See Jane Make Movies

Citizen Jane Film Festival 2009

By Sara Fernandez Cendon

Our Midwestern burg is nursing a serious addiction to great film festivals, and we will have our craving satisfied with the return of the Citizen Jane Film Festival the weekend of Oct. 16.

Films, music and art created by women from around the globe, in addition to panels, workshops and parties, will make this weekend a special treat. The festival will showcase the best of narrative, documentary, animation, experimental and short films, all featuring women behind and in front of the camera. The co-directors of the festival, filmmakers Kerri Yost, Polina Malikin and Paula Elias, have gathered a talented and enthusiastic crew of more than 100 volunteers to help create this amazing weekend in celebration of women filmmakers, artists and musicians.

Women make up only 7 percent of American filmmakers, but not for long. This is the rallying cry that resonates everywhere, from the Web site to the festival program, and it is a vow that organizers clearly take seriously.

“There is an incredible wealth of work done by women that simply never gets widely seen,” Co-director Paula Elias said. “Citizen Jane gives our audiences the chance to partake in some of the very best of that work, and it gives the filmmakers the chance to share their work with a wider audience.”

This symbiotic relationship allows for an intimate experience. Cindy Durk, one of last year’s festival sponsors, said the weekend is unlike anything she and her husband have ever been a part of.

“Incredible films, great parties, the music, the discussions — it is so much fun,” she said. “I wish it could happen every weekend.”

Friday, Oct. 16 will begin with a full day of workshops followed by the official opening night film and a showcase of female musicians. Saturday’s program will take place at Ragtag Cinema, 10 Hitt St., and it will feature a full day of films. The final screening, which will be held at Windsor Auditorium, 1405 Broadway, on the Stephens College campus, will be followed by the Saturday Night Video Dance Party, a Citizen Jane tradition. This year’s bash will be at Orr Street Studios, and it promises to add to the growing reputation of this event as one of the best parties of the year. Sunday will begin with a brunch catered by Uprise Bakery, 10 Hitt St., and will continue with more screenings.

“We are highlighting women behind the camera in our festival, but the work appeals to the whole community regardless of gender,” Co-director Kerri Yost said. “It’s time we stopped pigeonholing female filmmakers as only creating films for women. We would never see a male filmmaker that way.”

One of the most exciting films coming to Citizen Jane this year is Lemon Tree, which presents an intimate portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the story of Salma, a recently widowed Palestinian woman. Salma’s lemon grove had been in her family for generations, but after her new neighbor, the Israeli defense minister, moved in, the Israeli security forces declared Salma’s trees a security threat. A New York Times “Critics’ Pick,” the film was written by Suha Arraf, the Palestinian screenwriter also behind The Syrian Bride. Arraf will be present at this year’s festival and will take part in a panel discussion following the screening.

Several days before the official start of the festival, the animation troupe Tiny Circus will arrive in Columbia. Traveling the country in a silver Airstream, this talented crew will roll into town, set up shop on a grassy knoll on the Stephens College campus and orchestrate a collaborative community project to develop a show titled The Other Histories of the World. This exercise in creative mythmaking will result in stop-animation films to be shown at the festival.

The full lineup of films, panels, parties and events is available at www.citizenjanefilmfestival.org.

Tickets for the films are available online and at the Ragtag Cinema box office.