The 6th edition of the Cinema Femme Short Film Fest runs from April 25 – May 2, 2024. This one-of-a-kind festival emphasizes the importance of supporting emerging women and non-binary filmmakers by connecting them to seasoned industry members through the Breaking Down Walls mentorship program and retreat. Twenty short films have been selected to screen across three programs, along with the Chicago premiere of the prize-winning documentary “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood.” Four filmmakers will then be awarded a three-month mentorship with a seasoned filmmaker. This will be the festival’s second year screening at the Music Box Theatre. Along with the screenings this year, we will have in-person events with filmmaker Q&As and panels. There will also be virtual events featured on our YouTube channel.
Haroula Rose Tribute Filmmaker Event |Tickets | Music Box Lounge | April 25 | 7:00 PM
Festival Director Rebecca Martin Fagerholm will have a discussion with filmmaker and performer Haroula Rose. They will discuss the scope of her career as a director, producer, and touch on some of her latest projects, like her sophomore directed feature “All Happy Families” and “Diana’s Electric Tongue.” Included with the discussion, they will show clips from her work as a director.
HAROULA ROSE / Filmmaker and Performer
Rose’s feature directorial debut ONCE UPON A RIVER went to over 40 festivals internationally taking home 19 awards, now distributed by Film Movement. Her sophomore feature film ALL HAPPY FAMILIES features an all star cast and is Executive Produced by Michael Shannon, to be released in late 2024. She studied at the University of Chicago and at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Her work has been supported by a Fulbright, Tribeca Institute, and Warner Brothers. She has written and directed many acclaimed short films including one with Reese Witherspoon’s company Hello Sunshine, a pilot with Warner Media support, as well as nonfiction work, music videos, and helped produce notable features and docs through her company Glass Bead Films.
Lori Felker Spotlight Series Q&A Event | Tickets | Music Box Lounge | April 28 | 5:00 PM
Matt Fagerholm, film critic and contributor to RogerEbert.com, Cinema Femme magazine, and Indie Outlook, speaks with filmmaker Lori Felker about her work in short films with “Spontaneous,” her 2020 short, and some of her past work that is featured on the Criterion Channel.
LORI FELKER / Director, Writer, Camera, Editor, Producer
Lori Felker is a filmmaker, teacher, programmer, and performer. Her films study the ineloquent, frustrating, and chaotic qualities of human interaction and have explored empathy, discontinuity, grief,and multiple dimensions. She eschews any particular style or genre in favor of letting content and concerns guide form. Her award- winning short films, such as Spontaneous (2020), Discontinuity (2016) and Imperceptihole (2011) and feature-length documentary FUTURE LANGUAGE: The Dimensions of VON LMO (2018), have screened internationally at festivals including The Rotterdam International Film Festival, Slamdance, Ann Arbor Film Festival, BAMcinemaFest, EXiS in Korea, Festival du nouveau cinema in Montreal and Kinodot in Russia. She loves every facet of filmmaking and has worked as a cinematographer, editor, and/or actor for various artists and directors and has programmed for the likes of the Chicago Underground Film Festival, Slamdance, and Roots & Culture Gallery in Chicago. She is a recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Grant, a Wexner Center Residency, a Brico Forward Fund and a Fulbright (Berlin, 2000). She is an Assistant Professor at DePaul University in Chicago.
“Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” *Chicago Premiere” | Tickets | Music Box small theatre | April 28 | 7:00 PM Trailer
Cinema Femme is so excited to host the Chicago premiere of the award-winning Estonian feature documentary “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood.” In 2023, the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Cinema Femme magazine has been quoted in its international advertising, dubbing the film “a masterpiece.”
Shorts Program 1 (98.91 minutes) + Q&A with filmmakers| Tickets | Music Box small theater | April 28 | 9:30 PM
(still from Haroula Rose’s short film “Diana’s Electric Tongue”)
At 9:30 PM on Sunday, April 28, join us for Shorts Program 1: “Dear Body.” The title is inspired by our poster illustration this year from “All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” the beloved coming of age film on Netflix, directed by Susan Johnson, adapted from the book of the same name by Jenny Han. For Shorts Program 1, we write a love letter to our bodies and ourselves by elevating nine shorts (varying in length, with a total of 100 minutes shown together) directed by women and non-binary filmmakers. Echoing our 7 PM screening of “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” on the same night, we elevate the shared universal experience of being in a female body, not identifying by gender but as a community.
Closing Night Party | VIP Tickets Only | Music Box Lounge | May 1st | 5 PM – 7PM
Event Description: Closing Party May 1, 2024 (VIP tickets/Press/Sponsors only)
From 5 PM – 7 PM on Wednesday, May 1st, Cinema Femme has its closing night party, accompanied by a silent auction. Over 20 local businesses owned or led by women and non-binary people have donated goods or services. We’d like to thank Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce for facilitating a lot of these donations.
Shorts Program 2: Sincerely, Yours (110 minutes) + Q&A with filmmakers| Tickets | Music Box small theater | May 1st | 7:30 PM
Still from Autumn Thompson’s “The Pieces”
At 7:30 PM on Wednesday, May 1, join us for Shorts Program 2: “Sincerely, Yours.” The title is inspired by our poster illustration this year from Susan Johnson’s coming of age film on Netflix, “All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”. For this shorts block, we screen a series of personable films that touch on family, origins, and life choices (varying in length, with a total of 110 minutes shown together). Come early for our post-production panel pre-show at 7 PM.
Post-Production panel pre-show to Shorts Program 2 at 7:00 PM
Joanna Woods, EP at Optimus
A peek behind the post-production curtain! Join us for a moderated conversation with film veterans specializing in edit, sound design, color correction and finish. This discussion will focus on the inner workings of feature, short form, and TV post-production. Moderated by Joanna Woods, an Executive Producer at Optimus in collab with Noisefloor and Periscope Post & Audio. Panelists include Katie Waters (Foley Artist, Noisefloor), Victoria Salazar (Location Audio Lead and Sound Editor, Noisefloor), Thea Ilic (Post-Production Coordinator, Periscope Post & Audio), Emily Kaberlein (Assistant Editor, Periscope Post & Audio), and Ana Christian (Editor, Anachrony Post).
Shorts Program 3: P.S. (111 minutes)+ Q&A with filmmakers| Tickets | Music Box small theater | May 1st | 9:30 PM
Still from Erin Brown Thomas’ “[subtext]”
At 9:30 PM on Wednesday, May 1, join us for Shorts Program 3: “P.S.” The title is inspired by our poster illustration this year from Susan Johnson’s coming of age film on Netflix, “All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”. For this shorts block, we screen films that will make you feel all the feels, whether it’s laughing, crying, or even laugh-crying. All of these films will bring together the audience through these emotions (varying in length, with a total of 111 minutes shown together).
LIVE Online Events on YouTube channel (all central time zone times)
4/29 – 12 PM LIVE Q&A with Anna Hints director of “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood”
Join us for our LIVE Q&A with “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” director Anna Hints, following up our in-person screening at the Music Box Theatre on 4/28 at 7 PM. In the darkness of a smoke sauna, women share their innermost secrets and intimate experiences, washing off the shame trapped in their bodies and regaining their strength through a sense of communion.
4/29 – 3 PM LIVE Q&A with selected filmmakers, moderated by Annarosa Mudd
Producer and actress Annarosa Mudd (“TAPE”) moderates a Q&A with Cinema Femme Short Film Fest 2024 selected filmmakers Amaka Lin director of “STASIS”, Krista Kane director of “Except”, Lucy Grebin writer and star of “Bad Jew Good Girl,” and Claudia Lee, director of “Bodily Renaissance.”
4/29 – 8 PM LIVE Q&A with selected filmmakers, moderated by Gabriela Ortega
Cinema Femme Short Film Fest 2020 alum Gabriela Ortega (“Papi”), actor and director, moderates a Q&A with Giovanna Molina (“Hickey”), Laney Marquette (“Sensitivity”), Autumn Thompson (“The Pieces”), T. J. Blanco (“A Land Memory”), Marion Forbes (“Thank you, Neck”), and Kaitlyn Busbee (“Layaway”) for the 2024 Cinema Femme Short Film Fest.
4/30 – 12 PM LIVE Q&A with selected filmmakers, moderated by Zoë Worth
Zoë Worth, producer of the Sundance 2024 indie gem “Thelma”, starring June Squibb, moderates a Q&A with Cinema Femme Short Film Fest 2024 filmmakers , Katherine Bourne Taylor and Mary Tilden (“Fern”), Bridget Frances Harris (“Places of Worship”), Erin Lovett (“The Knowing”), and Olivia Haller (“[subtext]” .
4/30 – 3 PM LIVE Producer Panel moderated by Rebecca Martin Fagerholm:
Cinema Femme Festival Director Rebecca Martin Fagerholm moderates an all-star dream team producer panel with women and non-binary producers. Panelists are Rhianon Jones (Neon Heart Productions), Oluwaseun Babalola (KOSINIMA Inc), Elizabeth Woodward (WILLA), Flor de oro Tejadda (“Bone Black: Midwives vs. the South”), Natalie Metzger (Vanishing Angle), and Liz Cardenas (Ten to the Six Pictures).
4/30 – 8 PM LIVE Q&A with selected filmmakers, moderated by Tiffany Tenille
Cinema Femme alum filmmaker Tiffany Tenille (“Albion Rose,” “Jezebel”) moderates a Q&A with Cinema Femme Short Film Fest filmmakers with Allison Torem (“Road Head”), Marissa Chibás (“72”), Lua Borges (“Madonna”) and Jessica Barr (“Tight”).
5/2 – 10 AM LIVE Q&A | Spotlight Series | Rachel Annette Helson “Good Daughter”
Cinema Femme Short Film Fest Festival Director Rebecca Martin Fagerholm talks to Rachel Annette Helson about her short film “Good Daughter.” This Q&A is part of the 2024 Spotlight Series.
2024 Mentors Ellie Foumbi, Kris Rey, Glamhag, and Emily Robinson will announce their mentees | other awards: Critics Choice, Halyna Hutchins Producer award, Chicago Spotlight, Phenomenal Person in Film, and Audience Choice. Learn more about our awards!