Women & U.S. Politics 2024 Virtual Film Festival
Women & U.S. Politics 2024 Virtual Film Festival
October 8th – November 5
Featured Films
Fannie Lou Hamer's America
Directed by Joy Davenport, Produced by Monica Land
US | 2022 | 60 minutes | Color
Fannie Lou Hamer was a leader in the civil rights movement, founder of the Freedom Democratic Party in Mississippi, and the organizer of Freedom Summer, a volunteer-based campaign launched in the summer of 1964 in order to register as many Black voters in Mississippi as possible. FANNIE LOU HAMER’S AMERICA, a documentary produced by her grand-niece Monica Land, and winner of Best TV Feature Documentary or miniseries at the IDA Awards, is a portrait of a civil rights activist and the injustices in America that made her work essential. Through public speeches, personal interviews, and powerful songs of the fearless Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America explores and celebrates the lesser-known life of one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest leaders.
Standing on My Sisters' Shoulders
A film by Joan Sadoff, Dr. Robert Sadoff and Laura J. Lipson
2002 | 60 minutes | Color/BW
In 1965, when three women walked into the US House of Representatives in Washington D.C., they had come a very long way. Neither lawyers nor politicians, they were ordinary women from Mississippi,and descendants of African slaves. They had come to their country’s capital seeking civil rights, the first black women to be allowed in the senate chambers in nearly 100 years. A missing chapter in our nation’s record of the Civil Rights movement, this powerful documentary reveals the movement in Mississippi in the 1950’s and 60’s from the point of view of the courageous women who lived it – and emerged as its grassroots leaders. Their living testimony offers a window into a unique moment when the founders’ promise of freedom and justice passed from rhetoric to reality for all Americans. Through moving interviews and powerful archival footage, STANDING ON MY SISTERS’ SHOULDERS weaves a story of commitment, passion and perseverance and tells the story of the women fought for change in Mississippi and altered the course of American history forever.
Heather Booth: Changing the World
A film by Lilly Rivlin
US | 2016 | 62 minutes | Color/BW
At a time when many are wondering how to make their voices heard, when civil and women’s rights are under attack, Lilly Rivlin’s acclaimed documentary is an empowering look at how social change happens.
Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema
A Film by Kay Sloan
2003 | 35 minutes | Color/BW
In the days before movies could talk, silent films spoke clearly of sexual politics, and in Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema, historian and writer Kay Sloan has assembled rare and wonderful footage that opens a historic window onto how women’s suffrage was represented in early American cinema.
Taking advantage of the powerful new medium, early filmmakers on both sides of the contentious issue of suffrage used film to create powerful propaganda and images about women. Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema contains clips from many films from the era, including: A Lively Affair (1912); A Busy Day (1914), which stars a young Charlie Chaplin in drag portraying a suffragist; and the pro-suffragist film, What 80 Million Women Want (1913), which includes an eloquent speech from president of the Women’s Political Union, Harriet Stanton Blatch.
Silent films may have passed into history, and their representations of feminists abandoning babies or stealing bicycles to attend suffragette meetings may now seem outrageous, but the struggle for gender equality and the issues surrounding representations of women in the media remain as fascinating, engaging, and relevant as ever.
Without a Whisper
A film by Katsitsionni Fox
US | 2020 | 27 minutes | Color
WITHOUT A WHISPER – KONNON:KWE uncovers the hidden history of the profound influence Indigenous women had on the beginnings of the women’s rights movement in the United States.
Before the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls in 1848, European colonial women lacked even the most basic rights, while Haudenosaunee women had a potent political and spiritual voice and authority in all aspects of their lives. The contact that the early suffragists had with Haudenosaunee women in New York state shaped their thinking and had a vital impact on their struggle for equality that is taken for granted today. The film follows Mohawk Bear Clan Mother Louise Herne and Professor Sally Roesch Wagner as they seek to correct the historical narrative about the origins of women’s rights in the United States.
Running with My Girls
Directed by Rebekah Henderson
US | 2021 | 97 minutes | Color
Tired of watching local government ignore their communities’ interests, five diverse female activists decide to run for municipal office in Denver — one of the fastest gentrifying cities in the country. It begins when Shontel Lewis wins a transit board seat, inspiring four women who worked on her campaign – Dr. Lisa Calderón, Candi CdeBaca, Shayla Richard, and Veronica Barela – to make the unusual decision to run as a cohort. They quickly realize that in politics, large sums of money can convince voters to overlook scandals, empty promises, and shallow relationships with the community.
With only a fraction of the funds of their incumbent opponents, the women tirelessly knock doors, make calls, and rely on each other to power their grassroots campaigns. Using an intimate and unfiltered style to tell each candidate’s story, filmmaker Rebekah Henderson honestly portrays the challenges faced by political outsiders, particularly women of color, while also revealing their tenacious commitment to justice and democracy. Ultimately, RUNNING WITH MY GIRLS is a lesson about an engaged community outrunning the deep pockets of the political establishment and a demonstration that building a new kind of political power is not just aspirational but possible.
Chisholm '72 - Unbought and Unbossed
A film by Shola Lynch
US | 2004 | 77 minutes | Color
Recalling a watershed event in US politics, this compelling documentary takes an in-depth look at the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first to seek nomination for the highest office in the land.
Following Chisholm from her own announcement of her candidacy through her historic speech in Miami at the Democratic National Convention, the story is a fight for inclusion. Shunned by the political establishment and the media, this longtime champion of marginalized Americans asked for support from people of color, women, gays, and young people newly empowered to vote at the age of 18. Chisholm’s bid for an equal place on the presidential dais generated strong, even racist opposition. Yet her challenge to the status quo and her message about exercising the right to vote struck many as progressive and positive. Period footage and music, interviews with supporters, opponents, observers, and Chisholm’s own commentary all illuminate her groundbreaking initiative, as well as political and social currents still very much alive today.
Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power
Directed by Abby Ginzberg
US | 2020 | 83 minutes | Color
BARBARA LEE: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER is an intimate and inspiring portrait of Representative Barbara Lee, a champion of civil rights and a steadfast voice for human rights, peace, and economic and racial justice in the U.S. Congress. In 2001, in the face of extreme backlash, she cast the lone vote in opposition to the broad authorization of military force following the September 11th attacks and issued a strident warning in the House of Representatives, “Let us now become the evil we deplore.” Decades later, she continued that clarion call, demanding that Congress stand up to President Trump when he escalated tensions with numerous foreign governments while seeding division within his own country.
This feature documentary reveals the many challenges faced by Barbara Lee early in her life, including raising two sons as a single mother on food stamps and surviving domestic violence, which have provided her with the compassion, motivation, and commitment to use her position as an elected representative to improve the lives of her constituents. With unique access to a sitting member of Congress, this film not only introduces audiences to Barbara Lee, but to many others such as Senator Cory Booker, Representative John Lewis, Representation Ayanna Pressley, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, CNN commentator Van Jones, actor Danny Glover, and author Alice Walker, who all share insights about what makes Barbara Lee unique as a public servant and as a truth-telling Black woman in America. Uncompromising and conscientious to the core, Barbara Lee paves a path of integrity for future politicians.
Storming Caesars Palace
A film by Hazel Gurland-Pooler
United States | 2022 | 86 minutes | Color
STORMING CAESARS PALACE chronicles the extraordinary life of Ruby Duncan, an activist who fights the welfare system and becomes a White House advisor. Ruby, along with Mary Wesley, Alversa Beals, and low-income mothers across the country form the National Welfare Rights Organization to fight for an adequate income, dignity, and justice. Together, they introduce a Guaranteed Income campaign in 1969 which, with feminist Gloria Steinem at their side, becomes part of the Democratic platform in 1972.
A real-life superhero, Ruby takes on both the Nevada political establishment and organized crime in a valiant and resolute act of civil disobedience. Based on a groundbreaking book and using lost archival material, STORMING CAESARS PALACE celebrates the visionary leadership of Ruby Duncan, whose courage, tenacity, and dreams could not be quashed against all odds. While the film focuses on a historical story, its message is current and relevant as it asks viewers to consider that a guaranteed universal income is a human rights issue.
STORMING CAESARS PALACE which received substantial funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, ITVS, and Black Public Media is available to book for screenings.
Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority
A film by Kimberlee Bassford
US | 2008 | 56 minutes | Color/BW
In 1965, Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first woman of color in the United States Congress. Seven years later, she ran for the US presidency and was the driving force behind Title IX, the landmark legislation that transformed women’s opportunities in higher education and athletics.
Mink was an Asian American woman who fought racism and sexism while redefining US politics. Her tumultuous, often lonely political journey reveals what can be at stake for female politicians that defy expectations, push limits and adhere to their principles. Mink encountered sexism within her own party, whose leaders disliked her independent style and openly maneuvered against her. And her liberal views, particularly her vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, engendered intense criticism.
A compelling portrait of an iconoclastic figure that remains seldom spotlighted in history books, this film illuminates how Mink’s daring to remain “ahead of the majority” in her beliefs enabled groundbreaking changes for the rights of the disenfranchised. A woman of the people as well as a pioneer, a patriot and an outcast, Patsy Mink’s intriguing story embodies the history, ideals and spirit of America.
Ladonna Harris: Indian 101
A film by Julianna Brannum
US | 2014 | 63 minutes | Color
LADONNA HARRIS: INDIAN 101 from Comanche filmmaker Julianna Brannum, chronicles the life of Comanche activist and national civil rights leader LaDonna Harris and the role that she has played in Native and mainstream America history since the 1960s. In this new verite style documentary, Brannum, the great niece of Harris, celebrates her life and the personal struggles that led her to become a voice for Native people and her contemporary work to strengthen and rebuild indigenous communities and train emerging Native leaders around the world.
Harris’s activism began in Oklahoma, fighting segregation and assisting grassroots Native and women’s groups. In Washington LaDonna introduced landmark programs and legislation returning territory to tribes, improving education and healthcare for Native Americans, ending job discrimination against women, and targeting other pressing issues of the time. For over three decades, “Indian 101,” her course for legislators, combatted ignorance about America’s most marginalized population. Using interviews, archival footage and photographs, this film justly celebrates one of the most important women leaders in Native American and U.S. history.
Paulette
A film by Heather Rae
US | 2019 | 18 minutes | Color
PAULETTE is an inspiring short film that follows the historic campaign of the first Native American candidate — as well as the first woman — to win the Idaho Primary for Governor.
Coeur d’Alene tribal member Paulette Jordan comes from a long line of ancestral leadership deeply connected to the land of Idaho. The single mother of two ran for Governor in 2018, winning the Democratic Primary by a landslide. A victory in November would have made her the first woman to serve as governor in the state — and would have marked the first time in U.S. history that a Native American has held the governorship of any state.
Despite a hard-hitting loss in the general election to a conservative Republican male opponent, Jordan’s groundbreaking bid for Governor represented a growing movement for Native people, people of color, and women fighting to have a voice and visibility in American politics. Forging ahead and staying true to her path as an Indigenous leader, Paulette Jordan is currently campaigning for a seat in the U.S. Senate and won Idaho’s Democratic primary in June 2020.
Councilwoman
A film by Margo Guernsey
US | 2018 | 57 minutes | Color
COUNCILWOMAN is the inspiring story of Carmen Castillo, an immigrant Dominican housekeeper in a Providence hotel who wins a seat in City Council, taking her advocacy for low-income workers from the margins to city politics.
The film follows Castillo’s first term as she balances her full-time day job as a housekeeper with her family life and the demands of public office. She faces skeptics who say she doesn’t have the education to govern, the power of corporate interests who take a stand against her fight for a $15 hourly wage, and a tough re-election against two contenders. As Castillo battles personal setbacks and deep-rooted notions of who is qualified to run for political office, she fiercely defends her vision of a society in which all people can earn enough to support themselves and their families.
An eye-opening look at entrenched power in American democracy, COUNCILWOMAN is essential viewing for Latinx, Immigrant, Political Science and Labor Studies courses.
Now Playing
Fannie Lou Hamer's America
Directed by Joy Davenport, Produced by Monica Land
US | 2022 | 60 minutes | Color
Fannie Lou Hamer was a leader in the civil rights movement, founder of the Freedom Democratic Party in Mississippi, and the organizer of Freedom Summer, a volunteer-based campaign launched in the summer of 1964 in order to register as many Black voters in Mississippi as possible. FANNIE LOU HAMER’S AMERICA, a documentary produced by her grand-niece Monica Land, and winner of Best TV Feature Documentary or miniseries at the IDA Awards, is a portrait of a civil rights activist and the injustices in America that made her work essential. Through public speeches, personal interviews, and powerful songs of the fearless Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America explores and celebrates the lesser-known life of one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest leaders.
Standing on My Sisters' Shoulders
A film by Joan Sadoff, Dr. Robert Sadoff and Laura J. Lipson
2002 | 60 minutes | Color/BW
In 1965, when three women walked into the US House of Representatives in Washington D.C., they had come a very long way. Neither lawyers nor politicians, they were ordinary women from Mississippi,and descendants of African slaves. They had come to their country’s capital seeking civil rights, the first black women to be allowed in the senate chambers in nearly 100 years. A missing chapter in our nation’s record of the Civil Rights movement, this powerful documentary reveals the movement in Mississippi in the 1950’s and 60’s from the point of view of the courageous women who lived it – and emerged as its grassroots leaders. Their living testimony offers a window into a unique moment when the founders’ promise of freedom and justice passed from rhetoric to reality for all Americans. Through moving interviews and powerful archival footage, STANDING ON MY SISTERS’ SHOULDERS weaves a story of commitment, passion and perseverance and tells the story of the women fought for change in Mississippi and altered the course of American history forever.
Heather Booth: Changing the World
A film by Lilly Rivlin
US | 2016 | 62 minutes | Color/BW
At a time when many are wondering how to make their voices heard, when civil and women’s rights are under attack, Lilly Rivlin’s acclaimed documentary is an empowering look at how social change happens.
Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema
A Film by Kay Sloan
2003 | 35 minutes | Color/BW
In the days before movies could talk, silent films spoke clearly of sexual politics, and in Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema, historian and writer Kay Sloan has assembled rare and wonderful footage that opens a historic window onto how women’s suffrage was represented in early American cinema.
Taking advantage of the powerful new medium, early filmmakers on both sides of the contentious issue of suffrage used film to create powerful propaganda and images about women. Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema contains clips from many films from the era, including: A Lively Affair (1912); A Busy Day (1914), which stars a young Charlie Chaplin in drag portraying a suffragist; and the pro-suffragist film, What 80 Million Women Want (1913), which includes an eloquent speech from president of the Women’s Political Union, Harriet Stanton Blatch.
Silent films may have passed into history, and their representations of feminists abandoning babies or stealing bicycles to attend suffragette meetings may now seem outrageous, but the struggle for gender equality and the issues surrounding representations of women in the media remain as fascinating, engaging, and relevant as ever.
Without a Whisper
A film by Katsitsionni Fox
US | 2020 | 27 minutes | Color
WITHOUT A WHISPER – KONNON:KWE uncovers the hidden history of the profound influence Indigenous women had on the beginnings of the women’s rights movement in the United States.
Before the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls in 1848, European colonial women lacked even the most basic rights, while Haudenosaunee women had a potent political and spiritual voice and authority in all aspects of their lives. The contact that the early suffragists had with Haudenosaunee women in New York state shaped their thinking and had a vital impact on their struggle for equality that is taken for granted today. The film follows Mohawk Bear Clan Mother Louise Herne and Professor Sally Roesch Wagner as they seek to correct the historical narrative about the origins of women’s rights in the United States.
Running with My Girls
Directed by Rebekah Henderson
US | 2021 | 97 minutes | Color
Tired of watching local government ignore their communities’ interests, five diverse female activists decide to run for municipal office in Denver — one of the fastest gentrifying cities in the country. It begins when Shontel Lewis wins a transit board seat, inspiring four women who worked on her campaign – Dr. Lisa Calderón, Candi CdeBaca, Shayla Richard, and Veronica Barela – to make the unusual decision to run as a cohort. They quickly realize that in politics, large sums of money can convince voters to overlook scandals, empty promises, and shallow relationships with the community.
With only a fraction of the funds of their incumbent opponents, the women tirelessly knock doors, make calls, and rely on each other to power their grassroots campaigns. Using an intimate and unfiltered style to tell each candidate’s story, filmmaker Rebekah Henderson honestly portrays the challenges faced by political outsiders, particularly women of color, while also revealing their tenacious commitment to justice and democracy. Ultimately, RUNNING WITH MY GIRLS is a lesson about an engaged community outrunning the deep pockets of the political establishment and a demonstration that building a new kind of political power is not just aspirational but possible.
Chisholm '72 - Unbought and Unbossed
A film by Shola Lynch
US | 2004 | 77 minutes | Color
Recalling a watershed event in US politics, this compelling documentary takes an in-depth look at the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first to seek nomination for the highest office in the land.
Following Chisholm from her own announcement of her candidacy through her historic speech in Miami at the Democratic National Convention, the story is a fight for inclusion. Shunned by the political establishment and the media, this longtime champion of marginalized Americans asked for support from people of color, women, gays, and young people newly empowered to vote at the age of 18. Chisholm’s bid for an equal place on the presidential dais generated strong, even racist opposition. Yet her challenge to the status quo and her message about exercising the right to vote struck many as progressive and positive. Period footage and music, interviews with supporters, opponents, observers, and Chisholm’s own commentary all illuminate her groundbreaking initiative, as well as political and social currents still very much alive today.
Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power
Directed by Abby Ginzberg
US | 2020 | 83 minutes | Color
BARBARA LEE: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER is an intimate and inspiring portrait of Representative Barbara Lee, a champion of civil rights and a steadfast voice for human rights, peace, and economic and racial justice in the U.S. Congress. In 2001, in the face of extreme backlash, she cast the lone vote in opposition to the broad authorization of military force following the September 11th attacks and issued a strident warning in the House of Representatives, “Let us now become the evil we deplore.” Decades later, she continued that clarion call, demanding that Congress stand up to President Trump when he escalated tensions with numerous foreign governments while seeding division within his own country.
This feature documentary reveals the many challenges faced by Barbara Lee early in her life, including raising two sons as a single mother on food stamps and surviving domestic violence, which have provided her with the compassion, motivation, and commitment to use her position as an elected representative to improve the lives of her constituents. With unique access to a sitting member of Congress, this film not only introduces audiences to Barbara Lee, but to many others such as Senator Cory Booker, Representative John Lewis, Representation Ayanna Pressley, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, CNN commentator Van Jones, actor Danny Glover, and author Alice Walker, who all share insights about what makes Barbara Lee unique as a public servant and as a truth-telling Black woman in America. Uncompromising and conscientious to the core, Barbara Lee paves a path of integrity for future politicians.
Storming Caesars Palace
A film by Hazel Gurland-Pooler
United States | 2022 | 86 minutes | Color
STORMING CAESARS PALACE chronicles the extraordinary life of Ruby Duncan, an activist who fights the welfare system and becomes a White House advisor. Ruby, along with Mary Wesley, Alversa Beals, and low-income mothers across the country form the National Welfare Rights Organization to fight for an adequate income, dignity, and justice. Together, they introduce a Guaranteed Income campaign in 1969 which, with feminist Gloria Steinem at their side, becomes part of the Democratic platform in 1972.
A real-life superhero, Ruby takes on both the Nevada political establishment and organized crime in a valiant and resolute act of civil disobedience. Based on a groundbreaking book and using lost archival material, STORMING CAESARS PALACE celebrates the visionary leadership of Ruby Duncan, whose courage, tenacity, and dreams could not be quashed against all odds. While the film focuses on a historical story, its message is current and relevant as it asks viewers to consider that a guaranteed universal income is a human rights issue.
STORMING CAESARS PALACE which received substantial funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, ITVS, and Black Public Media is available to book for screenings.
Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority
A film by Kimberlee Bassford
US | 2008 | 56 minutes | Color/BW
In 1965, Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first woman of color in the United States Congress. Seven years later, she ran for the US presidency and was the driving force behind Title IX, the landmark legislation that transformed women’s opportunities in higher education and athletics.
Mink was an Asian American woman who fought racism and sexism while redefining US politics. Her tumultuous, often lonely political journey reveals what can be at stake for female politicians that defy expectations, push limits and adhere to their principles. Mink encountered sexism within her own party, whose leaders disliked her independent style and openly maneuvered against her. And her liberal views, particularly her vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, engendered intense criticism.
A compelling portrait of an iconoclastic figure that remains seldom spotlighted in history books, this film illuminates how Mink’s daring to remain “ahead of the majority” in her beliefs enabled groundbreaking changes for the rights of the disenfranchised. A woman of the people as well as a pioneer, a patriot and an outcast, Patsy Mink’s intriguing story embodies the history, ideals and spirit of America.
Ladonna Harris: Indian 101
A film by Julianna Brannum
US | 2014 | 63 minutes | Color
LADONNA HARRIS: INDIAN 101 from Comanche filmmaker Julianna Brannum, chronicles the life of Comanche activist and national civil rights leader LaDonna Harris and the role that she has played in Native and mainstream America history since the 1960s. In this new verite style documentary, Brannum, the great niece of Harris, celebrates her life and the personal struggles that led her to become a voice for Native people and her contemporary work to strengthen and rebuild indigenous communities and train emerging Native leaders around the world.
Harris’s activism began in Oklahoma, fighting segregation and assisting grassroots Native and women’s groups. In Washington LaDonna introduced landmark programs and legislation returning territory to tribes, improving education and healthcare for Native Americans, ending job discrimination against women, and targeting other pressing issues of the time. For over three decades, “Indian 101,” her course for legislators, combatted ignorance about America’s most marginalized population. Using interviews, archival footage and photographs, this film justly celebrates one of the most important women leaders in Native American and U.S. history.
Paulette
A film by Heather Rae
US | 2019 | 18 minutes | Color
PAULETTE is an inspiring short film that follows the historic campaign of the first Native American candidate — as well as the first woman — to win the Idaho Primary for Governor.
Coeur d’Alene tribal member Paulette Jordan comes from a long line of ancestral leadership deeply connected to the land of Idaho. The single mother of two ran for Governor in 2018, winning the Democratic Primary by a landslide. A victory in November would have made her the first woman to serve as governor in the state — and would have marked the first time in U.S. history that a Native American has held the governorship of any state.
Despite a hard-hitting loss in the general election to a conservative Republican male opponent, Jordan’s groundbreaking bid for Governor represented a growing movement for Native people, people of color, and women fighting to have a voice and visibility in American politics. Forging ahead and staying true to her path as an Indigenous leader, Paulette Jordan is currently campaigning for a seat in the U.S. Senate and won Idaho’s Democratic primary in June 2020.
Councilwoman
A film by Margo Guernsey
US | 2018 | 57 minutes | Color
COUNCILWOMAN is the inspiring story of Carmen Castillo, an immigrant Dominican housekeeper in a Providence hotel who wins a seat in City Council, taking her advocacy for low-income workers from the margins to city politics.
The film follows Castillo’s first term as she balances her full-time day job as a housekeeper with her family life and the demands of public office. She faces skeptics who say she doesn’t have the education to govern, the power of corporate interests who take a stand against her fight for a $15 hourly wage, and a tough re-election against two contenders. As Castillo battles personal setbacks and deep-rooted notions of who is qualified to run for political office, she fiercely defends her vision of a society in which all people can earn enough to support themselves and their families.
An eye-opening look at entrenched power in American democracy, COUNCILWOMAN is essential viewing for Latinx, Immigrant, Political Science and Labor Studies courses.