The 14th Annual Family of Woman Film Festival in collaboration with the Women and Leadership Conference presented by the Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State University presented this year’s film showcase.
Both films were available September 13-15, 2022 through the screens below and include introductions and interviews hosted by Peggy Goldwyn, Family of Woman Film Festival board member and current Andrus Center board member, as well as additional resources on global sexual and reproductive health and rights. This year’s films were The Babushkas of Chernobyl and Dreamcatcher. Please note that access to these films has been removed in alignment with the conclusion of the Women and Leadership Conference. Below are the trailers for the films that were showcased.
Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of UNFPA and Under Secretary General of the United Nations, summarizes UNFPA’s current work in Ukraine as well as Afghanistan (5 minutes).
In the radioactive Dead Zone surrounding Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4, a defiant community of women scratches out an existence on some of the most toxic land on Earth. They share this hauntingly beautiful but lethal landscape with an assortment of interlopers—scientists, soldiers, and even ‘stalkers’—young thrill-seekers who sneak in to pursue post-apocalyptic video game-inspired fantasies. Why the film’s central characters, Hanna Zavorotyna, Maria Shovkuta, and Valentyna Ivanivna, chose to return after the disaster, defying the authorities and endangering their health, is a remarkable tale about the pull of home, the healing power of shaping one’s destiny and the subjective nature of risk.
For 25 years, Brenda Myers-Powell called herself “Breezy” and she dominated her world – or that’s what she thought. It was a world that had turned her into a teenage, drug-addicted prostitute. After a violent encounter with a “John”, Brenda woke up in the hospital and decided to change her life. Today she is a beacon of hope and a pillar of strength for hundreds of women and girls as young as fourteen who want to change their own lives. Dreamcatcher explores the cycle of neglect, violence and exploitation which each year leaves thousands upon thousands of girls and women feeling that prostitution is their only option to survive. By following the very charming, charismatic and truly empathic Brenda, we enter the lives of young women and see in vérité footage of their realities from their points of view. While the world may overlook these women and men, thankfully Brenda has not, and she provides an unflinching exposé that contrasts seeming hopelessness against the difference that one person can make in the lives of many.
