Women’s Visions

Global issues inspire the Women’s International Film Festival

By Dan Hudak

The Women’s International Film Festival opens Friday with Steam, a story about three different women dealing with adversity.

The Women’s International Film Festival, which begins March 28 and runs through April 6, is all about change, which is usually a good thing. But for a festival that began three years ago as a small weekend gathering with 10 films and rapidly evolved into a 10-day event with more than 100 films, change could be downright scary.

Not surprisingly, founder and Executive Director Yvonne McCormack-Lyons is undaunted by her festival’s exponential growth.

“The growth only inspires us to move forward even more,” McCormack-Lyons said. “It tells us that we’re filling a void and a need that women have to represent ourselves and our families with an equal voice.” 

Clearly, McCormack-Lyons is not just overselling her product. Industry insiders around the world are talking about the festival, as evidenced by the more than 300 submissions from 23 countries received this year.

“It means that we are providing a forum worldwide for women’s visions and voices,” McCormack-Lyons said. “Women representing every continent are being represented in our festival. From Paris to Bombay and Los Angeles to Seoul, we’re all coming together as one to speak about our concerns.”

With only 7 percent of the directors in the world being women (according to a July 2007 Directors Guild of America survey), one of the festival’s main goals is to present programming that exposes women’s issues worldwide. Accordingly, the week-long “WIFF Around the Globe” series features music, food and traditions from the homeland of the film being screened. For example, the “Irie Caribbean” evening on Thursday, April 3, will begin with Joebell in America, a feature film from Trinidad and Tobago, and be followed by exotic music and food from the Caribbean islands.

Friday’s opening night film is Steam, starring Ruby Dee (the honorary chair of the festival), former Brat Packer Ally Sheedy, Kate Siegel and Chelsea Handler (Chelsea Lately). The story follows three women of different ages as they deal with adversity. Sheedy and Siegel will attend the pink carpet world premiere at 8 p.m. at the Gusman Center in downtown Miami.

Although all films are either made by or prominently feature women, not all are stereotypical women’s films. The Run is an action movie that follows a young British couple vacationing in Costa Rica who’s asked to carry drugs back to the U.K.; Sublet follows a lonely old man who relishes the attention he receives upon running an ad to sublet his apartment; and The Toxic Clouds of 9/11: A Looming Health Disaster chronicles health issues in the aftermath of 9/11.

More than half the films are shorts. Notable among these are 88 Years in the Closet, a 28-minute documentary about a woman who kept her lesbianism secret for 88 years; The Janitor’s Closet, a 19-minute narrative that chronicles a day in the life of a blue-collar family; and the eight-minute Sweet Jesus, which playfully shows what can happen to a Hindu girl who likes communion wafers a bit too much.

The festival will offer workshops and seminars for aspiring filmmakers, a Family Fun Fest in Peacock Park in Coconut Grove and a Swan Day celebration March 29 to support female artists.

The Women’s International Film Festival kicks off on Friday, March 28, and continues through Sunday, April 6. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door, $7 for WIFF members and $8 for seniors and students. Short films will screen in clusters; special event prices vary. Screenings and events will be held at 10 venues in South Florida, half of which are in Coconut Grove. For more information, call 305-653-9700 or go to womensfilmfest.com.