BLACK LIVES MATTER

POW Film Fest and the POWGirls media education program is in solidarity with black lives matter. We condemn all acts of racism and violence against black communities. We speak up in solidarity with our fellow black staff, volunteers, filmmakers, panelists and students and the entire black community because black lives matter.

POW Film Fest was established as an organization that lifts up and amplifies the voice of underrepresented women and non-binary directors, creating a platform to share their work with the greater Portland community and beyond. Recognizing that modern day feminism is born from a white lens and that suffragettes of the 1920s dismissed the voices of black women, we know we have much work to do. We showcase films that reflect all women directors, and we have worked on building an organization that uplifts and gives voices to black women and non-black women of color, transgender women and non-binary folks, queer women, disabled women, and the many women that sit at the intersections of these identities. We acknowledge that intersectionality in feminism is vital.

While we are actively engaged in an inclusive environment where we work hard to highlight black women and non-binary filmmakers, we are aware we still have a lot more work to do. We also want to acknowledge our ongoing effort to create a diverse roundtable of youth in our POWGirls program and are committed to making a stronger concerted effort to cultivate a more congenial space and are reaching out to youth advocates and organizations on how to best do so.

We are committed to continuing to do the work that points to our core value and mission - to uplift and amplify underrepresented voices through our annual film festival, online programming and our youth media education organization.