Women working in Zambia’s Kafue National Park appear in “No Fear No Favor,” a Port Townsend Women & Film documentary opening Friday. The online festival features 18 movies plus interviews with the filmmakers. (Photo courtesy of Mirra Bank Films)

Women working in Zambia’s Kafue National Park appear in “No Fear No Favor,” a Port Townsend Women & Film documentary opening Friday. The online festival features 18 movies plus interviews with the filmmakers. (Photo courtesy of Mirra Bank Films)

Women & Film 10-day festival starts streaming Friday

Interviews with directors part of inclusive package

PORT TOWNSEND — Joy, music, love, sex, socialism, nose jobs, an environmentalist-drag queen: They are all part of Women & Film, the Port Townsend Film Festival’s spring offering starting Friday.

Eighteen movies — from shorts to narrative features — will be available for streaming during the 10-day event.

This year is the second online presentation of Women & Film, and festival executive director Janette Force finds herself surprised, even floored, by the content.

“I’ll start with ‘Dear Mother Nature.’ It wasn’t a film I expected to become so delighted by,” she said.

It is an introduction to Wyn Wiley (he/him), aka Pattie Gonia (she/her), a hiker who sashays up the trail in high-heeled boots and turns a camping tent into a drag ensemble.

The movie follows Wiley/Gonia as they meet with scientists and nonprofit leaders, rally the local community to lead a beach cleanup and partner with sustainable-fashion designer Angela Luna to create three dresses that personify the crisis.

All of this unspools in the 30-minute short film.

Authenticity is a current running through this year’s festival, Force said.

The films, plus interviews with the directors, are part of the package covered by the $45 all-access pass, on sale at PTfilmfest.com. The site also provides synopses and links to the film’s trailers.

The the festival office can be reached by emailing info@ptfilmfest.com or phoning 360-379-1333.

One pass provides viewing for the whole household, Force noted.

And as soon as Women & Film is underway, those who prefer to buy tickets to individual movies can get them for $10 each.

Here’s a sampling from the Women & Film program:

• “More Beautiful for Having Been Broken,” the story of an FBI agent who, after being suspended from her job, travels to a small mountain town she visited as a child.

• “No Fear No Favor,” a documentary shot over two years in Zambia’s Kafue National Park — one of the largest intact wilderness areas in the world — and in Kenya and Namibia, where community conservancies fight the illegal wildlife trade.

• “Like a Woman,” the story of 11 women who are breaking barriers in male-dominated professions.

• “Acting: The First Six Lessons,” director-actor Emily Bridges’ mix of narrative and documentary featuring her father Beau, uncle Jeff and grandfather Lloyd Bridges.

• “The Girl Who Wore Freedom,” a documentary about Normandy, France, and its people’s relationship with the Allied Forces who liberated their homeland on June 6, 1944, featuring interviews with French survivors and American veterans.

• “Behind the Name Shakespeare: Power, Lust, Scorn & Scandal,” a humorous look at who really wrote the works credited to William Shakespeare.

• “The Big Scary ‘S’ Word,” about socialism, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr. and what a new American socialism might look like.

• “The Dilemma of Desire,” a documentary about artist Sophia Wallace’s work to shatter myths and lies about female desire.

• “River City Drumbeat,” a rhythm-rich, multi-generational tale of the African American drum corps in Louisville, Ky.

On top of those features, Force has created a shorts program.

“How We See Ourselves” lays out six movies, all less than 40 minutes long. These range from the 24-minute “Miss Curvy,” about Uganda’s first beauty pageant for plus-size women, to the 12-minute “Feelings of Invisibility,” the story of Anne K. Abbott. Born with cerebral palsy, she paints with her index finger; her best friend narrates the film using Abbott’s journals.

The shortest short, the five-minute “Broken/Fixed,” is a conversation between an 83-year-old grandmother and her 17-year-old granddaughter about society’s expectations and their own complex relationships with their Jewish noses.

These films, Force said, are all about “how we see ourselves, and how film allows us to see ourselves in a different way.”

Viewers can watch — and re-watch — all of the Women & Film movies and interviews any time they like, she added. They can also take breaks and see any movie before or after watching Force’s interview with the filmmaker.

“The beauty of this is you can pause [the movies] and go back and see them with the perspective of having ‘met’ these directors. I’m continually dazzled by this opportunity,” she said.

Force has announced she’ll retire after the 22nd annual Port Townsend Film Festival Sept. 23-Oct. 3, so she’s at the wheel of her last spring Women & Film event.

The program, she said, showcases movies made by brave, bold female directors, actors and real-life pioneers.

And since it’ll be streamed worldwide, the films present “a great way to bond,” Force added, as far-flung friends and family members can watch the same films — and then discuss them by phone or online chat.

________

Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladaily news.com.

Girls Auto Clinic owner Patrice Banks is one of the professionals in “Like a Woman,” a Port Townsend Women & Film documentary opening Friday. The online festival features 18 movies plus interviews with the filmmakers. (Photo courtesy of Kelly/Mooney Productions)

Girls Auto Clinic owner Patrice Banks is one of the professionals in “Like a Woman,” a Port Townsend Women & Film documentary opening Friday. The online festival features 18 movies plus interviews with the filmmakers. (Photo courtesy of Kelly/Mooney Productions)

More in Entertainment

Cancan dancers such as these will perform at Hog Wild Goes to Moulin Rouge on June 28 at Field Arts & Events Hall in Port Angeles. (EnJoy)
Hog Wild event to feature dancers, acrobats

Tickets available for purchase through this weekend

Theatre group to host play to benefit food banks

The Wacky Wednesday Theatre Group will present “The Absolutely… Continue reading

A camping scene, circa 1895, with the McClinton brothers as the photographers. (North Olympic History Center)
History center to host reception for library exhibit

The North Olympic History Center and the North Olympic… Continue reading

Singer-songwriter to perform at Rainshadow Concerts

Dan Navarro will perform for Rainshadow Concerts at 7:30… Continue reading

Collage workshop set for Port Ludlow Art League meeting

Carol Nielsen and Pamela Raine will host a hands-on… Continue reading

Dance classes Saturday to honor longtime teacher

Drop-in dance classes, a flag retirement ceremony, concerts and stage performances highlight… Continue reading

The Wild Rose Chorale will present two concerts this weekend at Grace Lutheran Church. Singers are, from left, Pat Rodgers, Doug Rodgers, Chuck Helman, Al Thompson, Cherry Chenruk-Geelan, Mark Schecter, Sarah Gustner-Hewitt, Kris Lott, Leslie Lewis, Rolf Vegdahl, JES Schumacher, Lynn Nowak and Patricia Nerison. (Jo Tiffany)
Wild Rose Chorale to host weekend concerts

The Wild Rose Chorale will present “You’ll Be in… Continue reading

Tickets on sale for ‘Lion King Jr.’

Tickets for Ghostlight Productions’ “Lion King Jr.” are on sale.… Continue reading

Studium Generale to conclude with legacy of Paddle to Seattle

Peninsula College will finish this year’s Studium Generale schedule… Continue reading

Mary Marcial in the late 1990s.
Classes set to honor founder of Port Angeles Dance Center

Former dancers from the Port Angeles Dance Center will… Continue reading

Ken DeBuc, Toby Anderson and Anne Rutherford won the 2024 Liar’s Contest.
Liars Contest to be conducted at Field Hall on Thursday

The Story People of Clallam County will present its… Continue reading

“Adventuress Sunrise” by Mitchel Osborne is one of more than 50 artworks in Northwind Art’s online auction starting Monday. A pop-up gallery with all of the works on display is set for Tuesday and June 11 at the Cotton Building in Port Townsend. (Mitchel Osborne)
Art auction coming with Port Townsend pop-up gallery

Northwind Art will host its first Fundraising Art Auction… Continue reading