A Woman’s Place At Canby Film Fest

Another FiLMLaB Alum at Canby Film Fest!

Every now and then we like to update you on what our FiLMLaB alums are doing; not just the writers who won our contest and got their script made, but the directors, actors and crew who helped to make it. Last week I told you about our 2014 alum, Jon Dragt, who is organizing the first Canby Film Fest and showing three FiLMLaB shorts. I’m happy to report another FiLMLaB alum, actress Jessica Bork, will have one of her projects represented when her proof of concept short A Woman’s Place plays at Canby.

Jessica Bork in, A Woman's Place

Jessica Bork in, A Woman’s Place

This couldn’t be more timely. With all the talk of sexual assault in our news and our politics I find it interesting that no one has pointed out that October is actually Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I know the two are not the same, but they can be when a woman is trapped in an abusive relationship and has no autonomy over her body.

Jessica (featured in our 2016 FiLMLaB short Intercept, by Shaun Radecki) explores this subject in the story, A Woman’s Place, written and directed by Monica Graves. They had an interesting approach: to shoot a trailer for the movie they want to make to attract investors, and to give a platform to women who have survived abuse so their truth can be told. The results are both impressive and disturbing. I applaud their courage in tackling this subject, along with actress/producer Alyssa Roehrenbeck (another FiLMLaB alum!). It is a thorny, uncomfortable subject, difficult to talk about, but one that deserves our attention.

Art is a reflection of our shared humanity; our joy, our pain, our hopes and fears; our secret vulnerabilities. We hope you’ll come out to the Canby Film Fest this Wednesday, October 19th at 7:00 pm and show your support for A Woman’s Place, FiLMLaB, and all of the filmmakers and artists whose work is represented.