Fall 2011 Bulletin Vol. 27, Number 1 (PDF) - Center for Gender in ...

their aackers. The media makes funof the women’s suffering, using songsto encourage male chauvinism. Thepsychologist Ruth Marina Matamorossays the situaon is so bad that violenceagainst women has been declared apublic health problem. To alleviate thisa few all-women police precincts havebeen set up, staffed by specially-trainedpolicewomen. The policewomen deplorethat no shelters exist for the baeredwomen. In the film, some of the womenaend a meeng to learn how to breakthe cycle of violence. 2010, 38 min.Good Fortune: The DevelopmentDilemma in KenyaAre internaonal aid programs in Africaundermining the very communiesthey aim to help? Good Fortune isa rare and inmate portrait of twovibrant Kenyan communies, onerural, one urban, baling to save theirhomes and businesses from largescaledevelopment organizaons.Both communies believe the aidprojects will devastate their lives andare organizing to fight back. Part I isset in the rural countryside wherean American company is threateningto flood Jackson’s family farm. Thecompany has invested over $21 millionin a commercial rice farm in the regionthat they say will smulate the economy,create employment, and provideinfrastructure. But to irrigate its farm,the company is planning to flood over1100 acres of local farmland, includingthe homes of 500 families like Jackson’s.As water reaches his doorstep, Jacksonorganizes his community and vows tofight to protect his land. Part II showsthe life of a successful midwife, SilvaAdhiambo, who lives in Kibera, Africa’slargest squaer community. Her homeand business are being demolished aspart of a UN slum-upgrading project.The government and the U.N. insistthe evicons will be temporary but theresidents do not believe them. Silva, herhusband and her neighbors organizeto stop it. The film suggests that poorpeople should not be passive recipientsof well-intenoned internaonal aidprograms that affect their lives. 2010, 73min.Films Media Groupwww.films.comTribal Wives: Female Roles, WesternNorms, and Tribal LifeEntering a developing-world culture,especially an isolated one, is a realitycheck for any Westerner. If the visitor isa woman, issues related to patriarchalcontrol and female independencewill almost certainly shape herinteracons with the community. Thisthree-part series follows three Brishwomen as they become temporaryaddions to families in remote areasof Turkey, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. Asan on-the-ground case study, eachepisode evokes challenging quesonsregarding women’s rights across theglobe. To what extent can we imposeWestern standards? Should they enterthe discussion at all? Is defiance orconformity the beer strategy whenthe customs under discussion, howeveralien, are no longer theorecal? 2010,50 min.Icarus Filmswww.icarusfilms.comNostalgia for the LightFor his new film master directorPatricio Guzmán travels 10,000 feetabove sea level to the driest placeon earth, the Atacama Desert, whereatop the mountains astronomers fromall over the world gather to observethe stars. The Atacama is also a placewhere the harsh heat of the sunkeeps human remains intact: those ofPre-Columbian mummies; 19th centuryexplorers and miners; and the remainsof polical prisoners, “disappeared”by the Chilean army aer the militarycoup of September, 1973. So whileastronomers examine the most distantand oldest galaxies, at the foot of themountains, women, surviving relavesof the disappeared whose bodies weredumped here, search, even aer twentyfiveyears, for the remains of theirloved ones, to reclaim their families’histories. Melding the celesal quest ofthe astronomers and the earthly one ofthe women, Nostalgia for the Light is agorgeous, moving, and deeply personalodyssey. 2011, 90 min.Indie Pix Filmswww.indiepixfilms.comPearls on the Ocean FloorPearls on the Ocean Floor examines thelives and works of Iranian female visualarsts living and working in and outsidethe Islamic Republic. This unflinchingand incisive study, featuring interviewswith Shirin Neshat, Shadi Ghadirian,Parastou Forouhar, Sara Rahbar, andtwelve others, captures the uncertaintyof this momentous me in Iran’s history.Speaking with grace and honesty, thesebrave women express what is seldomseen in the western media: uniqueindividual perspecves regarding issuesof identy, gender, and the role art playsin challenging the tradional stereotypesoen associated with women in Iran.2009, 77 min.Women Make Movieswww.wmm.comThe Price of SexAn unprecedented and compellinginquiry into a dark side of immigraonso difficult to cover or probe withdepth, The Price of Sex sheds light onthe underground criminal network ofhuman trafficking and experiences oftrafficked Eastern European womenforced into prostuon abroad.Filming under cover with extraordinaryaccess, even posing as a prostute togather her material, Bulgarian-bornChakarova travels from impoverishedrural areas in post-Communist EasternEurope, including her grandmother’svillage, to Turkey, Greece, and Dubai.This dangerous invesgave journeybrings Chakarova face to face withtrafficked women willing to trust herand appear on film undisguised. Theirharrowing first-person accounts, as wellas interviews with traffickers, clients,and an-trafficking acvists, expose theroot causes, complex connecons, andstark significance of sexual slavery today.2011, 73 min.AUDIOVISUALS5