The 12th Annual
Women of Color Film and Video Festival

DISRUPTING BORDERS: SEEING SILENCES AND IMAGINING TRANS-FORMATIONS

Fri-Sun, April 22-24, 2005

* Friday, April 22 -- 5pm-10pm *
* Saturday, April 23 -- 10am-8pm *
* Sunday, April 24 -- 9:30am-8pm *

Media Theatre, UC Santa Cruz

Since 1991, the Research Cluster for Women of Color has screened over 300 films by women of color as well as hosted workshops and panel discussions with both established and up and coming filmmakers. This year's film festival will continue this legacy by exploring the possibilities of seeing silences and imagining trans-formations as a disruption of borders--borders of the family, violence, survival, race and nationality, history and memory, immigration and queerness.

Over 20 locally and internationally renowned *women of color* filmmakers and performance artists will be featured throughout this years film festival.

Program Schedule
A detailed description of screenings and performances is listed below the program.

Due to the generous support of our sponsors, all screenings, performances and events are free and open to the public. A list of our sponsors is put forth at the end of this announcement. All screenings, panel discussions, keynote talks, and performances will be held in the Media Theatre Classroom at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Disrupting Silence: We put forth demanding calls for autonomy, poetic words of healing, and screaming expressions of theatre and song to stand against the multiple violences brought upon the bodies of women of color. We juxtapose these forms of violences in order to see their relation to one another, so that the silences forged by their invisible separations are disrupted. Into this space, we speak ourselves aloud.

Friday: April 22, 2005
5:00 – 5:20 WELCOME: Dr. Angela Y. Davis
5:20 – 5:55 Marcha Lesbica Mexico 2004
5:55 – 6:10 Pura Lengua
6:10 – 7:10 Keynote Panel with Filmmakers Maritza Alvarez and Aurora Guerrero and Pura Lengua crew, Moderator: Susy Zepeda, Doctoral student
7:10 – 7:35 Gritos Poeticos de la Urbe
7:35 – 8:05 INTERMISSION
8:05 – 9:35 Q&A and Discussion with Filmmakers: Susana Quiroz, Ines Morales, Mariana P. Ocaña, Moderator: Dr. Rosalinda Fregoso, Professor in LALS
9:35 – 9:55 Performance: Re(dis)memberment, by Bintelthawra

Asserting What’s Ours: We fight to assert that which is ours: our bodies, our representations, our identities, our lives, our expression, our histories and our desires. Beyond the reactionary positions we are so often placed in, we work within ourselves and our communities to heal, to converse, to relate, and to love each other.

Saturday: April 23, 2005
10:00 – 10:45 Poetic Healings
10:45 – 11:10 Desperate for Love
11:10 – 11:40 Plastic Warriors
11:40 – 11:55 INTERMISSION
11:55 – 12:25 A Letter To You
12:25 – 12:55 Keynote Speaker: Kawana Bullock
12:55 – 1:00 Life Begins at O’Farrell Street
1:00 – 1:30 Performance: Akosua Mireku
1:30 – 2:30 LUNCH
2:30 – 3:25 62 Years and 6,500 Miles Between
3:25 – 3:35 Barefeet
3:35 – 3:45 A Journey Home
3:45 – 4:00 INTERMISSION
4:00 – 4:40 Mind If I Call You Sir?
4:40 – 4:45 Hello My Name is Clarisse
4:45 – 5:10 Boi Hair
5:10 – 5:40 Keynote Speaker: Alma Lopez
5:40 – 6:10 INTERMISSION
6:10 – 7:25 Q&A and Discussion with Filmmakers: Karla Rosales, Peggy Peralta, Sonali, Mónica Enríquez, Angel Brown, Alma Lopez
7:25 – 7:55 Performance: Claudia Rodriquez
9:30 – 1:30 After Party at Club Caution, Santa Cruz

Imagining Trans-formations: We imagine formations that work across possibilities of time and space. We inscribe our bodies into a history that has tried to eradicate the many that we are. Our motherhood is erased and we shout: “We are mothers!� Childhood is foreclosed and we shout: “We are children!� Borders deny our existence, and we shout: “We are here!� History has been told through a time that is not ours. Our voices, our bodies and our cameras present the possibilities which were, will be, have been, and are.

Sunday: April 24, 2005
9:30 – 11:00 Dis Connected: Incarceration, Mothers and their Children
11:00 – 11:10 Border Project
11:10 – 11:30 Century of Genocide in the Americas: The Residential School Experience
11:30 – 11:45 INTERMISSION
11:45 – 12:15 The Border Crossed Us
12:15 – 12:45 Keynote Speaker: Rachael J. Nez (Dine')
12:45 – 1:30 Q&A and Discussion with Filmmakers: Rosemary Gibbons, Nicole Willis, Rachael J. Nez (Dine’), Jessica Santacoy, Moderator: Vicky Banales, Doctoral candidate, Literature Department
1:30 – 2:30 LUNCH
2:30 – 3:00 Racial Justice Day, Report From the Bay
3:00 – 3:25 Performance: Tru Bloo
3:25 – 4:05 A Certain Liberation
4:05 – 4:35 INTERMISSION
4:35 – 4:45 La Tortilla
4:45 – 5:15 Marginal Eyes: Mujeria Fantasia #1
5:15 – 6:15 Q&A and Discussion with Filmmakers: Yasmine Kabir, Azucena Varela, T. Osa Hidalgo-de la Riva, Oriana Bolden, Moderator: Roya Rastegar, PhD student
6:15 – 6:25 CLOSING
6:25 – 7:30 RECEPTION



Description of Films

Disrupting Silence; Friday: April 22, 2005

Marcha Lesbica Mexico 2004 (2004, 32 min)
Director: Alejandra Novoa Martinez
This video captures the process of amplification of the marcha lesbica of Mexico, the first in Latin America, by a group of lesbian activists that promote actions of visibility, in a country that does not recognize their rights as women and where human rights are constantly violated. This video was possible through collaboration with students at University of California at Santa Cruz, as well as activists from New York, Los Angeles and Canada.

Pura Lengua (2004, 11 min) www.puralengua.com
Director: Aurora Guerrero, Writer/Cinematography: Maritza Alvarez
Through unconventional storytelling, we experience what it feels like when Reina, a young urban Xicana, is betrayed for the very first time. While searching for ways to cope, she survives one last traumatic blow. And only through poetry, her healing journey begins. Based on true events, this film is a visual testimony of the violent circumstances that lead to the rise of a queer, Xicana poet and was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival 2005.

Gritos Poéticos de la Urbe (1995, 22 min)
Directors: Ines Morales Hernandez and Susana Quiroz
From the trenches of México City, emerges this documentary video that is based on the culture of a women’s band that is fighting for their rights and to end violence against women. With the expression and screams of their emotion guarded by their spirits, this is manifested through theatre, song and subterranean poetry.

Performance: Re(dis)memberment, by Bintelthawra
This performance takes an ancient myth from Egypt and reconstitutes it to reveal the grief and loss due to the wars waged on people of South West Asia by the US and Israel. Featuring an Arabic drum n bass soundtrack, this piece is about a woman’s fierce resistance in the face of war and destruction.

Taking What’s Ours; Saturday: April 23, 2005

Poetic Healings (2000, 42 min)
Director: Chinwe Odelgua
A brave film that presents the poetry of lesbian and bisexual women of color speaking out about abuse, acceptance, biphobia, breast cancer, lesbianphobia, racism, survival and triumph. Winner at the 2001 Austin Video Awards in Community Affairs.

Desperate for Love (2005, 22 min)
Director: Angel Brown
A black Lesbian woman who's been out of the dating scene for quite some time, looks for love in all the wrong places. This short explores all the drama that comes along with finding true love only to realize she needs to love herself first.

Plastic Warriors (2004, 26 min)
Director: Amy Tall Chief
The term Squaw or the Washington Redskins are all viewed as a common part of today's society without regard for the people it hurts and offends. Plastic Warriors is a documentary that calls attention to current American Indian stereotypes. The short expresses the opinions of 5 Native people originating from different regions. These 5 express their personal feelings about how society has turned Native people into caricatures, making it difficult for Native Americans to become visible in contemporary society.

A Letter to You (2004, 27 min)
Director: Kawana Shanét Bullock
A non-fiction autobiographical short that explores the methods of a young Black woman uses to try to define and connect to her identity and cultural roots after the death of a negligent parent. The short speaks in context to greater problems that plague youth from disadvantaged communities of color: dominance of female-orientated single family households, lack of knowledge of self as well as cultural legacy, and the sense of instability when establishing future relationships.

Life Begins at O’Farrell Street (2004, 3 min)
Director: Peggy Peralta
Short film following an Asian American woman and her struggle with pain and the possibilities of new found freedom.

Performance: Akosua Asiedua Mireku
African Folk fusion textured with soft and powerful blend of poetic and poignant lyrics, deep sultry guitar melodies and soaring vocals that trace themes of love, war and self discovery.

62 Years and 6,500 Miles Between (2005, 52 min)
Director: Anita Wen-Shin Chang
Exploring the filmmaker’s discovery about her 100 year-old Taiwanese activist grandmother Ama’s political sensibility, this reworking of the documentary form comes with its own set of expectations, while investigating historical, social and political phenomena via the personal through an examination of how a postcolonial people negotiate the memory and translation essential to the reconstruction and ultimately reclamation of a personal and national history.

Barefeet (2004, 7 min)
Director: Sonali
An experimental narrative of a South Asian woman who attempts to reveal a secret to her family. This short is a coming out story that addresses the role of silence and explores the meaning of “home� from a transnational perspective. Screened at nearly twenty national and international film festivals worldwide.

A Journey Home (2003, 9 min)
Director: Mónica Enríquez
Exploring issues of racism and homophobia, this short engages with issues of home, community and immigration in tracing the experiences of three queer Latina women in San Francisco. Winner of the best lesbian and gay jury award at the 2004 International Latino Film Festival in San Francisco.

Mind If I Call You Sir? (2005, 34 min)
Director: Mary Guzman, Producer/Writer: Karla Rosales
Video documentary addressing the experiences of Latina Butch Lesbians and Female-To-Male Trangendered Latinos, towards initiating deeper dialogues between queer folks of color. Winner of Frameline 28’s Audience Award for Best Short and SFSU Women's Film Festival 2005 Award for Best New Local Talent Award from

Hello My Name is Clarisse (2004, 3 min)
Director: Peggy Peralta
Short film around sexuality and gender: a girl makes her day by introducing herself to the object of her desire.

Boi Hair (2005, 20 min)
Director: Alma Lopez
A documentary short about queer women of color and their short hair. On the surface, Boi Hair is a candid conversation between three friends about their hairstyle and hair care, as well as how they believe they are perceived by family and friends. Just below that surface are layers of discussions about race, gender and sexuality.

Performance: Home Cookin’, by Claudia Rodriquez
Using oral traditions, this spoken word performance maps the journey of this jota cuentista and her exploits in the Butch-Femme conquista.

Re-Inscriptions, Imaginings; Sunday: April 24, 2005

Dis Connected: Incarceration, Mothers and their Children (2004, 90 min)
Director: Nicole Willis
Documentary video exploring the impact of incarceration on previously incarcerated mothers and their children in Texas. Through interviews, personal stories work against silences and judgments imposed to reveal the familial, communal and political impacts of incarcerating mothers, and the connections that are shared throughout. From strengths-based and systems perspectives focusing on inter-connectedness, solutions are explored in terms of social justice for these women and their children.

The Border Project (2003, 4 min)
Director: Jessica Santascoy
Borders, whether national, geographic, or economic, that are created by others, by ourselves and are often accepted without question. This short aims to show that borders can become confused and can serve as sites of contemplation and, hopefully, as sites of positive action.

Century of Genocide in the Americas: The Residential School Experience (2003, 18 min)
Director: Rosemary Gibbons
A short and powerful documentary about how Indian Residential Schools became a haven for institutionalized sexual abuse. Inspired by the First Nations survivors of the residential school experience who have taken legal action against the institutions that perpetuated this destructive cycle; the very same institutions that were chartered to provide them an education and provide for their well being. Winner at the 2003 San Francisco American Indian Film Festival.

The Border Crossed Us (2005, 26 min)
Director: Rachael J. Nez (Dine')
Under present immigration and naturalization law the Tohono O’odham are subject to arrest, prosecution, incarceration, and deportation simply because they are unable to provide a birth certificate. Since time immemorial the Tohono O’odham have traveled freely without any regard for the boundary separating the United States and the Republic of Mexico. Today the Tohono O’odham way of life and spiritual harmony is severely disrupted by the boundary and present nationality law.

Racial Justice Day, Report From the Bay (2002, 28 min)
Director: Oriana Bolden
Television segment produced for the Free Speech TV network with interviews by and with young women of color who talk about different aspects of the “war on terror,� both domestically and abroad, as well as the ways they are working to transform their communities in the wake of these attacks.

Performance: Tru Bloo
Through raps “MC Battle,� “Right the Wrong Song,� “The Arab People,� and “Birth of Tru Bloo,� as well as the spoken word slam “Law School,� Tru Bloo makes connections between the struggles of women of color with poor people, immigrants, men of color, queers, and the list continues, inciting women of color to stand in solidarity to confront the issues that affect us all.

A Certain Liberation (2003, 37 min)
Director: Yasmine Kabir
Thirty years after watching her entire family being killed during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, Gurudasi Mondol roams the streets of Kopilmoni, snatching at will from strangers and breaking into spaces normally reserved for men. In her madness, she has found a strategy for survival. Winner of awards at numerous international film festivals including the 7th Zanzibar International Film Festival, the 5th Bangladesh Film Festival, and winner of the Golden Conch for Best Documentary at the 8th Mumbai International Film Festival in 2004.

La Tortilla (2004, 7 min)
Director: Azucena Varela
This short shows how tortilla makers are sculptors that conjure up the past as they slap maze dough to feed present and future generations. Addresses questions like: “What is tradition? How does tradition endure its disruption as the result of the migration of the communities that practice it? How does it transform across physical and imaginary borders?�

Marginal Eyes or Mujeria Fantasy 1 (2005, 20 min)
Director: T.Osa Hidalgo de la Riva
A semi-animated musical narrative experimenting with dream making and myth making in the context of women’s desire. A xxicana lesbiana archaeologist unearths an ancient matri-linear tribe and is rewarded by xxicana lesbianas – the mayor of Los Angeles, and the governor of California.

Thank you to all of our generous sponsors and supporters:

Festival Co-Director and Curator: Roya Rastegar, Doctoral Student, History of Consciousness Program
Festival Co-Director and Organizer: Susy Zepeda, Doctoral Student, Sociology Department

Faculty Sponsor: Angela Y. Davis
Co-sponsors include: American Indian Resource Center, American Studies Department, Anthropology Department, Art Department, Asian American and Pacific Island Resource Center, Center for Cultural Studies, Center for Justice, Tolerance and Community, Chicano/Latino Research Center, Chancellor Denice Denton's Office, El Centro: Chicano/Latino Resource Center, Committee for Justice in Palestine, Community Studies Department, Dean of Graduate Studies, Dean of Social Sciences, Equal Opportunity Program, Film and Digital Media Department, Graduate Student Association, History Department, History of Consciousness Department, Institute for Advanced Feminist Research, Institute for Humanities and Research, Iranian Student Network, Latin American and Latino Studies Department, Lionel Cantu GLBTI Resource Center, Literature Department, Latinas y Lesbianas y Aliadas (LyLyA), Merrill College Provost, Oakes College Provost, Porter College Provost, Queer Latina Network, Sociology Department, Theatre Arts Department, Women’s Center, Women’s Studies Department, Writing Program