Gallery 1C03 and the UWSA proudly present Boy I Am

Gallery 1C03 and The UWSA will screen Boy I Am and A Girl Named Kai, on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Manitoba Boardroom (2^nd floor of Manitoba Hall, Room 2M70).

Image: Scene from Boy I Am by Sam Feder & Julie Hollkar, USA, 2006.

Gallery 1C03 and The UWSA will screen Boy I Am and A Girl Named Kai, on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Manitoba Boardroom (2^nd floor of Manitoba Hall, Room 2M70).

In partnership with The UWSA, we are pleased to join the international documentary screening network, Cinema Politica, as the first Manitoban chapter through the formation of "Cinema Politica at The University of Winnipeg”. Together we will screen six socially and politically resonant films over the course of the 2009/2010 academic season.

Engaging students in ways that encourage informed citizenry through creative and critical thinking is key to Gallery 1C03’s mandate and, as a facet of the University capable of connecting widely through the interdisciplinary nature of visual and media art, we hope our involvement with Cinema Politica will help us continue to grow relationships with students, faculty, and staff on campus, as well as citizens of Winnipeg at large. Watching films about issues that matter and taking time to talk about and plan actions can move us to a more equitable and sustainable world. Art and culture matter and the capacity for creative documentaries to inspire and challenge us is a testament to this fact.

Our fifth screening, directed by Sam Feder and Julie Holkar, features the documentary film Boy I Am. This screening has been programmed by students working with the University of Winnipeg's LGBT* Centre and Womyn’s Centre. Boy I Am is a groundbreaking documentary looking at the transgender experiences of three individuals transitioning from female-to-male. This film inquires about the resistance that is sometimes found within the feminist and lesbian communities around FTM transitioning, as some women in these communities consider FTM transitioning at best, “trendy,” or, at worst, as “an anti-feminist act that taps into male privilege (Cinema Politica).” Engaging a dialog between the lesbian, feminist, and transgender communities, this film also works to advance an understanding of transgender issues for all audiences.

Also to be screened on Tuesday, February 23 is the short film A Girl Named Kai, an autobiographical vignette about creator Kai Ling’s experiences. A Girl Named Kai interrogates the tensions between internal and external identities.

For more information about Boy I Am and A Girl Named Kai, please visit: http://www.cinemapolitica.org/node/679 or http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/films/a_girl_named_kai/.

For more information about the Cinema Politica network, please visit www.cinemapolitica.org.

Save the dates! Our last Cinema Politica at the University of Winnipeg screening for the 2009-10 academic season will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the Manitoba Board Room (Rm 2M70) on: Tuesday, March 23.

All films are selected by students affiliated with the UWSA’s on-campus service groups.

All screenings will be open to all audiences – everyone is welcome from across the campus, and across the city. Our screenings will always be free, but donations to offset costs are welcome.

Gallery 1C03 and the UWSA wish to extend thanks to Cinema Politica for making it possible for us to participate in this network. We are collectively grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts for generously supporting this initiative.