Strong Leads: A Film Seminar for High School Girls is a free after-school program spotlighting films by women. It is designed for 10th, 11th and 12th girls of all identities, including gender-nonconforming youth. A presentation of the Belcourt’s education and engagement program, Strong Leads explores gender representation in cinema, in the Hollywood establishment, and in film discourse.
Students will meet at the Belcourt Tuesdays, Sep 9-Oct 7, 4:00-7:30pm, to watch films and discuss with their peers. Strong Leads is facilitated by Allison Inman, the Belcourt’s education and engagement director, and Jessie Griffith, the Belcourt’s theatre operations director and education associate.
Participation in Strong Leads is by application only. This seminar is offered at no cost to participants, but capacity is limited, and students must apply and be selected to attend. It is designed for students only and is meant to be taken in its entirety (no single sessions). Please note that the seminar is for 10th, 11th and 12th grade students. No exceptions, please.
Strong Leads features high-quality films designed to spark conversation about important issues. Because of that, some films contain adult situations, profanity, drug/alcohol use, nudity, sexual situations, and violence.
Applications are due Tue, Sep 2. Students will be notified Wed, Sep 3.
Tue, Sep 9: Strong Leads orientation and activities
Tue, Sep 16: PARIAH Dir. Dee Rees| USA | 2011 | 86 min. | R
Tue, Sep 23: MANNY & LO Dir. Lisa Krueger | USA | 1996 | 88 min. | R
Tue, Sep 30: PAST LIVES Dir. Celine Song | USA | 2023 | 106 min. | PG-13
Tue, Oct 7: ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN’T Dir. Agnès Varda | France | 1977 | 120 min. | NR | In French with English subtitles
PARIAH
Alike, a 17-year-old African-American girl in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood, is a good student with a flair for poetry. She’s also quietly but firmly embracing her identity as a lesbian. With the sometimes boisterous support of her best friend, out lesbian Laura, Alike is especially eager to find a girlfriend. At home, her parents’ marriage is strained, and the tension heightens whenever Alike’s development becomes a topic of discussion. Pressed by her mother to befriend a colleague’s daughter, Bina, Alike finds Bina to be unexpectedly refreshing to socialize with. Wondering how much she can confide in her family, Alike strives to get through adolescence with grace, humor, and tenacity — sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, but always moving forward. Debut director Dee Rees (MUDBOUND), who grew up in Nashville, leads a splendid cast and crafts a pitch-perfect portrait that stands unparalleled in American cinema. PARIAH premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the cinematography award.
MANNY & LO
The criminally underrated debut feature from writer/director Lisa Krueger stars Scarlett Johansson and Aleksa Palladino as the titular Manny and Lo, orphaned teen sisters who leave their foster homes and live on the run — stealing food, squatting in empty homes, anything to avoid returning to the foster care system. Older sister Lo is the rude, destructive leader and younger sister Manny is her much calmer, wiser underling (an extraordinary performance from 11-year-old Johansson). Their mantra is “keep moving and you won’t get nailed,” but when Lo discovers she’s pregnant, the two soon realize that they’re in over their heads.
PAST LIVES
Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life in this heartrending modern romance. Starring Greta Lee as Nora, PAST LIVES is the feature debut from Korean-Canadian director Celine Song.
ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN’T
Agnès Varda’s singular ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN’T is a feminist musical about the bond of sisterhood, set against the progress of the women’s movement in which Varda was involved. Spanning more than a decade, it traces the intertwined lives of Pomme (Valérie Mairesse) and Suzanne (Thérèse Liotard) throughout years of changes and fraught relationships with men.
