Female Focused '51Fest' Features Jam Packed Program With Comedies, Docs, And In-Depth Discussions

With the tagline “The Female Majority on Screen,” a new festival celebrates the voices, visions, and stories of women through compelling screenings and conversations. 

Presenting content all by or about women, the inaugural 51Fest opens in New York today. 

The title of the event refers to the fact that women make up more than half of the population. 

The festival builds on the mission of the Women in the World Summit, founded by Tina Brown in 2009. The summit amplified women’s voices from around the globe by convening female activists, artists, CEOs, peacemakers, entrepreneurs, and dissidents to share their remarkable, often untold, stories. 51Festis presented by Women in the World in partnership with IFC Center.

The opening night event at New York City’s SVA Theatre features Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story, a docu-comedy focused on the fallout from the comedian’s infamous photo holding a mask of Donald Trump’s likeness and her battle to reclaim her life and career. After the screening, Griffin will sit down in conversation with Brown.

Over the course of four days, 51Fest will offer audiences premieres of feature films, series and documentaries, followed by in-depth discussions with creators and stars. 

The program includes the New York debuts of After the Wedding, with producer and star Julianne Moore in person for a post-screening conversation; British thriller Official Secrets,starring Keira Knightley as an Iraq War whistleblower, followed by a discussion with HuffPost editor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen, award-winning Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, and real-life subject Katharine Gun; Brittany Runs A Marathon, which won the Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic Feature at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; For Sama, winner of the Oeil D’Or award for Best Documentary at this year’s Cannes Film Festival; and Untouchable, an incisive look at movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and the sexual assault allegations against him that came to light in 2017.

The festival also includes the world premiere of the first episode of Unbelievable,a new limited series drama starring Toni Collette, Merritt Wever and Kaitlyn Dever; theNorth American premiere of the Irish drama A Girl from Mogadishu;and a sneak preview of the comedy Otherhood, starring Angela Bassett, Patricia Arquette, and Felicity Huffman, directed by Sex and the Cityveteran Cindy Chupack. 

“The numbers are still really bad for women in the industry and until that changes, I think we need to keep outlining this kind of storytelling,” says Anne Hubbell, 51FestProgram Director of the need for the event. 

But, says Hubbell, this isn’t strictly about filmmaking and Hollywood statistics. “The content we’ve chosen addresses a lot of international issues. We’re going to have conversations about topics to contextualize them in ways that are universally relatable.”  

She adds that the selected pieces are purposefully varied, saying, “We have some  documentaries, like For Sama and Untouchable,but we also have some fun, uplifting narratives like Brittany Runs a Marathon.”

Mentioning the layered performances in After the Wedding and Unbelievable, Hubbell cites these pieces as examples that feature women’s stories from a variety of viewpoints and highlight unique methods of storytelling.

One of the events that Hubbell is most excited to present is centered around the documentary Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins, about the legendary outspoken journalist. 

“Molly opened the door for a lot of different voices to be heard and this film really celebrates her. I think there's a whole generation of people who don't know who she was and kind of wish that there were more people like her around now, really giving hell to the powers that be.”

A panel discussion with the film’s Janice Engel and actor Kathleen Turner, who played Ivins in the one-woman show Red Hot Patriot, moderated by Rachel Dry, a deputy politics editor at The New York Times, follows the screening. 

Another event that feels like a game-changer to Hubbell is a conversation entitled Women in the World Spotlight: Supermajority. 

During this program, Brown will sit down with Cecile Richards and Ai-jen Poo, the co-founders (along with Alicia Garza) of Supermajority, a new, inclusive organization that provides women with the tools, resources, and knowledge they need to channel the energy and activism of this moment and hopefully change the direction of this country.

The conversation will be introduced by filmmaker Yoruba Richen with an exclusive clip of the forthcoming documentary And She Could Be Next, a film about the movement of women of color working to claim political power.

Hubbell is quick to say that there was never a moment’s hesitation in highlighting Griffin, who for some is a controversial figure. 

“Tina was onboard from the new beginning to do that conversation and to make it opening night,” she explains. “After Kathy bottomed out, lost her job and friends, and was under investigation, she took what happened to her and spun in such a way that she shows the true resilience of women.”

Adding a bit more, Hubbell says, “ Regardless of what you think of Kathy Griffin or what you think you know of Kathy Griffin, I think it's going to be a really fun, interesting night. I think the conversation will priceless for those in the room.” 

With 11 programs, Hubbell says that 51Festis tightly scheduled to maximize impact. “While I don’t expect everyone to see everything, there is really something for everyone. And, I believe that even the stuff that seems the most intense - like some of the documentaries - will still be very entertaining and enlightening.” 

Hubbell also wants to reiterate that, “While this is certainly a feminist festival, it's not just for women. The storytelling and the movies are really great. They're entertaining, they're scary, they're funny, they're sad and they're illuminating. I would encourage everyone to come and check this out. There really is something for everyone.” 

If the initial 51Festis deemed a success by its organizers, additional events, possibly some in Los Angeles and other cities, may be added in the future.

The ‘51Fest’ runs from July 18th through July 21st. For more information and to get tickets, please visit thissite.

Source: Forbes.com

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