All IU Cinema public programming from Sept. 1 to Sept. 15 will focus on female directors, according to an IU press release.
The programming is part of an international movement, “Directed by Women,” which encourages film lovers to watch at least one film directed by a woman in that time frame.
“Directed by Women” was created by Barbara Ann O’Leary, IU Cinema social media specialist, who originally had a personal challenge to watch more woman-created films.
“To support my personal challenge, I created an online list of women film directors,” O’Leary said in the release. “And after the list grew to something like 7,000 women, I thought, ‘I’ll never be able to watch all these films. What if everybody around the world got together to watch these films? We need a party!’”
O’Leary received a bachelor’s degree in theater from IU and has managed IU Cinema’s social media since 2013, according to the release. She timed “Directed by Women” to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, which she attended.
IU Cinema’s selected events include “Last Days in Vietnam,” directed and produced by Rory Kennedy; “A Feast of Experimental Shorts,” coordinated by Wells Library Media Services; “Educational Films Directed By Women: Screening Science, Art, Nature and Gender in the Classroom,” hosted by IU Libraries Moving Image Archive; and additional film screenings at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Library, according to the release.
Other participants of the movement include the Portland Film Festival, the annual Scalarama festival in the United Kingdom and Ireland, branches of the Seattle Public Library, a group of female filmmakers in Spain, and Women Making Film — India, according to the release.
“It’s an opportunity for people to awaken a deep hunger for what women are creating and appreciate the diversity and range of what is being created,” O’Leary said. “And it’s also about the sheer joy and love of film and expanding your awareness.”
Cassie Heeke
