Remembering Is Activism

I’m sitting on the Hamptons “jitney,” (new experience for me), heading out to Sag Harbor on Long Island. Such a fun word, jitney. Anyway, tommorow, WOMEN LAUGHING will be screened as part of the Hamptons Doc Festival. Really looking forward to it, seeing some great docs, a few filmmaker friends and meeting new ones.

It’s not a good idea to generalize about groups of people, but I think I’ll do it anyway. In the past three years since I have been working on my film, I have met so many passionate, friendly and creative people in the doc community. As a newcommer, they have welcomed me, helped me, and supported me. I feel at home with these people.

Last night, I attended a screening of two films by my friend Gini Reticker, both of which have been preserved by the Women’s Film Preservation Fund. Asylum is from 2003, about a woman in Ghana, seeking asylum because she was facing female genital mutilation. The second film is The Heart Of The Matter, a film about women and AIDS, which, at the time in 1994, was a subject riddled with misinformation and stereotype. Many women needlessly were shunned and died as a result. Gini is a remarkable filmmaker and generous person and has done powerful documentaries since those early ones. Her films have helped us keep the struggles of the past in mind. Because we are not there yet.

Remembering is activism.

I wanted to make WOMEN LAUGHING to shine a light on some women humorists who broke some boundaries, yet may have been forgotten, as well as contemporary artists. Not life and death, certainly, but humor can be a powerful creative force for change.

Thanks for being here! Have a good Friday, see you tomorow.