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VIRTUAL – Bonni Curran Memorial Lecture for the Health and Dignity of Women

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Watch the lecture anytime on LIVESTREAM

This year’s Bonni Curran Memorial Lecture will be keynoted by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem, who will speak about the organization’s response to COVID-19 and its impact on women and girls globally. 

With many nations paralyzed by the pandemic, over 47 million women in 114 low and middle income countries may not be able to access modern contraceptives, resulting in over seven million unintended pregnancies. Childbirth has become less safe during the pandemic as well. Over 31 million additional cases of gender-based violence are expected with a six-month lockdown; for every three additional months, an additional 15 million cases are expected.

Working in more than 150 countries and territories, UNFPA is leveraging its widespread presence and strong record of collaboration with ministries of health, international and national non-governmental organizations and women’s and youth groups, among others, to keep health-care systems at risk of collapsing delivering services.

Vignettes of UNFPA actions to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 around the world will be shown during Dr. Kanem’s lecture, and she will answer questions following her remarks. To ensure that her talk addresses the issues most concerning our audience, she has asked that questions be submitted in advance. Further information regarding UNFPA’s work can be found at either unfpa.org or friendsofunfpa.org.

This lecture is presented in partnership with the Family of Woman Film Festival, running September 9-13 on The Community Library’s Livestream. All films and this lecture will be virtual only.

For more information, visit http://familyofwomanfilmfestival.org/sun-valley-films/. 

 

About the Bonni Curran Memorial Lecture

Each year the Festival presents a lecture by an internationally acclaimed advocate for women and girls. In 2014, it was named in honor of Bonni Curran, who was tragically killed in an accident in 2013.

Bonni was a physician, loving mother and wife, and not only a prominent local philanthropist, but also deeply committed to working on behalf of women and children around the world. She had been a supporter of the festival from its inception. In honoring her memory each year, we are reminded of the impact she had on our community and how much we miss her presence.

 

    

VIRTUAL – Family of Woman Film Festival: “Apache 8”

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Watch the film on LIVESTREAM.

This film will only be available for live viewing at the time scheduled.

For over 30 years, the all-female Apache 8 unit has protected their reservation from fire, as well as responding to wildfires across the nation. The group has earned the reputation of being fierce, loyal, dependable—and tougher than their male colleagues. Facing both gender bias and the problems that come with life on an impoverished reservation, the women are some of the country’s most elite firefighters. Director Sande Zeig combines archival footage and present-day interviews to focus primarily on four women from different generations of Apache 8 crew members, who speak tenderly, and often humorously, of hardship, loss, family, community and pride in their profession.

The film will be followed by a discussion with Sande Zeig and firefighter Katy Aday, who is featured in the film, moderated by Tracy Andrus, president of the Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State University.

Documentary, USA, 57 minutes

 

    

 

VIRTUAL – Family of Woman Film Festival: “Councilwoman”

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Watch the film on LIVESTREAM.

This film will only be available for live viewing at the time scheduled.

Politicians aren’t usually immigrant grandmothers working full-time service jobs, but Carmen Castillo proves the exceptions when she wins a seat on the city council in Providence, Rhode Island. A Dominican immigrant, Carmen maintains her job cleaning hotel rooms as she takes on her new role in politics. 

Castillo must face skeptics who say she doesn’t have the education to govern corporate interests who take a stand against her fight for a city minimum wage of $15/hour, and a tough re-election against two contenders. In her own voice, Carmen Castillo takes the audience behind the scenes of her political campaign, her housekeeping work, and the interactions of her personal life. One moment, she is vacuuming a hotel room, then racing home to put on a suit before heading for city hall. We are with her every step of the way. 

A live interview with Carmen Castillo and director Margo Guernsey, moderated by Boise mayor Laura McLean, will follow the film.

Documentary, USA, 57 minutes

 

    

 

About the Filmmaker

Director Margo Guernsey began her film career in 2010 as a producer at WPBT2 in Miami. Councilwoman is her first feature documentary. Since 2012, she has worked freelance as a director and producer of industrial videos in the Boston area. For over 20 years, she has worked as a union organizer, non-profit development director, Spanish/English translator, and media instructor. She holds an MFA in Film from the University of Miami, a MA in History from UMass/Amherst, a BA in History from Brown University, and is a Tribeca/Camden/CNNFilms Retreat Alumni.

About Carmen Castillo

Castillo has been a member of the Providence City Council since 2010. She was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic, and emigrated with her three daughters to the United States over 20 years ago. After arriving in Rhode Island, she settled in Ward 9 in Providence, which she represents on the council. While working at the West Hotel (now Omni), Castillo organized her fellow workers and helped form a union to garner higher wages, respect, and a better future for service employees and their families. Currently, she is a union steward and member of the executive board for UNITE HERE, Local 217. She has been active in her community for many years, advocating for the rights of immigrants, workers, and women, promoting neighborhood schools and fighting school closings, as well as focusing on improving city services and bringing more services to the war she represents.

Q&A with Richard Blanco

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July 23, 2020

Watch the Recording

Join us for a live Q&A with poet Richard Blanco, Writer-In-Residence at the Hemingway House and The Community Library’s 2020 Hemingway Distinguished Lecturer. The interview is moderated by Martha Williams, the Library’s programs and education manager.

Learn more about the lecture here. If you missed the July 16 event, you can view it here.

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