4/20/2005 Girl World: Walker's Women with Vision film festival gives girls a place to be seen and heard
Kelly Westhoff
Audrey sits on her bed, struggling to finish a chapter in her history textbook. When her mom calls her to dinner, she gladly ditches the book. While she is away, however, magic occurs: Laura, a girl from 1816, the period Audrey was reading about, appears in her bedroom. In A Journey, a short film directed by Julia Marshall, the two girls must find a way to safely return Laura to her time. In the process, they become friends.
Maude Matsushita is a fast-driving, hard-drinking, gun-toting superhero starring in her own movie: The Xylophone Assassin, directed by Amanda Cook. Maude karate chops her way through the movie's trailer, all the while keeping up with the theme song's punchy beat.
Valeria led a short and troubled life. She dropped out of school, ran away from home, dabbled in prostitution and contracted AIDS. Her story is shared as a cautionary tale in Vida Perdida, a short film by Angelica Rosas. The film is told through a series of still photographs and narrated in Spanish.
All three films were written and produced by Minnesota girls, and will be making their big screen debut next month as part of the Walker Art Center's 2005 Women with Vision film festival. The annual event showcases films written, directed and produced by women. One of the festival's highlights is the Girls in the Director's Chair program.
Every fall, Girls in the Director's Chair solicits films made by Minnesota girls ages eight to 18. The films are reviewed by a panel of screeners, and the best are shown during the larger Women with Vision film festival. Afterward, the girl filmmakers speak to the audience. The goal of the program is to encourage girls to share their stories and make films.
This year, the festival accepted 53 films for the Girls in the Director's Chair program, out of 150 submissions. They represent the work of 111 Minnesota girls. The girls' films will show May 7 and 8. Admission is free.
Behind the camera and behind the scenes
Minnesota girls aren't only on the big screen at the film festival; they are also working behind the scenes. Jenny Larson, a senior at South High School in Minneapolis, has spent this school year as an intern for the film festival. She was one of the screeners for the girls' series. "A lot of the films were about five or ten minutes long," she said, "and lots were about teen angst, relationships, dealing with depression or drugs or a boyfriend."
"Relationships," she added, "are extremely important in a lot of the girls' films. I don't know if you'd see that so much in guys' films."
One of Larson's favorite submissions is The Nerd Movie by Athena Currier and Sarah Goldfeather. "There's this nerd and he's all alone. Š it's really cute," Larson explained.
Larson and Katie Christian, another intern and screener for this year's film festival, developed an interest in film last summer when they took a film class at the Walker. During class they produced a short film together, Let's Do This Beast, which will debut with the film festival in May. When their film class ended, they jumped at the chance to intern with the festival.
The internship has taught her a lot about the art of film, Larson said. "I never realized how much work goes into a film," she added. "It takes so much energy. The people who make them are so passionate. Now I really understand how you can be in love with something that you've made, and how hard it is to cut out scenes you really like. I learned a lot about sound and about the art of film. Now, I notice camera angles, sound and music."
"It's been really cool to see behind the scenes at an art museum," she said. The internship has helped her shape a possible career path. "I'm thinking about going into mass communications," Larson said. "That includes journalism, marketing and advertising."
The making of a future filmmaker
Maeri Hedstrom was a high school senior in Grand Marais in 1999 when two of her films were chosen for the festival's Girls in the Director's Chair segment. This year, at the age of 22, she returns to the festival as filmmaker. Her film, Drenched Evolution, will run in the shorts series. It is a film, she explained, "about a creature-type woman who wakes up in this abandoned lab. She looks for a way to escape, but falls into this mysterious body of water. She thinks she is going to drown until she discovers that she can swim. Really, the film ponders evolution."
Hedstrom graduated in December with a film degree from Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD). She sees a career as a filmmaker in her future, but first, she said, "I am exploring fashion design and makeup‹both of them have to do with film. I am interested in the art aspect of film, the way it looks. That's important to me."
Participating in Girls in the Director's Chair, Hedstrom said, opened her eyes to the world of professional filmmaking. "I knew I wanted to go to art school," she explained, "but I didn't know where to go or what to study." Film, she said, "became something serious at the festival. I could talk it, about what I made. Girls in the Director's Chair made it important, real, something that I could actually work towards. It became something I could actually do."
Girls in the Director's Chair
This year's Girls in the Director's Chair features 53 films by Minnesota girls. The films show May 7-8. Because there are so many, the films have been grouped into different showings. All showings are free.
Saturday, May 7:
A 50-minute program of short films appropriate for younger audiences. 11 a.m.
An hour-long program of short films appropriate for all audiences. 1:30 p.m.
A 70 minute program of short films recommended for ages 13 and up. 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 8:
Two Homes, One Dream: The Somalis in Minnesota
A group of Somali high school students spent two years filming their community with help from the Minnesota History Center. 11 a.m. Discussion follows.The True Color of Crimson and Realization: A Look into Urban and Suburban Schools
In both films, groups of area high school students compare their schools and tackle issues like quality and diversity. 1:30 p.m. Discussion follows.
So You Want to Be a Filmmaker?:
Andrea Richards, the author of Girl Director: How-to Guide for the First-Time, Flat-Broke Film and Video Maker, will host a short film screening and lead a discussion about young women and film. 3 p.m.
Women with Vision
The Women with Vision film festival runs May 6 through May 21. Tickets are $8 ($6 members). Most screenings are in the Walker Cinema. Exceptions are noted on the web site. For a full listing of the festival's screenings, visit calendar.walkerart.org/women.
Minnesota filmmakers
Three Minnesota women have films in this year's festival. All three are shorts.
Lucky Seven, directed by Mary Ahmann. An exploration of luck and fate and how each interrupts and shapes our lives. Submerged: A Series of Shorts. Saturday, May 7 at 7 p.m.
Drenched Evolution, directed by Maeri Hedstrom. A creature woman wakes up in an abandoned laboratory and searches for a way out. She falls into a mysterious body of water and panics until she discovers a way to survive. Submerged: A Series of Shorts, Saturday, May 7 at 7 p.m.
Keeper of the Garden, directed by Jila Nikpay. This black and white vignette explores an Iranian youth's search for personal freedom. Friday, May 6 at 8 p.m.
Working Girls
A series of six films directed by women between 1916 and 1986. Each film examines women's roles in the workforce and their struggles to understand and cope with sexual favors, power, feminism and more. Showing May 18-20.
Shoes (1916), directed by Lois Weber. May 18, 7 p.m.
Working Girls (1986), directed by Lizzie Borden. May 18, 9 p.m.
Dance, Girl, Dance! (1940), directed by Dorothy Arzner. May 19, 7 p.m.
The Working Girls (1974), directed by Stephanie Rothman. May 19, 9 p.m.
Working Girls (1931), directed by Dorothy Arzner. May 20, 7 p.m.
The Student Nurses (1970), directed by Stephanie Rothman, May 20, 9 p.m.
The Writer of O
In 1954, an erotic novel, The Story of O, scandalized many because of its feminist views. When first published, the novel's author used a pseudonym, but at the age of 89, Dominique Aury came forward as the writer. This documentary features interviews with Aury as well as dramatized scenes from the novel. The film will be introduced by its director, Pola Rapaport, with a question and answer session to follow. Saturday, May 21 at 3 p.m.
