Femme Film Texas Festival: Official Schedule

Main Show: 2007 Femme Film Texas Festival

The Tribe by Tiffany Shlain - 15 minutes
Weaving together archival footage, graphics, animation, Barbie dioramas, and slam poetry, this short film takes audiences on an electric ride through the complex history of both the Barbie doll and the Jewish people. (See more at the film's official website.)

Austinist sez: A wild ride indeed, this piece tying together the Jewish inventor (real name: Ruth Handler) of decidedly non-Jewish Barbie (real name: Barbara Millicent Roberts) with questions of Jewish identity, feels almost like a commercial at times--but at least it's a commercial that questions identity instead of prescribing it. A lovely spoken word interlude by Vanessa Hidary initially seems somewhat out of place, but proves an effective counterpart to the rest of the film's more fast-paced, advertising-framed content. By equating celebrity worship with idol worship (like in the days of Moses destroying the golden calf) and emphasizing the diversity of the various "sub-tribes" of Judaism, Shlain makes a poignant point about our identity: What we are (fat and Jewish, perhaps) is not necessarily what we aspire to be (Barbie), but maybe we need to re-think our aspirations rather than our own existence.

A Girl Like Me by Kiri Davis - 7 minutes
At 16, Kiri created this documentary to explore the standards of beauty imposed on black girls today. the film recreates the infamous Brown v. Board of Education experiment in which children are asked if they prefer a white doll or a black doll.

I Am Not a Boy by Julie Joyce - 6 minutes
Julie Joyce is not a boy. She’s more than just an intense, fast-talking New York City sixteen-year-old. She’s a trans-gendered youth who wants what all young people want – to be heard and to have a positive space to live and grow. Thanks to ListenUp!

Austinist sez: As Julie says, "Anybody who's hatin' now is gonna love me later." Both "A Girl Like Me" and "I Am Not a Boy" are crucial films from strong young voices reacting against unrealistic standards--of beauty and gender. The juxtaposition of these films in the festival opens up eyes to the fact that societal standards are not necessarily wrong, right, or based on anything in particular except tradition--and fear. Viewers start to realize that, whether a young black girl is expressing dismay at her mother telling her she looks "too African" or a young transgendered girl is lamenting her family's hesitance to accept her identity, social standards are based more on exclusion of the unusual than acceptance of the individual, and it hurts either way. These two challenging pieces make us dig deep to find the foundations of what we think is attractive or acceptable, only to find that in most cases those standards have no real foundation on which to stand. Julie describes "finding out" that you "could be" transgendered, and the accompanying feeling of relief that there were others like her who just didn't feel right in their socially assigned roles. You might think that social standards shouldn't have bearing on individuals--we can all reject what's imposed on us, right?--but when Julie brings up the case of Amanda Milan, it's a sobering reminder of how we attempt to impose our unfounded beliefs, fears, and prejudices on others. It's a shame that more people--young and old--aren't doing more to speak out against injustices like Kiri Davis and Julie Joyce.

Checkout by Jenn Garrison - 9 minutes
A smart, fast-paced comedy about sexual competition and identity. Corey and Max compete for the same woman at the grocery store; however, all is not what it seems at the checkout line. Jenn will join us for our post-show panel!

Austinist sez: Continuing the pattern established by the previous two films, Checkout makes us question our assumptions about others' sexual orientation and identity, as well as family situations. The twists and turns of the film will jar you out of looking at people as potential members only of traditional nuclear families, and prompt thinking about individual identity and family relationships in new ways.

Becky’s Story by Lynn Estomin - 5 minutes
A humorous look at the results of Abstinence-Only Sexuality Education from the point of view of one teen mother. Becky tells her story in her own words--from taking the virginity pledge at church to juggling motherhood, work and school.

Austinist sez: One of the most telling moments in this film is the title character's recollection of hoping fervently that her already-positive pregnancy test would change to negative in the five minutes she was supposed to wait for the results. It's emblematic of the wishful thinking--Becky notes that "we tried to time things or whatever, around my period," to avoid pregnancy--that motivates both unsafe teen sex and unhelpful abstinence-only "sex" education. The piece goes on to describe a high school where abstinence-only "sex" ed is taught alongside a metal shop class where they don't use safety gear--resulting in blood-curdling screams from injured students. It's an amusing, disturbing, and apt comparison, and the film as a whole makes a sharp-tongued argument for sex education that actually acknowledges the existence of, y'know, sex.

Look for Me by Laura Heit - 5 minutes
A film about desire, and the reality of that desire, Look For Me follows an invisible woman for a day as she learns what it’s really like to wander unseen. Told using handmade patterns and digital animation.

Austinist sez: Aside from the arresting animation (we could watch this all day), the film is surprisingly engaging considering we never actually see the main character--just hear her voice. Perhaps not being able to see someone allows us to better project ourselves into her place--invisible, unheard (except by the film's audience), and incapable of changing her circumstances. From the amusing (spying on neighbors playing naked Scrabble!) to the morbid (comparing being invisible to being dead), Look for Me succeeds in getting to the heart of the issue of truly seeing--and appreciating--another being. When SWAT teams come out in full force to search for the invisible girl, she laments, "They don't know what they're looking for"--even her boyfriend can't find her. Makes you wonder if you ever really see other people, or just your take on them.

Bad Dreams by Anneli Gelbard - 20 minutes
A hospital doing research on nightmares tries to find a way to medicate test patients, but the drugs aren’t helping. Instead, they seem to increase the nightmares. We follow Theo as he struggles to separate reality from his dreams.

Austinist sez: This looked so scary we couldn't watch it. We hope you are braver than we are. Still, we're sure this film continues the festival's progression of pointing out inconsistencies, assumptions, and straight-up blindness when it comes to acknowledging others' existence, needs, and identities. This first installment of the Femme Film Texas Festival comes out with guns--er, video cameras--blazing, and assaults our notions of what's "normal" or "right." Definitely head on down to the Hideout on Saturday to see these amazing films for yourself. We hope they not only inspire you to think differently, but also to act differently, speaking out against baseless presumption and straight-up discrimination

Post-Show: A Conversation on Women in Film
With Jenn Garrison & Carolyn Cunningham

Femme Film Texas Festival
Saturday, July 28th, 2007
Hideout Theatre (617 Congress Avenue)
7pm, $5
[More Info]