Events

Developed, financed and executive produced by Participant Media, the company responsible for An Inconvenient Truth, Food, Inc. and Waiting For “Superman”, Last Call at the Oasis presents a powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century. Illuminating the vital role water plays in our lives, exposing the defects in the current system and depicting communities already struggling with its ill-effects, the film features activist Erin Brockovich and such distinguished experts as Peter Gleick, Alex Prud’homme, Jay Famiglietti and Robert Glennon.

Four organic wine producers talk about their lives, their work as mothers, winegrowers and businesswomen, each telling her story in a different season and a different phase of work in the vineyard or winery. Though completely different, the four women share the same passion for and roots with their homeland. Devoid of bucolic idealisation of farm work, the film gives an accurate portrait of the women by following them in their daily routine, capturing their movement, faces and words.

Official synopsis: Audre Lorde, the highly influential, award winning African-American lesbian poet went to live in West Berlin in the 1980s. During her stay as a visiting professor, she was the mentor and catalyst who ignited the Afro-German movement. Lorde also had a decisive impact on white women, challenging them to acknowledge the significance of their white privilege and learning to deal with difference in constructive ways. (Community partner: Sistah Sinema)

A brilliant series of short films by women including:
2nd Best –
A Family Memory –
The Lost Van Gogh –
Valencia – Chapter 3

“All Women Are Bitches” was not a chart topper, but it represented a significant thread in queerpunk history thanks to the all-female art punk band Fifth Column. Former band members recall the scene in the 1980s and their progressive efforts to unite music, film and zine culture to challenge conventional art practice, gender roles and femininity. The band’s memories of the fun and feuds that fueled their creativity and built their reputations connect to the later Riot Grrrl movement. Most enlightening may be what was Toronto’s first zine war, where rivals battled it out through handcrafted photocopies. Three decades may heal old wounds but clearly a few scars remain.

In the history of Mexican cinema, the Calderón family is known for building grand movie palaces and producing outrageous genre films disdained by critics yet loved by the masses. Filmmaker Viviana García Besné investigates their legacy from the inside as the grandniece of mogul José Luis Calderón. Her journey uncovers a hidden history full of curvy actresses, masked wrestlers, human robots and Aztec mummies – all driven by the most shameless commercial impulses.

After a year of heartbreak and loneliness, Erin and Cal have forgotten enough of each other’s flaws to get back together. They take what they hope will be a romantic camping trip in Sequoia National Park. Alone in the majestic landscape, they begin to revisit their past relationship. As cracks start to show each is left wondering whether the other has changed enough to make it work this time.

Marija’s funeral was interrupted by a storm. Six years later her grave remains unadorned, so her granddaughter, filmmaker Suková, decides to give Marija the send-off she deserves. Suková and her two cousins (one portrayed by an actress) throw a wild dinner party, inviting Marija’s elderly neighbors. Dressed in flamboyant frills, the cousins revel in the memory of their grandmother, while the Czech synth-pop band Midi Lidi provides live entertainment.

At a time when the world is rethinking its drug policies large and small, one state rises to the forefront of attention. Once a pioneer in legalizing medical marijuana, the state of Montana is poised to become the first in the US to repeal its medical marijuana law. Set against the sweeping vistas of the Rockies, the steamy lamplight of marijuana grow houses, and the bustling halls of the State Capitol, CODE OF THE WEST follows the political process of marijuana policy reform. This is the story of the many lives and fraught emotions when politics fail and communities pay the price.

Set in a predominately Mexican, immigrant neighborhood in Los Angeles, Mosquita y Mari tells the story of two 15 year old Chicanas growing up in H.P. —Huntington Park. When Yolanda Olveros (“Mosquita”) meets her new neighbor, Mari Rodriguez, all they see in each other are their differences. As a sheltered, only-child to her older, immigrant parents, Yolanda’s sole concern is securing her college-bound future. Street-wise Mari hustles to help her undocumented family stay above water. But despite Yolanda and Mari’s contrasting approach to survival, Yolanda and Mari are soon brought together when Mari is threatened with expulsion after saving Yolanda from an incident at school involving Yolanda’s boy-crazed friends. Determined to call it even, Yolanda convinces Mari to let her tutor her after school to prove to the administrators that she’s more than a delinquent. Mari and Yolanda forge a friendship that soon proves more complex and sensual than anticipated. Pushed to the edge, Yolanda and Mari are faced with taking hold of their own lives.

WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines traces the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman. From the birth of the comic book superheroine in the 1940s to the blockbusters of today, WONDER WOMEN! looks at how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society’s anxieties about women’s liberation.