Singer-songwriter Doria Roberts will perform at tonight's opening party at Studio 1 downtown.
Femme force
Girl Fest Hawaii goes big time this weekend, with a multimedia festival that starts today at various venues around town and ends next Saturday as part of Sunset on the Beach at Waikiki.
"Non-executive director" Kathryn Xian, staff and volunteers have put on the occasional, smaller event in the past, all to benefit its Safe Zone Foundation mission of preventing violence against women and girls in Hawaii through the arts.
"We've been planning this for over a year now, and we're trying to be as detailed and thorough in our planning," Xian said.
GiRL FeST 2004
A multimedia festival of the Safe Zone FoundationWhere: Various venues
When: Today through June 5
Admission: $5 for films, $5 to $20 for parties and concerts (see additional information about various festival passes)
Info: 599-3931 or www.girlfesthawaii.org
Passes available:
» $100 full festival pass (includes entry to all film screenings; opening or closing night party; all dance, spoken-word performances and lectures before 10 p.m.; and $5 off all concerts or parties).
» $50 half pass (includes entry to 10 film screenings of your choice; opening or closing night party; and all dance, spoken-word performances and lectures before 10 p.m.).
» $20 day pass (includes entry to all film screenings occurring in one day and $5 off any two parties).
» $50 workshop pass (includes entry to all workshops, all film screenings occurring in one day, and $5 off one party).
The ambitiousness of the festival's schedule (see below), which includes keynote activist speakers, workshops, panels, film screenings, concerts and spoken-word events, is as big as Girl Fest Hawaii's constant striving to empower and enlighten the society at large.
"Even though I don't like the description, it really does take a warlike mentality to fight domestic violence," she said. "There's no panacea for it. It has to be fought on various, different fronts. We here in Hawaii already have great direct services out there, like the Domestic Violence Legal Hotline, the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Sex Abuse Treatment Center, three of our festival sponsors.
"Our mission is preventative," Xian said. "It's about changing the culture, especially peer culture. We see that angle done through various forms of media and entertainment, but instead of it being empty and mindless, we're out to promote an educational message. ... To appeal to kids, we use the arts."
Xian is especially excited with the festival's keynote speakers, whose talks will be all free to the public.
One mainland guest Xian is pleased to get is anti-sexist educator Jackson Katz. "To be honest to you, some people still think this is a gay festival, and it's not. It seems that, once you endeavor to empower women, you're immediately thought of as either lesbians, 'man-haters' or both. ... It's exciting and scary at the same time. Those same people just won't get it. It makes for an uphill battle, but we're in it for the long haul.
"Jackson used to be a pro football player, and we're lucky to get him," Xian said. "His training in gender violence prevention work is both a men's and women's issue. By looking at the accountability of men's role in society, certain gender roles and stereotypes on what it means to be a man can be really detrimental and snowball in bad behavior and violence. He presents his training in a tight nutshell."
Xian said that some of the aforementioned social agencies are working together for the first time ever to help start the momentum that Katz's "More Than a Few Good Men" workshop will create.
Spoken work artist Alix Olson shares her views tomorrow.
ANOTHER GUEST speaker, Sonia Sanchez, was at the forefront of the creation of ethnic studies, teaching the first course in the United States on African-American women.
"All of our mainland guests are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts," Xian said. "In my inviting them personally out here, I described the situation in Hawaii, what with the lack of awareness towards violence against women and girls, domestic violence and the homophobia here."
Out of the select group of guest performers, Xian pointed out singer-songwriter Doria Roberts, who will perform at tonight's opening party at Studio 1 downtown. "She's a Lilith Fair tour veteran from Atlanta who's akin to Ani DiFranco and Sarah McLachlan."
Poetry slam veterans Alix Olson (from New York City) and the Bay Area's Mark Bamuthi Joseph were also noted.
And the first batch of video shorts from the University of Hawaii-Manoa's newly created Academy for Creative Media will be showcased as well, according to assistant specialist and video instructor Anne Misawa. (Her own "Waking Mele" will be part of the program, as well as a short she was director of photography on. She will also moderate a "Women in Media" panel on Sunday.)
Schedule:
Today» 8 p.m.: "Lily Festival," Restaurant Row multiplex (with Q-and-A session with filmmaker Sachi Hamano -- see review on Page 9)
» 10 p.m.: "In the Company of Women," Restaurant Row multiplex (see review)
» 10 p.m.: Doria Roberts and Friends, Studio 1, 1 N. King St., $7 to $20 sliding scale admission
Tomorrow
» 2 to 4 p.m.: Speaker and author Sonia Sanchez, University of Hawaii-Manoa architecture auditorium, free to the public
» 2 to 5 p.m.: "Spin" workshop by Sisters in Sound and The Rebel Girl Underground, UHM architecture building rooms 211, 215 and 101A, $25 admission
» 4 p.m.: "War Takes," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 6 p.m.: Animator Emily Hubley, The ARTS at Marks Garage, 1159 Nuuanu Ave., $5 admission; "Undershorts" showcase, Restaurant Row multiplex
» 8 p.m.: Power Up Filmgrant Program and MadCat Film Festival showcase short films, Restaurant Row multiplex
» 10 p.m.: Poets Alix Olson and Selah Geissler and singer/songwriter Denise Barbarita, Studio 1, $7 to 20 sliding scale admission; UHM Showcase featuring "Waking Mele" and, from the University of Southern California's Selena Chang, "Three Exits," Restaurant Row multiplex
Sunday
» 11 a.m.: Zine Workshop, The ARTS at Marks Garage, $5 admission
» 1 p.m.: "Where Da Girls At?" workshop for young women, Restaurant Row multiplex, $5 admission
» 2 to 4 p.m.: "Nexthetics" workshop on new language in performance by Mark Bamuthi Joseph, The ARTS at Marks Garage, $5 admission; speaker and activist Winona LaDuke, UH-Manoa architecture auditorium, free to the public
» 5 to 7 p.m.: "Women in Media" panel with guest speakers Elena Featherston, Rachel Raimist, Emily Hubley and Christie George from Women Make Movies, moderated by Ann Misawa, The ARTS at Marks Garage, free to the public
» 5 to 8 p.m.: Speaker and filmmaker Featherston, The ARTS at Marks Garage, free to the public
» 6 p.m.: "Mental Hygiene" and "Heart of the Sea," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 8 p.m.: "Paradise Lost," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 10 p.m.: "Adrift in the Heartland," Restaurant Row multiplex; Sisters in Sound and Rebel Girl Underground, W Hotel, 2885 Kalakaua Ave.
Monday
» 2 to 5 p.m.: "Women Organizing for Change" panel with guest speakers LaDuke, Sanchez, Andrea Smith and Featherston, UHM architecture auditorium, free to the public
» 4 p.m.: "Metsi" with "Afghanistan Unveiled," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 6 p.m.: "Ice" with "Exit 8A" (with Q-and-A session with "Ice" filmmaker Edgy Lee), "Tough Guise" (with Q-and-A session with anti-sexist educator Jackson Katz) and "No Man's Land," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.: Speaker and activist Andrea Smith, UHM Center for Hawaiian Studies, 2645 Dole St., free to the public
» 9 p.m.: Poets Jened, Mark Bamuthi Joseph, Desdamona, Catzie Vilayphonh and Hanalei Ramos at Anna Bannana's, 2440 S. Beretania St.
» 10 p.m.: "The Distillers" with MadCat Film Festival showcase short films, Restaurant Row multiplex
June 1
» 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.: "More Than a Few Good Men," workshop by Katz, Queen's Medical Center's Smyth Auditorium, pre-registration $25, $30 at the door, $15 students
» 4 p.m.: "Uphill All the Way," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 6 p.m.: "Experimentals" showcase, Restaurant Row multiplex
June 2
» 4 p.m.: "A Female Cabby in Sidi Bel-Abbes," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 6 p.m.: UHM Showcase featuring "Waking Mele" and "Three Exits," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 8 p.m.: Best of GiRL FeST (with short films, spoken word, live music and DJs), Anna Bannana's; "Beah," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 10 p.m.: "Undershorts" showcase, Restaurant Row multiplex
June 3
» 4 p.m.: "Bollywood/Hollywood" and "Hummer," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 6 p.m.: "Ke Kulana He Mahu," Restaurant Row multiplex
» 8 p.m.: "Spin the Bottle," Restaurant Row multiplex; "Distilling the Punk" with "The Distillers" screening and music by The 86 List, Chainshot and more, Club Pauahi, 68 S. Pauahi St.
» 10 p.m.: "The Distillers," Restaurant Row multiplex
June 4
» 5 to 10 p.m.: Closing reception for "GiRL FeST GaLLeRY" at The ARTS at Marks Garage, now open and free to the public
» 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.: Party continues at Mercury, 1154 Fort St. Mall
June 5
» "Bend It on the Beach: The Sports Event & Closing Party" at Sunset on the Beach at Waikiki, free to the public
» 2 to 5 p.m.: Women's sports workshops for those 12 and up (advance sign-up available by calling 599-3931) on kite surfing (1:30 p.m. at Sandy's Beach Park, class already filled to capacity), and at Kapiolani Park on volleyball and triathlon training
» 5 to 6:45 p.m.: Performances by Doria Roberts, Halau Lokahi Hawaii Public Charter School Hula Dance, dancer Sequoia Carr-Brown and other guests
» 6:45 to 9 p.m.: Surfboard giveaway and screening of shorts made by youth participants at GiRL FeST's Film Camp workshop, then main feature "Bend It Like Beckham"
Click for online
calendars and events.
