MCC opens Women's Film Library
McHenry County College announces a Women's Film Library featuring films by women about issues facing women and society as a whole. Films are available on a limited basis with an MCC or area public library card.
The women's film library grew out of the annual Women's Film Festival, which is part of the annual MCC Women's History Month in March. Donations collected at the festival went toward purchasing the films from Icarus Films.
Eight women's films are available for two-day checkout: "Against My Will" by Ayfer Ergun; "Be Fruitful & Multiply," by Shosh Shlam; "Breasts," by Meema Spadola; "Chain of Love," by Marije Meerman; "Gorgeous," by Kaz Cooke; "Made Over in America" by Waystone; "Our House," by Meema Spadola; and "Saudi Solutions" by Bregtje Van der Haak.
According to Kate Midday, MCC English instructor and co-coordinator of Women's History Month, the issues that women filmmakers tackle are important, but there is no real forum for them to show their art. The issues shown through the eyes of women filmmakers are so far-reaching that the MCC Women's History Month Committee decided to make the films available to a wider audience.
"Many of these issues change the face of our world everyday but not a part of everyday media and are easily discarded - until the issues affect communities in an obvious way," Midday said.
Midday said when she started her job at MCC in 2004, there were no women's films. Since then, the MCC Women's History Month committee has been slowly purchasing women's films and placing them in the library in the reference department. Midday also teaches "Women's Herstory" every other spring, a learning community class that she team teaches with history teacher Todd Culp, which blends Women's Literature and Women's History into one class and students earn double credit for a total of six credit hours.
"Women's films are important because these films do exist, but are not in a space accessible to most people. After watching some of the films at our festivals, some audience members have told me they had no idea that women in today's society faced dreadful situations and issues," Midday said.
In past festivals, films have portrayed domestic violence in Pakistan; women's roles in conservative Muslim and Orthodox Jewish societies; body image issues including a look at media images influencing cosmetic surgery in the U.S. This year's theme portrayed women's reproductive issues and the related social, economic, and mental health issues.
The award-winning documentary, "Chain of Love," by Marije Meerman, which was show at this year's film festival, portrays Philippine nannies - that nation's second largest export - and their influence on the economy at the expense of their own family relationships. Hundreds of Philippine left their families and children to work as nannies in other countries, including the U.S. The nannies send their paychecks home to hire caregivers for their own children.
"One of the lasting and ongoing legacies of MCC's Women's Film Festival is the purchase of some of these thought-provoking films for addition to the College library's collection," said Cynthia Letterei, MCC reference librarian.
"In an age when domestic violence affects women of all social classes, child care is a growing global crisis and single mothers are the fastest growing segment of society in poverty, we need to make the world fair for women and girls - or at least talk about it," Midday said. "If only one film from our film library allows a conversation to begin at home or in the classroom, then I am happy," Midday said.
The films can be located on the website: www.mchenry.edu/library and using a keyword or author search "Women's History Month." The McHenry County College library is located at 8900 Route 14, Crystal Lake. For information, contact the MCC Library reference desk at (815) 455-8762.