Women's Film Festival

2020 Women's Film Festival Winners
The judging panel awarded these films in each of the Festival's eight categories.
- Best Experimental Short
"Olympia" directed by Giulia Achenza - Best Youth Short
"A Walk Along the Stars" directed by Lani McHenry - Best Student Animated Short
"My Cat Story" directed by SFC Student Allison Priest - Best Professional Animated Short
"They Call Us Maids" directed by Leeds Animation Workshop - Best Student Narrative Short
"The Romantic Movement" directed by Yuhe Lu - Best Professional Narrative Short
"Killing Hope" directed by Natacha Grangeon & Julia Retali - Best Professional Documentary
“Sensei Fran Kicks Ass” directed by Simone Fary - Best Student Documentary
"The 'S' Word" directed by Mireille Sylvester
2020 Film Festival
SFC Women’s Film Fest 2020 Screening & Event list
- Tuesday, April 14 | 1:30pm - 4pm | Shorts Screening 1
- Tuesday, April 14 | 4:30pm - 5:30pm | It’s Not Always What It Looks Like: A Blind Creator in a Visual World: A Talk with Molly Burke
- Wednesday, April 15 | 3pm - 4:30pm | Keynote Speech: Storytelling Gets Us Through The Shit: How Filmmaking Can Create Your Future
- Wednesday, April 15 | 6pm - 8pm | Shorts Screening 2
- Thursday, April 16 | 11:20am - 1:10pm | Art of the Pitch Workshop
- Thursday, April 16 | 1:30pm - 2:45pm | Shorts Screening 3
- Thursday, April 16 | 3pm - 4:20pm | Crowdfunding for Independence
- Friday, April 17 | 12:30pm - 3:20pm | Shorts Screening 4
- Saturday, April 18 | 2pm - 4:30pm | Shorts Screening 5
- Saturday April 18 | 5pm | Awards Ceremony
Tuesday, April 14 | 1:30pm - 4pm | Shorts Screening 1
Title | Director | Country | Length |
Synopsis/ Logline |
The Apprentice | Megan Mathieson | USA | 14:38 | In a dystopian society, a young woman named Ria begins to work as an apprentice at a mental hospital only to find that she is trapped in the institution. |
Mammoth | Jiamin Huang | China | 14:25 | A 17-year-old girl Chen Jialai, who is going to participate in a cheerleading competition, suddenly learns of the death of her classmate. |
Worried | Ava Snow | USA | 6:20 | In this short Documentary, Director Ava Snow asks other teens one question only, "What do you worry about?" This film explores that question with the raw, unscripted answers of real youth. |
Kinky | Tayana Brumaire | USA | 8:42 | After straightening her natural hair behind her mother’s back, Maybelline, a 14-year old Brooklyn teen who experiences the pressure of looking beautiful must decide rather to remain straight or return to her natural state. |
The Worst Day of My Life | Jaret Martino | USA | 12:57 | A middle school student is forced to move schools after horrific bullying, despite processing grief and making a huge transition she's able to clear the way for a brighter future. |
It’s About Time I Quit | Chloe Pacocha | USA | 1:56 | Revolving around an original poem written and read by Chloe Pacocha, this short film will sync your heartbeat with the reader’s as she metaphorically and poetically compares the struggles of quitting smoking with the hardship of heartbreak. |
Sonata | Christine Jezior | Germany | 3:22 | Featuring music created by John Cage, this film focuses on how he created the tender, gamelan-like sounds he used to compose this piece of music. |
Elephant In The Room | Chanelle Eidenbenz | Switzerland | 19:30 | Irna, a mother with a weakening relationship with her son Jago, seeks refuge in a rubber doll named Elias. |
Los Angeles, Fuck You | Emilie Rae Ohanian Svensson | USA | 10:39 | A grown-up child star returns home to her estranged functioning alcoholic father. |
And The Party Goes On! | Michael Asmar | France | 16:16 | Cécile, an ex-prisoner tries to get back her old life, while an ex-journalist, Abel, finds himself interested and affected by her story. |
The ‘S’ Word | Mireille Sylvester | Canada | 10:13 | "The ‘S’ Word” is a character-based short documentary that follows 3 unmarried women from different generations, cities, and backgrounds who are without a partner for vastly different reasons. |
Tuesday, April 14 | 4:30pm - 5:30pm | It’s Not Always What It Looks Like: A Blind Creator in a Visual World: A Talk with Molly Burke
Molly Burke, motivational speaker, YouTuber, and author, will speak live with the SFC Women's Film Festival audience on her challenges and achievements as a blind woman in a sighted media.
With over 1.9 million followers on YouTube, Molly Burke is a major creative force and an inspiration to many.
A Q&A will be moderated by SFC student Gabriela Mendonca.
Wednesday, April 15 | 3pm - 4:30pm | Keynote Speech: Storytelling Gets Us Through The Shit: How Filmmaking Can Create Your Future
Storyteller from the Future Karen Palmer references pop culture and classic movies in a talk about about how filmmaking gives us insight into the the human psyche during a time of crisis and inspires the audience create the future we want. Storytelling is a well of resources and a tool to build ladder out of this crisis and others.
Karen Palmer is an award -winning international artist and TED Speaker. She creates immersive film experiences that combine the genres of film, A.I. technology, gaming, Immersive Storytelling, Neuroscience, Consciousness, Implicit Bias, Behavioural Psychology and the Parkour philosophy of moving through fear. Palmer speaks widely about her emotionally responsive film experiences at the intersection of AI, Immersive Storytelling, Neuroscience, Consciousness and Implicit Bias and the necessity to Democratise AI. Articles on Palmer have appeared in Wired Magazine, Forbes, CBS TV , Fast Company , Engadget, NBC,The Guardian. Her work has recently been exhibited at the V&A in London, the PHI Centre Montreal, Sensory Stories Exhibition, The Future of Storytelling, SXSW Austin, and the Cooper Hewitt.
Wednesday, April 15 | 6pm - 8pm | Shorts Screening 2
Title | Director | Country | Length |
Synopsis/ Logline |
Woof! | Claire Henry | USA | 2:45 | After 8 months of training, Nala, a dog at K-9 Angels Rescue in Houston, TX finally gets adopted. Although Nala finds a home, the stray animal crisis in Houston remains unresolved. |
My Cat Story | Allison Priest | USA | 3:04 | A story about a cat I got, but didn't have the chance to bond with him. |
The Grandfather | Agnese Laizane | Latvia | 14:00 | Emilia has one day to save little kittens by finding them owners before her grandfather kills them. |
Who Let The Taxidermy Out? | Laurence Unger | USA | 8:16 | A reformed taxidermist brings taxidermy animals back to life with chaotic consequences for an uninvited guest in this all-female silent film. This experimental comedy invites viewers to re-think what little girls are made of. |
Maraña | Brisa Pamela Sanchez | Mexico | 5:55 | Tochtli, a broken rabbit that is found in the darkness of a huge forest, is persecuted for a being from which he has run away all his life, Tochtli will have to face his fears to reach the light that represents his bigger longing. |
Antarctic | Paola de Sousa | France | 3:00 |
A seal and a penguin's trip from New-Zealand to Antarctica |
Geronimo: In Flight | Colleen Brady | USA | 9:01 | Tired of dieting and traditional exercise, a veterinarian decides to take ownership of her health by becoming an aerialist. |
Constant Dripping Hollows Out The Stone | Johanna Mägin | USA | 8:59 | As the Vietnamese people move towards a cleaner, greener future, we meet some who are doing their part to keep plastic away from the beaches -- and out of the landfills. |
A Walk Along the Stars | Lani McHenry | USA | 1:54 | A poetic journey told through animation and home videos, the filmmaker expresses the struggle of letting her grandmother go after moving into her old house in the summer of 2019. |
The Norm | Jamal Bilal | USA | 15:00 | A week in the life of hospice nurse Kathleen as she moves from one patient to another, and realizes what it takes to not lose herself in the process. |
Boo Boo | Olivia Miranda | USA | 6:18 | The story of one refugee whose life has benefitted from the help of Free Bird Cafe, and whose project is now helping others |
Olympia | Giulia Achenza | Italy | 11:35 | Inspired by Don De Lillo’s novella Body Art, Olympia tells the story of a body artist and her director husband. |
Thursday, April 16 | 11:20am - 1:10pm | Art of the Pitch Workshop
Conducted by Bri Castellini of Seed & Spark
Knowing how to convey the specifics about your project in a dynamic, succinct way can land you not only investors, but collaborators, audience members, and more. Skills learned: how to prepare for a pitch meeting; how to adapt your pitch to different audiences; how to follow up for a bright future.
Bri Castellini is an award-winning independent filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. She has an MFA in Writing and Producing for Television and a BA in Creative Writing, and by day, she's the Film Community Manager for Seed&Spark and an adjunct professor for LIU-Brooklyn and Stephens College. She has been described by collaborators as a "human bulldozer" and is honestly kind of flattered.
Thursday, April 16 | 1:30pm - 2:45pm | Shorts Screening 3
Sponsored by Zonta Club of Brooklyn followed by a talk by Leslie Erway Wright
Title | Director | Country | Length |
Synopsis/ Logline |
No Offense | Leeds Animation Workshop | United Kingdom | 12:00 | A modern-day fairy-story about sexist, racist and homophobic harassment at work. |
Marisol | Zoe Salicrup | USA | 14:44 | A young mother striving to make a life for her and her daughter, Marisol’s worst nightmare comes to life when her passenger on her ride sharing app accuses her of being undocumented. |
They Call Us Maids | Leeds Animation Workshop | United Kingdom | 7:00 | The true story of today’s migrant domestic workers, women from the Philippines, Indonesia, North Africa and South-East Asia, who go abroad to support their families. |
Thursday, April 16 | 3pm - 4:20pm | Crowdfunding for Independence
Conducted by Bri Castellini of Seed & Spark
Seed & Spark’s cornerstone class clearly lays out the steps toward a successful crowdfunding campaign, as well as a career- long action plan most likely to create a lasting, flourishing, direct relationship with your audience. You’ll learn how to find your audience, structure your crowdfunding campaign, pick the right goal and incentives, and much more.
Bri Castellini is an award-winning independent filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. She has an MFA in Writing and Producing for Television and a BA in Creative Writing, and by day, she's the Film Community Manager for Seed&Spark and an adjunct professor for LIU-Brooklyn and Stephens College. She has been described by collaborators as a "human bulldozer" and is honestly kind of flattered.
Friday, April 17 | 12:30pm - 3:20pm | Shorts Screening 4
Title | Director | Country | Length |
Synopsis/ Logline |
Tomorrow Island | Gwen Joyaux | Portugal | 16:28 | In the dawn of the Cold War, a young Soviet telegraphist makes a desperate attempt to save her American lover from being stranded in the Russian side of the Bering Strait after receiving a border closure message. |
Not Your Ordinary Sister | Maša Zia Lenárdič, Anja Wutej | Germany | 4:15 | A queer satire which, in a witty yet direct way, addresses both the startling popularity of lesbian vampire films as well as the lack of proper representation in queer cinema on the subject of queerness within the conservative and patriarchal religious organizations (lesbian nuns / lesbian ex-nuns). |
Three Minutes | Victoria Kieburtz | USA | 6:07 | Two women seek the shelter of tea and candid conversation in the wake of a quickly-changing world. |
The Dead West | Students MMI App & License Pro MDN | France | 17:49 | In the United States during 1879, the West was devastated by an epidemic in which anyone that drinks the contaminated water loses his mind and becomes ravenous. Emma Brown, a young woman immune to the poison, tries to survive. |
Relife | Asteros Lin | China | 8:00 | Film, as an existence independent of reality and rooted in the soil of reality, is very similar to dreams. Making a video work is, in a sense, making a dream. |
Di Myay Mher Tha Ye Kana Phit Kae Tal - In This Land We’re Briefly Ghosts | Chen-Wen Lo | Myanmar | 16:01 | Based on actual events, this human tragedy follows a 12-year-old child soldier, Su Su Myat, and her mute brother, Tin Min, who are imprisoned after deserting their first combat mission. |
Italy & (This Is) Water | Ioan Gavriel, Anja Franziska Plaschg | Austria | 5:26 | A single day: from the tender break of dawn to the darkest night. A long farewell, an ultimate goodbye to a life we have grown to hold dear. Leading to a head-on dive into a new reality, into a new state of being. |
Desaturated | Marina Stepanska | Ukraine | 10:00 | A comedy about a character who knows that she is a character in a film, and is trying to overcome the visual clichés without which we cannot imagine modern cinema. |
The Romantic Movement | Yuhe Lu | USA | 20:00 | Obsessed with his recent breakup, a young writer decides to commit suicide by midnight if his ex-lover doesn’t return to him. As he reminisces about their past while waiting in his gloomy house, unbearable realizations beyond unrequited love come to challenge his beliefs in himself. |
Transmission | Emily Mkrtichian, Anahid Yahjian | Canada | 14:39 | In a not-so-distant future, cultural conservationists K and L are in a car accident in which time splinters into parallel realities, separating them. They embark on a journey to find each other again. |
Saturday, April 18 | 2pm - 4:30pm | Shorts Screening 5
Title | Director | Country | Length |
Synopsis/ Logline |
Saturday | Pegah Pasalar Lagharani | USA | 8:47 | As the viewer follows a joyful trip to the beach by a family with three young children, innocence and happiness give way to the unthinkable. |
Sensei Fran Kicks Ass | Simone Fary | USA | 19:30 | The story of one woman’s pursuit to redefine what it means to age. |
The Gods of Tiny Things | Deborah Kelly | Australia | 5:22 | A collaborative collage animation work and produced through a residential workshop at the Riversdale Education Centre, the imagery, musical composition and soundscape design were devised to reflect upon the imperilled lives on a climate-changing planet. |
Killing Hope | Natacha Grangeon, J | France | 17:41 | At the heart of a war-torn Aleppo, Anas al-Basha’s only weapon is his red nose and the smiles it brings to the children that surround him: he is the last clown of Aleppo. |
LEGO | Faryarsadat Hosseini | Iran, Islamic Republic of | 18:48 | When a couple enters the mysterious house of the wife’s childhood, the wife disappears and in searching for her, the man finds a newborn baby in the bathroom with his wife’s necklace on her neck. |
We Were Hardly More Than Children | Cecelia Condit | USA | 8:45 | An epic tale of a friend’s traumatic abortion; a deep hurt not remembered, but poignantly visible in her paintings. |
Ukde | Ecem Çelik | Turkey | 18:28 | The film deals with a universal immigrant problem that suddenly enters the life of a woman. |
Saturday April 18 | 5pm | Awards Ceremony
Mission
We are committed to celebrating emerging and established female filmmakers. We strive to recognize new and original voices within the St. Francis College community and other university communities, as well as in the international emerging film community. Our goal is to create a bridge between female college filmmakers and professional female filmmakers which will encourage collaboration, cooperation, and coordination. |
Goals
- To inspire discourse among women regarding the expression of women’s image in film, as well as to explore the role of women in the history and evolving art of filmmaking.
- Examine emerging film storytelling trends, and artistic viewpoints of female student and professional filmmakers.

Augusta Palmer
Director
Augusta Palmer, director of the SFC Women’s Film Festival is an Associate Professor of Communication Arts at St. Francis College in Brooklyn. She is a filmmaker and scholar who holds a Ph. D. in Cinema Studies from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. As a documentarian, she is best known for The Hand of Fatima (2009), a feature documentary about music, mysticism, and family history. Her award-winning documentary and experimental video work has screened in national and international festivals, as well as at venues like New York's Anthology Film Archives. Her first fiction short, A is for Aye-Aye: An Abecedarian Adventure has been screened at children’s film festivals from New York to New Zealand. She is currently at work on a new feature documentary, The Blues Society, which is about blues and bohemia in 1960s America.
Calendar
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Past Film Festivals
2019 Film Festival
2019 SFC Women's Film Fest Prizes
- Kodak Prize
“Take My Breath Away” by Gloria Endres De Oliveira
- Youth Award (made by a person who is under 19 and has not started college)
“Schoolhouse Glock” by Jasmine Lecount-McClanahan
- Student Narrative Award
“Middle Lands” by Maria Conte
- Student Documentary Award
“Memoirs of Saira & Salim” by Eshwarya Grover
- Professional Narrative Award
“Selkie” by Amy Frear
- Professional Documentary Award
“Seasonal Guests” by Doro Carl
- Professional Animation Award
“Panic Attack” by Eileen O'Meara
“Tangle” by Malihe Ghloamzadeh
- Student Animation Award
“Two of Every Kind” by Asaf Yecheskel
- Experimental Award
“ Matter Out of Place” by Oona Taper
- Virtual Reality Award
“Filamu” by Maud Clavier
- SFC Student Award
“Chinese New Year in New York” by Alessandra Flynn
2019 St. Francis College Women's Film Festival Schedule
MARCH 26 PRE-FESTIVAL EVENT
3pm: Alice Howell Silent Slapstick Program
Piano Accompaniment by Ben Model Presented in collaboration with the 2019 SFC Women's Film Festival, held April 4th - 6th; The festival is a celebration of women's media production that features panels, workshops and screenings of short films and immersive media created by women from around the world.
Virtual Reality Experiences on Display Throughout the Festival
Title |
Director |
Country |
Filamu | Maude Clavier | USA |
Asian in America: A Symbolic Meal | Jenny Dorsey | USA |
Thin Line | Rony Kahana | USA |
APRIL 4 - All events in Founders Hall
11:30am - 12:30pm: Opening Panel - The Future is Intersectional
This panel will open the festival with a discussion of how feminism and women's filmmaking is inherently intersectional, with multiple identities intersecting for filmmakers, festival programers and the filmmaking community.
Featuring:
Filmmaker Isabel Sandoval
Isabel is a New York-based Filipino filmmaker. She has produced, written and directed two full-length features, including the Filipino-language Señorita (2011), which premiered in competition at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland and was nominated for Best Picture by the Young Critics Circle of the Philippines. Her second feature film, Apparition (2012), a period drama about cloistered Filipino nuns during the Marcos regime was widely acclaimed in its Philippine theatrical release and won a number of international awards, including the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NetPAC) Award at the 2012 Hawaii International Film Festival as well as the Audience Award at the 2013 Deauville Asian Film Festival in France. Variety Magazine touts Apparition as an “outstanding sophomore feature...[an] intelligently scripted and deeply moving mood piece.” She is in post-production on her third dramatic feature, "Lingua Franca". Her fourth, "Park Avenue, is slated to be in production in summer 2019, and she is a recent Tribeca All Access Grantee. Isabel has a MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business and has a background in CPG brand management.
Filmmaker and Festival Director of the Mystic Film Festival Shareen Anderson
Shareen Anderson is a filmmaker and TV producer based in Brooklyn, New York and Mystic, Connecticut. She’s developed and produced a wide-range of documentary films and series for networks, such as A&E, PBS, Netflix, Fusion, Esquire, TLC, Al Jazeera English, and Discovery. Most recently, she created and executive produced “The Murder of Laci Peterson”, a six-part limited documentary series for A&E. She also created and executive produced “Saving Soweto”, an eight-part documentary series for Al Jazeera English. “Return To The USS Atlanta”, which she directed and produced, was screened on Netflix and PBS, and her first feature documentary, Charents: In Search of My Armenian Poet, won the Audience Choice Award at the Pomegranate Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, and aired on PBS in 2016. While living in Johannesburg, South Africa she co-founded the Jozi Film Festival in 2012 and was a co-director until 2015. The festival is still going strong and continues to be run by local filmmakers. She launched the Mystic Film Festival in 2018 and is excited to see it go into its second year.
Filmmaker, SFC Alumna & Media Educator Sade Falebita
Sade Falebita is a multimedia producer and educator on a mission to nurture potential, educate, and empower creatives. She graduated from St. Francis College with a B.A. in Film and Broadcasting and B.S./M.S. in Accounting. Sade also obtained an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she reported on a wide range of hard news and features exploring issues including civil rights, immigration, healthcare, and poverty. Her unique background in communications incorporated with conducting multimillion dollar financial audits, has permitted her to have a keen understanding on how to effectively inform and engage audiences and clients alike. Sade frequently shares her personal experiences in media and finance through public speaking engagements in workshops, offering key career and professional development advice and reinforcing the power of community engagement. Her passion for teaching has led her to success as a storyteller and mentor, in particular in her current role as Associate Director of Youth Programs at Downtown Community Television Center.
12:30pm - 1:30pm: Lunch
1:30pm - 3pm: Seed & Spark sponsors Crowdfunding to Build Independence with Christina Raia
Learn the tools for creative independence by studying the techniques of successful crowdfunding campaigns: how to identify your audiences, bring them on board as followers and eventual funders, build meaningful partnerships to scale your reach, and create the most enticing possible pitch to audiences. Then, you'll get the down low on learning how to read between the lines of the data you gather while crowdfunding to increase the value of your IP and retain creative control.
Program 1 | April 4, 2019 | 3:30pm
Film | Director | Country |
Orpheus & Eurydice | Flora Chilton | Hungary |
Chinese New Year in New York | Alessandra Flynn | USA |
Tangle | Marzieh Meisami Azad | Iran |
Ah | Yoginee Ayul | India |
The House of Water | Lili White | USA |
Selkie | Amy Frear | USA |
Middle Lands | Maria Conte | Italy |
Mission Dadu | Tanisha Agarwal | India |
5pm - 6pm: Reception
6pm - 8pm: Seed & Spark sponsors The Distribution Down Low with Christina Raia
We’re shattering the mystique around film distribution. Join us as we break down the current landscape of distribution for independent film and TV, including the economics of different avenues to take, the right questions to ask potential partners, and what needs to be done from pre-production through post-production to set yourself up for successful distribution.
APRIL 5 All Events in Founder’s Hall
10am - 12pm: Screening 2 - Short Films in Competition
Program 2 | April 5, 2019 | 10am
Film | Director | Country |
Memoirs of Saira and Salim | Eshwarya Grover | India |
Two of Every Kind | Efrat Chen Weiss & Naor Zana | Israel |
Hidden Half | Marzieh Meisami Azad | Iran |
Pick Me Up | Layal Akiki | Lebanon |
Take My Breath Away | Gloria Endres de Oliveira, writer/director | Germany |
Next, Please | Alexandra Rieser | Austria |
Z-Born | Shaan Couture | USA |
Am I Pretty | Jennifer Proctor | USA |
Ladies' Night: Love & Basketball | Time Cecere & Josie Brennan | USA |
Admazons | Cathleen Carr & Julie Sharbutt, writers/producers | USA |
12pm: Lunch
12:30pm - 2:30pm: Screening 3 - Short Films in Competition
Program 3 | April 5, 2019 | 12:30pm
Film | Director | Country |
Mirror | Begonha Vicario | Spain |
Wonderland | Tiffanie Hsu | USA |
Faith | Tatyana Federovskaya | Russia |
Scapegoat | Cian Luo | Taiwan |
The Story of Everything | Sharon A. Mooney | USA |
The 800lb Gorilla | Dana Verde | USA |
Our House | Emily Hanson | USA |
Matter Out of Place | Oona Taper | USA |
Heather Has Four Moms | Jeanette Buck | USA |
3pm - 5pm: Feature Film Screening Wanda (Barbara Loden, 1970), introduced by Professor Scott Weiss
A neglected masterpiece, Wanda is the only feature film made by director Barbara Loden, who also stars in the title role.Wanda won the best Foreign Film Award at the Venice Film Festival when it was released in 1970. The film tells the story of an unhappy housewife in a hardscrabble coal mining community in rural Pennsylvania who leaves her husband and strikes out on her own. This groundbreaking work languished in obscurity for decades, but has recently been restored and placed on the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/275159804
5:30pm: Reception
6:30PM: Screening 4 - Short Films in Competition, including documentary short “50 Years of Women at St. Francis College”
Program 4 | April 5, 2019| 6:30pm
Film | Director | Country |
Come Home with Me | Jo Enver | Singapore |
Eli: A Portrait | Lumen Nguyen | Germany |
Seasonal Guests | Doro Carl | Germany |
Now or Never | Rose Schimm | Canada |
Symptoms | Courtney Gains & Karen DeGennaro | USA |
The High Wire | Kristy Hasen | USA |
50 Years of Women at SFC | Daniele Francavilla | USA |
APRIL 6 All Events in Maroney Theatre, 7th Floor
11am - 1pm: Screening & Discussion: The Future is Female: DC TV’s Female Youth Media Makers
A screening and talkback accentuating the power of women in DCTV’s award-winning Youth Media Program, past and present. Emerging artists from the Youth Media Program, translate the contentious and transformative experiences of our time to original films. The showcase explores the shifting landscape of women's voices, tackling gender inequality in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
Participant Names/Films
Aracelie Colon [High Expectations, Simple Night]
Jalyssa Jimenez [The Next Stop]
Miranda-Sofia Ranghelli-Duran [WITHOUT]
Colette Robicheaux [Etherized]
Showcase of Past Films
Kira Britt [Evolution]
Alyssa Dyal [Lifeline]
Sandra Appiah [Reflections in Thailand]
1pm: Lunch
1:30pm - 3:30pm: Virtual Reality Panel and Screening curated by Lisa Russell: The Future is NOW: Women in AR & VR
This panel will feature Stina Hamlin, Sadah Espii Proctor and Lisa Russell and will allow participants to view their work.
Lisa Russell, Moderator is an Emmy-winning filmmaker and arts curator who has been producing films and curating creative events for UN/NGO agencies for the past 15 years. As Founder of Create2030, a creative agency dedicated to engaging artists and creatives in the UN-led Sustainable Development Goals, Lisa is curating immersive experiences for the social good for the upcoming Women Deliver Film Festival, the UN's SDGs in Action Film Festival and the St Francis College Women's Film Fest.
Stina Hamlin, cofounder of STATE of Mind Media & Director of Post Production at East Coast Digital, Inc., is an award-winning VR creator and television producer who has worked with organizations including UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and USA Today. She is of Cherokee and Irish descent, and her focus is creating projects that amplify Indigenous voices and creating media that educates and supports in the fight to protect the water and Mother Earth. Currently she is working on XR project, Blood Memory: The Experience, and is a new member of the 2018-2019 cohort at New Inc. in New York City.
Sadah Espii Proctor is a VR director and sound/media designer for theatre and immersive experiences. She specializations in multimedia performances, 360 video and audio production, and interactive audiovisuals systems. Her work leans towards global stories of women, social issues, and the African Diaspora, often with an Afrofuturist/Cyberpunk lens. Previous collaborations include Kimbra and Sophia Brous (EXO-TECH), Sasha Velour, Neycha, Soul Science Lab, Murray Hidary, and Hi-ARTS. Proctor is the director of VR documentary Girl Icon (SXSW, Tribeca), which was created as part of Oculus’ VR For Good Creators Lab in partnership with Malala Fund. She received her M.F.A. in Performance and Interactive Arts from Brooklyn College and is a proud alumna of Virginia Tech.
4pm - 6pm: Screening 5 - Short Films in Competition
Program 5 | April 6, 2019 | 4pm
Film | Director | Country |
Beyond Dreamers | Yazemin Yilmaz | USA |
Starvation | Zahra Rostampour | Iran |
Pride | Bianca Pezo | USA |
Schoolhouse Glock | Jasmine Lecount-McClanahan | USA |
A Scratch for Every Itch | Maryanne Galvin | USA |
Panic Attack | Eileen O'Meara | USA |
Tender | Britt Sodersjerna | USA |
The Trail | Shana Darabie | USA |
6,743 Count My Voice | Shristi Josti | Nepal |
For A Better Life | Yasmin Mistry | USA |
Gaslighting | Tina Matzat | Germany |
Spring Has Sprung | Alexandra Kenny | USA |
6:30pm - 8:30pm: Closing Panel & Awards Ceremony
Singer Mijori Goodwin of Create 2030 , a n organization that links artists to work toward UN Sustainability goals, will open and close our awards ceremony for all films in competition with her amazing performances. The evening will continue with a screening of “Giving Birth in America: New York,” a short created by Every Mother Counts, an organization founded by Christy Turlington Burns to help raise awareness about maternal mortality rates and the effort to make pregnancy safer for women around the world. Nan Strauss, director of Policy and Advocacy at Every Mother Counts will be present to talk about the film and their mission.
2018 Film Festival
2018 Festival Supporters & Partners
- Department of Communication Arts
- Women’s and Gender Studies Minor
- Honors Program
- Office of the Academic Dean
2018 Panel Discussions
St. Francis College Women's Film Festival
From The Silent Era To Virtual Reality
March 19 - 23, 2018
Festival Winners
- Best Narrative Short by a Female Non-Student - ur dead to me, Yonoko Li
- Best Narrative Short by a Female Student - Tira Misu (SFC) Co-Directors Marina Esparza & Shala Franciosa
- Best Documentary Short by a Female Non-Student - Voices From Kaw Thoo Lei, Martha Gorzycki
- Best Documentary Short by a Female Student - LGBTQ Comes Out to SFC Concetta D’Angelo/Producer Michele Montecalvo
- Best Animated Short by a Female Non-Student - Meeting Macguffin, Catya Plate
- Best Animated Short by a Female Student - Laymun, Catherine Prowse
- Best Virtual Reality Work - Fly, Ji-Young Kang
- Best Experimental Film - Nothing A Little Soap and Water Can’t Fix, Jennifer Proctor
Audience Awards
- Audience Award for Documentary - The Road Less Traveled, Marissa Plaia & Family Unwritten, Yasmin Mistry
- Audience Award for Fiction - Tira Misu (SFC) Co-Directors Marina Esparza & Shala Franciosa
- Audience Award for Animation - Laymun, Catherine Prowse
2018 Festival Preview
2018 Film Schedule
Program 1: March 19, 6pm
Title | Director | Country |
ur dead to me | Yonoko Li | New Zealand |
Spinosaurus | Tessa Hoffe | Scotland |
The Road Less Traveled | Marissa Plaia | US |
165708 | Josephine Massarella | Canada |
Family Rewritten | Yasmin Mistry | US |
Nothing a Little Soap & Water Can’t Fix | Jennifer Proctor | US |
LGBTQ Comes Out to SFC | Concetta D’Angelo Michele MonteCalvo | US |
Laymun | Catherine Prowse | UK |
Program 2: March 20, 3:30pm
Title | Director | Country |
Risk | Lauren E. Johnson | US |
Cultural Appropriation | Simran Sharma | US |
The Story of a Motorbike | Junqing Duanmu | China |
Celia | Clare Maceda | US |
Celebrating 55 by Protesting 45 | Mary Dalton | US |
I Wait | Megan Gonzalez | US |
#MeToo PSA | Alexandra Kenny & Alyssa Hernandez | US |
Program 3 March 23, 1:20 pm
Title | Director | Country |
Ok, Mum | Eva Lanska | UK |
Meeting MacGuffin | Catya Plate | US |
Voices from Kaw Thoo Lei | Marth Gorzycki | US |
Commercial for the Queen of Meatloaf | Dina Fiasconaro | US |
Program 4: March 22, 12 noon
Title | Director | Country |
The Living Girdle | Judith Henry | US |
Elephant | Shannon Plumb | US |
Lana | Amy Podmore | US |
Theme & Variations | Yulia Lanina | US |
Fall | Kathryn Ramey | US |
Kicking Up Dust | Angela Ellsworth | US |
Untitled | Ana Dantas | Brazil |
Our Summer Made Her Light Escape | Sasha Waters-Freyer | US |
Take the Wild | Krista Davis & Cari Tangendal | Canada |
Program 5: March 22, 4:30pm
Title | Director | Country |
Ace and Anxious | Bri Castellini | US |
25% | Pamela Mathues | Spain |
For Mom | Savannah Joeckel | US |
Filipina | Maribel Apuya | US |
Ready for a Baby | Anastasia Dyakova | Australia |
Tira Misu | Marina Esparza | US |
2018 Festival Schedule
Monday, March 19 - FOUNDERS HALL
- 2:00pm - Screening of Shoes (1916) by silent film director Lois Weber with live piano accompaniment by the amazing Ben Model
- 4:00pm - Panel on the Past, Present, and Future of Women's Film Production with:
- Academy Award nominee Immy Humes,
- VR Innovator Theresa Loong, and
- Kate Saccone of the Women Film Pioneer's Project at Columbia University
- 5:15pm - Opening Reception
- 6:00pm - Screening Program #1
Tuesday, March 20- FOUNDERS HALL
- 11:10am - Social Media Charm School, a workshop on how to craft your personal brand in social media led by Seed & Spark crowdfunding guru Christina Raia
- 1:20-3:20pm - Pitch Workshop led by Seed & Spark crowdfunding guru Christina Raia. Learn how to pitch your film or business from a pitch master
- 3:30-4:30pm - Screening Program #2
- 4:30-6:00pm - From #MeToo to #ActToo: Taking Action for Culture Change - Callahan Center
- Join Mary Iannone (Breakthrough US) & Urvashi Gandhi (Breakthrough India) representatives from Breakthrough, a global human rights nonprofit, to discuss the future of #MeToo in both the United States and India. They'll discuss how to turn this powerful moment into a sustainable movement to create real culture change. Iannone and Gandhi will run through workshop ideas for daily actions anyone can take to change our environments, disrupt gender norms, and help to ensure no one else ever has to say #MeToo.
Thursday, March 22 FOUNDERS HALL
- 12:00pm - Experimental
Shorts Program curated by Roberta Bonisson
- Program#4
- 1:20pm - Breaking Boundaries: VR & Immersive Story Telling Panel with
- Lisa Russell
- Christian Delsol
- Ellen Pearlman
- 2:30pm - VR Viewing
- 3:30pm - Panel - Filmmaking & entrepreneurship: Manage your Entertainment Business with
- Thembisa Mshaka,
- Lauren Magura of Cinematcher, and
- Marie-Helene Carleton of ScreeningRoom.org
- 4:30pm - Screening Program #5
- 5:30pm - Awards Ceremony
- 6:30pm - Reception
NOTE: NEW DATE
Friday, March 23 - MARONEY FORUM FOR ARTS, CULTURE & EDUCATION
- 11:30am-1:00pm - Rising Up: #GALSNGEAR presents Global Perspectives on the Celluloid Ceiling
- Filmmaker and Celluloid Ceiling author Gabrielle Kelly and
- Editor Meaghan Wilbur from 2 Dope Queens (HBO)
- 1:20pm - Screening Program #3
- 3:00pm - Making Media for Social Change: Screening & Panel with
- documentary Filmmaker Lisa Russell, who will be screening Heroines of Health,
- and Leslie Wright from the Zonta Club of New York, who will introduce an excerpt from Little Stones by Sophia Cruz.
2017 Film Festival
2017 Festival Schedule
Tuesday, March 28 - 9:30am - 4:00pm
- 9:30am Opening address
- 9:45am Film Screenings
- 11:00am - 12:30pm Panel discussion - Women's Filmmaking Past, Present, Future: Why Women's Media Making Matters
- Ally Acker - Film Historian, Filmmaker, author Reel Women, a two volume work on Women in Cinema from the Silent Era to 2010
- Debra Zimmerman - Executive Director, Women Make Movies
- Isabel Sandoval - Director, Apparition
- 12:30-2:00pm Film Screenings
- 2:00pm - 3:30pm Crowdfunding Workshop - Financing your Film
- WORKSHOP LEADER: Christina Raia of Seed and Spark - social media /audience building and maintenance
- 4:00pm -5:30pm Filmmaker Roundtable Event
- Building Bridges – The Art of Networking (Festival filmmakers only)
- April Yvette Thompson (Producer: Blue Caprice, Mother of George, Gun Hill Road)
- 11:00am - 3pm Film Screenings with Q & A
- 3:00pm- 4:00pm Panel Discussion - Making it Happen: Filmmaking as Entrepreneurship
-
- Stacey Holman
- Producer, Tell Them We are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities and Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
- Director, Dressed Like Kings
- Lauren Magura - Cinematcher, a new app for finding crew members for film shoots
- Lisa Russell - StoryShifter
- Stacey Holman
- 4:00pm-5:45pm Film Screenings
- 5:45pm-6:30pm Awards ceremony and reception
- Best Narrative Short by a Female Student
- Best Documentary Short by a Female Student
- Best Narrative Short by a Female Non-Student
- Best Documentary Short by a Female Non-Student
- Best Documentary by an SFC Student
- Best Animated Film by a Female Student
- Best Animated Film by a Female Non-Student
Wednesday March 29th 11:00-6:30pm
Awards & Prizes
Schedule of Films

Magaly Colimon-Christopher
Co-Founder/Director
"It started with an impression I got that young female artists were more reticent to express themselves than I was when I was their age. This impression evolved into a desire to give them a platform to be seen and heard. The desire sparked a conversation with Augusta Palmer, during which I discovered I wasn't the only professor who was concerned about the muted voice of female film students. Augusta and I went back-and-forth analyzing the pros and cons of co-founding a film festival, until a rush of determination and optimism turned a series of conversations into hours of co-planning, team work and co-recruiting. Our collaboration resulted in the first ever St. Francis College Women's Film Festival in 2016."
In addition to co-directing the festival, Magaly is an Adjunct Professor in St. Francis College's Communications Art Department. Magaly is also a professional actress/writer/director. Her acting credits include national commercials, prime time television, and regional theater productions. Magaly's directing credits include "Yes Madame" (screening selection at the Pan African Film Festival, Martha's Vineyard Film Festival, Reel Sisters Film Festival, and BHERC Film Festival). Her director/writer credits also include BN4REAL (web series), short film HER TORY (short film), and 2Divas and a Camera (short film series). St. Francis College has recently produced staged readings of her plays THE HUNTING SEASON and BAMBOO UNDER RUBBLE. She is a true East Coaster. She earned her BA at Columbia College, her MBA from Binghamton University, and her MFA from Yale School of Drama.
2017 Festival Opening Remarks
Panel Discussion: Why Women's Media Making Matters
Partners
Panelists
Ally Acker
Ally Acker is a filmmaker and poet. Her most recent film is Reel Herstory: The REAL Story of Reel Women, hosted by Jodie Foster, based on her two-book collection, Reel Women: Pioneers of the Cinema, The First Hundred Years. The original 1989 edition was hailed groundbreaking as the first book on the market to reveal the transformational role women played in film since 1896. Acker also directed the ten documentary collection, Filmmakers on Film. Acker’s last film, The Flowering of the Crone: Leonora Carrington, Another Reality, is the only film produced in the U.S. about the great Surrealist. Acker appears in The Women Who Run Hollywood, which premiered at Cannes last May.
Debra Zimmerman
Debra Zimmerman has been the Executive Director of Women Make Movies since 1983. For 10 of the last 11 years films from WMM have won or been nominated for Oscars. She is in great demand around the world as a speaker on independent film distribution, marketing and financing. She is a member of numerous Advisory Boards for many media organizations, a jury member for many international film festivals, and regularly sits on foundation and government funding panels. She is the recipient of New York Women in Film and Television's Loreen Arbus Award and the Hot Doc's Doc Mogul Award, given to those who "over the course of their career has made an essential contribution to the creative vitality of the documentary industry, both in his or her country or abroad."
Isabel Sandoval
Isabel Sandoval is a New York-based Filipino filmmaker. Her second feature film, "Apparition", won the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NetPAC) Award at the recently-concluded 2012 Hawaii International Film Festival after having its international premiere in competition at the 2012 Busan International Film Festival (New Currents category). U.S. trade magazine Variety gave "Apparition" a rave review: an "outstanding" sophomore feature that is "intelligently scripted" and "deeply moving". In July 2013, The Museum of Modern Art screened "Apparition" for a week as part of their ContemporAsian series.
Christina Raia
Christina Raia is a New York City based Writer/Director, the Founder of CongestedCat Productions and a Crowdfunding Specialist at Seed&Spark. Her work, a collection of short films, a web series, and a feature film, has gained a large online following through multiple crowdfunding campaigns. She has been covered by press outlets such as Indiewire, AfterEllen, and BuzzFeed. She also turned her desire to foster collaboration and engagement in the local film community into IndieWorks, a monthly film screening series showcasing and supporting the work of other independent filmmakers in New York.
Seed & Spark
Seed&Spark is the world’s only streaming and crowdfunding destination, supporting inclusive films and film-related projects with funding, audience building, and distribution. At the heart of our popular “Crowdfunding to Build Independence” workshop is our dedication to connecting filmmakers with their audiences. Identifying, and then enthusiastically engaging, your supporters is essential to a career of successfully funding and distributing your films. That's why in our class, we teach you how to find and engage your fans, run an effective crowdfunding campaign, and then distribute your film—all while preparing you to make your next film. Because after all, this class isn’t about crowdfunding: it’s about career building. Your film career starts here!
April Yvette Thompson
SimonSays Entertainment's Director of Development, April Yvette Thompson is a Tony-winning producer/writer/actor working across media. Producer: Blue Caprice, Mother of George, Gun Hill Road, Porgy & Bess, Jitney. Actor: Blue Caprice, Gotham, Blue Bloods, The Exonerated Accidental Husband, Law & Order. Broadway/Off Broadway: Clybourne Park, Medea, King Lear, Macbeth, Liberty City, Fit for a Queen. Playwright: Good Bread Alley & Liberty City (Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Lucille Lortel noms). Education: Vassar College & Rutgers University.
Stacey Holman
Stacey L. Holman is a Harlem based independent producer/director whose work has screened Nationally and Internationally. She recently wrapped on the PBS documentary Tell Them We Are Rising the Story of Black Colleges and Universities as Producer which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. In addition, she produced and directed the award-winning shorts Mirar Mirror and Girl Talk and has produced content for Centric TV. Stacey’s work also expands to South Africa where she’s finishing a documentary, Dressed Like Kings, on a group of fashionable Zulu men. She’s a graduate of Dillard University and NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Lauren Magura
Lauren is the founder and CEO of the entertainment job matching app Cinematcher. She came up with the idea of Cinematcher through her passion for connecting people within the entertainment industry. The true dedication of everyone in the industry, and the need for a simpler hiring process influenced Lauren to put Cinematcher into motion. Lauren has a background from Universal Pictures in marketing and film and oversees all aspects of Cinematcher.
Lisa Russell
Lisa Russell is an Emmy-winning filmmaker with a Masters in Public Health who has been producing films and creative advocacy campaigns on pressing global development topics for UN/NGO agencies for the past 10+ years. With a passion for arts and storytelling to help change narratives of humanitarian type content, Lisa has released "StoryShifter", a new online platform for the social good, driven by machine learning and data analytics. Lisa currently lives in Brooklyn and is a teaching artist for young spoken word artists and also leads digital storytelling workshops. For more info visit www.lisarussellfilms.com. Twitter: @lisarussellfilm