Dmae features the 7th annual Portland Oregon Women’s Film Festival (POWFest) which runs  March 6 – 9, 2014 at the Hollywood Theatre. We’ hear from Christine Autrand Mitchell  programming manager of POWFest and filmmakers Kimberly Warner (in studio) and special guest Joanna Priestly (via phone).  

We’ll also hear a feature interview with playwright David Zellnic talking about defunkt Theatre’s production of Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom. 

(encores 11am 3/1 on KZME 107.1fm)

Christine Austrand Mitchell & Kimberly Warner
Christine Austrand Mitchell & Kimberly Warner

POWFest is the only film festival in Portland and one of a handful nationally that  spotlights women directors by showcasing their work and strengthening the community of women in film. We’ll get a round up of films and feature two local filmmakers. 

See the POWFest Full Schedule: http://powfest.com/2014-festival-schedule/

Some film highlights:

9
Directed By: Kimberly Warner
USA / 17 min, Screening: Sunday, March 9, 2014 at 12:00 PM
Screens in Shorts IV: Animation & Experimental
Location: Hollywood Theatre
http://www.9film.tumblr.com/lg_357-1

Standing on the threshold between innocence and experience, a young ballerina glimpses a hidden truth about her future as she teeters between light and dark, order and chaos. 9 is a coming of age tale about the mysterious and sometimes frightening initiations that usher us into our becoming.

Redemption Trail (opening film)Redemption-Trail_1a-300x168
Directed By: Britta Sjogren
USA / 91 – Screening: Thursday, March 6, 2014 at 07:15 PM
Location: Hollywood Theatre
http://www.redemptiontrail.com

Redemption Trail is a contemporary Western about two powerful, yet deeply troubled women –  refugees from political and personal trauma — who have both chosen to flee a past that haunts them.   The daughter of a murdered Black Panther revolutionary, Tess, (LisaGay Hamilton) lives off the grid on a Sonoma vineyard, fiercely detached from all connections. Her hermetic life cracks when she gives reluctant shelter to a desperate young woman, Anna (Lily Rabe) who has attempted suicide in a nearby woodland.  An unlikely alliance forms between the two, where other close relationships have failed.

Guest of Honor: An Evening with Joanna Priestleyjp_sugden-199x300
Directed By: Joanna Priestley, USA / variou
Screening: Sunday, March 9, 2014 at 7:00pm
Location: Hollywood Theatre
POWFest is honored to present a retrospective of award-winning filmmaker Joanna Priestley’s films as our closing night engagement on Sunday, March 9th at 7:00 pm. Please join us for a unique evening of animated films and conversation. Reception to follow.

“Priestley has spent the past 25 years pushing the boundaries of the genre with inventive, often irreverent shorts on topics such as aging, prison and plants.” —Sharon Mizota, Los Angeles Times

MEI MEIMEI-MEI_1_2014-204x300
Directed By: Dmae Roberts &
edited by T. Howard
USA / 6 min
Screening: Friday, March 7, 2014 at 6:45 PM
Plays with La Valle’e des Larms (The Valley of Tears)
Location: Hollywood Theatre

A short film adapted from Dmae Roberts’ radio documentary ‘Mei Mei, A Daughter’s Song” first heard on NPR in 1989. Using the original radio piece as a soundtrack, the film mixes dramatized and archival footage, historical photographs and illustrations to tell the story of Dmae asking her mom, Chu-Yin Roberts about her childhood in Taiwan when she was sold as a child during WWII, suffering abuse, starvation and how she was saved by a female Buddha. This is the first film of a larger half-hour film adaption of the award-winning radio piece.

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And in the latter part of the show, we’ll hear a feature interview of playwright David Zelnick  on the West Coast premiere of his award-winning  play Let A Hundred Flowers Bloom at defunkt Theatre.

Let A Hundred Flowers Bloom
February 14-March 22, 2014
by David Zellnik directed by Paul Angelo

It’s 1996 and advances in AIDS medications leave a group of men who faced near certain death a sudden, unexpected hope for a future. Puppy is a writer of pornography with a Marxist slant; an accident has left him confined to a wheelchair but his sexual fantasies know no limit. Sexually frank, hilarious, and deeply moving, this award winning play is a West Coast premiere, and playwright David Zellnik will be visiting Portland during the run.

defunkt Theatre is located at:
4319 SE Hawthorne , Portland, OR 97215
https://www.boxofficetickets.com/bot/wa/
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