Non-profit Women’s Voices Now, an organisation supporting the free expression of women worldwide, launch their fifth annual film festival in celebration of International Women’s Day.
The digital festival hosts women-centred films from all around the world. Using this platform, Women’s Voices Now hope to encourage an awareness of women’s rights and bring women’s struggles for civil, economic, political, and gender rights into the limelight by creating platforms that connect artists, activists, filmmakers, and audiences.
An expert panel will judge the films as well as a public vote in each category. Categories include; Leslie J. Sacks Grand Prize Award (i.e. best film award), Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short, Best Narrative Short, and Best Experimental Short. The short movies are free to watch online, and the public vote will be open for one month starting from International Women’s Day.
Executive Director of the free multilingual online festival Heidi Basch-Harold has stated that “On International Women’s Day we have the opportunity to draw the world’s attention to the artists, activists, and every day people united in the quest for a gender equal future. Participating in the Women’s Voices Now online film festival will mobilise another group of individuals to become part of the conversation and brainstorm ways to become active.”
We at Final Boss can’t wait to see this host of politically important short films that feature many themes that sadly never get into mainstream cinema. As avid gamers we are particularly excited for Girl’s Level Up, a documentary about a summer camp where girls are given three weeks to make their own video game demo. The camp itself was founded by Laila Shabir who moved to the United States from a conservative Muslim middle eastern country giving her a very unique perspective on the challenges facing girls who love video games.
To watch and vote on this year’s official selections, go to: womensvoicesnow.org
