Citizen Jane celebrates women in filmmaking

The film festival showcases female talent throughout the weekend.

By Dani Kinnison and Maura Howard

Published Oct. 20, 2009

Jam-packed with independent films and 26 guest artists from around the world, last weekend marked Columbia’s second annual Citizen Jane Film Festival hosted by Stephens College. The festival was primarily held at Ragtag Cinema and was a three-day ordeal, starting Friday and ending late Sunday night.

The festival began after a study revealed that in the world of directors, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors, only 16 percent of these positions were filled by women. Citizen Jane aims to celebrate and support women of the filmmaking industry.

Doubling in size since 2008, this year's festival explored and commented on many issues surrounding women all over the world, including women's role in hip-hop in “Say My Name” to “Sunshine,” a documentary journeying through the life of an unwed mother.

The festival was not limited to films concerning the issues of women, it also included fictional films including the movie, “Cold Souls,” a tragic comedy nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Keeping the festival both intimate and interactive, after these films were shown there was an opportunity for the audience to ask the directors questions.

Citizen Jane also offered workshops Friday, including hands-on workshops focusing on editing, a session for first-time filmmakers, as well as animation and 16mm film. Dance parties were held Friday and Saturday night with appearances by artists featured in the films.

The Maneater staff had the opportunity to see a number of the films at the festival. Here are a few reviews.

“Say My Name,” a documentary by Nirit Peled, profiles some of the most influential women in hip-hop and their struggles to thrive in the industry today. Featured women include MC Lyte, Estelle, Invincible, Roxanne Shante and Erykah Badu.

“The most beautiful music comes from pain” opens the film and concisely summarizes the theme of each woman's life in relation to herself as a hip-hop artist. Each woman interviewed, from hip-hop veteran MC Lyte, who was the first female rapper to receive a gold record, to the young Invincible, has been faced with adversity as a female artist, as well as success.

Rather than dwelling on the limitations placed on these women, “Say My Name” briefly addresses those limitations and focuses on growth and what artists have done to overcome limitations. If nothing else, Peled wants viewers to “get inspired, really believe in themselves and just do what they want to do.”

Although glamorized in music videos and other media, hip-hop is not always about status or wealth. As the documentary continues, most women have achieved great success, but their names ring unfamiliar. This does not diminish the value they hold to the scene.

“I view hip-hop as a tool for social change,” Invincible said at the Q&A session after the opening screening Oct. 16.

The Detroit-based emcee turned down multiple record deals simply because she would have to change a part of herself. Giving advice to the audience, Invincible advised not to let anyone “dictate your vision.”

Inspired by a true story, “Lemon Tree” is a story not necessarily about war or peace in Israel and Palestine and does not share a Palestinian nor Israeli perspective, but an objective perspective on lives in both countries. In the film, Salma Zidane, a Palestinian lemon grove owner, receives new neighbors: the Israeli defense minister and his wife.

Declared a threat to the minister's security and safety, Salma's lemon grove is to be cut down immediately. Salma’s legal endeavor quickly explores the dark corners and overlooked niches of living in the midst of conflict.

On the other side of the fence sits Mira Navon, who, at first sight seems to have not experienced any oppression, but that assumption is quickly dissolved when the minister demands she retracts statements made about the lemon grove ordeal to a publication. It's apparent that Salma and Mira are two very different women, but in essence they both deal with some sort of oppression in vastly different situations and circumstances.

For Salma, it's a matter of principle: She has known this grove all of her life — for it to be taken away is unjust and, to some extent, unnecessary. For Mira, living with the title of minister's wife leads to a life of seclusion, spending days alone in her home with no one except the bodyguards hired to keep her safe.

The story unfolds, exhibiting overlooked strength that both women have, as well as commenting on how much Salma and Mira have in common, which is a thought rarely shared between a Palestinian and an Israeli.

In the dark comedy, “Cold Souls,” writer-director Sophie Barthes creates a melancholy world showing how deeply suffering defines our humanity. The movie stars Paul Giamatti, struggling with his part in the Russian tragicomedy, “Uncle Vanya.”

He soon finds the answer to his sufferings in an ad in The New Yorker: Visit Dr. Flintstein and your soul can be extracted and held in storage. Giamatti believes if he could just get rid of his soul for awhile, the role would not take such a toll on him.

"I don't want to be happy, I just need to not suffer," Giamatti says with a desperate need for relief that rings out as real.

After the actor’s soul is extracted, he is humiliated to find it looks like a chickpea. Nevertheless, he returns to work without a soul and finds himself to be a merry vanya, but without emotions, a horrible actor. All the while his own soul is soon trafficked and transplanted into a talentless, Russian soap-opera actress. Giamatti eventually journeys to St. Petersburg to retrieve his soul.

In the end, he learns being happy is about going through both the emotional highs and lows and one cannot be happy by simply eliminating the feeling of suffering, which is essentially the concept of the film.

Barthe’s debut film is remarkably original, not only for its compelling theme, but for its artful execution. The both witty and insightful screenplay, layered with inventive cinematography, create a thought-provoking film leaving the audience looking into their own souls.

First-time director Karen Skloss takes the audience through a personal journey of her unconventional family in the inspiring documentary, “Sunshine.” The film contrasts what it was like to be pregnant and unwed 30 years ago and then what it is now like to be a single mother.

Three decades ago, Skloss’ mother, Mary, found herself pregnant at 19 and fearful of the scrutiny she would face, hid away in a home for unwed mothers until her baby was born and then gave the baby up for adoption. The film explains how shameful it was to be pregnant before marriage, saying girls who found themselves in that situation were immediately sent away and most likely never heard from again.

The documentary also focuses on the complicated relationship Skloss and her biological mother have. It was not until Skloss was 21 years old that she met her mother and it was ironically her own pregnancy that brought the two women closer as Skloss found herself to be in the same situation as she was years ago. It is in one of the final clips that the story behind the title of the film is revealed as Mary explains to Skloss that she had named her “Sunshine,” when she was first born.

The film includes touching footage of the interactions between the different people of Skloss’ world, including her adoptive parents, her daughter and her ex-boyfriend, revealing how a pregnancy can change so many aspects of a family’s life.

Karen Skloss is a filmmaker and visual artist living in Austin, Texas. Her films and video installations have been shown in festivals internationally.

Co-written and directed by Leslie Cockburn, “American Casino” takes an in-depth look at how the Wall Street meltdown affected working-class America and uncovers how the crisis arose in the first place.

“I don’t think most people really understood that they were in a casino,” award-winning financial reporter Mark Pittman said.

As the documentary progresses, the audience learns that the chips in this “casino” were real people and the players, also known as the culprits behind this mess, were mortgage loan officers, bankers and Wall Street agencies. A billionaire even describes how he made a massive bet that people would lose their homes and has won $500 million, so far.

The documentary focuses on the minorities of Baltimore, explaining loan officers would target these minorities by approving unknowing families for subprime loans when the officers knew they did not stand a chance of actually being able to make these payments.

Essentially, these families were loaned the American dream, and quickly had it yanked away from them as their mortgage rates quickly went up, eventually leading to a bank foreclosure on their homes. A loan salesman explains how often a person’s income would be vastly inflated to simply justify a loan, making it possible for virtually anyone to take out a loan.

Strategically scattered throughout the documentary, footage is shown of real victims of the Wall Street scam, specifically a teacher, a therapist and a minister all living in Baltimore. Cockburn tells their individual stories through interviews with the families and we learn how exactly they got themselves into their predicament and how their stories ended.

With her remarkable investigative journalism and inspired cinematography, Cockburn creates a hauntingly real look behind the downfall of Wall Street, reminding audiences it is the working class that is paying the price for the over-privileged financial institutions of America.