Doc Watchers Presents A Women's History Month Special

Thursday, March 20th, 7:00pm

Doc Watchers Presents A Women's History Month Special

Curated by Hellura Lyle

The Exhibition

Damon Vignale,2013, 92 min.

In an attempt to deflect the public gaze away from Canada's most notorious serial killer and onto the lives of his victims, artist Pamela Masik creates paintings of the murdered women. However, her work is quickly met with a backlash from the victims' families and the Vancouver Aboriginal community. Over a six year period, The Exhibition follows Masik’s struggle to exhibit this collection of paintings, and the public outcry that ensued.  All of this amidst a shocking murder trial; an inquiry into the police department’s failed investigation; and the families’ search for answers in Canada’s largest serial murder case in history. Unafraid to confront moral ambiguity, The Exhibition examines every nuance of the debate over whether her work is art, tribute, or exploitation.

Q&A (via Skype) with director following the screening.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LUUpY1n2I0

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/584000

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/570360526394109/

Doc Watchers Presents A women History's Month Special

Thursday, March 13th, 7:00pm

Doc Watchers Presents A Women's History Month Special

(A Special Co-Presentation with the New York African Film Festival)

Curated by Hellura Lyle

Joy, It’s Nina

Jane Thorburn, 2012, 34 min

Shot in England and Nigeria and performed and written by Joy Elias-Riwan, this evocative and original film builds on the experiences and emotional lives of West African women living in the UK separated from their families. The stories are based on news and court reports and Joy Elias-Rilwan's own life, including voicemails left on her answer-machine by the legendary singer Nina Simone, her friend and self proclaimed 'Spiritual Mother'.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibmmCjHCtJs

Menstrual Man

Amit Virmani, 2013, 63 min

There are men who squirm at the mention of a woman’s period, and then there’s Arunachalam Muruganantham. Considered a madman and pervert by his community, he ignored his detractors and made his dream—low-cost sanitary pads made by and for rural Indian women—a reality. Menstrual Man is the inspiring story of a hero who rises above poverty and a lack of education to become a superstar social entrepreneur in the business of breaking cultural taboos and re-inventing the economic pyramid. Muruganantham is leading a movement, not a company. And it’s spreading.

Q&A (via Skype) with director Amit Virmani following the screening.

Trailer: http://youtu.be/S3567Hx_U98

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/583980

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/349371178539007/

Doc Watchers Presents: A Women's Hostory

Thursday, March 6th, 7:00pm

Doc Watchers Presents A Women's History Month Special

(Presented in association with Asian Cinevision, producer of the 37th Asian American International Film Festival, July 23 - August 2, 2014), Third World Newsreel, the Guillermo Morales-Assata Shakur Center, the Sisters Circle Collective, Universal Zulu Nation and the Peoples Survival Program

Curated by Hellura Lyle

American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs

Grace Lee, 2013, 82 min

When we think of the Civil Rights Movement, we tend to overlook leaders like 98 year-old Chinese American Grace Lee Boggs. As an activist, writer and philosopher, Boggs was not only deep in the trenches during the Civil Rights Movement, but continues to be a pivotal figure in minority rights to this day. Much of Boggs’ work has centered on Detroit and the racial discrimination that plagued the city.

As she wrestles with a Detroit in ongoing transition, Boggs emerges with an approach that is radical in its simplicity and clarity: revolution is not an act of aggression or merely a protest. Revolution, Boggs says, is about something deeper within the human experience — the ability to transform oneself in order to transform the world. In an age when seemingly insurmountable injustices and contradictions face us, American Revolutionary inspires concerned citizens and dreamers of all ages with new thinking to sustain their struggle and engagement.

Angela Davis, Bill Moyers, Bill Ayers, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Danny Glover, Boggs’s late husband James Boggs and a host of Detroit comrades across three generations help shape this uniquely American story.

Skype Q&A with director Grace Lee followed by a reception.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNTDB_mBTeA

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/583974

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/405037942973964/