ACTOR HELEN MIRREN ENDORSES SIXTH WOMEN’S VOICES NOW FILM FESTIVAL
A Globally Inclusive, Online Women’s Rights Film Festival Celebration
Los Angeles, CA (March 8, 2019) — Women’s Voices Now (WVN), a 501(c)3 non-profit using the power of social-change media to advance women’s and girls’ rights, announces their 6th annual online film festival. In celebration of International Women’s Day, WVN invites the global public to view the winning films, online, from March 8 to March 31, 2019.
The title of this year’s festival is: We Are the Ones We’re Waiting For. The five winning films illustrate this theme by highlighting how traditional stereotypes of women characterize females as fragile and prone to victimhood. Character assumptions like these inform us that women are passive and infantile. In this paradigm, women become the prey of society’s darker elements. We Are The Ones We’re Waiting For portrays women in their truths: resourceful, indefatigable, brave, hopeful, and determined. They remind us that women need not wait for an external liberator. The hero — she is within.
“Women’s Voices Now carefully selects films and filmmakers to its festivals that have the capacity to catalyze positive social change. With a world that is so connected, yet, at the same time, so polarized, we need exposure to stories that remind us of our shared humanity. The winning films of ‘We Are the Ones We’re Waiting For’ tell stories that move us to empathy. When it comes to women’s rights we need empathy because we must all feel the necessity for this movement. After all, it is a human rights struggle, the success of which, ultimately, serves to improve the status of all,” said Helen Mirren, Actor.
“The winning films of the 2019 WVN Film Festival allow us to bear witness to some of the most difficult realities women face today and they task our hearts with remaining open. Our differences are certainly real, but where and when it matters — moments of suffering, joy, challenge, and victory — our needs and our desires are all the same,” said Heidi Basch-Harod, Women’s Voices Now Executive Director.
228 films from 43 countries entered this year’s festival to compete for cash prizes in the categories of documentary feature, documentary short, narrative short, experimental, and student/youth. To view the official film festival selection for 2019, click here.
HOW TO VIEW THE WINNING FILMS (MAR.8-31, 2019):
The winning films from the 2019 WVN Online Film Festival will be available to rent and view through Vimeo Pay-Per-View for $4.99, from March 8, 2019 (International Women’s Day) through March 31, 2019, via https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wvnfilmfest2019.
All proceeds from the Vimeo pay-per-view will go toward cash prizes for the 2020 WVN Online Film Festival.
ABOUT THE WVN ONLINE FILM FESTIVAL:
The WVN Online Film Festival is an annual festival that takes place around International Women’s Day. The festival celebrates and awards the best social-change films from around the world that highlight women in film and women’s rights issues.
Each year, films compete for cash prizes, media features and the opportunity to have their films added to the WVN Film Archive for global promotion and viewing. The Women’s Voices Now Online Film Festival is for films and filmmakers interested in exposure and advocacy, and teaming up with WVN to have their films seen around the world to bring audiences from empathy to action in the global women’s rights struggle.
ABOUT WOMEN’S VOICES NOW:
Women’s Voices Now (WVN), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, advocates women’s rights by using the power of social impact film to influence media and culture. Using an intersectional and intergenerational approach, we work online and on the ground to educate, inspire and move audiences from empathy to action by connecting conscientious filmmakers with agents of change, advocacy organizations, and civil society members. WVN carries out its mission with a free streaming archive of international women’s rights based films, an annual online film festival, educational programs, screening events, and multimedia workshops and trainings.Through our Fiscal Sponsorship Program, WVN supports the important work of filmmakers striving to create impactful and timely cinema addressing women’s rights issues. WVN has held special consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2017.
CONTACT: media@womensvoicesnow.org
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