Artists in Person

In tonight's program, ordinary women become extraordinary when they refuse to be molded by their pasts. Enemy Within (Yun J. Suh, 2002, 5 mins, Color/B&W) documents the story of a mixed-race woman who became the target of hate after 9/11, paralleling her grandfather's experience during World War II. In the experimental The Third Tongue (Canada, 2003, 14 mins, B&W, 16mm, From the artist), Kwang-Ju Son explores the ramifications of learning English, ranging from a fear of colonialism to the dread of war. In Sleepwalking (Angela How, U.S./Singapore/Australia, 2005, 15.5 mins) a woman is hopelessly bound to an impossible relationship. Marilu Mallet's moving documentary La Cueca Sola (Canada, 2003, 52 mins, In English and Spanish with English subtitles, Beta SP, From Women Make Movies) recounts how several Chilean women, including author Isabel Allende, coped with the disappearance of their loved ones during Pinochet's dictatorship. In The Women's Kingdom (Xiaoli Zhou, 2005, 20.5 mins), Mosuo women from matriarchal Chinese villages adapt to the emerging tourism market.