Narrative Film
Ask For Jane (USA)
Rachel Carey |USA| Historical drama| 2018
Imagine a world where abortion is punishable by prison, and getting birth control is nearly impossible. As a result, women die every day from taking matters into their own hands. When a pregnant student at the University of Chicago attempts to take her own life, Rose (Cait Cortelyou) and Janice (Cody Horn) find a doctor willing to perform the procedure in secret to save the woman's life. Sparked by this experience, Rose and Janice form the Jane Collective: a secret organization to help other women obtain safe and illegal abortions. Operating like a spy network, complete with blindfolds and code names, the Janes help thousands of women - but they can't hide from the police forever.
Carmen and Lola
Arantxa Echevarría|Spain
Romance/Drama|2018
Carmen (Rosy Rodriguez) is 17, engaged, and ready to follow the path her family has already paved for her, while Lola (Zaira Morales) is a soft-spoken, graffiti artist who has big aspirations. When the two meet, both of their lives take an unexpected turn. Carmen & Lola explores queer sexuality in a genuine way, as the protagonists attempt to navigate their feelings and the familial traditions that have been forced upon them. Echevarría effectively conveys the difficulty of trying to balance love, family relationships, religion, and figuring out what it means to be a woman. Despite its colourful scenery and beautiful bittersweet moments, Carmen & Lola will break your heart, but it will also give you hope for new beginnings.
Wild Nights with Emily
Madeleine Olnek |USA
Historical Drama|2018
In the mid-19th century, Emily Dickinson is writing prolifically, baking gingerbread, and enjoying a passionate, lifelong romantic relationship with another woman, her friend and sister-in-law Susan...yes this is the iconic American poet, popularly thought to have been a recluse. Beloved comic Molly Shannon leads in this humorous yet bold reappraisal of Dickinson, informed by her private letters. While seeking publication of some of the 1,775 poems written during her lifetime, Emily (Shannon) finds herself facing a troupe of male literary gatekeepers too confused by her genius to take her work seriously. Instead her work attracts the attention of an ambitious woman editor, who also sees Emily as a convenient cover for her own role in buttoned-up Amherst's most bizarre love triangle.
Animals
Sophie Hyde|Australia|Comedy/Drama|2019
After a decade of partying, Laura and Tyler’s friendship is strained when Laura falls in love. But what is really stopping her from fulfilling her dreams? Some friendships are wild at heart.
A fierce and unapologetic celebration of female friendship, Animals is an intimate, funny and bittersweet examination of the challenges of turning talent into action, and being a modern woman, with faults, longings and competing desires.
Delphine et Carole
Callisto McNulty|France|Documentary|2019
In the 70s and 80s, activist Carole Roussopoulos and actress Delphine Seyrig made use of new video technologies to fight for the women's movement.Famous French-Swiss actress Delphine Seyrig had more than one facet. With Carole Roussopoulos, her compatriot and inseparable friend, the actress crossed the 1970s with a camera in her hand, celebrating feminism, insolence and humour. Callisto McNulty, Carole Roussopoulos' granddaughter, pays a vibrant tribute to two free, joyful and radical rebels who have consistently defended their freedom as women and artists.
The Sharks
Lucía Garibaldi|Uruguay| Drama| 2019
A small beach resort is rattled by the suspicion that there are sharks in its waters. 14-year-old Rosina thinks she saw something in the water, but no one seems to be paying much attention to her. When her father recruits her to do house maintenance work, she meets Joselo, a slightly older fisherman. Among dirty swimming pools, pompous gardens and deserted beaches, Rosina experiences something new: a desire to bridge the distance between her body and Joselo’s. But the feeling is hardly mutual. To get his attention, she comes up with a convoluted, poorly planned strategy, going about it stealthily and menacingly, as if inspired by the mysterious predators. Do you ever feel confused, lost but also curious about being an adult? A fourteen years old girl’s adulthood exploration has started because of an unknown existence. ‘Los Tiburones’ (The Sharks), let’s explore the lesson about growth.
Papicha
Mounia Meddour |France | Algeria | Belgium | Qatar |Drama/Narrative|2019
Algeria, 1990s. Nedjma, an 18 year-old student passionate about fashion design refuses to let the tragic events of the Algerian Civil War to keep her from experiencing a normal life and going out at night with her friend Wassila. As the social climate becomes more conservative, she rejects the new bans set by the radicals and decides to fight for her freedom and independence by putting up a fashion show.
Way back home
Park Sun-joo| South Korea|Drama|2019
One day, Jeongwon receives a call from the police. They say the man who raped her 10 years ago has been arrested. However, Jeongwon can’t tell her husband Sang-woo about the incident. As Jeongwon’s past is revealed little by little, their married life quickly loses balance.
The Dazzled
Sarah Suco|France|Drama|2019
Camille, 12, passionate about circus, is the eldest of a large family. One day, her parents enter a religious community based on sharing and solidarity in which they fully invest. The girl must accept a way of living that questions her desires and her own torments. Gradually, indoctrination becomes sectarian. Camille will have to fight to assert her freedom and save her brothers and sisters.
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, Kathleen Hepburn|Canada| Drama| 2019
In an audacious act of heroism and kindness, Áila (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) chooses to console a young woman she finds barefoot and sobbing in the streets. She soon discovers that Rosie (Violet Nelson) has just escaped an assault by her boyfriend. Compelled to take action, Áila chooses to bring Rosie into her home and, over the course of the evening, the two women explore the after-effect of this traumatic event.
Song Without a Name
Melina León| Peru | Spain | USA |Switzerland| Drama|2019
Peru, at the height of the political crisis of the 1980’s. Georgina is a young woman from the Andes whose newborn daughter is stolen at a fake health clinic. Her desperate search for the child leads her to the headquarters of a major newspaper, where she meets Pedro Campos, a lonely journalist who takes on the investigation. Based on a true story.
Adam
Maryam Touzani|Morocco/ France|Drama|2020
Abla runs a modest local bakery from her home in Casablanca where she lives alone with her 8-year-old daughter Warda. Their routine of housework and homework is interrupted one day by a knock on the door. It is Samia, a young woman looking for a job and a roof over her head. The little girl is immediately taken with the newcomer, but her mother initially refuses to allow a pregnant stranger into their home. Gradually, however, Abla’s resolve softens and Samia’s arrival begins to offer all of them the prospect of a new life.
Murmur by Heather Young|Canada|Docu-fiction|2020
Donna, a woman in her sixties, feels isolated. She lives alone, estranged from her daughter. Sentenced to community service at a local animal shelter after an impaired-driving conviction, she ends up taking home an elderly dog who is scheduled to be euthanized. The new-found companionship eases her loneliness, and to fill the void in her life further, Donna keeps adopting pets. It isn't long before she realizes she has taken on more than she can handle.
Cassandro, the Exotico!
Marie Losier | France| Documentary|2018
After 26 years of spinning dives and flying uppercuts in the ring, Cassandro, the star of the gender-bending cross-dressing Mexican wrestlers known as the Exoticos, is far from retiring. But with dozens of broken bones and metal pins in his body, he must now reinvent himself.