Lunafest shares humor and hope in short films by and for women.
When it comes to film, Hollywood is still a man’s world—a world of explosions, fistfights, and testosterone-pumped heroes who smoke cigars, wrestle alligators, and always get the girl. But the Lunafest film festival is different, giving women filmmakers a chance to shine and telling the stories important to women.
Established by Luna, makers of the nutrition bar for women, Lunafest has for 15 years given talented women filmmakers a forum to show off their work with intelligent, funny, and thought-provoking themes. Even better, all net proceeds go to help women’s causes like the Breast Cancer Fund.
This season includes nine movies from women filmmakers who find their voice to tell stories that matter. Laura Everly’s documentary Free to Laugh explores the redemptive power of laughter when a group of women just released from prison takes an improv comedy class to help cope with the stresses of rebuilding their lives. In Another Kind of Girl, 18-year-old filmmaker Khaldiya Jibawi reflects on her life since fleeing violence in Syria to live in a refugee camp in Jordan, ironically discovering an inner strength and a new sense of self that she never felt while living at home in her own country. And in Patricia Beckmann-Wells’ animated cartoon Family Tale, a young couple finds wholeness, and a little girl finds family through adoption. Just like the nutrition bar, these films will give you something to chew on.
Feb. 3, 6:30 p.m., $30-$40. Kala Art Gallery, 2990 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. Lunafest.org
Published online on Jan. 26, 2017 at 8:00 a.m.