Dir. MIchael Cory Davis
70 mins - USA, 2006

A compelling documentary, Cargo: Innocence Lost, unveils the dark underworld of sex trafficking through hard-hitting interviews with some of the country’s top officials and experts on the subject, victims’ advocates and victims themselves who were rescued in Texas. Award-winning director and writer, Michael Cory Davis (Svetlana’s Journey, Hollywood Film Festival 2005 winner, Best Short), makes his second directorial foray into this must-see, thought-provoking film that is interwoven with a raw, intense narrative based on numerous true stories from victims of the sex trade. Cargo: Innocence Lost explores how the business of sex trafficking has become a $9 billion dollar a year industry and why it still remains a shrouded crime in our nation.

Hawaii Premiere

Thursday, November 15th, 5pm

Presented by

Dir. Michelle Meeker
7 mins - USA, 2007

'When I Grow Up' juxtaposes the boundless ambition of youthful expectations with the unpredictable, and sometimes tragic realities we end up living. An international team of 12 artists each bring their unique visions to a series of interviews with children and elders.

Thursday, November 15th, 7:30pm

Dir. Salome Chasnoff
59 mins - USA, 2006

'Turning a Corner' was created in a media activism workshop that director Salome Chasnoff facilitated with 15 women who were street prostitutes in Chicago. Shot on the street corners across Chicago where they once traded sex, the film features the women's survival and triumph over sexual abuse, homelessness, violence and injustice.

Hawaii Premiere

Thursday, November 15th, 7:30pm

Dir. Karen Nielsen
5 mins - Canada, 2006

Haunted by a rapist she could never identify, Jennifer struggles to find a way to escape the memory and nightmares of the night she was raped. Unsure of herself, Jennifer joins a self defense class where she learns more than she could ever imagine but finds herself confronted by the ‘rapist’ she was unable to fight off before.

Friday, November 16th, 3pm

Dir. Gilian Munro
16 mins - 2007

Still a child but longing to be an adult, thirteen year-old Nancy encounters her first real threat as a female when an older man aggressively pursues her on her way home.

World Premiere

Friday, November 16th, 3pm

Dir. Leyla Leidecker
57 mins - USA, 2007

The Golden Gloves is America's oldest amateur boxing tournament, a coveted goal for young boxing athletes since 1928. Women have been trying to get into the competition for many years. But not until 1994 was the case for women given real attention. A boxing novice from Brooklyn, Dee Hamaguchi, also a civil action worker, teamed up with the ACLU to threaten USA Boxing with a civil lawsuit. Finally women were let in for the first time in 1995. The winner of the NY Golden Gloves tournament gets the right to represent NY in the National Golden Gloves. USA Boxing pays all expenses for travel, hotel, food, etc for state champions- but only for men. Women have to pay for all expenses by themselves. The film follows 8 women in the 2005 tournament who all think they can be the champion, from the quarter finals in the Brooklyn suburbs till the prestigious Finals in Madison Square Garden.

Hawaii Premiere

Friday, November 16th, 3pm

Dir. Daphne Lambrinou
18 mins - Greece, 2006

Melanie, a Greek journalist living in New York, returns to her home village to attend her grandmother's funeral. After years, she meets her childhood friend, Jason. The two of them have kept their childhood alive by sending each other 'paperboat letters.' The smells, the sounds, the 'taste' of the past, overtake Melanie's heart and mind. Every corner of her family house, every face in the streets of the village, every pebble on her favorite beach bring back a storm of memories. Melanie faces the dilemma of staying or leaving the village to go back to New York.

Friday, November 16th, 5pm

Dir. Tara Wray
79 mins - USA, 2006

MANHATTAN, KANSAS is a personal documentary about a daughter coping with her mentally unstable mother. It delves into the complicated ways people care for one another, and offers insight into the mind of a parent struggling for physical and emotional survival, and the effects this has on those who love her.

Friday, November 16th, 5pm

Dirs. Caitlin Frias, Noa Helela, Jene’e Pilayo, and Daniel Walker-Baker
10 mins - Hawaii, 2007

This film presents stories from teens to teachers about sexual violence in Hawaii’s schools and how teens really feel about this growing problem. Raw, candid and eye-opening, this documentary hits home in a powerful way. Drawing from statistics, testimony and other information, this film will demonstrate what is being hidden from the public and urge audiences to advocate for change.

“Learning in Fear: Sexual Violence in Hawaii’s Schools” was shot, researched and edited entirely by students of Hakipu’u Learning Center. This short documentary is the result of a collaborative project between Hakipu’u Learning Center and Girl Fest Hawaii.

World Premiere!!!

Friday, November 16th, 7:30pm

Q&A with the teen filmmakers following the screening

Dir. Hilary Brougher
1 hr 32 mins - USA, 2006

16-year-old Stephanie Daley (Amber Tamblyn) is hospitalized unexpectedly during a school fieldtrip while, in a nearby public restroom, a dead newborn is discovered. Faced with charges of murder, Stephanie claims she never knew she was pregnant and that the child was stillborn. Forensic psychologist Lydie Crane (Tilda Swinton) is hired to determine the truth behind Stephanie’s continuing state of denial. Coincidentally, Lydie is herself pregnant and struggles with an impending fear that her marriage and her pregnancy is in jeopardy. Her intuition intensifies with each session with Stephanie and she soon believes that unraveling the teenager’s mystery is somehow crucial to her own fate.

Featuring gripping performances by Tilda Swinton and Academy Award-winner Timothy Hutton, Stephanie Daley is anchored by a brave powerhouse performance by Amber Tamblyn. Writer/director Hilary’s Brougher’s evocative film, winner of Best Screenplay at Sundance Film Festival, weaves two parallel journeys into a sublime masterpiece about the absolute nature of truth.

Friday, November 16th, 7:30pm

Dir. Leah Michele Yananton
31 mins - USA, 2006

The historic neighborhood of West Harlem called Manhattanville is under threat of being lost with current expansion from Columbia University. Locals and university officials share their views, while the film reveals the vibrant culture and history of Manhattanville.

Saturday, November 17th, 1pm

Dir. Joanne Levitan
49 mins - South Africa, 2005

Is there something universal that connects black women across the globe? 10 black female performers from South Africa and the USA decided to find out. By workshopping a play based on their own experiences, they believed they could capture the essence of being a black woman.They expected to discover a common thread of shared experiences that bound them together as black women. But anger around race created divisions in the group.

'I am Woman' is an incredibly honest and emotional film. The women talk candidly about their absent fathers, rape and abortion. As they try to work through their own pain and their problems with each other -time starts to run out. They still have a play to produce! Can they do it?

North American Premiere

Saturday, November 17th, 1pm

Dir. Beverly Thompson
23 mins - USA, 2007

In Miami, the women’s health clinic—A Choice for Women—is being harassed by anti-choice fanatics. They are intent on closing the clinic down by utilizing such tactics as: clinic-side prayer circles, approaching women patients for “sidewalk counseling,” handing out intimidating literature, showing signs of bloody fetuses, screaming obscenities, and videotaping clients entering the clinic. Miami Clinic Access Project (MCAP) was created to defend clinics in such predicaments by organizing pro-choice volunteers. By standing between the clients entering the property and the protesters, the MCAP members protect and enforce the women’s right to enter. MCAP participants, the clinic director, and women’s studies students narrate the months on the front lines of America’s struggle over abortion rights.

Saturday, November 17th, 3pm

Dir. Rob Fruchtman
48 mins - USA, 2006

Mary Magdalene—a sinner and prostitute, or the secret wife of Jesus and leader of his church? 'Secrets of Mary Magdalene' strips away the veils of history to reveal the flesh and blood woman who served as Jesus' foremost apostle and possibly the love of his life. This documentary takes an enlightening look at the apostle of apostles; from her role in Early Christianity and place of importance among the Christians of Medieval France, to the 20th century discovery of ancient texts that shed new light on this mysterious woman. 'Secrets of Mary Magdalene' looks at Mary Magdalene's historical impact and emerging legacy as a spiritual role model for the 21st century.

World Premiere

Saturday, November 17th, 3pm

Dir. Michelle Meeker
7 mins - USA, 2007

'When I Grow Up' juxtaposes the boundless ambition of youthful expectations with the unpredictable, and sometimes tragic realities we end up living. An international team of 12 artists each bring their unique visions to a series of interviews with children and elders.

Saturday, November 17th, 5pm

Dir. Virginia Williams
88 mins - USA, 2007

The setting: Afghanistan's first democratic election--ever. In the aftermath of 9/11, America's military might has set the stage. But who will determine the fate of democracy in Afghanistan? Is it possible, a woman running for President? Where unspeakable cruelty to women had become day-to-day life?

'Vote for the mother,' Dr. Massouda Jalal shouts to the crowd. FRONTRUNNER tells the heroic story of this medical doctor and mother of three. As a children's advocate, she defied the murderous Taliban regime. Now, she boldly runs for president- the only woman in a field of 17 candidates. In a dramatic turn of events, she holds the fate of the country's first presidential election in her own hands.

Special Sneak Preview Feature

Saturday, November 17th, 5pm

Q&A with filmmaker Virginia Williams following the screening

Dir. Dave Perkal, Screenplay by Orit Schwartz
13 mins - USA, 2006

Frank Anderson (Richard Riehle) has man-boobs. Insurance agent John Simon (Stephen Root) denies Frank’s reduction while approving Bobbie Lynn (Elena Lyons), enlargements. Dr. Brice (Jane Lynch), explains to John why he should approve the procedure, while strongly admiring his man-boobs. Frank and Bobbie hook up, pushing John to consult with Dr. Seales (Romy Rosemont) into getting a set.

World Premiere

Saturday, November 17th, 7:30pm

Dir. Jamie Babbit
90 mins - USA, 2007

Anna is coming out. But not as gay as a revolutionary. Itty Bitty Titty Committee is a rockin love song to the heady rush of sex, freedom and rebellion that happens when an everyday girl discovers her own strength and the righteous indignation needed to take action and change the world. Our heroine is a shy, just-out-of-high-school lesbian, still living with her parents and working at a plastic surgery clinic. She is depressed because of a recent breakup but lives in a super-loving, gay-is-A-OK kind of family. Her world opens up one night when she catches a one-woman army reclaiming public space for women (i.e., spray painting the clinic where Anna works). A recruiting member of the guerrilla girls-esque Clits in Action (C(i)A), Sadie is trying to make people aware of how bad plastic surgery is for women. With an undeniable attraction to this sexy, raw rebel gurl, Anna eagerly joins the ranks of C(i)A and starts her rollercoaster ride from meek and mousy to bad-ass bravado. Full of mosh pits, power fists and utter charm

Hawaii Premiere!!!

Saturday, November 17th, 7:30pm

Presented by

Dir. Chanda Chevannes
30 mins - Canada, Uganda, 2007

Sasa is a Kiswahili word, meaning now. Now is the time to begin thinking differently about preventing the spread of HIV. This 30-minute documentary film tells two women’s personal stories of violence and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Mama Joyce and Josephine have very different lives, yet both women experienced violence from their intimate partners and both contracted HIV from their husbands. Shocking as these stories are, they are all too typical in Sub-Saharan Africa. Violence against women is fueling the epidemic – it is both cause and consequence of HIV infection. This film is an inspiring look at two women’s lives and a call to action for everyone to begin working to prevent violence against women and HIV infection now. SASA!

Sunday, November 18th, 1pm

Dir. Patricia Piroh, Producer Eileen M. Foti
57 mins - USA, South Africa, 2007

This documentary focuses on the work of South African artist/activist Kim Berman, who teaches others to use art as a tool to promote healing and positive social transformation in South Africa. Her outreach programs include a national grassroots campaign aimed at addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic through creativity, counseling and solidarity. To address poverty and its host of related social problems, she spearheaded a network of hand-papermaking/craft projects in urban and rural sites, creating hundreds of jobs, primarily for women, which greatly improved peoples’ chances for survival while adding a sense of meaning and value to their lives. The film examines the human experience by considering how the longterm affects of a nation’s brutal history can be positively changed, individually and collectively.

Sunday, November 18th, 1pm

Dir. Sarah Wickliffe
4 mins - USA, 2006

A cubist character is unhappily trapped in a painting about war. All around her is death, fighting, and destruction- she longs to get out and immerse herself in more peaceful surroundings. She escapes her painted world and wanders the museum for a better place to live. She visits several different paintings, but ultimately learns she must create her ideal world for herself.

Sunday, November 18th, 3pm

Dir. Elizabeth Pasieczny
13 mins - USA 2006

An isolated and lost woman awakens from a state of regression. She seeks out the answers to her predicament within her memories. It is there that she will discover her identity and release. Ultimately, she will find the courage and the strength to break free from her self-imposed prison.

World Premiere

Sunday, November 18th, 3pm

Dir. Jinwha Lee
5 mins - USA 2007

Dr. Faust, who is known as a legendary scholar, made a deal with the evil Mephistopanda and sold his fur for love.

Sunday, November 18th, 3pm

Dir. Ajae Clearway
27 mins - USA, 2006

Few people know that intersexed people exist, let alone what happens to the five babies per day born with bodies that do not fit the standard categories of male and female. Parents are told that surgery is the solution. Intersex newborns are hastily assigned a sex and operated on to reinforce the assignment. There is no medical research to back up the claim that intersex children benefit from early surgery.

'One in 2000' explores intersex lives from a variety of perspectives and diverse voices. The twenty-six minute documentary interweaves interviews with mothers, intersex activists and doctors with archival footage and animated sequences. 'One in 2000' shows the personal side of growing up intersex.

Sunday, November 18th, 3pm

Dir. Martin Gauvreau
12 mins - UK, 2007

Joy and pain go hand in hand when an angelic being is delivered the box of eternity and subjected to the fateful decision of the gods.

Sunday, November 18th, 3pm

Dir. Melissa Thompson
30 mins - USA 2006

Abortion is illegal in Ireland, punishable by life imprisonment. And yet at least 8,000 women a year travel to England for abortions. They make this journey in secret and return in silence. LIKE A SHIP IN THE NIGHT follows Mary, Louise and Siobhan as they plan their journeys across the Irish sea.

200 women from this island, every single week, go to England for abortions. And yet, nobody talks about it.' Irish women make this journey in secret and return in silence, some of them never telling a soul. 'SHIP is a thoughtful and expertly paced piece of film making, in perfect rhythm with its subject matter.' It follows a young painter, a working class mother of five, and a self-proclaimed country girl as they plan their secret journeys across the Irish sea.

Sunday, November 18th, 3pm

Dir. Ingrid D. Johnson
2 mins - Canada, 2007

The Real Woman is Winnipeg-based poet and spoken word performer Ingrid Johnson’s first film. This compelling short references the music video genre while parading images of striking women contrasting between stylized beauty poses and mundane day-to-day circumstances. The spoken word piece performed over a haunting music track challenges men to consider the reality of femininity versus the media’s image of women. The Real Woman encourages men and women alike to embrace the whole female experience and to appreciate that womanhood is not exclusive from femininity.

U.S. Premiere

Sunday, November 18th, 5pm

Dir. Jennifer Goyette
23 mins - USA, 2006

Fallout explores the growing problem of dating violence among teens and its affect not only on the victims, but also their friends and families. Using a mix of narrative accounts and candid interviews with real-life teens, this gritty docudrama follows a group of students as they experience physical, sexual, and psychological violence and its aftermath.

World Premiere

Sunday, November 18th, 5pm

Dirs. BEYONDMEDIA and Young Women Action Team
28 mins - USA, 2006

The Young Women's Action Team asks young and adult men what a male ally looks like, and how to build the movement to stop violence against women. Using poetry, dance and interviews, this video speaks to youth who want to confront violence in their communities. This is an excellent film which candidly presents the voices of men and boys regarding dating violence.

World Premiere

Sunday, November 18th, 5pm

Dir. Kylie Plunkett
11 mins - Australia, 2006

‘The Butchers Wife,’ looks at domestic violence through the highly personal lense of a relationship between a mother and daughter. The story evolves in a monologue, delivered from Carole, who experienced domestic violence, and on Valentines Day, 1981, stabbed her husband in the heart with a knife.

Carole tells us about a day and age where domestic violence was tolerated and hidden. She describes situations where friends and family members turned a blind eye to the violence she experienced. And how one night she found herself in a situation of kill, or be killed. She tells us how she struggled internally with the emotional conflict of ending her husbands life, and how she eventually learnt to deal with it.

Hawaii Premiere

Sunday, November 18th, 5pm

Dir. Daria Matza
29 mins - USA, 2006

Dieting, excessive exercise, plastic surgery and an overall obsession with one’s body are pervasive in America. Our society is infused with unrealistic ideals of beauty and body size. This dynamic between our culture and women is particularly insidious. Many women suffer every day with varying degrees of disordered eating and negative body image that can come to overshadow every aspect of their lives. Starved intimately explores the secretive relationships five women face with food and their bodies. Experts Geneen Roth, Mary Taylor and Anita Johnston bring clarity and depth to the emotional tales of the women's lives. Starved is an informative and metaphorical representation of the emotional pain and suffering many women face in dealing with the pressure to strive for an unattainable perfection.

World Premiere

Sunday, November 18th, 5pm

Dir. Geneviève Poulette
12 mins - Canada, 2006

Film director Marie-Helene and fashion stylist Zoe have been friends for a long time and single for even longer. Every friday night, they get together to party and forget their single status. One friday, very drunk, they decide to sign up on 'Meet-market.ca', an online dating site. From virtual discussions to actual meetings, the girls are faced from one surprise to another... and so are their partners!

Sunday, November 18th, 7:30pm

Dir. Nir Paniry
20 mins - USA, 2006

Tina Bobina tells the story of a quirky teenager with unbridled enthusiasm, her own set of business cards, and a passion for the macabre. When a holy man visits for dinner and reveals his hidden talent, the now inspired Tina sets off to find her own. The journey she takes is nothing short of unique.

Sunday, November 18th, 7:30pm

Dir. Suzi Yoonessi
11 mins - USA, 2006

VANESSA LEMOR, a lonely 13-year old girl with a vivid imagination, is dumped by her true love, über intellectual PHILIP GEORGEY, 14. Vanessa spends the summer obsessing over the heartbreaking tragedy, while working with Philip who is her manager at the local ice cream shack. A chance meeting with 'angel-headed dorks' HERCULES and NOTHING, enables her to overcome her heartbreak on a serendipitous summer day.

Sunday, November 18th, 7:30pm

Dir. Seirang Kim
17 mins - South Korea, 2006

Dong-ah, a girl with a scarred face, happens to meet a blind boy named Hyun-woo. After spending a day together, they come to know one another better. This is a story of a winter night, Agatha Christie, and accidental love.

Sunday, November 18th, 7:30pm

Dir. Becky Baumgartner
32 mins - USA, 2007

Bethany Hamilton, a 13-year-old girl destined for a successful surfing career, lost her arm to a shark in 2003. The attack didn’t cause this determined surfer to give up. Instead, it compelled her to discover her purpose in life as she overcame her loss and got back on the board just weeks later.

'Heart of a Soul Surfer' digs deep into the heart of Bethany's abiding faith in God, and tackles the difficult question 'Why does God allow bad things to happen in our lives?' Bethany's story has been told by many different people around the world, but this is the first time she and her family have been able to share it from their heart and perspective.

Sunday, November 18th, 7:30pm