Women's Voices Now Explained

Women's Voices Now (WVN) is an American non-profit organization that "uses film to drive positive social change that advances girls' and women's rights globally".[1] It organizes online short film festivals and other activities in its mission to "amplif[y] the voices of all women by promoting the free expression of women's struggles for civil, economic, political, and gender rights worldwide".[2] [3] [4] [5] In addition to its festivals, WVN expanded to include an archive of films, a publication, educational programs, screenings, workshops and training, as well as providing scholarships.[1] The organization was founded in 2010 by lawyer Catinca Tabacaru and philanthropist Leslie Sacks.[6] [7]

Festival history

The organization was founded in 2010, and its first film festival was held in 2011. Every festival has a theme; the first festival's theme was Women's Voices from the Muslim World: A Short Film Festival.[8] [9] The festival had over 200 films submitted from over 40 countries showcasing what life is like for women in the Muslim world. The 2014 festival's theme was Women Bought and Sold: Voices United Against Violence.[10] The third, fourth and fifth festivals were held in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively, with both the fifth and sixth occurring in 2019. Each film festival had winners for six main categories. The categories are the Leslie Sacks Grand Prize for best overall film; Best Documentary Feature; Best Documentary Short; Best Narrative Short; Best Experimental Film; and Audience Choice for the last four categories.[11] The prizes for some of the categories include: $3,000 for the Leslie Sacks Grand Prize, $2,000 for the winner in the Best Documentary Feature category, and $1,000 each for the winners in the Best Documentary Short and Best Experimental Film categories. The winners receive their prize once they deliver their acceptance speech to Women's Voice Now.

The festival participants agree to participate in the online festival, and submit the final cut without any advertisements (with subtitles if required, since the Festival's official language is English). The upload and submission must include a high-resolution digital copy of the film, along with three stills, a poster, and a trailer if the film has one. If the participant wins, they must allow their film to be screened at the festival's closing event, and allow it to be available on the website. The films must be about women (including trans women) and the issues they face in society today. To be eligible, the filmmakers must guarantee the film is entirely their content, and those in the film must all have consented to be filmed. The films vary in length as there is no time constraint.

Other programming

In addition to the yearly film festival, Women's Voice Now also hosts an online archive of the festivals' films,[12] as well as an online publication called The WVoice.[13] Like the film festival, The WVoice focuses on international women's rights and voices.[14] It publishes written, audio, and visual bodies of work that document women's stories and issues that educate and foster cultural difference and connections, and promotes and advocates for women's rights. The generally brief entries include essays, interviews, prose, short fiction, poetry, photo essays, and video essays under five minutes in length.[15] Women's Voice Now also runs workshops and training programs on what they do with their film festivals and how they support women's rights advocacy.[16]

Women's Voices Now also runs a youth development program, Girls' Voices Now.

2011 film festival winners

CategoryTitleDirectorCountry of OriginYear Made
DocumentaryHalf Value LifeAlka SadatAfghanistan2009
Breaking the SilenceAmmar BashaYemen2009
Thorns and SilkPaulina TervoWest Bank2009
NarrativeAgain LifeHassan FazeliAfghanistan2009
Francais Langue EtrangereKartik SinghFrance2009
SunglassesMustafa KiaAfghanistan2009
ExperimentalBasitaLaila HotaitLebanon2010
It is WrittenMostafa HeraviNetherlands2006
1700% Project: Mistaken for MuslimAnida Yoeu AliUSA2010
Student FilmJazbaa: A Strong WillRama BarhatIndia2010
Male and FemaleAhmed AdelEgypt2010
The UnveiledOla Diab and Shereena QaziQatar2009[17]

2014 film festival winners

CategoryTitleDirectorCountry of OriginYear Made
DocumentaryBreaking the Silence: Moroccans Speak Out!GlobalGirl MediaMorocco2013
MohtaramaN/AN/AN/A
In the Name of TraditionMay El HossamyEgypt2013
NarrativeSwapSayed Masoud IslamiAfghanistan2013
AabidaMaaria SyedIndia2013
The Virginity MinaretsFarhad RezaeeAfghanistan2013
ExperimentalTake CareAfrooz NasersharifIran2013
Get AlongParya VatankhahIran2013
The ReflexAli Mousavi and Hussein MousaviAfghanistan2013
Student FilmBehind the WheelElise LakerTajikistan2013
BlobfishUgur Ferhat KormazTurkey2013
A Chronicle of Tahrir SquareNour ZakiEgypt2014[18]

2017 film festival winners

CategoryTitleDirectorCountry of OriginYear Made
Leslie Sacks Grand PrizeMasoumehSona MoghadamIran2015
Best Documentary FeatureProfession: DocumentaristShirin Barghnavard, Firouzeh Khosrovani, Farahnaz Sharifi, Mina Keshavarz,
Sepideh Abtahi, Sahar Salahshour, Nahid Rezaei
Iran2015
Best Documentary ShortWomen of FukushimaPaul Johannessen and Jeffrey JousanJapan2012
Best Narrative ShortLeechesPayal SethiIndia2016
Best Experimental FilmBordersElizabeth MizonUnited Kingdom2015
Audience ChoiceSave GangamayaGopal ShivakotiNepal2016
Auto DriverMeena LongjamIndia2015
Best Audience ChoiceI Don't Like Her[19] Javad DaraeiIran2016
Memory of a HeartTribeny RaiIndia2016[20]

2018 film festival winners

CategoryTitleDirectorCountry of OriginYear Made
Leslie Sacks Grand PrizeQandeelSaad Khan and Tazeen BariPakistanN/A
Best Documentary FeatureHauntings in the Archive!Nina Hoechtl and Julia WiegerN/AN/A
Best Documentary ShortKayayo, the Living Shopping BasketsMari Bakke RiiseGhanaN/A
Best Narrative ShortSea ChildMinha KimN/A2015
Best Experimental FilmThe First of the Free GirlsAlexandra VelascoN/AN/A
Audience ChoiceBallad for SyriaEda Elif TibetN/AN/A
Kayan: Beyond the RingsMarko RandelovicN/AN/A
AverFelicia VillarrealN/AN/A
Beauty Fear ViolenceAnouk PhélineN/AN/A[21]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: About Us. 10 August 2021. Women's Voices Now. en-US.
  2. Web site: What we do. Women's Voices Now. 24 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160821231923/http://www.womensvoicesnow.org/mission. 21 August 2016. live.
  3. Web site: Ahmed. Quanta. 'The Women's Voices Now' Film Festival: Women's Voices From the Muslim World. Huffington Post. 24 July 2016. 8 October 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20160911223410/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/qanta-ahmed/the-womens-voices-now-fil_b_748714.html. 11 September 2016. live.
  4. Web site: Women's Voices Now Online Film Festival. Festival Focus. 24 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160819094443/http://www.festivalfocus.org/festival/3502/womens-voices-now-online-short-film-festival. 19 August 2016. live.
  5. Web site: Online Film Contest Focuses on Muslim Women. Voice of America. 24 July 2016. 3 November 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20150830122301/http://www.voanews.com/content/online-film-competition-focuses-on-muslim-women--106699379/162358.html. 30 August 2015. live.
  6. Web site: Leslie Sacks, founder and principal of Leslie Sacks Fine Art and Leslie Sacks Contemporary, dies at age 61. artdaily.com. 7 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20161011185931/http://artdaily.com/news/65698/Leslie-Sacks--founder-and-principal-of-Leslie-Sacks-Fine-Art-and-Leslie-Sacks-Contemporary--dies-at-age-61#.XKJD5phKjIV. 11 October 2016. live.
  7. Web site: New Kids on the Block: 5 Galleries to Keep Yours Eyes On in 2015. 2014-12-26. Observer. en. 7 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190507000820/https://observer.com/2014/12/new-kids-on-the-block-5-galleries-to-keep-yours-eyes-on-in-2015/. 7 May 2019. live.
  8. Web site: Women's Voices from the Muslim World. Women's Voices Now. 24 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160809003247/http://www.womensvoicesnow.org/2011-films. 9 August 2016. live.
  9. News: Women in the Muslim world, as captured on film. Vankin. Deborah. 22 March 2011. Los Angeles Times. 24 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160814042352/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/22/entertainment/la-et-muslim-women-films-20110322-1. 14 August 2016. live.
  10. Web site: Women Bought and Sold. Women's Voices Now. 24 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160811220212/http://www.womensvoicesnow.org/2014-films. 11 August 2016. live.
  11. Web site: The Women's Voices Now Online Film Festival. FilmFreeway. en. 9 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190414173137/https://filmfreeway.com/WomensVoicesNow. 14 April 2019. live.
  12. Web site: Womens Voices Now Films - Watch Films from Womens Voices Now. Women's Voices Now Films. en-US. 9 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190103052122/http://www.womensvoicesnow.org/films/. 3 January 2019. live.
  13. Web site: The WVoice – Medium. Medium. 9 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190507000842/https://medium.com/the-wvoice. 7 May 2019. live.
  14. Web site: About. Now. Women's Voices. 8 August 2018. Medium. 9 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190509024907/https://medium.com/the-wvoice/about-a24dc81cda8d. 9 May 2019. live.
  15. Web site: Submission Guidelines. Now. Women's Voices. 8 August 2018. Medium. 9 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190509024901/https://medium.com/the-wvoice/submission-guidelines-95e19156c97b. 9 May 2019. live.
  16. Web site: Workshops. Women's Voices Now. en-US. 9 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190507000838/http://www.womensvoicesnow.org/workshops/. 7 May 2019. live.
  17. Web site: Womens Voices Now Films Festival is coming soon. en-US. 2019-05-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20190401193045/http://www.womensvoicesnow.org/filmfestival/2011-2/. 1 April 2019. live.
  18. Web site: Womens Voices Now Films Festival is coming soon. en-US. 2019-05-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20190401191416/http://www.womensvoicesnow.org/filmfestival/2014-2/. 1 April 2019. live.
  19. https://www.womensvoicesnow.org/2017-film-festival/ Best audience short farsi
  20. Web site: 2017 Film Festival. Women's Voices Now. en-US. 2019-05-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20190509003950/http://www.womensvoicesnow.org/2017-film-festival/. 9 May 2019. live.
  21. Web site: The 2018 Women's Voices Now Online Film Festival Winners. Admin. 2018-04-20. The WVoice. en-US. 2019-05-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20190509003951/http://www.womensvoicesnow.org/wvoice/2018-womens-voices-now-online-film-festival-winners/. 9 May 2019. live.