This inspiring film follows the lives of eight Midwestern women, six of whom became founders of National Organization for Women (NOW). Set against a backdrop of decades of war, prosperity and reform, their stories beautifully illustrate the continuity and diversity of 20th-century feminism, as the participants describe the labor, civil rights, and political movements of the '40s and '50s that led them to take independent action for women. Using archival...

Meet the "Chinese Joan of Arc,"Qiu Jin (秋瑾) (1875-1907), a radical women’s rights activist who defied tradition to become the leader of a revolutionary army. Qiu Jin boldly challenged traditional gender roles and demanded equal rights and opportunities for women. She was the first woman to lead an armed uprising against the corrupt Qing Dynasty, for which she was arrested and executed. She became the first female martyr for China’s 1911 Revolution...

"Paper Dolls" is a documentary film which explores changing patterns of global immigration and expanding notions of family through the prism of a community of Filipino transvestites who live illegally in Israel. Cast out by their families because of their sexual and gender preferences, these people work 6 days a week as live-in, 24 hour a day care givers (and in many cases as surrogate children) for elderly orthodox Jewish men, in order to earn money...

This film documents a unique development project that bought social work practice to rural women in China. The project was initiated by the Faculty of Social Work of Canada's University of Manitob in collaboration with China’s Women’s University and the Women’s Federation of China. Over a six-year period, they introduced rural social work service models in three Chinese provinces. The priority in each region was similar – the training of trainers...

NOBODY KNOWS MY NAME tells the story of women who are connected by their love for hip-hop music. Despite the fact that these talented female artists exist within a culture that revolves around self-expression, the subjects of Raimist’s documentary must struggle to be heard. Asia One has found a niche as an organizer of the B-Boy Summit, but longs for a sense of female community. DJ Symphony is the sole female member of the The World Famous Beat...

55-year-old James Gardner makes a very public transition while working at a radio station in Victoria.

THE POETRY DEAL is an impressionistic documentary about legendary poet Diane di Prima, the most famous woman poet of the Beat Generation. Still actively writing in San Francisco where she is poet laureate, di Prima is fierce, funny and philosophical. She is a pioneer who broke boundaries of class and gender to publish her writing; her friend Allen Ginsberg called her “heroic in life and poetics.” THE POETRY DEAL opens a window looking back through...

In this accomplished documentary, acclaimed filmmaker Pratibha Parmar explores the intersection of feminism with popular music, focusing on the role of female recording artists in the 1990s and their influence on modern women. Parmar (A PLACE OF RAGE, WARRIOR MARKS) argues that, far from being dead, feminism has thrived and expanded its reach through the direct, aggressive, and revolutionary medium of rock music, and through the role models of performers...

18-year-old Xavier Raddysh knew at an early age that he was not a girl. By the time he was a teen it was painful being treated as a girl. He began “cutting” and eventually attempted suicide, twice. Today he describes himself as a role model for other trans people; speaking to students so trans people know they can get through it and others can be more understanding.

The film is made in part of a series of in-depth, on-camera, conversations with Poet Laureate Rita Dove—conducted and recorded by Eduardo Montes-Bradley between September 2012, and October 2013. These conversations were later edited using with hundreds of still images and several hours of home movies from the Dove family's collection.. The intimacy of the dialogue accounts for a unique, and very personal insight into the wide range of Dove's artistic...