Over the course of five days, the NMWA 20th Anniversary Festival of Women’s Film and Media Arts will highlight the talents of outstanding contemporary filmmakers who are creating works that are both artistically innovative and socially relevant. The programs will focus on new works by prominent, established filmmakers, as well as cutting-edge works by unknown, emerging filmmakers and media artists who are exploiting the medium in provocative ways.

The NMWA 20th Anniversary Festival of Women’s Film and Media Arts will encompass film, video, media performance, and installations of all lengths and genres from around the world. In addition, the festival will feature a sidebar of youth programs, as well as a program of local directors, along with other niche programs. We will bring together hundreds of filmmakers, programmers, curators, distributors, artists, scholars, activists, and film enthusiasts in a visual celebration of women’s stories that includes screenings, discussions, panels, installations, performances, and receptions. The content of the festival will depend entirely on entries and work that emerges between now and late summer 2007.

There is a dearth of exhibition options for highlighting the powerful and impressive moving images made by women, because women do not receive the same support as media makers that men do. To state just the most obvious of examples, no woman has ever won an Academy Award for directing, and only three women have ever been nominated for that honor. Women made up only 7% of directors of the top grossing 250 films of 2006. In the recent National Society of Film Critics publication of 100 'essential films,' only 4 out of 41 were women. The NMWA Festival of Women’s Film and Media Arts and the NMWA Film Program in general seek to narrow the gender gap within the world of filmmaking and to fill a void of film and media work made by women, particularly work that is relevant to the lives of our local constituency. We want to raise the visibility of women media makers and to support the production of alternative media that tells our stories. We want to set an example as the leading institution devoted to art by women by featuring the best film and media work by women, being on the cutting edge and providing opportunities for women who are making film and video, and introducing the world to their talents.

The goal of the festival is to create a space in which a plurality of visions, representing an array of cultural, political and personal priorities, results in exchange and interaction. We strive to show work that expresses diversity of cultures, experiences, and issues. [ back to top ]