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Film/Video 1999 WOMEN IN THE DIRECTOR'S CHAIR|MN FESTIVAL MARCH 5-27, 1999 |
The director's chair is a place of power, of creative control. As women continue their pursuit to tell their own stories, this festival provides a place for their unique perspectives to be shared. The films in the 1999 Women in the Director's Chair/MN (WIDC/MN) showcase are bold, sometimes defiant expressions of the culture, politics, and history that have informed the lives of the makers. Whether the influences were related to the Chinese Cultural Revolution or the ways (and places) teenage American girls share their coming-of-age myths, these filmmakers communicate their ideas in clear, refreshing voices.
WIDC/MN began six years ago when the Walker Art Center cosponsored Chicago's touring festival selection and introduced Home Girls, films by Minnesota-based women. This year, 12 Home Girls films were chosen by a peer panel comprised of independent filmmakers Sayer Frey and Amy Ostergaard, with KTCA-TV producer Robin Hickman. Junior Home Girls, a daylong program of 27 works by girls ages 7 to 19, was selected by media educator-Junior Home Girls cofounder Karon Sherarts, award-winning independent filmmaker Terri Myers, and high school student-filmmaker Sai Thao. This year we're offering two sections from the WIDC/Chicago touring program and several remarkable feature films, including Frey's Minnesota-made Eileen Is a Spy.
A centerpiece of the festival is a symposium called Fakes/Remakes: Stretching the Truth, which includes screenings and a panel discussion moderated by writer-critic B. Ruby Rich. This forum explores the dissolving line between truth and fiction in documentary filmmaking, questions filmmakers about their interest and need to painstakingly remake films from previous eras, and provokes discussion on ways shifting definitions of reality affect filmmaking and audiences.
Of special note this year is the generous funding WIDC/MN received from the Minnesota Women's Foundation. We are also grateful for the continued support by our cosponsors, Women in Screen Arts and WIDC/Chicago, as well as the commitment of the filmmaking community and schools from around the state to submit films for this festival. These films are the work of courageous artists, who are proving that filmmaking is women's work.
I hope you enjoy this monthlong festival.
Sheryl Mousley
Assistant Curator, Film/Video
Walker Art Center
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Cosponsored by Women in Screen Arts (Katherine Hedberg, Director) and Women in the Director's Chair/Chicago (Sabrina Craig, Program Director). The 1999 Women in the Director's Chair/MN festival is made possible in part by generous support from the Minnesota Women's Foundation.