Film Festival to take place Feb. 25-March 3
By Aimee Durand
The 12th Annual Family of Woman Film Festival and its founder, Peggy Elliot Goldwyn, continue to promote education, health resources and equal rights for women and girls through film, and this year’s theme is “Women Still Waiting For Change.”
The festival runs Monday, Feb. 25, through Sunday, March 3, at the Magic Lantern Cinemas in Ketchum.
Goldwyn brought the film festival to Sun Valley in 2008 as a Friends of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) board member. The UNFPA works globally for women and girls in areas of reproductive health, education and human rights. Many people in the U.S. were not aware that this agency existed, or what it did.
Goldwyn, who comes from a show-business-industry family, decided that telling stories through film would gain attention.
“It is much better to have a very personal story about an issue,” Goldwyn said. “People understand better and can put a face on it. It is very useful to walk in someone else’s shoes.”
Bottom line, she said, “Women’s rights are equal rights. They are human rights.”
Goldwyn chose five feature films from around the world. Her rule of thumb for films is that they must be honest and real, and illustrate what women and girls around the world face.
Many of the world’s women and girls have no say about childbearing, for example.
“This is very important because there are a lot of women that can’t make their own decisions,” Goldwyn said. “They are sold, bartered, married off and husbands make the decisions. They have no control over their lives. The ability to make decisions is taken out of their hands.”
But, she insisted, “It’s a basic human right to control your body.”
Goldwyn believes that arming females with the knowledge that they have choices and can go to school, get educated and decide when or if they want to start families promotes strength and hope.
“If a girl finishes school and goes to work, she will bring eighty percent back to her home and community,” Goldwyn said. “If women and men are equal in all aspects of life, the world would be a far better place for everyone.”
To learn more about the Family of Woman Film Festival, visit familyofwomanfilmfestival.org.