Women’s History Month: Free Screenings At Film Fest In Newark

NEWARK, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of Rutgers University-Newark. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here.

Women in Media-Newark (WIM-N) will hold its 10th annual International Film Festival from March 27 through April 5 in celebration of Women’s History Month. Working in conjunction with Rutgers University–Newark (RU-N), their major partner, WIM-N will host the film festival over nine days at seven venues: the Newark Museum; Paul Robeson Campus Center at RU-N; East Orange Public Library; Newark Public Library; Scotch Plains Public Library; 1978 Gallery in Maplewood, New Jersey; and WBGO radio studio. All events are free and open to the public.

"Each year our festival brings high-level content centered on global issues that confront women," said Pamela Morgan, executive director and founder of the festival. "It presents an amazing array of independent films from around the world that celebrate the indomitable spirit of women. Our theme this year is Voices in Black and White with a focus on major life transitions such as migration, aging, and human trafficking, in addition to films on human sexuality and the familial relationships that maintain society."

"Although the feature films are the anchor of the festival, the film shorts are nuggets bringing brief, often profound insights on myriad topics," she added. "As always, we’re impressed with the talent and expertise of the filmmakers who take part in our festival."

The opening ceremony will be on Wednesday, March 27 at the Newark Museum with the screening of Being Gladys, a documentary film about the life of artist Gladys Barker Grauer, who at 95 years of age, is considered to be the matriarch of Newark arts. The film, made by the New Jersey Film Maker’s Lab, takes a profound look at the correlation between Grauer’s life of art and her life of social/political activism. Girls on the Reel, an educational partnership between the Newark Museum and WIM-N formed to support girls who aspire to be filmmakers, will be announced on opening night.

New to the 2019 film festival is the inclusion of elements of the United Nation’s HeForShe initiative where men are afforded an opportunity to support equitable opportunities for women. Event coordinator Andrew Manns, Esq., will have male members of fraternal, social and other organizations attend the film screenings on March 29 to reflect on how they can help to develop a more just world for their mothers, wives, daughters and other female family members. There also will be a panel discussion on March 29 with theater veteran Woody King Jr., screen writer Richard Wesley, producer Indira Etwaroo, and filmmaker Nefertite Nguvu, focused on women in film and theater.

One of the hallmarks of the festival is the tribute paid to women who have made a significant contribution to the community. This year’s honorees are: Newark Museum Director Linda Harrison; Assemblywoman Linda Carter; RU-N Executive Vice Chancellor Sherri-Ann P. Butterfield; Express Newark Co-director Anne Schaper Englot; Newark Alliance Executive Director Aisha Glover; Columbia University professor and noted scholar Farah Jasmine Griffin; United Airlines pilot Carole Hopson; Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Founder and Executive Director Carolyn A. Butts; WIM-N Second Vice President Scott Pennington, Esq., and Unchained At Last Founder and Executive Director Fraidy Reiss.

Festival highlights include:

March 27
First Lady Tammy Murphy will be in attendance

• Recognizing Carter, Harrison, and Butterfield
• Screening Being Gladys, the documentary film chronicling the life of Gladys Grauer

March 28

New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way, Esq., will be in attendance

• Film shorts screening program
• Honoring Englot and Hopson
• A jazz concert by the Antoinette Montague Experience (Antoinette Montague, who is a Newark native, has traveled the globe with her music, always reminding her audiences that she is a product of Newark, New Jersey.)

March 29

• Honoring Pennington and Glover
• HeForShe screenings and panel discussion, followed by a social mixer at Clement’s Place

March 30

• Honoring Butts, Griffin, and Reiss
• Screening The Foreigner’s Home, a film focused on author Toni Morrison’s work on migration

April 1

• Screening of film shorts and the film She Did That, focused on woman entrepreneurs

April 2

• Screening of various film shorts focused on a woman’s role in the Egyptian revolution, voodoo-based human trafficking in Nigeria, and racial identity

April 3

• Screening of film shorts and A Thousand Girls Like Me, a feature documentary film focused on the experience of an Afghani woman who is the victim of incest

April 4

• Screening film shorts looking at women in art; Indian lesbianism; as well as feature Solace, starring Lynn Whitfield and Glenn Turman, with music by Meshell Ndgeocello

April 5

• Screening film short French Fries by television writer Janine Sherman Barrois and I Can Only Be Mary Lane about one of the last of the original blues singers

Co-sponsors of the Women In Media-Newark film series include RU-N Office of University-Community Partnerships/Office of the Chancellor, John Cotton Dana Library, Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, City of Newark, 1978 Gallery, East Orange Public Library, Newark Museum, Scotch Plains Public Library, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark School of the Arts, and WBGO-Newark Public Radio.

The film festival is free and open to the public, although donations are welcome. More information can be found by visiting www.WIM-N.com, call 973-996-8342 or email info@wim-n.com.

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