In ’12th and Delaware,’ A Glimpse at CPC Tactics
August 3, 2010 by Alexandra Tweten · 4 Comments
From the makers of the terrifying Jesus Camp, which went inside an evangelical summer camp, comes an equally chilling documentary exploring the abortion debate as it plays out on a single street corner in Fort Pierce, Florida. 12th and Delaware, which debuted on HBO last night, follows the goings-on at A Woman’s World Medical Center, [...]
How to Lose Your Virginity: An Interview with Therese Shechter
June 24, 2010 by Aviva Dove-Viebahn · 5 Comments
If you haven’t been following the work of documentary filmmaker Therese Shechter (left), you might mistake her newest project, How to Lose Your Virginity, for a bluntly titled self-help manual for sexually bereft high schoolers. But the adage holds true that you can’t judge a book by its cover. The title is a deliberately ironic [...]
Joan Rivers: Still Opening Doors for Women Comics
June 16, 2010 by Audrey Bilger · 1 Comment
Joan Rivers gives new meaning to the expression, “Comedy is tragedy plus time.” In the just-released documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work from directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, time is a dominant theme. Cinema verité footage of a year in the life of the groundbreaking comedian, interspersed with archival material, shows Rivers rushing [...]
Attention Feminist Filmmakers
June 11, 2010 by Kate Whittle · 2 Comments
Have you been working on a movie about women and wondering where to show it? The Athena Film Festival is looking for woman-centric films to show in February 2011 at Barnard College in New York. Feminist film blog Women In Hollywood is producing the festival. The festival aims to be a “world-class celebration of films [...]
Abortion Democracy: Poland/South Africa
April 15, 2010 by Alexandra Tweten · 1 Comment
Sarah Diehl’s documentary Abortion Democracy: Poland/South Africa contrasts two countries that made big decisions about abortion rights in the 1990s. Poland criminalized abortion in 1993; South Africa legalized it in 1997. Yet, strangely enough, in Poland where the procedure is illegal, it is very easy to find abortion doctors, who even advertise in newspapers. In South Africa, though, [...]
The Hip-Swaying Afghan Idol
March 18, 2010 by Amanda Montei · Leave a Comment
In British director Havana Marking’s documentary Afghan Star–which chronicles the lives of four contestants competing in Afghanistan’s version of American Idol –the crucial moment is not a vocal one but a visual one: Contestant Setara Hussainzada from Herat City shocks viewers by removing her head scarf and swaying her hips during her final performance. The [...]
