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Kicking off the Citizen Jane Film Fest- “Say My Name”

Posted on 16 October, 2009 | 1 Comment

by Alex Goff

Today is the first day of a three day long film festival, Citizen Jane, hosted by Stephens College featuring women filmmakers. This is the 2nd year that they’ve hosted the festival and hope that it becomes a tradition that occurs for many years to come. The opening film was a documentary called “Say My Name” by Nirit Peled about women in the hip-hop industry.

When I first arrived in Windsor Auditorium on the Stephens campus, there was a blues band on stage playing while the audience was getting seated. The band was fronted by a strong female vocalist and they introduced themselves as “The Sparks”. This set the mood of the night- strong women expressing themselves.

“Say My Name” explored a variety of women from various backgrounds, situations and locations. The film took us to New York City, London, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Detroit. We met women who had college degrees, some who didn’t graduate high school, some with babies, some with drug problems, some with broken families, poverty, and a whole spectrum of situations. But these ladies all had one thing in common-they found power in rhyme.

It was fascinating to hear the stories of these ladies, and how they release their feelings into the world through their lyrics. They talked about their beats as their way of standing up for themselves, expressing themselves, and telling their stories.

The film was an excellent choice for an opening film for this festival. It connected women of all kinds of lifestyles and situations and discussed topics that all women always have and always will have to deal with, such as pregnancy, families, boyfriends, embracing their sexuality, self expression and self esteem.

When the film was over, the line “dedicated to all the women out there demanding respect for themselves” flashed on the screen. That line really summed up the premise of the film, and also what I expect to be the theme of the rest of the festival.

Two of the artists featured in the film, Invincible and Chocolate Thai, flew to Columbia for this premier and stayed for a Q & A session after the film with the filmmaker, Nirit Peled. They discussed topics such as how their lives have changed since the documentary was filmed, the message they think all women and girls should receive from the movie, what they think about the internet’s role in the music industry and female role models and sexuality.

I think Invincible summed it up well when she quoted one of her lyrics: “I’m striving to be the best. Period. Not just the best with breasts and a period.”