The Woods Hole Film Festival (WHFF) is a non-profit annual festival held on Cape Cod, Massachusetts -- this summer, in its 30th iteration, WHFF is showing films in person and virtually from July 31st through August 7th. This festival aims to showcase independent films while simultaneously building relationships with fellow filmmakers and organizations. WHFF seeks to provide opportunity and platform to all kinds of film makers all over the world; this year half of their films have been made by women including drama and comedy shorts, narrative features, and documentaries.
WIFVNE Board Member Thato Mwosa has a film showing at this year’s festival. Thato is a filmmaker, writer, illustrator, and educator who focuses her works on identity, race, class, and immigration. Her first narrative feature film, Memoirs of a Black Girl, follows a young girl named Aisha Johnson as she navigates the ups and downs of life as a high schooler in Roxbury, including being considered for a prestigious scholarship. Aisha must “learn to survive, navigate life at school and on the unforgiving streets of Roxbury while keeping her eyes on the prize.”
Other notable films made by women being shown this year are Drought, directed by Hannah Black and Megan Peterson, a story about a boy with autism and a fascination with weather; Monkey Beach, a tale of the supernatural and the sea directed by Loretta Sarah Todd; and Cecilia Aronado’s film Landfall, about post-hurricane Puerto Rico, and many more.
Woods Hole has successfully broadened the horizons of hundreds of filmmakers and has recently launched a program aimed to intertwine the work of film and science called the Film & Science Initiative. Two science-based films and programs supported by the initiative include Beth Murphy’s Our Future, Our Fight: Wildfires. Wildfires is the pilot episode in a docu-series focusing on young individuals fighting for the awareness of climate change. In this first episode, the main focus is how the indigenous practice of controlled, cultural burns can help the environment.
Another featured film under the Film & Science Initiative is directed by Josh Seftel. Bruce+Alvin is a documentary short that follows the endeavors of the longest running deep sea submarine in the world. Being the only submarine in the United States that can carry humans to “extreme ocean depths”, this film presents the sub’s most experienced pilot, Bruce Strickrott, as he takes it on its last deep sea mission.
WHFF is also hosting a panel discussion led by Alecia Orsini , the President of WIFVNE, and Christine Merser, a corporate member of WIFVNE. Titled "Creating A Marketing Strategy for Independent Film," this session focuses on one of the hardest parts of post production: distribution and marketing. The event takes place virtually on August 4th, 2021 at 1pm EST. The event is available via the Woods Hole website.
WIFVNE members receive a 20% discount on passes or a $2 discount off individual tickets to the 30th Woods Hole Film Festival. See your WIFVNE Members Only email for details. Visit their website to see all 153 films in this year’s program.
WIFVNE Board President Alecia Orsini serves on the Board of Directors for the Woods Hole Film Festival and one of the 2020-21 programming fellows is WIFVNE Board Member Emily Abi-Kheirs.
