Thursday, September 08, 2005

University of Kentucky Women's Studies Fall 2005 Film Series

UK Women’s Studies Fall 2005 Film Series

Women’s Bodies: Culture, Politics and Health

Lovely and Amazing (Nicole Holofcener; 2001; 91 min.)
Wednesday, September 21, 7:00 p.m.
Gaines Center’s Bingham-Davis House, 218 E. Maxwell Street

“This smart, acidic comedy by the director of "Walking and Talking," could be described as a West Coast answer to "Sex and the City," minus that series' high-gloss glamour and erotic joie de vivre. Catherine Keener and Emily Mortimer are sisters, both attractive and in their 30's, who have major self-esteem problems and poor taste in men. Brenda Blethyn is their vain mother who develops complications after surgery for liposuction. The movie zeroes in on contemporary narcissism with a needling accuracy that illustrates exactly the way some people allow their insecurities to poison their intimate relationships”. ­ Stephen Holden, The New York Times

Commentary and discussion led by Susan Bordo, Otis A. Singletary Chair in the Humanities and internationally recognized writer/public speaker on gender and the body.

Writing Desire (Ursula Biemann; 2000; 23 min.)
Monday, October 10, 7:00 p.m.
Gaines Center’s Bingham-Davis House, 218 E. Maxwell Street
An experimental video essay on the new dream screen, Writing Desire explores the impact of the Internet on the global circulation of women's bodies from the third world to the first world. Although under-age Philippine 'pen pals' and post-Soviet mail-order brides have been part of the transnational exchange of sex in the post-colonial and post-Cold War marketplace of desire before the digital age, the Internet has accelerated these transactions. The video provides the viewers with a thoughtful meditation on the obvious political, economic and gender inequalities of these exchanges by simulating the gaze of the Internet shopper looking for the imagined docile, traditional, pre-feminist, but Web-savvy mate.

Commentary and discussion led by Baishakhi Banerjee, a sociology doctoral student from India who is completing her dissertation on the victimization of immigrant women in intimate partner relationships.

Senorita Extraviada/Missing Young Woman (Lourdes Portillo; 2001; 76 min.)
Wednesday, October 26, 7:00 p.m.
Gaines Center’s Bingham-Davis House, 218 E. Maxwell Street
Señorita Extraviada, Missing Young Woman tells the story of the hundreds of kidnapped, raped and murdered young women of Juárez, Mexico. The murders first came to light in 1993 and young women continue to "disappear" to this day (2005) without any hope of bringing the perpetrators to justice. Who are these women from all walks of life and why are they getting murdered so brutally? Moving like an unsolved mystery, the film is also the story of a city of the future; it is the story of the underbelly of our global economy. “A gripping investigative documentary…by Lourdes Portillo (whose 1986 doc "The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" was Oscar-nominated).”­David Stratton, Variety “…[A] meditative investigation…with real poetic power.”­Stuart Klawans, The Nation

Commentary and discussion led by by Francie Chassen-Lopez, professor of Latin American history whose research focuses on Mexico and gender in Latin America.

The Life and Times of Sara Baartman: The Hottentot Venus (Zola Maseko; 1998; 52 min.)
Tuesday, November 15, 7:00 p.m.
Gaines Center’s Bingham-Davis House, 218 E. Maxwell Street
When 20 year old Sara Baartman got on a boat that was to take her from Cape Town to London in 1810, she could not have known that she would never see her home again. Nor, as she stood on the deck and saw her homeland disappear behind her could she have known that she would become the icon of racial inferiority and black female sexuality for the next 100 years. Even after her death she remained an object of imperialist scientific investigation. “By combining the history and tragic destiny of Baartman, with the theories and racist imagination of the period...[this film] presents an implacable plea against racism.”-- Le Monde

Commentary and discussion led by Yolanda Pierce, associate professor of English, whose areas of specialty include African American literature and gender studies. Recently, she conceived of and coordinated "Black Women and the Body,” a UK conference held in March 2005.

All films free and open to the public

The Women's Studies Program thanks Kate Black for organizing this series.

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