ABOUT POW FEST
Following its highly successful inception in 2003, the Portland Women’s Film Festival (a.k.a. POW Fest) is scheduled to return to the Portland film festival circuit in May of 2007. Unlike any other annual film exhibition in Portland, POW Fest focuses solely on the art and cinematic contribution of women filmmakers from around the world.
Through the history of motion pictures, filmmakers such as Alice Guy-Blache and Ida Lupino have forged a hard won legacy for today’s women—both behind, and in front of the camera—to follow. And contemporary film has pioneers of its own, like Julie Dash and Christine Vachon, women who continue to create exciting work and bring their unique perspectives to the screen. But the current groundswell of honest, thought-provoking, and often iconoclastic work being made by women filmmakers isn’t always available or obvious to mainstream audiences.
A 2005 NPR story reported that out “of the top 250 grossing films last year, 95 percent were directed by men.” The number of women screen writers and camera operators from the same set ranked at only twelve and three percent, respectively. These numbers point to an alarming imbalance in the industry. Director Martha Coolidge, one of the rare few woman directors in Hollywood, as been quoted in the Los Angeles Times as believing that “movies are, consciously or unconsciously, a reflection of the culture around us. And that culture has been diminishing the role of women."
The mission of the Portland Women’s Film Festival is to turn this tide and change the perception of women in film. POW Fest celebrates both women’s films and the women who make them, while acknowledging the challenges ahead. The events of the festival itself are aimed at empowering both aspiring and accomplished filmmakers through panels and workshops, and screening some of the best independent women’s films being made today. For a city known for its avid cinephiles and a progressive disposition, Portland deserves a POW Fest.
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