Welcome 10 award-winning female film directors to Port Townsend with screenings of their work at the Rose and Rosebud Theatres.
For the first time, PTFF brings you a spring festival with a very specific Focus: Women & Film. Screening times are 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Passes are $65, include your choice of reservations to see four films. Passes may be purchased online through Thursday at www.ptfilmfest.com.
Passes may also be purchased in person at the Port Townsend Film Festival’s office, 211 Taylor, Suite 401A or by calling 360-379-1333. Rush tickets will be sold for available seating outside the Rose lobby 15 minutes prior to screenings.
A special screening “Regarding Susan Sontag,” and a filmmaker’s roundtable discussion is Saturday night, March 28, at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St. The Saturday night event is for pass holders only and begins at 7 p.m.
THE FILMS AND FILMMAKERS
War Within the Walls
Director: Courtney Marsh will attend
Chau, a 16-year-old boy living in a Vietnamese peace camp for children genetically disabled by residual Agent Orange, battles with the reality of his dream to one day become a professional clothing designer.
Pink Smoke Over the Vatican
Director Jules Hart will attend
A visually rich and riveting documentary about 100 women ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church since 2002. The film begins with the early history of the church, to the seven women ordained on the Danube River in 2002, and provides a glimpse into the ministries of the courageous women ordained in Europe and North America over the past eight years.
Riding My Way Back
Director Robin Fryday will attend
A short documentary that chronicles one soldier’s journey back from the brink of suicide. At his most desperate and isolated, on 42 medications and suicidal, Aaron is introduced to the unlikeliest of saviors: a horse named Fred.
Hidden Pictures
Director Delaney Ruston will attend
Filmmaker Delanie Ruston experienced first-hand the silence that surrounds mental illness and documented in her award-winning film “Unlisted.” Through arresting images and poignant vérité scenes, the film explores questions such as how do families cope in countries where 80 percent of people with mental illness go without treatment? What happens when cultural framing of mental illness conflicts with potentially more effective treatments? How can a person be involuntarily hospitalized with no right to appeal, as is the case in half the world?
Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Round the World
Director Dana Nachman may attend
Liza Meak Producer/Journalist will attend
The Make-A-Wish story that took the world by storm and turned San Francisco into Gotham City for a day. The crowd-funded film chronicles how then-5-year-old Miles Scott got to live out his superhero dream with the help of the city, President Obama, and thousands of supporters by playing sidekick to the Caped Crusader in a series of staged missions as onlookers cheered him on.
The Vessel
Director Diana Whitten appears via Skype
The Vessel tells the story of Women on Waves, founded in 2000 to provide sexual health services, including early medical abortions (abortion by medication), on board a Dutch ship that floats outside the territorial waters of countries where abortion is illegal.
Farah Goes Bang
Director Meera Menon will attend
A road movie about a young woman hitting the campaign trail for John Kerry with two of her best friends. Along the way, and encouraged by her friends, she tries to lose her long lingering virginity. FGB is a valentine to the adventure of youth, female friendship, and political idealism.
World Fair
Director Amanda Murray
A short documentary exploring memory and amateur cinematography through a singular, spectacular event: the 1939 New York World’s Fair. On the heels of the Great Depression and with war mounting overseas, millions of people traveled to a former ash dump in Queens to catch a fleeting glimpse of a better future. The film weaves together the memories of former fairgoers—now in their eighties and nineties—with vibrant archival footage and a textured original score, transporting viewers to the futuristic and hopeful realm of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
Get Together Girls
Director Vanessa Crocini appears via Skype
In the mountains around Nairobi, Kenya, and more precisely close to the village of Ngong, there is a place where education, protection, creativity and initiative have come together to give hope for a better future and a great opportunity for a group of Kenyan girls. “Anita’s Home” is part of the Koinonia Community projects for former street girls.
Symphony of the Soil
Director Deborah Koons Garcia will attend
Unlike many recent documentaries about our careless stewardship of the planet, Deborah Koons Garcia’s “Symphony of the Soil” doesn’t feel like a rap on the knuckles. Unfolding with gentle joy and an unexpected beauty, this ode to the miracle of the Earth’s topmost layer gives us a newfound respect for the ground beneath our feet. Filming on four continents and with contributions from impassioned scientists, farmers and foodies, Ms. Garcia explains how dead dirt is transformed into living soil–and, perhaps more important, how many of our farming practices are effecting the reverse.
I Am Eleven
Director Genevieve Bailey appears via Skype
Australian filmmaker Genevieve Bailey traveled the world for six years talking with 11-year-olds to compose this insightful, funny and moving documentary portrait of childhood. From an orphanage in India, to a single-parent household in inner city Melbourne, to bathing with elephants in Thailand, “I Am Eleven” explores the lives and thoughts of children from 15 countries. The film weaves together deeply personal and at times hilarious portraits of what it means to sit at this transitional age.