendance.

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/102092

SFWFF & Indie-Fest Online Competition - Watch and Vote

IndieFlix.com Kicks off the 2010 Festival Season with Indie-Fest Online Film Competition at the San Francisco International Women's Film Festival. Indie-fest online film competition is the American Idol for independent film. It is free for the audience to watch and vote; choosing the winning filmmaker. The winner will screen at this year's 6th Annual San Francisco International Women's Film Festival.

SFWFF + Indie-fest viewing and voting is live from
March 19 to April 5

Watch and vote at:
www.indieflix.com/festivalsonline/sfwff2010

SFWFF 2010 Schedule and Line-up is LIVE!

The San Francisco International Women’s Film Festival (SFWFF) celebrating women in all areas of film will take place April 7th through 11th at the Roxie Theater and other community centers across the San Francisco Bay Area. SFWFF 2010 full festival schedule and line-up are now live!

http://www.sfwff.com/index.html

Don't miss the 28th Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Fest

Don't miss the 28th Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), which showcases the best Asian and Asian American films from around the globe. SFIAAFF takes place March 11-21, 2010 in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose. 2010 marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Festival’s presenting organization the Center for Asian America Media (CAAM).

The San Francisco International Women's Film Festival is proud to co-present the following film at this year's SFIAAFF:

Sing China! will screen on 03/13 @ 1:30pm @ Landmark Clay Theatre. Admission:$12:

Freida Lee Mock’s 2001 Oscar-nominated short film SING! looked behind the scenes at the Los Angeles Children’s Choir, and in her inspiring sequel she returns to the chorus seven years later, chronicling its groundbreaking tour of China. Following the chorus’ 60 members, all 11-17 years-old, Mock not only captures the excitement and drama of performance, but also paints a portrait of a changing China, one then on the cusp of hosting the 2008 Olympics. Internationally acclaimed, the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus includes youth from over 50 diverse communities across Los Angeles and has traveled around the world, bringing its young ambassadors of American culture from Brazil to Australia. In the chorus’ first trip to China, Mock captures the intimate moments of their rehearsals and performances, and also their interactions with host organizations and fellow Chinese singers.

From Shanghai to Beijing to Xi’an, SING CHINA! follows the children as they inquisitively learn how silk is made, haggle with street vendors and stand in awe of ancient buildings, and also provides incredible footage of their concerts and performances, featuring everything from Beethoven to Ellington to traditional Chinese songs. For many of the children, the trip is a fascinating glimpse into another culture, but for others it is something quite more meaningful. These include Gianna, a Chinese adoptee returning to China for the first time who is in search of her orphanage, and the precocious Nathan, a Filipino American who is astonished to see so many Asians in one place. Funny, heartful and moving, SING CHINA! is a celebration of performance, culture and the transformative power of music.

http://filmguide.festival.asianamericanmedia.org/tixSYS/2010/xslguide/eventnote.php?notepg=1&EventNumber=1090

For more information or tickets please visit:
http://festival.asianamericanmedia.org/2010

'She's All That' Conference and filmmaking workshop for young women

Women in Movies: Behind the Scenes and On Camera

Are you interested in the field of film making but don’t know how to get started? Learn about the various stages of making movies from expert Scarlett Shepard and two successful film makers who will share their personal journeys with you. After viewing the two inspiring films produced by these young women, you’ll participate in a discussion about basic film making, including how to take a concept and move through the stages of scripting, editing and distributing it. Bring all of your questions, and expect to walk away from this workshop with a good overview of film making and resources that can help you immediately get started in this exciting field. Let your voice be heard and try filmmaking!

Workshop Leader: Scarlett Shepard, Founder and Executive Director of the San Francisco International Women's Film Festival and local film makers Fifer Garbesi and Willa Chiah Connolly Ingram.

Date: 2/6/2010
Cost: $30
Location: California High School - 9870 Broadmoor Dr, San Ramon, CA‎ 94583

(Workshop is for young women ages 11-13).

For more information and to enroll: http://www.soroptimist-sr.org/SAT2010form.html

Networking Mixer for Film Fans, Filmmakers & Artists

This is a celebratory evening designed to bring together the movers and shakers in the SF Bay area community. Network and socialize to gain valuable, professional and creative connections with a group consisting of business professionals, writers, artists, musicians, and media makers in film and television. Make a new friend, share resources or collaborate on a project.

Date: Jan. 14, 2010.

Time: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Location: Ninth Street Independent Media Center - 145 9th Street, San Francisco.

Space is limited. To attend RSVP by emailing us at: sfwomensfilmfestival@gmail.com

This event is brought to you by the Women's Film Institute (WFI)
WFI's mission is to honor, showcase, and facilitate the creation of films that are directed or co-directed by women. We achieve our mission by supporting, promoting, exhibiting and honoring the achievements and contributions of women in the world of cinema. In addition to the annual San Francisco International Women's Film Festival, the WFI supports its mission by presenting the best in women's cinema through the WFI Shorts Tour and year-round educational programs.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

6th Annual San Francisco International Women's Film Festival is April 5-11, 2010 at the Roxie Theatre and various SF Bay area locations. http://www.sfwff.com