DEFIANCE – Reel Sisters Shorts
From Singapore to the Norwegian tundra, from Haudenosaunee land in America’s North East to urban Canada, the women in these stories each confront a patriarchy that seeks to exploit, abuse, and make them invisible. And at every turn, the response is one of resilience, creativity and defiance.
The program is followed by a pre-recorded Q&A with the filmmakers. Moderated by Reel Sisters curator Esther Duran.
GOOD GIRL ROSE
(13 mins I Narrative I Singapore I dir. June Cheong)
Rose, a Filipino domestic helper working in moneyed Singapore, rushes to her boyfriend’s aid late one night when he gets into big trouble. But helping him, a poor foreign worker, comes at a high price.
THE TONGUES
(15 mins I Narrative I Norway I dir. Marja Bål Nango )
During a blizzard, a Sami woman herding her reindeer is attacked. Her sister senses that something is wrong. Wrapped in fear and confusion, both women unite in their fight for revenge.
GAY AS IN HAPPY: A QUEER ANTI-TRAGEDY
(3 mins I Documentary I Canada. I dir. Jordana Valerie Allen-Shim)
An experimental auto-ethnographic documentary about queer joy, resistance, and resilience in the face of abuse, trauma, and transphobia.
WITHOUT A WHISPER – KONNON:KWE
(27 mins I Documentary I United States I dir. Katsitsionni Fox )
Mohawk Clan Mother Louise Herne and professor Sally Roesch Wagner shake the foundation of the established history of the women’s rights movement in the United States, and shed light on how the Haudenosaunee women influenced the early suffragists in their fight for freedom and equality.