San Francisco Bay Area

Film Screening: The Glass House

Film screening and Panel Discussion, with Representatives from Amnesty International USA and NorCal4Iran, on Women's Rights in Iran.

Directed by Hamid Rahmanian, Glass House is a production of Fictionville Studio.

The fringes of Iranian society can be a lonely place, especially if you are a teenage girl with few resources to fall back on. The Glass House follows four girls striving to pull themselves out of the margins by attendi...ng a one-of-kind rehabilitation center in uptown Tehran. Forget about the Iran that you’ve seen before. With a virtually invisible camera, the girls of The Glass House take us on a never-before-seen tour of the underclass of Iran with their brave and defiant stories: Samira struggles to overcome forced drug addiction; Mitra harnesses abandonment into her creative writing; Sussan teeters on a dangerous ledge after years of sexual abuse; and Nazila burgeons out of her hatred with her blazing rap music. This groundbreaking documentary reflects a side of Iran few have access to or paid attention to: a society lost to its traditions with nothing meaningful to replace them and a group of courageous women working to instill a sense of empowerment and hope into the minds and lives of otherwise discarded teenage girls.

This event is co-sponsored by USNC Bay Area Chapter for UNIFEM, Amnesty International USA, and NorCal4Iran.

Artist's Television Access
992 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Sunday, August 29, 2010
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

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Film Screening: The Female Face of AIDS: Crisis in Malawi

The Republic of Malawi in southeast Africa may be rich in uranium, coal, and bauxite, but it is poor in such economic and health areas as average income (less than $1 per day), life expectancy (age 39.6 for women), and infant mortality rate. Estimates show that 14 percent of women ages 13 to 39 suffer from AIDS. In 2007 four professors and eight students from the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School traveled to Africa to document stigma and discrimination against the women of Malawi who are HIV positive. Shot on location in the District of Mangochi, this documentary personalizes the stories of several infected women and children. This film also includes clips from interviews with male villagers, local AIDS activists, educators, and government officials in an effort to paint an accurate picture of the extent of the problem and prospects for the future.

Following the film, we will have a presentation and discussion with Dr. Sandi McCoy, and epidemiologist at UC Berkeley who has worked on HIV/AIDS prevention in East Africa. 

http://www.documentaryfilms.net/index.php/the-female-face-of-aids-crisis-in-malawi/

Artist's Television Access
992 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Sunday, June 27, 2010
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

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Membership Meeting

Artist's Television Access
992 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Sunday, June 27, 2010
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

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Wine and Cheese with Prativa Subedi

Please join us for an evening of wine, appetizers and conversation with IDEX Partner from Nepal, Prativa Subedi.

Prativa has been involved in gender and community development work for 20 years, traveling throughout Nepal to carry out community-based development programs and trainings.  Her articles and essays on women have been published widely in journals and newspapers, as well as four published books on Nepali women activism.  She was awarded the ASHOKA Fellowship for her innovative contributions to gender sensitive social development. 

In 1991, Prativa founded the Nari Chetna Kendra Nepal (Women Awareness Center Nepal or WACN) to promote empowerment of women and other disadvantaged people with the goal to improve their socio-economic status.  WACN empowers women by starting savings and credit groups and cooperatives for women.  WACN's programs serve over 15,000 women throughout 4 districts of Makwanpur, Nepal.  With seed funding to enable immediate lending to cooperative members, WACN provides women with the opportunity to earn and save.  In turn, this gives women a voice in both their households and community.  Their work has changed the landscape of financial services for women. 

4278 Cesar Chavez Street
San Francisco, CA 94131

Thursday, June 17, 2010
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM  

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Film Screening: Mrs. Goundo's Daughter

Mrs. Goundo's Daughter is the story of a young mother's quest to keep her baby daughter healthy and whole.  It is also the story of the African tradition of female genital cutting, which dates back thousands of years - and how it affects people's lives in just two of the many places where the practice is being debated today. 

Mrs. Goundo's husband fled drought and ethnic conflict in his native Mali, West Africa, sixteen years ago.  Mrs. Goundo came to the United States in 1999.  Together, they are raising three young children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  To stay in the U.S., Mrs. Goundo must persuade an immigration judge that her two-year old daughter Djenebou, born in the U.S., will almost certainly suffer clitoral excision if Goundo is deported.  In Mali, where up to 85% of women and girls are excised, Mrs. Goundo and her husband are convinced they would be powerless to protect their daughter from her well-intentioned grandparents, who believe all girls should be excised.

www.attiegoldwater.com/goundosdaughter/home.htm

Artist's Television Access
992 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Sunday, May 30, 2010
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Co-sponsored by: ITVS and UC Hastings Center for Gender and Refugee Studies

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Responding to Gender Based Violence Around the Globe - Causes and Responses

As part of the Spark's Spring Speaker Series CGRS Associate Director, Shawn Roberts, and Staff Attorney, Kim Thuy Seelinger, will engage Spark members in a dynamic conversation around the causes of gender based violence and global responses to this crisis. 

UC Hastings School of Law, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
Alumni Reception Room
200 McAllister Center
San Francisco, CA 94102

Wednesday, May 19, 2009
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Hosted by: Spark SF and UC Hastings Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
Co-sponsored by: UNIFEM/USNC San Francisco Bay Area Chapter and Amnesty International

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Film Screening: The Shape of Water
Featuring guest speaker Rajasvini Bhansalim Executive Director of IDEX

The Shape of Water is a feature documentary that tells the stories of powerful, imaginative and visionary women confronting the destructive development of the Third World with new cultures and a passion for change. The film takes us to Senegal, Israel/Palestine, Brazil, and India where these new cultures, alongside old traditions, end female genital cutting (FGC), offer innovative forms of opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and show how women are spearheading the implementation of renewable resources and rainforest preservation by tapping trees to obtain rubber.

IDEX is a San Francisco based non-profit organization that promotes sustainable solutions to poverty by providing long-term grants and access to resources to locally run organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  IDEX envisions a global community that embraces economic, social, and cultural rights in which all people may access resources, preserve their environment, and are empowered to live free from poverty and discrimination.  IDEX manifests this vision by engaging in democratic partnerships with our grantees and sharing the success of grassroots organizing with funders to build the capacity of locally run initiatives.
 
http://www.theshapeofwatermovie.com/
http://www.idex.org/

Artist's Television Access
992 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Sunday, April 18, 2010
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Co-sponsored by: International Development Exchange (IDEX)