Milwaukee Women's Film festival uses a wide lens on what makes a ‘women’s film’

When you think of a “women’s film,” does Alien come to mind? Andrea Thompson, director of the Milwaukee Women’s Film Festival, says it should.

Director Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi epic about spaceship warrant officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and her efforts to combat a violent female space alien — which has invaded her ship, spawns deadly offspring and kills her fellow crew members — has many of the elements necessary to constitute a good women’s film, Thompson says.

“They don’t all have to be films made by women directors,” Thompson says. “I look at how much screen time the female protagonist has and how she is portrayed beyond just being the male character’s love interest.”

Those guiding elements helped determine which films would be shown at the second annual Milwaukee Women's Film Festival, which will take over the Underground Collaborative on the lower level of Milwaukee’s Grand Avenue Mall Sept. 8–10.

This year’s event offers 27 films made by or about women, including five full-length features.

Strong support for the inaugural festival prompted Thompson to expand the program, add to her staff and set up a GoFundMe page.

“Last year, lots of people came out, lots were willing to help, and lots volunteered,” she said. “I hadn’t expected such strong support.”

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Thompson has a strong background in film criticism through A Reel of One’s Own, a website devoted to commentary with an emphasis on women’s roles in cinema. The website name is a nod to “A Room of One’s Own,” an extended essay by English author and feminist Virginia Woolf that addressed the role of women as writers and characters in fiction.

Thompson started the festival after appearing on a discussion panel and being asked by the moderator about what could be done to further expand the role of women in film. Additional inspiration came from film fans Christopher House and Stephen Milek, creators of the Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival, an annual event dedicated to horror films.

“I thought, ‘If they can run a film festival, why can’t I?’” Thompson says.

This year’s films

Criteria for this year’s films included the requirement that at least one female character appear as a major protagonist or that a woman directs the film.

Films of any length or type were eligible for consideration, Thompson says.

A panel of four women will award honors for best acting, best direction, best cinematography and best art direction.

Thompson thinks highly of this year’s films.

However, several stand out in her mind for their overall significance and execution.

• Adele and Everything After chronicles the story of a woman with an untreatable heart condition whose life was transformed by her service dog, Adele, and the aftermath of losing her loyal companion. Director Melissa Dowler, who specializes in representing diverse and underrepresented voices in film, has won numerous film festival awards for her previous work.
• After Orlando, Getting its Pulse Back is a 14-minute short about three friends who survived the mass shooting at Pulse — the gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The Univision Noticias production by Anna Clare Spelman and Laura Prieto Uribe examines how the three go about piecing their lives together in the aftermath. “We all know about the horrific incident, but we don’t necessarily consider how the survivors had to cope after the fact,” Thompson says.
• JDF16, a film by Colombian video journalist Laura Prieto Uribe, looks at the tragically short life of José Delfín Fernández, the Florida Marlins pitching ace whose life and career were cut short when he died in a boating accident last September at the age of 24. Prieto Uribe, who started working for Univision in 2013, focuses on telling visually and emotionally appealing human stories and has been the recipient of numerous English and Spanish journalism awards.

“The films don’t have to be about women, and this one certainly isn’t,” Thompson says. “But in this case a woman-led production tells a very remarkable story.”

On screen

The Milwaukee Women’s Film Festival is Sept. 8–10 at the Underground Collaborative in the lower level of the Grand Avenue Mall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee. Tickets are $10–$70 and can be purchased at filmgirlfilm.com.