Some topics never go out of fashion. We really wish they would, but we never seem to be that lucky.
On June 1, the Women+Film Festival will host a community conversation: The Makings of a Moral Panic (10 a.m.), exploring how certain populations suddenly find themselves the target of ridicule and legislative obliteration. Joining the panel will be Garfield County Public Library District Executive Director James LaRue, journalist Owen Swallow, writer and community activist Dylah Ray and film producer Janique Robillard.
Robillard’s documentary, The Librarians, which exposes the political maneuvering behind the seemingly grassroots proliferation of book bans at schools and public libraries, will screen later that day at 4:30 p.m. Moral panics, we have them.
Thankfully, Women+Film is here to talk you through it. Back for a 16th year, the annual spring festival takes over the Sie FilmCenter in Denver for three days (May 30 to June 1) of movies and conversation. The Librarians, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, plays closing night, while the documentary Sally, about astronaut Sally Ride, screens opening night at 7 p.m. In between are more docs, Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore (7 p.m. May 31), international narratives, My Favourite Cake (4:30 p.m. May 31), even a restoration of a little-seen Tilda Swinton movie from 1996: Female Perversion (12 p.m. May 31).
But the big draw of this year’s fest is the recipient of the Barbara Bridges Inspiration Award, Julia Stiles, and a screening of her feature-length directorial debut, Wish You Were Here (12 p.m. May 30). Most probably know Stiles for her time in front of the camera in 10 Things I Hate About You, Save the Last Dance and the Bourne movies. With Wish You Were Here, Stiles takes her career in a new direction — a transition that’s bound to be the focus of the pre-screening conversation, which will take place at the UMB Bank Amphitheater Denver Botanic Gardens.