Being a media studies student at a women’s college has opened my eyes to exciting and refreshing content created by women, for women. The 2016 Los Angeles International Women’s Film Festival is no exception.
I was able to go to one of the six showings of the programs over the three-day event, and the eight shorts I saw had a theme of women defying social standards in unnatural industries and dystopian worlds. The shorts proved that women can and should be prominent, not only in the sci-fi genres the films associate with, but also in all films. The films are as follows:
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1. “Susie Sunshine” dir. Chelsea O’Connor
I admit I had a bias toward this film prior to seeing it. The concept of women supplying energy to the world through the power of knowledge and positivity prompted me to help fund the film on Kickstarter, and I was excited to see it was featured first in this set of films. The world built in this film was bright and warm, and felt so realistic. Leading actress Jessica Howell was brilliant (pun intended) as the head sunshine maker, whose duty it was to provide sunlight by flashing her smile for hours a day. The issues presented of ‘burning out’ from pressure and overexertion, as well as corporate male hierarchy controlling the energy makers very much mirror pressures women face today in the work place; I bet you’ve heard women being told to smile, or be positive, or to focus on your job. But what happens when your potential is so much more? "Susie Sunshine" deals with these questions in this film in a unique way that was a pleasure to watch. My rating: 9/10
2. “Manikin” dir. Deva Anderson
Manikin also documents women in a sci-fi inspired workplace, but in a bleak manner. Anderson does double duty as director and actress playing Tara, an individual who is tired of the messages relayed to her by the small, state-issued doll pinned to her jacket, and seeks change through rebellion. The doll very much acts as a terrible monotone motivational speaker, and mirror one-sided declarations society makes in order to promote productivity and sameness. Anderson’s role is easily relatable to women in the workplace, which is the large part of its success. This film challenges what it means to be motivated and innovative, and highlights how important it is to ‘break free from the norm.' My rating: 8/10
3. “Bullets at the Ballet” dir. Rachel Perlis
I would never have thought to combine ballet and assassins into a successful short. Subverting the ballet girl character into an ass-kicking assassin completely worked, and the choreography of the fight scenes were the strongest elements in the film. I was able to glance over the iffy staging of the stereotypically Bond-esque briefing scene to fully enjoy this short. The film highlights the under-appreciated strength of being a ballerina (in this case, a ballerina capable of taking any hit man down backstage before performing a dance solo), the outside lives these dancers may lead, and the twist ending that leaves you questioning their motives. My rating: 7/10
4. “The Delivery Girl” dir. Lauren Mandel, Julia Seales and Rachel Brittain
Three recent college graduate students directed this stunning film, and made me second-guess what I was doing with my life. The world that these three women built was an all-encompassing futuristic society where privacy doesn’t exist except in the form of whispered secrets by the teen employees of Cycle Express. The primary delivery girl in the film struggles with delivering messages while being hunted down by spies hired by private corporations. She is an example of women being in the line of danger, and yet doing their daily jobs as normal. The fight choreography and editing in the film is great, and for a first film the script and direction are promising. These girls will go far. My rating: 8/10
5. “Cold War” dir. Richard Grey
This film is a visual masterpiece. Taking place on a lake shore in northern Alaska during the Cold War, the overhead establishing shot of the lake and mountains paired with the landscape throughout the film is stunning and literally steals the show. There is no dialogue heard in the film, and yet the story conveys the intensity of the standoff between a Soviet soldier sneaking into the U.S. and a disguised female spy hunting him down. This film commemorates the forgotten women who aided in the war by fighting Soviets sneaking into the country, and does so beautifully. My rating: 9/10
6. "Ghost Tours” dir. Kristin Holodak
I always appreciate a ghost story, and was satisfied with the historical elements the director took in this film. In “Ghost Tours,” Sarah takes great pride in her ghost tour business and appreciates her mysterious coworkers, but at the cost of her schoolwork. This was the film that I most related to, as a struggling student balancing academia and social spheres with my passions and desires, such as the paranormal (which again, I relate to). The period costumes were made by an actress on the film and were well done. The ending was difficult to make sense of, because the audience does not gain substantial closure to Sarah’s predicament or the situations of her ghost tour coworkers. But maybe that's the point, we often don’t gain closure in the afterlife, and as ghosts, it is our mission to do so through haunting. My rating: 6/10
7. “The Room” dir. Silvia Cremaschi
Not to be mistaken by Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 film of the same name, “The Room” is a surreal experience into the trials and tribulations of a hat maker trapped in a moving train car, when she discovers she made a magical top hat that can transport her to different worlds. This film includes incredibly in-depth storytelling in such a short time, and I really felt for Anna in her situation. I empathized with her immediately; when a disembodied voice barks at her to work, to quit dreaming and to be productive, I too felt scared for her. This film creates a surreal and eerie environment, and was emotionally intense as you root for Anna to overcome the voice and escape. My rating: 9/10
8. “Driven” dir. Alexzndra Liveris
This documentary film was the outlier in a series of surreal and futuristic world-building. The film centers around 21-year-old student Julia Landauer and the very real situations of being a female in the male-dominated world of NASCAR racing. Her journey is incredibly inspiring as Julia talks about balancing school and driving, expenses and sponsorships. I congratulate her on her achievements seen in the film, and also congratulate the director on choosing to highlight a skill that many do not associate with women. I can’t help but feel that “Driven” is an important step in women gaining visibility in male-dominated sports such as this. My rating: 8/10
You can find out more about the Los Angeles International Women's Film Festival here.
