Women Over 50 Film Festival Unveils The Full 2017 Programme
With just two weeks to go until the Women Over 50 Film Festival (WOFFF) arrives in Brighton UK, the organisers are delighted to unveil the full programme of films and events for the third festival, plus announce celebrity endorsement from award winning Sussex based actress Greta Scacchi.
The Women Over 50 Film Festival (WOFFF) supported by FilmDoo, takes place on 16th & 17th September 2017 in Brighton, East Sussex, UK, is an international film festival aiming to redress the age and gender imbalance older women face in the film industry; Actress Greta Scacchi who lives in a village near to Brighton, is supporting the event because of what she sees happening in Hollywood. She said: I am delighted that Women Over 50 Film Festival is here to upset the Hollywood apple cart that accepts actresses playing ten years older while actors can play ten years younger. This festival is unique in celebrating rather than hiding or ignoring older women in film. WOFFF rejoices in our older stories, older faces and older hearts and it is my pleasure to be associated with the Festival.
WOFFF champions women over 50 in front of and behind the camera, and this September’s third annual, interactive, engaging, entertaining weekend of films and activities for older women and their friends looks to be the largest event yet with 55 films being screened, from over 150 submissions from around the world, the largest number of submissions ever received.
Today WOFFF unveils which films will be screened at the festival and these are:
Programme 1
A Woman Apart (Mary Omelina)
Girls of a Feather (Dina Abd Elsalam)
Life, Death and Cheerleading (Claire Tailyour)
Older Ladies (Christine McHugh)
LYING WOMEN (Deborah Kelly)
The Old Woman and the Sea (Esme Hicks)
Programme 2
Brand New Day (Patricia Beckmann Wells)
Girls and Glaciers (Annette Frahm)
Hear Me Now (Maria Viola Craig)
The Gift of the Magpie (Anita George)
The Lift (Leyla Pope)
Writing the peace (A D Cooper)
Vigilantes (Alexa Mercado & Michael Mastrangelo)
Beryl (Deepak Verma)
Programme 3
Domestic Policy (Alicia MacDonald)
Get Riel (Will Barnard)
Mary Mother (Sadam Wahidi)
The Ladies’ Bridge (Karen Livesey)
The Light; Urban Chronicles, episode 1 (J Bunting Johnson)
Programme 4
A Lighthouse in Breaking Waves (Cheryl White)
Cherry Colour Buttonholes (Brenda Miller)
Emotional Fit (Katherine Townsend)
Hearts Aren’t Lonely (Beth Pasternak)
Just Saying (Nick Reed)
KEDEM (Narda Azaria Dalgleish)
Light Divides the Square (Kimberly Burleigh)
The Unbearable Whiteness of Being (Vesna Marich)
Pulling Up Roots (Cecelia Condit)
Programme 5
BEAST (Christopher Sferrazza)
Mother (Marc Hardman)
MUM (Claire Cottrell)
Mwah (Sara Soheili)
My Aunt Mame (Krissy Mahan)
Oor Wally (Martin Lennon)
Venice (Venetia Taylor)
When We Were Poor (Lynn Matheson)
Programme 6
Elderflower (Ben Mallaby)
Espressivo: A Love Song to Coffee (Deb Ethier)
Mum Explains Shouty Music To Me (Elizabeth Mizon)
Rebel Menopause (Adele Tulli)
Spores (Frances Poet & Richard Poet)
The Singer’s Tale (Barry J Gibb)
Programme 7
A Short History of Indians in Canada (Nancy Beiman)
Auntie Ganga (Asmita Shrish)
Black Eyed Susan (Nick Rowntree)
Days of Awe (Rehana Rose)
Rambling On (Nicole Pott)
The Hide (Gaynor Macfarlane)
Valli van Zijl – Placemaker (Emma Crouch & Rosie Murdoch)
Programme 8
Fay Presto – Queen of Close-up (Hanna Aqvilin)
Going Forward (Marva Gregorio De Souza)
Real Artists (Cameo Wood)
Résonances (Jean-Julien Pous)
The Lefthand Side (Gabriella Apicella & Emma Croft)
Love Your Lines (Claire Nolan)
This year’s festival includes work from filmmakers in the UK, Ireland, France, Australia, USA and Canada – countries which have been represented at the festival in previous years. “What’s exciting this year”, said Festival Director, Nuala O’Sullivan, “Is that for the first time we’re also screening work from filmmakers in Afghanistan, Iran and Egypt.”
There’s an impressive line-up of onscreen talent at this year’s festival. Stars like Maureen Lipman, Denise Welch, Anita Dobson, Miriam Margolyes, Carrie Cohen, Ewan MacIntosh, Sheila Reid & Maureen Beattie are front and centre on the WOFFF screen showing that women over 50 are here to stay.
There’s something for everyone at this unique two-day festival. As well as eight programmes of over 50 short films, there is an all-female panel event, filmmaker Q&As, a lecture about older women’s representation on screen and a variety of practical workshops. There are workshops to interest filmmakers and non-filmmakers alike. Sessions include How to Make a Film on your Smart Phone and How to Navigate Digital Distribution and Self Distribution. For non-filmmakers there are workshops on Learning to Embroider with Vanessa Marr from the University of Brighton and Latin American Dance with 86 year-old Elsa Perez, who is also the subject of the documentary ‘Get Riel’ which is screening at WOFFF.
The full list of workshops is:
Embroidery Workshop with Vanessa Marr
Making a Film on your Smart Phone with Deirdre Mulcahy
Pitch Training your Doc for Whicker’s World Foundation with Jane Mote
Latin American Dancing with Elsa Perez
Making and Distributing Your Film in the Digital Age with Jessica Duncanson, FilmDoo
Workshopping a drama work-in-progress film with Filmmaker Alice Seabright
News & Current Affairs Production with Brighton’s Latest TV
Festival Director Nuala O’Sullivan said, “We’re excited to see the depth and breadth of talent on display, both on screen at the festival and in our other events. We’re delighted to have film industry professionals, like Felicity Beckett and Claire Lamond, on our jury panel and University of Brighton film academics, Vanessa Marr and Louise FitzGerald, hosting workshops and delivering lectures at this year’s WOFFF.”
Veronica Slater, a Brighton-based visual artist, and Leah Thorn, a performance poet, are collaborating with the festival. Veronica is exhibiting her work ‘Caravan to Castles’ throughout the festival and Leah has written a poem especially for WOFFF, entitled ‘A treatment for women over fifty’. A film of her performing this piece will open the festival shorts programme.
WOFFF 2017 festival launches officially on Thursday 14 September with a screening of Mamma Mia! at the Duke of York’s Picturehouse at Preston Circus. This feel-good gem not only stars three strong, older women – Meryl Streep, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski – but also has three strong, older women behind the camera – writer Catherine Johnson, producer Judy Craymer and director Phyllida Lloyd.
WOFFF closes on Sunday evening with an awards ceremony and jury prizes for all winning filmmakers, (Best Animation, Best Drama, Best Documentary, Best Experimental Film), and the all-important Audience Choice Award.
For tickets go to www.wofff.co.uk/2017-festival/tickets. Prices start from £8.55 per programme. A Weekend Pass giving you access to all eight programmes is £56.35. All tickets are available via Eventbrite at https://wofff17tickets.eventbrite.co.uk. Some events are free but still require booking via Eventbrite. Limited concession tickets are also available.
For more information about the Women Over 50 Film Festival 2017, visit www.wofff.co.uk
The Festival organisers would like to thank those who have made this year’s Festival the best yet, and they include: The Argus, BFI, The Brighton and Hove Independent, Bluebird Tea Co, Emerald Life, FilmDoo, Film Hub South East, Latest TV, Mother’s Ruin, ONCA Gallery, Picturehouse Duke of York’s, RadioReverb, Silver Magazine, Sorriso, University of Brighton, Whicker’s World Foundation and QueerBee.