Women Of Color Film Festival

The Festival opens at the Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, March 3-6 and closes at the San Francisco Cinematheque on March 13.



Thursday March 3
5:30 Outside the Box
Free First Thursday Screening!
Artists in Person
Tickets available at the PFA Theater starting at 4:30

Though we often feel compelled to conform, tonight's films remind us that when we embrace our diverse abilities and desires, we amaze ourselves and others. Tsaiyun Mou's animated Lovesick (2003, 2 mins) dips into the light and dark sides of infatuation. A nervous narcoleptic sleepily falls into the embrace of an understanding peer in Miki Ann Maddox's My People The Manatee (2003, 7 mins). When a teacher's monotone has students falling asleep, they answer with an eye–opening, hip–loosening response in Erica Eng's Inertia (10.5 mins). The subjects of Sachi Cunningham's Crutch (3 mins) and Laurie Koh's Sisterz of the Underground: Extra Credit (2003, 9 mins) break through barriers and put a new spin on able–bodied, male–dominated dance scenes. Finally, students talk candidly about controversial notions of identity and belonging within the historical racial hegemony of Yale University in Still Black, At Yale by Monique Walton and Andia Winslow (34 mins).
—Ariana Proehl, Eileen Koh

(Total running time: 66 mins, U.S., 2004, Color, Video, From the artists)



Friday March 4
7:30 Bending the Beat
Artists in Person

In tonight's program, women bend traditional roles, inventing against-the-mainstream identities. In Skate Her (Kristin Wygal, 2003, 6 mins), girls hit the street skateboarding, mindful of hidden politics. Girl Beat—Power of the Drum (Suzanne Girot, Renato Frota, 2003, 47 mins) profiles Banda Dida, whose empowering music incorporates storytelling and the Brazilian musicians' African roots. Aurora Sarabia tells a twisted tale of friendship, jealousy, and betrayal in Chismosa y Manteca en Jealousy (6 mins, B&W). Getting a Grip (Rosa Maria Ruvalcaba, Sarah Jun, 2003, 5 mins) pays savvy homage to San Francisco's first female cable car operator. South Asian housewives call an unexpected "time out" in Aunty Gs (Geeta Malik, 5 mins, 16mm). Poetry opens a young Xicana's way toward healing in Pura Lengua (Aurora Guerrero, 11 mins). Reflections (Dominique D. De Guzman, 2003, 6 mins, B&W) provocatively plots one woman on two divergent paths. Also screening: By the By (Kirthi Nath, 14.5 mins), Dragon Desire (Madeleine Lim, 1.5 mins), Driveby (Marianne Myungah Kim, 3.5 mins), and Hair (Jisu Kim, 10 mins).
—Desi Gallardo, Cindy Lin

(Total running time: 87 mins, U.S., 2004, Color, Video, From the artists, unless otherwise indicated)

Saturday March 5
7:30 Our Cosmos, Our Chaos
Artists in Person

Dreams collide with reality when people are displaced and must seek the new meaning of home in tonight's stirring program of shorts. Colombian refugees contemplate the price of prosperity in Mi Jaula de Oro/My Golden Cage (Cristy Paez, Wilson G. Tang, 16 mins). Ham and Eggs (Elizabeth Ruvalcaba, Rosa Maria Ruvalcaba, 4 mins) recounts a struggle with language displacement. Erica Chough's surreal animation Our Cosmos, Our Chaos (20 mins) traverses the dreamscapes of Korea's turbulent history. A common sighting on the Canadian prairies comes with globally menacing implications in Oil Wells: Sturgeon Road & 97th Street (Christina Battle, 2002, 3 mins, 16mm, Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre). In Behind the Checkpoint (Suzanne La, Danielle Muldoon, 2003, 22 mins), San Francisco Airport screeners are tested with the meaning of loyalty and citizenship. Michelle Dizon's experimental Calibrate (5 mins) explores the motivation for standardized identification. Veronica Majano pays tribute to the Mission District of yesteryear in I Reminisce (2.5 mins). Indian writer Arundhati Roy's bold dissenting voice is the heart of an inspiring documentary about the ongoing campaign against the Narmada Dam Project, DAM/AGE: A Film with Arundhati Roy (Aradhana Seth, 2002, 50 mins, From First Run Icarus Films).
—Rosa Lau, Linda Charmaraman

(Total running time: 122.5 mins, U.S., 2004, Color, Video, From the artists, unless otherwise indicated)


Sunday March 6
5:30 Querida Família
Artists in Person

Dear Family... Daughters reach out to their families over vast gulfs of cultural traditions, generations, love affairs, and even death. Voiceover letters, striking juxtapositions of objects, and moving dramas capture both alienation and eventual reconciliation. In tonight's short films, the journeys taken through time, space, and emotion lead the filmmakers and characters to recognize the inescapability and comforts of familial bonds.
—Amy Corbin, Jooyeon Nam

Balikbayan (Homebound) (Larilyn Sanchez, Riza Manalo, 5 mins, 2003). Time remapping/Regresando (Juana Awad, 4 mins, Canada). Prayer for a Good Day (Zoe Leigh Hopkins, 12 mins, Canada, 2003). Coolie Gyal (Renata Mohamed, 7 mins, Canada, Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre). For My Beloved (Narissa Lee, 6 mins). A Letter to You (Kawana S. Bullock, 27 mins, 2002). Grandfather Clock (Janine Lim, 5 mins). A Lineage of Kind Men (Dolissa Medina, 3 mins). Through Your Eyes (Guillermina Buzio, Eva Urrutia 9 mins, Canada, 2002, CFDC). eat rice (Angela How, 13 mins). Fabrication (Rosario Sotelo, 5 mins, 2003, Color/B&W). Tuesdays After (Quyen Tran, 9 mins). This Moment (Leena Pendharkar, 13 mins).

(Total running time: 118 mins, U.S., 2004, Color, Video, From the artists, unless otherwise indicated)



WOCFF has expanded to an additional venue in San Francisco. For details on the Sunday, March 13, 7:30 p.m. San Francisco Cinematheque program, log on to http://www.sfcinematheque.org or phone (415) 552-1990.

Sunday March 13
7:30 (e)motional
At the San Francisco Cinematheque
California College of the Arts
1111 Eighth Street (near Sixteenth)
Local Artists In Person
Curated and Presented by the Women of Color Film Festival, Berkeley, CA.

On closing night of the 10th Annual WOCFF, local and international filmmakers grapple with latent fears and hidden heartbreaks as they ride the volatile tides between comfort and disharmony. From the struggle to reconcile past memories and reinvent future ones to the yearning for a sense of belonging, to grappling with ‘the perfect image,’ we witness the many shades between motionless meditation and emancipating physicality. Tonight's experimental works by both emerging and established artists include Rosario Sotelo's Fabrication, DiHuyen van Ho's The Yellow Heart, Larilyn Sanchez and Riza Manalo's Balikbayan (Homebound), Marianne Kim's Driveby, Chris Ho's Second Hand, Naoko Sasaki's Nocturno, Hsin-Ping Pan's Blue Rain, Alka Raghuram's Panchali, Juana Awad and Jorge Lozano's Menguante, Wenhwa Ts'ao's Disunion with the Union of Suffering, Sonali's Barefeet, Michelle Dizon's Calibrate, Narissa Lee's For My Beloved, Veronica Majano's Two Four, Heesoo Kim's Yoga Practice and Let Go, Thea St. Omer's En Los Ojos/In the Eyes.
—Linda Charmaraman, WOCFF