Global Feminisms film screenings

The Center for Women’s and Gender Studies presents the 2009 Spring Film Series as part of our annual theme: Global Feminisms

The films will be screened at Women & Their Work art gallery and are free and open to the public.

February 12, 2009

Transgeneration ( 2005)

An eight episode documentary series depicting the lives of four transgender college students during the 2004/2005 school year as they attempt to balance college, their social lives, and their struggle to merge their internal and external selves while gender transitioning. Told with compassion and insight, the fascinating eight-episode documentary Transgeneration focuses on the lives of four college students struggling to fit into a society that doesn’t understand why they are the way they are–that is, transgendered young adults trapped in bodies that belie their true selves. Transitioning into adulthood is an awkward and painful phase for many teens, who are unsure of who they are and what they want to be. The four subjects of Transgeneration know they don’t want to be what they were born as. The documentarians are careful not to present them as martyrs or perverts, but rather as full-dimensional people who’re scared, curious, and hopeful about what the future holds in store for them. We will screen 2 of the episodes. A panel discussion will follow.

March 26, 2009

Lioness (2008)

A Room 11 Productions Film
Directed by Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers

Iraq

Meet the members of Team Lioness, the military heroines of one of the most important untold stories of the Iraq war.  As per official military regulation, these women received virtually no combat training before being sent to Iraq to serve in non-combat details. But military commanders on the ground needed female soldiers to help defuse tensions with local civilians and sent the Lionesses out on missions with all male combat units. Inevitably, the members of Team Lioness found themselves in deadly firefights.  These women risked their lives and suffered the same emotional and psychological traumas as male soldiers, but they have received virtually no public recognition for their sacrifice. Meg McLagan, director of the film will head the discussion panel following the film. 

April 9, 2009

Persepolis (2007)

Sony Pictures Classic
Directed by Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi

In 1970s Iran, Marjane ‘Marji’ Statrapi watches, with her idealistic family, the defeat of the Shah in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study. However, this change proves equally difficult with the young woman confronting a different culture with its abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and her homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs. A panel discussion will follow.

This film series was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.