Gender, Identity & Sexuality
Herstory & Spirituality
International Women’s Issues
Literature
 

Gender, Identity & Sexuality

Absolutely Safe

Absolutely Safe is the story of everyday women who find themselves and their breasts in the tangled and confusing intersection of beauty and business, revealing that the conversation on implant safety is far more complex than mere health issues.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman

This six-part series takes a personal, experimental approach to female life in the 21st century. The series narratively and visually interweaves aspects of filmmaker Jennifer Fox’s own life over five years and across seventeen countries, as she struggles to understand how diverse women define their lives when there is no map. Employing an ingenious new camera technique called “Passing the Camera,” Fox creates a documentary language that mirrors the special way women communicate. Over intimate conversations around kitchen tables from South Africa to Russia, India and Pakistan, she initiates a groundbreaking dialogue among women, illuminating universal concerns across race, class and nationality.

Lipstick & Dynamite

Talk about strong female role models! Lipstick & Dynamite shines a spotlight on the forgotten first ladies of the wrestling ring including Gladys ‘Kill ‘Em’ Gillem, Ida May Martinez, Penny Banner, The Fabulous Moolah and The Great Mae Young. Each woman fondly and nostalgically reflects on her own remarkable life, reconciling her wild, flamboyant youth with the reality of getting older. Lipstick & Dynamite documents early women pioneers who fought inside and outside the ring for respect, recognition and equality in a traditional male sport.
 
 
 
 
Nathalie

Upon discovering that her husband is having an affair, Catherine (Fanny Ardant), a typical Parisian bourgeois wife, hires a prostitute named Marléne (Emmanuelle Béart) to seduce her husband under the alias “Nathalie” and report back to her. A strange bond develops between the two women and soon Catherine enters an eye-opening world completely different from her own that changes her forever. This film offers thought-provoking insight into female psychology and sexuality.
 
 
 

Pornography: The Secret History of Civilisation

Fenton Bailey’s Pornography: The Secret History of Civilisation offers a comprehensive, detailed examination of the origins and transformations of adult media. This six-part series contains commentary from a multitude of sources, including art historians, social critics, authors, collectors, and adult stars themselves. The film tastefully tackles the taboo subject by focusing on pornography’s implications of human nature, the impact of technological advances and social evolution.
 
 
 
Sacred Love-Making

Best-selling author and sex expert Karinna Kittles-Karsten introduces ancient Taoist love secrets and rituals for achieving deep sexual satisfaction and emotional connectedness in the tastefully presented instructional DVD. Known as “The Love Educator,” Karinna illustrates ancient techniques to achieve greater sexual pleasure, suggests rituals that emphasize intimacy and offers tips on how to cultivate spontaneity and emotional openness with your partner.
 
 
 
 

Violette

A true story, 18 year old Violette Nozière (brilliantly played here by Isabelle Huppert, 12-time César Award nominee for Best Actress) was condemned to death for patricide and attempted matricide in the 1930s, ostensibly to gain access to her parents’ meager assets in order to support her good-for-nothing lover. During the trial she alludes to incest committed by her father and accuses her mother of tacit consent. She also claimed that her real father, a wealthy and powerful man, refuses to acknowledge her because she was born out of wedlock. Violette offers a chilling portrait of French society and sexual morals in the early 20th century.
 

Water Lilies

In this provocative and perceptive portrait of teenage angst and nascent sexuality, a love triangle develops between three girls one summer in Paris. Marie, Anne and Floriane, all 15 years old, cross paths in the corridors at the local swimming pool, and love and desire make a sudden and dramatic appearance. The awkward Anne, the bad girl Floriane and the gawky Marie play an intense game of emotional chess as they wrestle with love, friendship and their desire for one another.
 
 
Who Does She Think She Is?

In this provocative and perceptive portrait of teenage angst and nascent sexuality, a love triangle develops between three girls one summer in Paris. Marie, Anne and Floriane, all 15 years old, cross paths in the corridors at the local swimming pool, and love and desire make a sudden and dramatic appearance. The awkward Anne, the bad girl Floriane and the gawky Marie play an intense game of emotional chess as they wrestle with love, friendship and their desire for one another.
 
 
 

Herstory & Spirituality

Living Goddess

Living Goddess is a journey into the small Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, rooted in religious and political tradition facing the challenges of modernization and political reform. The film juxtaposes the call for political reform on the street against intimate footage of a pre pubescent living goddess, Sajani. Venerated as a living incarnation of the divine, she is also a precocious and charming eleven year old who goes to school, plays hide and seek, and collapses in giggles in front of the camera when not presiding over religious ceremonies full of pomp and circumstance. The film is a powerful portrait of a young girl venerated as a goddess growing up in a country on the verge of civil war.

Signs Out of Time

Signs Out of Time weaves together interviews, archival footage, photographs, and narration to portray the scope of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas’s life and work. Using animation, artifacts, archival interview footage of Marija, comments from her supporters and critics, this biographical documentary explores her ground-breaking studies, excavations and publications, the depth and breadth of her scholarship, and the controversy around her theories concerning matriarchies and herstory.
 
 
 
 
Women and Spirituality

Women and Spirituality is Donna Read’s definitive series that explores the power of the sacred feminine in mythological, historical and cultural contexts. This trilogy investigates the relationship between women and spirituality from ancient times to the present and includes interviews with Starhawk, Merlin Stone, Carol Christ and other pioneering members of the goddess movement.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

International Women’s Issues

Syrian Bride

Mona’s wedding day may be the saddest of her life. Once she crosses the border between Israel, where she lives with her family in a Druze enclave, and Syria, where her new husband is waiting, she will never be allowed to visit her family in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Syrian Bride is a poignant portrait of family life and gender relations in a region divided by political and military borders where all relationships are defined by ethnic identity.
 
 
 
 
 

Literature

Antigone: Rites of Passion

This critically acclaimed modern adaptation of Sophocle’s classic tragedy combines dance and narrative to tell the story of Antigone, who risks her own life to arrange the burial of her brother Polyneices. The treachery surrounding his death and the threatening behavior of King Creon provide the drama that motivates this daring interpretation of the classic story. Bonus material includes an extensive interview with Classics scholar Dr. Marianne McDonald.
 
 
 
 
 
Dollhouse

Mabou Mines critically acclaimed interpretation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House rejuvenates a nineteenth century classic with bold staging and conceptual originality. Ibsen’s Doll’s House has been described as a feminist clarion, Freudian drama and bourgeois soap opera. In Mabou Mines’ re-imagining, the production shocks and enlightens audiences as never before. Includes the companion documentary, Looking for a Miracle, which features extensive interviews with director Lee Breuer and the original cast.
 
 
 
 
Hedda Gabler

Set in an anonymous corner of suburbia, this contemporary adaptation of Ibsen’s play is a shattering exploration of ambition, domestic power and gender roles. Just married, Hedda Gabler and her husband arrive at their new home where Hedda’s romantic rival from the past appears. Hedda must confront her desire for a life lived beautifully and without compromise - whatever the cost. This bracing dramatization brings new dimensions to Hedda Gabler’s character.