DocuClub in April!
Our April DocuClub will take place on Wednesday, April 6, 7 p.m., at DCTV, located at 87 Lafayette (at Walker).
This month, we will screen a rough cut of HOW TO LOSE YOUR VIRGINITY by Therese Shecter. Investigating father/daughter purity balls, million-dollar virginity auctions and the search for the mythic hymen, Shechter poses two compelling questions: Why does virginity still hold such importance in an otherwise hyper-sexualized American society? And does virginity actually exist, or is it just a social construct created to keep the girls in line? Shechter engages sex educators, porn producers, abstinence advocates, historians and teenagers, to dig beneath the no-win double-message of a culture that cynically encourages virginity but sells promiscuity. (Think tight t-shirts that say "Virginity is Hot," expressing the virgin/whore dichotomy in a cotton/ polyester blend.) Traveling through pop culture, religion and history, Shechter plays the audience’s navigator, deconstructing the elusive, mysterious and not-always-precious gift that is virginity.
Producer/Director Therese Shecter considers herself a full-fledged virginity geek now that she’s been a panelist at Harvard University’s Rethinking Virginity conference and presented Feels Like the First Time: A Virginity Primer for Nerd Nite at Galapagos Art Space in New York. She also writes about virginity, feminism and sexuality for her blog "The American Virgin." Her first feature documentary I Was a Teenage Feminist screened worldwide in festivals, universities and international women’s organizations. In 2009, Shechter was honored to personally screen the film at Serbia’s first-ever Women’s Film Festival. She is most proud, however, to have been called a “brazen advocate of slut culture” by a conservative blogger who shall remain nameless. You can read her intermittent tweets @trixiefilms.
Co-producer Lisa Esselstein Co-Producer) lives at the junction of independent film and television. An award-winning writer/producer and editor, she got her start at IFC Entertainment, producing behind-the-scenes documentaries for festival favorites like TRANSAMERICA and ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW. Currently, Lisa produces national promotional campaigns for Sundance Channel films and non-fiction series, including BRICK CITY, LOVE/LUST, and the critically acclaimed ICONOCLASTS.
Editor Dina Guttman has been a part of the documentary world since 1996, editing films shot all over the world. She edited several PBS films including INDEPENDENT SPIRITS (2001), National Geographic’s THE LAST ROYALS (2005), and A HEALING ART (2010); and many film festival successes such as COWGIRLS (2002 USA Film Festival finalist), and ILONA, UPSTAIRS (HBO Audience Award, 2005 Provincetown Film Festival). She and her producing partner, veteran editor Toby Shimin, run the production company Dovetail Films.
Our moderator will be Mitch Teplisky, a documentary producer and marketing/fundraising consultant. His film SOY ANDINA, about two New York dancers who journey to Peru to reconnect with roots, aired on Latino Public Broadcasting's Voces series in 2009-2010. It was crowd-funded by more than 150 donors and business sponsors. Before that, Teplitsky was the long-time marketing director at the Film Society of Lincoln Center – and a volunteer for Docuclub, back in the late 1990s. So moderating this event marks a return to his own Docuclub roots! He is currently producing a New Media project, "The New American Girls," about undocumented teens in America (fiscally sponsored by Docuclub's parent Arts Engine), and plotting new projects in Peru.
If you’re planning to attend, please RSVP to docuclub@artsengine.net.
Admission at DCTV is free for current DocuClub members and $6 for non-members.
Tickets will be sold at the door, cash only.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. No admittance after 7:15 p.m.
Membership is an annual $50 and it includes free admission to all DocuClub events. It takes five minutes to join online:
http://www.artsengine.net/store/items/docuclub_membership_individual_rate
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