Two films - two different points of view. That's one way to sum up the selections for the Women and Gender Studies Film Festival on Saturday, March 13 at Oakland University.
The program runs from noon to 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by a panel discussion with OU faculty members Patricia Wren, Flora Dallo, and Kellie Hay. Also joining the panel will be Marta Prescott of Columbia University.
“Lioness” (2008), a film by Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers, is a study of the emotional and psychological effects of war as told through the experiences five women – known as Team Lioness -- who served Iraq for one year.
In addition to participating in combat missions, including traffic control points (TCPs,) the women performed what were called Lioness Missions. The female soldiers would search out women and children and try to communicate with them.
Watch the "Lioness" trailer here:
"My Home -- Your War" (2007), a film by Kylie Grey, was filmed in Iraq over a three-year period. The film looks at the war through the eyes of Layla Hassan who lives with her husband and son in the district of Adhamiya at the heart of Sunni resistance.
Hasan participated with the filmmakers without the consent of the Iraqi government.
Watch the "My Home -- Your War" trailer here:
What gives these two films a feminist perspective is that, in addition to focusing of women's lived experiences, they both make the political personal by putting faces on both sides of the Iraq conflict.
Both filmmakers employ distinctly feminist methods of personal interviews, journal excerpts, and archival footage.
The result is powerful.
The 27th Annual Women and Gender Studies Film Festival runs Saturday, March 13, from noon - 5:30 p.m. in 156 North Foundation Hall. The event is free, but donations are appreciated.
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