A multi-faceted survey of body image will comprise this year's International Women's Film Festival, which begins on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. at the Market Arcade Film and Arts Centre at 639 Main Street.
First, a documentary will explore the concept of beauty based on reality television. A film that tells the story of teenage Israeli girls who were mandated to serve in the military and patrol the streets of Jerusalem will follow, and another movie will depict a young Muslim woman trying to find ways to express her inner desires. Finally, the festival will end with a collection of short films from local filmmakers made especially for the overarching theme: "Body Counts."
Each film is very different in the way it approaches the issue, but they have one thing in common: they are by and about women.
According to Susannah Bartlow, graduate assistant for the Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender and co-organizer of the event, a festival of this kind is rare in the Western New York region.
"There's absolutely nothing else like it all year long anywhere within 100 miles," she said. "Even if you don't realize it, these issues affect everyone. We're all affected by military culture, desire and body image. When you go and you see it (in a film), you understand yourself better."
Students can gain some insight each Thursday night through March 6 for $5 per ticket. General admission is $8.50. The Market Arcade is near the subway, but if students choose to use their own transportation, parking fees will be deducted from the ticket cost if the parking stub is shown at the counter.
A documentary by UB professors Bernadette Wegenstein and Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, titled "Made Over in America" will open the festival.
According to Rhodes, the film was completed in the summer of 2007, and features interviews with a variety of people including UB students and Dr. Diamond from the reality makeover show, "Dr. 90210."
"It was a project that really expanded from just a research project...into a documentary," Rhodes said. "When you start pulling (this issue) apart, it kind of unravels in your hand."
Rhodes explained that the film doesn't take a strong stance on the issue because it is difficult to draw lines between the different levels and forms of body alteration, such as tattoos versus plastic surgery.
"It takes a look at what plastic surgery does to a woman's sense of natural beauty," Bartlow said. "It has such a unique approach to plastic surgery. A lot of people talk about plastic surgery but I think this really gets to the heart of the matter."
One doctor featured is Stephen Marquardt, a Californian researcher who has dedicated his studies to developing a mathematical "Facial Mask" to define the "perfect face," according to his company's Web site.
"He invented the perfect geometry of the perfect face; he really thinks he knows what beauty is," Rhodes said. "It was amazing to find that this guy really thinks he knows these things for sure."
The documentary is formatted in reality television show style, which makes for a fast-paced way to pull ideas together and keep the audience engaged, according to Rhodes.
Rhodes will be at the festival on Thursday to field questions from the audience. Also, two shorts will precede the feature presentation, which is somewhat shorter than other films, each less than 10 minutes in length and dealing with the same topic.
"We wanted to give people the night's worth," Bartlow said.
On Feb. 7, an Israeli movie called "Close to Home" will be presented in Hebrew with English subtitles. In the film, two young women in their late teens find friendship while patrolling the streets of Jerusalem as part of mandatory military service required by the Israeli government.
"It's a nice coming-of-age story. It's a side of military culture you don't normally see," Bartlow said.
An Israeli graduate student in English at UB, who has done military service in Israel, will introduce the film and give those in attendance the inside scoop about what serving in the Israeli military was like, according to Bartlow.
The Feb. 14 installment will feature "Dunia, Kiss Me Not on the Eyes," an Egyptian film in which the main character, Dunia, attempts to search for and kindle her desire and passion through belly dancing and poetry in a contemporary Muslim city.
"She's trying to come alive as a woman who knows her own desire," Bartlow said. "Eventually, she learns there's a reason why she can't."
Bartlow thinks that showing the movie on Valentine's Day is somewhat ironic.
"It's interesting that we're showing it on Valentine's Day because it's so much about a woman learning to love her body and express her own desire, and Valentine's Day can be very superficial - worrying about getting the right gift, or going to the right restaurant, while the film shows the true beauty of what it means to have love and passion."
"Amu," an Indian film that will be presented on Feb. 21 is about how a 21-year-old Indian-American woman returns to India to visit her family, and ends up finding out a dark secret from the family's past that explains her origins and turns everything that she knows about herself and her country upside down.
The Feb. 28 event will feature "Dam Street," a Chinese film in Mandarin with English subtitles. The film depicts the experience of a 16-year-old who becomes pregnant and then is ostracized and forced to give her child up for adoption. Ten years later, she must deal with her past when her only friend proposes to her.
On March 6, the festival will wrap up with "A Night of Shorts."
This event will feature short films created by local women filmmakers specifically for the "Body Counts" theme. The movies are all original and will premiere for the first time at the final installment of this series.
"It's the culmination of the festival," Bartlow said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
