Central Illinois Feminist Film Festival Winners 2014!

Documentary Film Winners

First Place: White Robes, Saffron Dreams

White Robes, Saffron Dreams. (Thailand/India, Dir. Teena Gill, 2013) (43 minutes) White Robes, Saffron Dreams looks at the discriminatory treatment of women in Theravada Buddhism in Thailand. Through the life of a young monk and a Mae Chi nun the film explores how Buddhist institutions provide a social security network to boys, in a country where a large percent of the population are poor, but fail to give girls access to these facilities. The film interviews the first Thai woman to be ordained a full nun in the Theravada tradition. The film's suggestion that boys become monks not only to procure an education but also to ensure their reincarnation points to an environmental theme found in the film. Because women are excluded from the priesthood in Thailand, they pay alms to monks to "purchase" good Karma. This karmic view also connects with animism and pantheism, since human spirits may inhabit animals when reincarnated.

Second Place: Lesbiana: A Parallel Revolution

Lesbiana: A Parallel Revolution. (Canada, Dir. Myriam Fougere, 2012). (63 minutes)Growing out of the civil rights and feminist upheavals of the 60s, the lesbian-feminist movement caught fire in the 1970s, with a flowering of bookstores, communes, philosophical theory, political debate, music, sexual experimentation, performance, witch craft and more. Director Myriam Fougère tracks down the women at the forefront of the movement, now vibrant elders, who discuss hot-button issues such as separatism and the different experiences of white lesbians and lesbians of color.

Honorable Mention: A Word to the Young Ladies

A Word to the Young Ladies. (New Mexico, Dir. M. Catherine Jonet, 2013). (4.37 minutes) The film uses footage from different ephemeral films about puberty directed at young women and a 1942 Superman cartoon to challenge heteronormativity and gender conformity in the social guidance film genre.

EIU Student Award of Merit: Ain’t I a Woman?

Ain’t I a Woman? (U.S. EIU Student, Dir. Breeahnah Babers, 2014) (2.28 minutes). Ain’t I a Woman celebrates the inspirational words of Sojourner Truth. The video is a compilation of footage of a variety of women from Eastern Illinois University reciting parts of Truth’s speech.

Fictional Film Winners

First Place: Substitute Teacher

Substitute Teacher. (Israel, Dir. Shiry Price, 2012) (17 minutes) Ariela, a 34 year old introvert teacher, is pregnant from a man who is no longer part of her life. Entering a new high school class she meets David, a 15 years old student. A tender connection develops between the two and makes Ariela wonder if she has what it takes to become a mother after all.

Second Place: Miss Librarian

Miss Librarian. (Philipines, Dir. Joyce Rochelle Montañano, 2013) (17 minutes). A depressed school librarian named Jeanette is confined between two different worlds -- the four corners of the school's library and the four walls of her house.

Honorable Mention: Make Out

Make Out. (New York, NY, USA, Dir. Geri Ashur, et al., 1970) (5 minutes) Make-Out shows a young couple in a car, “making out” as we hear the young woman’s real thoughts on what is happening and why.