What better way to decompress from a particularly harrowing year than enjoying some great, feminist films released to streaming in 2020.
Tag: Film and TV Reviews
What “Happiest Season” Is, What It Isn’t, and What It Could Be
Feminist film critic Aviva Dove-Viebahn offers her take on the new holiday film “Happiest Season”:
“Am I unfair in blaming Clea DuVall for her movie’s missed opportunities, for telling an opportunistic story that resembles the ones we’ve been told over and over for decades now?”
This is Not Your Typical Love Letter: An Abortion Story
“This is Not a Love Letter” conveys with an impunative honesty writer Isabel Pask’s own experience soliciting an abortion in the U.S.
“I wrote this for the people who have had this experience,” Pask told Ms. “To let them know that, even though we’re not talking about it, you are absolutely not alone.”
Feminist Lens: Patricia Vidal Delgado’s Insightful First Feature Confronts Imperialism, Past and Present
“La Leyenda Negra,” available on HBO Max and HBO Latino, is a rare gift, offering glimpses into the contradictory forces at work in the coming of age of Latinx teenagers in contemporary America.
Women Remaking America: The Women’s Movement, as Told by Those Who Live It
NOT DONE: Women Remaking America chronicles the seismic eruption of women’s organizing from the 2016 election through today, and the intersectional fight for equality that has now gone mainstream. Like the movement it documents, this story is told collectively through the firsthand experiences and narratives of frontline activists, writers, celebrities, artists and politicians who are remaking culture, policy and most radically, our notions about gender. Premiering against the backdrop of an unprecedented pandemic and widespread social upheaval, the film looks back on recent milestones in the women’s movement, weaving together a story of major progress with the clear reality that our work is not done.
“Nasrin”: Speaking to the World From a Prison in Iran
Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights attorney in Iran, was arrested and sentenced to 38 years and 148 lashes. Her crime? Defending the rights of women.
Later this month, the documentary “Nasrin” will be released. Shot by filmmakers inside Iran who quite literally risked their lives to capture the footage, the film is a powerful homage to a woman who has suffered the most extreme consequences of laws that she has worked hard to change.
“Sands of Silence”: Documentary on Healing from Sexual Violence Premiering on WORLD Channel and PBS
Shot in Spain, Nepal, Mexico and the U.S., “Sands of Silence” explores the spectrum of sexual violence—from sex trafficking, to child molestation, to trusted adults sexualizing the young people in their care. journalist and filmmaker Chelo Avarez-Stehle delves into the devastating and long-lasting impact of this violence, showing how childhood experiences of abuse make women vulnerable to future violence, and the ways girls and women are silenced or encouraged to deny the impact of this violence.
Film “I Am Woman” Tells The Story Behind Helen Reddy’s Feminist Anthem
Helen Reddy’s life is brought to the screen for the first time in Australian director Unjoo Moon’s new biopic, “I Am Woman,” in theaters and on demand September 11.
“The Glorias” Film Explores The Many Faces of Gloria Steinem
Taymor’s film about Steinem—”The Glorias”—shows the complexities of many different yet united women, who form the backbone of a movement for peace, freedom and equality.
Film “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” is a Feminist Odyssey
Abortion is largely defined by the politics that surround it. Mainstream art and media overwhelmingly reduce abortion to a topic of political and religious controversy, of culture wars and red-state legislation. Rarely is it treated as what it is: a highly personal health care decision.
But “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” a new movie written and directed by Eliza Hittman, does just that.