EVENT: Women's Empowerment Summer Film Series

Sundays, August 15 and 22

at the Chicago Cultural Center

The Chicago Foundation for Women and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs are partnering to bring some amazing films to Chicago.  Each screening will be followed by a post screening panel discussion organized by local Chicago organizations engaged in the issues explored in the film. Admission is free, and seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.

 Films to be featured in the screening series include:

MADE IN L.A. (70 minutes) - showing Sunday, August 15, 12 p.m.
Co-Presented by Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) and Korean American Resource and Cultural Center
Documenting the lives, struggle and personal transformation of three Latina garment factory workers over a tumultuous three year period, MADE IN L.A. artfully reveals the challenges facing immigrant workers and explores the dramatic and complex impact of globalization on the U.S. apparel industry and its largely immigrant workforce.
Website/trailer: http://www.itvs.org/films/made-in-la

TAKING THE HEAT (54 minutes) - showing Sunday, August 15, 2:30 p.m.
Co-Presented by Chicago Women in Trades and Women Employed
They faced death threats on the job--some from the men they worked alongside. With the story of Captain Brenda Berkman of the Fire Department of New York at its core, TAKING THE HEAT explores the history of women firefighters in America and the price they paid to serve their communities.
Website/Trailer: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/takingtheheat/

GOING ON 13 (73 minutes) - showing Sunday, August 22, 12 p.m.
Co-Presented by Alternatives, Inc., Girls in the Game and Women and Girls Collective Action Network
From Tweety Bird to Bow Wow, double dutch to chat rooms, Daddy's girls to first deceptions, watch as Ariana, Isha, Rosie and Esme let go of childhood and fumble--or sprint--toward an uncertain future. This is puberty and for each of these girls of color, it's a whirlwind of change and new choices. Without flinching, GOING ON 13 enters their world as they negotiate the precious, precarious moments between being a little girl and becoming a young woman. Website/trailer: http://www.itvs.org/films/going-on-13

TROOP 1500 (55 minutes) - showing Sunday, August 22, 2:30 p.m.
Co-Presented by Chicago Legal Advocates for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM) and Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
At the Gatesville Prison in Texas, a unique Girl Scout troop unites daughters with mothers who have been convicted of serious crimes. Facing steep sentences from the courts and tough questions from their children, the mothers in TROOP 1500 struggle to rebuild relationships with the daughters who endure a childhood without them.
Website: http://www.itvs.org/films/troop-1500
Trailer: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/troop1500/