Mixed Media Feminist Border Film Festival and the Culture Connects Midtown Project
For the past five years, the Feminist Border Arts program at New Mexico State University has curated and produced an international festival of socially conscious short films by professional, independent, and student filmmakers.
This year, the Feminist Border Arts Film Festival (FBAFF) features 17 shorts, which subscribers can access any time beginning at midnight on Saturday, Oct. 24 (through 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25).
Founded by festival directors M. Catherine Jonet and Laura Anh Williams, associate professors in gender and sexuality studies in NMSU’s interdisciplinary studies department, the festival seeks to highlight critical and timely issues such as gender identity, sexuality, race, indigeneity, refugees, and the environment.
Each film is 15 minutes or shorter and the program i ncludes t he Jonet and Williams- directed short Speak Near (2:38), which explores the ways in which Feminist B order Art s at NMSU t r averses t he gaps between academia, art i st s, public culture, and s el f ; Kalunga Line (9: 33), directed by Ami Kenzo of Canada and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which explores the role of history, myth, and biography in the formation of identity; LostFound (12:00), directed by Shakti Bhagchandani of the United States, in which a young wife and mother discovers that what’s missing from her life is standing right in front of her; and The Etiquette of American Massacres (8:44), directed by American Alexandria Searls, in which she recounts her own reaction to the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting that occurred in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018, and explores the ways in which we respond to such increasingly commonplace atrocities.
The festival was created to challenge conventional and dehumanizing forms of representation on film by telling the stories of marginalized peoples and underrepresented viewpoints.
The two- day festival is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Feminisms (through Jan. 2) at 516 Arts (516 Central Ave. SW, Albuquerque, 505-242-1445), and preregistration is required. Purchase tickets online at 516arts.org through Eventbrite (eventbrite.com). Tickets are $10, or $8 for 516 Arts members. — Michael Abatemarco