Cyberfeminists and Inspiring Leaders Take On the Big Screen

In honor of Women’s History month, MIT’s Program in Women’s and Gender Studies and the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies are co-organizing the fifth annual Women Take the Reel film festival. And there’s still two free screenings to go of the 17 women-directed films shown throughout March showcasing provocative issues like the work of women activists, cyberfeminism, and sexuality, race, and identity.

Upcoming films include Forbidden Voices: How to Start a Revolution with a Laptop to be screened on March 28. The documentary follows the dangerous work of three cyberfeminists—blogging activists using mobile technology, social networks, and the Internet as tools to fight for human rights and gender equality. During the film, Yani Sánchez is badly beaten for criticizing the Cuban government in her blog, which attracts more than 14 million readers each month. Farnaz Seifi of Iran is forced into exile for her outspoken protests online while Chinese blogger Zeng Jinyan is put on house arrest for four years for her blog fighting for freedom of speech and government transparency. “It takes courage to uncover the truth,” said Zeng Jinyan.

Off and Running: A Very American Coming of Age Story, set to be screened on March 31, is the story of a high school track star adopted into a white family and her quest to know her birth parents and understand her racial identity. “Do I feel black? I don’t even know what this is,” she said in the film.

The festival also presented Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, the story of Communist and Black Panthers activist Angela Davis and her sensational trial and eventual acquittal.

American Revolutionary follows the life of 98-year old Grace Lee Boggs, a Chinese American living in Detroit, and her important role in the civil rights, environmental justice, and women’s rights movements. In the movie, Boggs advises viewers to “keep recognizing that reality is changing and your ideas have to change. Don’t get stuck in old ideas.”

This year’s festival “shows figures that are still doing powerful work in the present,” said festival co-organizer Andrea Sutton. “These are voices that we can continue to be inspired by.” For Sutton, the series also gives students and the broader community a taste of what goes on in an MIT women’s studies course. “Film is a low bar of entry for students, and yet it is high content followed by very intellectually rigorous conversation.”

The festival mirrors the broader academic activities of the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies, an interdisciplinary collaboration of 11 Boston-area universities that developed the festival. During the festival, members of the consortium will be hosting free film screenings around Boston that conclude with conversation led by film directors, featured activists, or academics.

Visit Women Take the Reel for more information about the series and to attend a free screening. Can’t attend? Visit the site to read more about the individual films and host your own screening event.  

Collaborating institutions for Women Take the Reel include the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies and women and gender studies programs at Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University, Harvard University, Lesley University, Northeastern University, Simmons College, Tufts University, and MIT as well as Emerson College's Visual and Media Arts Program.