Contacts:
Melissa Fowler, Director/Curator

212.714.8375

Mallory Knodel, Assistant Director
917.796.6884

www.reelvenus.com

Calendar Listings:
October 3 & 4, 2008 at 7:00 pm

October 4, 2008 9:00 pm
Anthology Film Archives (www.anthologyfilmarchives.org )
212.505.5181
32 Second Avenue, NYC

New York, NY (September 23, 2008) Since 2003, Reel Venus has celebrated the diversity of emerging and established women filmmakers and multimedia artists from the United States and abroad. Showcasing film and video shorts directed, co-directed, and/or written by women, the Festival pushes the traditional boundaries of storytelling and supports outreach to female artists. All films are 30 minutes and under, allowing for myriad perspectives, techniques, and artistry to reach a wide and sophisticated audience for the weekend of October 3rd, 2008. Festival will kick off with a Cocktail Reception at Whisky Bar located 29 E. 3^rd St @ 2^nd Ave, starting at 6:00 PM on Thursday, October 2^nd.

The Festival will have three distinct screening programs showcasing 20 films overall, each program consisting of Documentary, Experimental, Narrative, and Animation reflecting a diverse range of topics. The talent that Reel Venus has drawn is an eclectic representation of mastery and craft of filmmaking and video artistry in a short time frame format. Past highlights of Reel Venus include U.S. Premieres from Ireland, Finland, and Georgia and have included work from established east and west coast based filmmakers such as Hima B, Laura Belsey, Benita Raphan, Dawn Westlake, Frances Nkara, Barbara Hammer and Shari Frilot.

This year marks the 5th Anniversary of Reel Venus and will include work from film/video artists, photographers and multimedia producers in the New York City area as well as from around the globe. Both nights, Friday October 3rd and Saturday October 4th, feature a cohesive, well-rounded selection of work that is sure to attract supporters of women filmmakers and multi-media artists alike.

Festival Highlights:

Several premieres from first-time directors hailing from New York, Philadelphia, Virginia, California, France and the UK. The return of Reel Venus alumnae, bay area based experimental filmmaker, Barbara Klutinis, with a haunting piece, Severing the Soul, in black and white, using found footage seamlessly interwoven with an account of the documentation of Rosemary Kennedy’s lobotomy procedure in 1941 juxtaposed with an overview of the psychosurgery movement of the 1930’s - 1960’s in the U.S. Also returning are New York based sisters/NYU alumnae, Christen and Joy Marie Smith with new works in varied styles of animation.

Bonus highlights include: Two works from the exceptionally talented UK based director, Eva Weber; the fest will include in it’s opening and closing programs, respectively, The Intimacy of Strangers, 2005 and City of Cranes, 2007 both of which are currently in high demand on the festival circuit in the United States and abroad.

Virginia based Photojournalist, Multimedia producer, Jenn Ackerman, will premiere a segment of her ongoing reportage/documentary in process, Trapped: Mental Illness in America’s Prisons and Alinka Echeverria’s, a Mexican artist working with photography and video, captures a surreal, poetic view of synchronized swimmers with The Lightness of Being.

Local artists of special note include, the introduction of New York based Multimedia Producers, Brenda Kenneally and Laura Lo Forti, creators of the website, The Raw File, will screen a chapter from their multimedia serial "Back on the Block" titled Tata’s Angel.

Also new to Reel Venus is New Jersey based director Julie Winokur, who sheds light on the challenges of the caretaking of an aging parent while being both parent and spouse, which is documented with a thorough honest, up-close, and personal account through her film, The Sandwich Generation.

All screenings will take place at Anthology Film Archives, 32 2^nd Ave at 2^nd Street on October 3 and October. 4 No Advance Sales. Tickets can be purchased day of each screening program on a cash-only basis. $9 General Public, $7 Students & Seniors and $6 AFA members.