PRINTCitizen Jane Film Festival takes on an apocalyptic theme
A dystopian theme and 10 essentials give Citizen Jane film fanatics a busy agenda
Photos courtesy of Citizen Jane Film Festival
The Citizen Jane Film School panel in 2011 included Academy Award-nominee Julia Reichert, pictured far-left. This year, Reichert returns alongside critic Miriam Bale.
October 18, 2012 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Move over, boys. The girls are back in town. This year, Citizen Jane has invited
a new cohort of female filmmakers from around the world to showcase their films and celebrate its birthday.
“We’re 5 years old this year, and it really does feel like we’re a 5-year-old,” co-director Paula Elias says. “We’re still excited, exuberant and silly, but we’re walking and actually able to run a little bit.”
Related ArticlesA 2010 study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film found that women comprised only 7 percent of all directors working on the year’s top 250 grossing films. In 2011, it was 5 percent, and it’s been dwindling since. Elias and co-director Kerri Yost want to combat this unsavory statistic with the festival.
“We really believe that changing the world comes from looking at what is wrong and then deciding how it can be presented in a fun way,” Elias says. “Then everyone will want to jump on board.”
Each festival has a new theme. This year, it’s “The End is just the Beginning,” a dig at the so-called Mayan apocalypse. But for women in the film industry, the end of the world means a new start and a chance at better representation on the big screen.
It’s an inspirational theme that transcends the festival’s many apocalyptic activities. The Citizen Jane Film Festival showcases 29 film programs in three days, hosts one extraordinary dance party and offers all kinds of chances for Columbians to mingle with female filmmakers from China to the U.K. and all places in between.
Here are Vox’s must-see events and films of the festival that will have you thinking that the end of the world might be the start of something good.
