I'll see 40-50 films in 2017, over half of which are films directed by women. They're listed below, in no particular order, with links to the MSPIFF site for tickets and trailers and websites and better descriptions than I could ever write. See you at MSPIFF?
Lipstick Under My Burkha
I love films that show clearly what a particular culture's social contracts are. This one promises to show how women are changing those rules. #DirectedbyWomen
The Sounding
At the cross-section of two subjects I'm interested in: language and rebellion. #DirectedbyWomen
Childish Shorts
I'm forever a kid at heart. Some of the best stuff at MSPIFF is in the Childish program. Some of the films are #DirectedbyWomen
Let’s Get the Rhythm
Ever wonder about where the clapping games we played as children came from? Not the grownups in my life, for sure. #DirectedbyWomen
The Rehearsal
I remember liking director Alison Maclean's 1999 film Jesus' Son. All I remember about it was that it was a redemption story. #DirectedbyWomen
Mixed Match
A documentary about the challenges facing mixed race blood cancer patients with a seemingly impossible search to find bone marrow donors. I'm a white bone marrow transplant and blood cancer survivor I want to see this film.
150 Milligrams
Inspiration from a woman who successfully challenged a pharmaceutical company. They are thieves. The drug I take that keeps me in remission from leukemia costs more than $15,000 per month. #DirectedbyWomen
Little Wing
MSPIFF helped me discover how much I love Scandinavian film. And coming of age stores. And films #DirectedbyWomen
In Between
I love films directed by women where women are reaching across difference and seeking greater independence. #DirectedbyWomen
Wolf and Sheep
A coming of age story in Afghanistan. I love films with kids. And coming of age stories #DirectedbyWomen
Chocolate Case
A documentary about child slavery in the growing and production of chocolate.
Center of My World
A dysfunctional family with a queer kid in it. Sounds familiar.
Wedding Ring
Love versus familial obligations and it is #DirectedbyWomen
Shorts Program 7: a shorts program with three of the four films by and about Black people.
Untouchable
I saw a documentary at MSPIFF in 2015 that might be related: Pervert Park. I'll be curious to see how they're different, how an American handles this subject as compared how the Swedish and Danish filmmakers handled it in Pervert Park. Patty Wetterling being present for the Q&A has me suspicious--I love docs made about American things/institutions directed by people who are not from here fascinating. They can see and say things Americans can't.
We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice
How First Nations people sued the Canadian government for the right to decide the fate of their children. #DirectedbyWomen
Boundaries
Women facing "chauvinist condescension, petty macho in-fighting, and constant reminders of their neglected personal lives." Another one that sounds familiar. #DirectedbyWomen
Dispatches from Cleveland
The fight for justice for Tamir Rice including interviews of his mother. #DirectedbyWomen
The World of Us
Kids connecting across difference, and then something happens. #DirectedbyWomen
Shorts Program 4
Shorts are fun because if you hate what you're watching, it'll be over soon. Some (both good and bad) will be #DirectedbyWomen
93 Days
Based on a true story about the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.
Ethel and Ernest
I picked this one because we're going to England this fall. And I like animated films.
Whose Streets
The protests following the killing of Mike Brown in Ferguson, from the point of view of the people in the community. Some people I know are in it. #DirectedbyWomen
Signature Move
Women pro-westling, queer Muslim women. In English, Urdu, and Spanish. #OnlyAtMSPIFF #DirectedbyWomen
Tesoros
Kids finding treasure in each other and adventure. #DirectedbyWomen
First Daughter and the Black Snake
Winona LaDuke vs. Enbridge. #DirectedbyWomen
The Hippopotamus
I needed something funny in my film list. MSPIFF is a little short on humor this year for some reason.
By the Time It Gets Dark
I saw a documentary about the Thammasat University massacre last year. #DirectedbyWomen
Fanny’s Journey
Courageous kids escaping Nazi Germany. I think I like films about the conditions of Nazi Germany because I need to undo all the images I have in my head from my childhood because I watched Hogan's Heroes.
Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge
There's a lot I don't know about Marie Curie other than what everyone knows: that she researched radioactivity and died from the cancer she got from it. #WomeninScience #DirectedbyWomen
Divine Divas
Another story about transgender people challenging social mores. This one in Rio. #DirectedbyWomen #OnlyAtMSPIFF
The Ornithologist
I'm feeling iffy about whether I'll go to this one. It might be too weird for me.
Shorts Program 8
Shorts are fun. See the previous listing for Shorts Program 4. Some will be #DirectedbyWomen
Dolores
I've not heard of Dolores Huerta, and I'm curious to learn her story. It should have been #DirectedbyWomen
Quest
A documentary about a north Philly family. I'm from the mid-Atlantic. It will feel familiar.
Austerlitz
In November last year, I went to Pulse Nightclub to see the memorial that people have built at the site. I took pictures, but nothing felt right about sharing those pics, and my unexpected feelings about what I saw. So I'm curious about this documentary on Holocaust tourism.
Starless Dreams
Women in prison in Tehran. I'm glad it's been made, but I wish it would have been #DirectedbyWomen
Anatomy of Violence
I love everything Deepa Mehta has ever done and will go to anything she makes. #DirectedbyWomen
Memories of a Penitent Heart
I think I'll need to bring a whole box of tissues to this one. I hope lots of young people see this--the world is so different today. #AIDS #DirectedbyWomen
Sami Blood
I saw my first film about the Sami people many years ago at MSPIFF and it blew my mind that there were white indigenous people. Of course that makes sense. And even they are oppressed. I see every Sami film MSPIFF brings to us. #DirectedbyWomen
Window Horses
Animated coming of age story, with poetry. #DirectedbyWomen
Mr. Frog
The teacher is a frog. I must see this film. #DirectedbyWomen
Aida’s Secrets
Family secrets, Nazi Germany, Canada, Israel. #OnlyatMSPIFF
