Cincinnati Film Society Brings Diversity Of Film To Mainstream

Cincinnati Film Society takes part in the culture of mainstreaming access to diversity in entertainment of the moving image through its new film festival Women Behind Television & Film. We believe that there is room for film culture to evolve and, to do so, more women need to be empowered in the industry. The Women Behind Television and Film Festival August 20th - 29th in partnership with Mariemont Theatre presents a curated collection of some of the latest women-directed independent features and shorts;

The Film Schedule

Screening August 20- As it Seems
Director- Nancy Menagh
Description: Annette, a 1960's suburban housewife, comes face to face with her worst nightmare: the fear that her pretty (and youthful) maid, Mona, has seduced her husband, and may be plotting against her. Her fears are reinforced when their actions appear to be more and more suspicious. When decorating her home for a holiday party, she confides in her best friend, Shelley, who supports her suspicions and encourages Annette to act. At the party, Annette watches her husband give Mona a tin of cookies, and Mona flirtatiously laugh at his jokes. Finally pushed to the edge, Annette makes a decision from which there is no turning back. The result is the unraveling of the life she has created for herself, and the realization that not everything is as it seems. Runtime 19min

Lilith's Awakening
Director- Monica Demes
Description: A psychological horror art film that tells the story of Lucy, a sexually repressed woman trapped in a loveless marriage and a dead-end job at her father's service station in a small Iowa town. The highlight of her existence comes at night, when she dreams of a mysterious and beautiful woman who haunts the woods outside her modest home. One night, a mechanic who works for her father forces himself on Lucy, awakening in her an uncontrollable dark force. When he makes her promise to meet him later at his hideaway in the woods, it may be the girl of her dreams - not his - who shows up for the fateful rendezvous. Runtime 1hr 20min

Screening Aug 22- Happy Lucky Golden Tofu Panda Dragon Good Time Fun Fun Show
Directed by Emmy winning comedic TV star Carrie Preston (True Blood/Good Wife/Crowded).
Description: East Meets West in this live stand-up comedy, sketch, and rock n' roll/spoken word concert film fearlessly focused on Asian American themes: immigration, bowl cuts, math nerds, the model minority myth, orientalism, racial language, the inner life of American Asians. And Hello Kitty everything. Some Strong Language. Comedy is by stand up and sketch comic Kate Rigg(Fox's Family Guy, The Dr.Phil Show, NBC Late Friday, clubs etc). Music is by the duo Slanty Eyed Mama --electric violin fueled rock n roll spoken word. Their previous live show "Birth of a nASIAN" was invited to the Smithsonian Institute, Taped for Comedy Central's Online portal, excerpted for PBS and toured internationally.

Meet Slanty Eyed Mama: two good Asian girls gone bad-assed. Virtuosic electric violinist Lyris Hung (who has also played with Jay-Z, The Indigo Girls and Bono) and Comedian/Actor Kate Rigg started their collaboration while still students at the Juilliard school where they began experimenting with funky urban asian spoken word, comedy and rock and roll. Upon graduation they began touring the world-- performing multimedia concerts celebrating the Asian American experience. Invited twice to the Smithsonian with previous shows, featured on PBS, LOGO, Pacific TV, and headlining major music and comedy festivals they are a force to be reckoned with! For this film, they bring their 'Nuyorasian' flow (New York streets meets Asian American style) to the stage as a live concert mashed up with edgy stand-up comedy and wild sketches all shot on location around New York City. They take on some of the biggest issues and cultural tropes forming the Asian immigrant experience with a crazy sense of humor and a musical medit-asians on contemporary culture. TV Comedy star and award winning director Carrie Preston (a fellow Juilliard alum) directs with an eye for the absurd, the heartfelt themes under the music, and the immediacy of live performance for a truly unique film experience. Runtime 1hr 15min

The Gift of the Magpie Director: Anita George
It's carpe diem for a couple of small time drifters on Christmas Eve 1934. Runtime 11min

Screening August 27th- Blue Goes Green: Net Zero Police Station
Director Laure Quinlivan, is a two-time Peabody Award-winning filmmaker whose work has also been honored with 18 EMMYs.
Description: The first city in the U.S. to build a Net Zero Energy police station is a surprising one, sure to inspire local governments across the country to go for maximum sustainability in their buildings. Cincinnati's new model to engage citizens in construction also improved police-community relations, produced better design and beloved public art. Runtime 26min

August in Berlin
Director - Becky Smith, is an Emmy-nominated director for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which won a Series Emmy the same year.
Description: The chance meeting of a German and an American in a Berlin coffee house unravels their carefully constructed lives. Runtime 1hr 18min

Screening August 29th- Refill An elderly woman is forced to confront her anxiety when it appears as a stressed out, twenty year-old, ready to prove her worth. Runtime 11min

Mia
Director - Estelle Van Der Linden,
Description: Anna and Reza is a perfectly married couple when their marriage is suddenly shaken by a woman named Mia. Strange things starts happening in the house, then Anna's best friend is brutally beaten and Anna sees her husband with another woman at the office, it turns out Mia was behind all of it. Anna then finds out that Mia is her childhood friend who was in love with her when they were kids and now she's back for Anna's love! Anna has to fight for her life before Mia kills her entire family. Runtime 1hr 16min