More Than A Magazine, A Movement
In a huge victory, Iranian women’s rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh—jailed two years ago on bogus spying and propaganda charges—has been temporarily released from Qarchak prison on medical leave.
Sotoudeh’s release is due in large part to international pressure from the tireless efforts of activists and human rights groups.
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.
The Outgaze Film Festival—free and online from Oct. 21-31— showcases work by young and emerging queer and feminist filmmakers.
Ms. writer Michele Meek recently spoke with author Jenni Hendriks about how Unpregnant tackles abortion—an issue that had largely gone missing from teen comedies for over two decades.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Based on the book by Jenni Hendriks, Unpregnant tells the story of Ivy League-bound Veronica who realizes she’s pregnant and wants an abortion. So, Veronica and her former best friend Bailey embark on a road trip to the closest clinic where she can consent to her own abortion—over 1,400 miles away.
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.
