Windham County Women’s Film Festival to Benefit Women’s Crisis Center BY MEK elebrate Women’s History . Month and enjoy , Brattleboro’s 12th annual Women’s Film Festival, which this year runs from March 7th through the 23rd. With over twenty films from all over the world, the Women’s Film Festival is a major fundraising event for the Women’s Crisis Center of Windham County, now in its 25th year of service to the county. Last year, the festival raised $6,000 for the Crisis Center. The festival aims to entertain, educate, and perhaps even inspire the audience-with the‘ realities of women’s lives, women’s art, women’s dreams _ and aspirations. Best of all, there will be opportunities to meet some of the filmmakers as well as participate in discussions about the images and stories they bring to life on the screen. Just to mention a few of the films: in UphillA1l the Way, troubled teenaged girls find strength in a bicycle trek along the continental divide; One In Nine follows nine breast cancer Survivors as they compete in the Head of the Charles Regatta; and. Cowards explores the reality of a Couple locked in a destructive relationship. There are award- Winners, such as Georgie Girl, a Portrayal of a Maori transsexual’s Jollrney from farm boy to cabaret singer and member of New Zealand’s Parliament; Mai ‘s America documenting a young Vietnamese exchange student’s home in cracker Mississippi;.and Connie and Ruthie: Every Room in the House, which acquaints us with two Jewish lesbian grand- mothers who took a huge risk to find each other and paid a high price to be themselves together. There’s also a mini-festival of classic and recent films by Agnes Varda, considered the grandmoth- er of modern French cinema. Concurrent with the film festival will be Visions and Voices, an exhibit and silent auc- tion of artwork by local women and girls at the Hooker-Dunham Gallery. Three venues — the Latchis Theater and the Hooker- Dunham Theater in downtown Brattleboro and the New Falls Cinema in downtown Bellows Falls — will host the events. I had the good fortune to review three films — Cowgirls, Some Real Heat, and Reno: Rebel without a Pause — for the upcom- ing Women’s Film Festival. Cowgirls gives us a glimpse of western women who love their horses, their hats, the excitement and the skills they’ve learned to compete on the rodeo circuit. These cowgirls are trick riders — riding upside down on their horses, standing upright with hands-in-the-air kind of tricks — barrel racers, and Stampede Queens (sorry guys, just for women). Women invented these events because they were banned from participating in the rodeo’s regular events — the rop- ing and steer wrestling and bronc and bull riding. Some of the interviews - ’ are insightful, with one cowgirl talking about how younggirls identify and connect with horses, but then when they mature, they’re supposed to give all that up for men, but men are still con- nected to horses. There’s’ some good feminist outrage about women still not being able to vote in the rodeo riders’ association. This movie, although a bit slow, has wonderful vintage clips of cowgirls in motion, and the soundtrack is fun, It’s a,won- derful glimpse of cowgirl history from girls and women, ages seven to 70, and breaks down stereotypes of the “wild west.” On a four-star scale, I give it a two and a half. g Another film about women in a nontraditional situa- A tion is Some Real Heat, a compi- lation of thoughtful and insightful interviews with women firefight- ers in San Francisco. They are turning gender roles upside down as they deal with a conservative white heterosexual male majority among their colleagues and a dangerous workplace. The women are physically and emo- tionally strong, confident, and they love their tools. At a Kate Clinton show, they’d be in the “Black & Decker” section. One firef1ghter’s favorite is the chain- saw; another loves her axe. All of the women ‘talk about the excitement of fighting fires, the action, their fears and emotions in dealing with life-and- death issues. One woman talks about being» a bigger woman and how her physical strength and size is such an advantage in this profession. Another firefighter San Francisco's wo ' characterizes herself as a social worker with an axe, someone who’s there to help. The women are proud of being role models and their introspection, humor and conflicts are real and force- ful. This film rates three stars. Reno: Rebel without a Pause is not about Janet Reno. It is one woman’s very funny, insightful, intelligent, politically astute, energetic, outrageous, compelling and mesmerizing monologue about the events of September 11th. Reno (a one- named comedienne) lived a few blocks away from the towers and went from scene to scene both live and in her head, asking, “What do I pack for my life?” Being a little vindictive, she won- ders, “Why didn’t they get that ' guy with the BIG SUV?” She explores in a non-stop burst of energy the resulting patriotism and the teary conflicts when Celine Dion (a Canadian no less!) sings “God Bless America.” Reno is a great storyteller whose New York Italian pizzazz gives her credentials to make us laugh at 9/ 11 in a way that no other humorist has been able to do. This entertaining, wild tour de force rates four stars. I There are many more films, not all of them documen- taries: Bend it Like Bekham is a British romantic comedy about an -18-year-old bending the rules imposed by her tradition-bound East Indian parents who are try- ing to prevent her from playing her beloved soccer. Green Cold captures the life and art ofForough Farrokhzad, the.greatest Iranian poet of the 20th century, who was killed in a car accident at 33. Bernice Abbott: A View of the 20th Century was filmed during the famed photographer’s 91st and 92nd years. Portrait of Imogene pro- files photographer Imogene Cunningham, based on audio- tapes the filmmaker’s father had made‘ while working with her. Journey to Kafiristan is set in 1939 and follows the jour- ney of two Swiss women to explore the mysterious Kafiristan valley in Afghanistan. Someone Sang For Me profiles the critically acclaimed African-American singer and music educator Jane Sapp. Filmmaker Nora Jacobs will be present at the showing of her film Nothing But Dreaming. Personal Velocity explores -decision points in the lives of three different women. Rounding out the bill are Interview with My Next Girlfriend and Vendredi Soir, in which a woman in the process of moving is tied up in traffic only to have a night of unexpected sur- prises where frustration and bore- dom lead to excitement and infi- nite possibilitie. For more infor- mation about the film festival, a list of showtimes and locations, and more detailed descriptions of the films, call 802-258-9100, or’ check the website at www.womensfilmfestival.org. V MEK lives and writes in Winooski.