March is Women's History month, and the Salt Lake City Film Center's calendar includes several films and visiting filmmakers who explore women's issues.
The following lists film showings, their dates and the film's content.
March 14, 7 p.m. "Walkout," based on the East Los Angeles student protests of 1968, from HBO. At the City Library, 210 E. 400 South. Edward James Olmos directs this HBO Films drama that tells the true but little-known story of a group of Chicano students who staged a compelling 1968 walkout to protest the injustices of the public high school system in East Los Angeles. Starring Alexa Vega as Paula Crisostomo, an idealistic honor student who refuses to "play it safe" in a school system that clearly discriminates against Chicanos, instead banding with a group of activists to coordinate a multischool walkout of students. Mentored by her charismatic teacher Sal Castro (Michael Pena), Paula learns that sometimes the price for progress is high — but it's ultimately worth paying. The story is set against the background of the national civil-rights movement.
The film is free and open to the public and presented by the SLC Film Center.
March 17, 7:30 p.m., "39 Pounds of Love" director, Dani Menkin. 74 minutes. Crew member, actor and Ami's caretaker, Asaf Shaul, will be in attendance. Temple Har Shalom, 1922 Prospector Ave., Park City. SLCFC visiting filmmaker.
March 18, 6:30 p.m., "Films From Polynesia" at the City Library, 210 E. 400 South. SLCFC: Festival Series/International Films. "Whale Rider." Director Niki Caro. Rated PG-13, 101 minutes. On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, dared to confront the past, change the present and fulfill her future. Free and open to the public. Presented by the SLC Film Center and the City Library.
"Once Were Warriors." Rated R, 103 minutes. Set in urban New Zealand, this film classic tells the story of a family descended from Maori warriors bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.
March 19, 6 p.m., "39 Pounds of Love." Crewmember, actor and Ami's caretaker, Asaf Shaul will be in attendance. Hosted by attorney and SMA/disabilities activist Steve Mikita and KSL news reporter Carole Mikita at the City Library, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City. "39 Pounds of Love" is the heartwarming story of Ami Ankilewitz, an American-born Israeli who at the age of 1 was diagnosed with a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy that renders him immobile, except for one finger, which he uses to work as a 3-D animator. His doctor predicated he'd die before the age of 6. The film follows a riveting cross-country journey that Ami, now 36 years old, takes with friends across the USA to look for the doctor who thought he wouldn't survive.
The film is free and open to the public and presented by the SLC Film Center, Temple Har Shalom, the Christian Center of Park City, the National Ability Center and the Salt Lake Jewish Community Center.
March 20, 7 p.m. "La Otra Conquista." 105 minutes, rated R, at the City Library 210 E. 400 South. SLCFC: Spanish Language Film Series. This Film Festival Series is presented with the U. of U. Ethnic Studies Program, the department of education, culture and society, the department of history, the office of diversity, and the City Library. "La Otra Conquista" tells the story of the Spanish conquest of the Americas and the high price the Aztec culture paid at the hands of the Spanish. Writer/director Salvador Corrasco thought it was time to tell the side of the story that most of us didn't learn about in high school. Free and open to the public. Presented by the SLC Film Center and the U. of U.
March 20, 7:30 p.m. The SLC Film Center hosts Clara Bingham, the author of "Class Action," the book on which the film, "North Country" was based, at Westminster College, 1840 S. 1300 East in the Vieve Gore Concert Hall in the new Jewett Center. SLCFC visiting filmmaker.
5 p.m. "North Country." Director Niki Caro ("Whale Rider"), rated R, 126 minutes. SLCFC visiting filmmaker. A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States, "North Country" is the story of a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner and filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit. Based on the book "Class Action." Author Clara Bingham and screenwriter Michael Seitzman will discuss the art of adapting nonfiction to the silver screen. Free and open to the public. Presented by the SLC Film Center.
March 21, 7 p.m., "Unwanted Companion," SLCFC Festival/Series. At the City Library Auditorium, 210 E. 400 South. "Unwanted Companion" looks into recent medical and research advancements against a disease that affects 400,000 people in the United States. Through the voices of actress Teri Garr, country western singer Clay Walker and others, the story of life with multiple sclerosis is told. Free and open to the public. Presented by KUED, the SLC Film Center and the City Library.
March 22, 6-9 p.m., "The Bandit." A film by Yavuz Turgul, (Turkish with English subtitles) 123 minutes. SLCFC series, Islam and the West, at the Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center. Not rated, may contain mature subject matter. An epic adventure of the legendary Baran the Bandit who, following his release from prison, heads for Istanbul to get revenge upon his former best friend, the man who snitched on him and stole his lover. Along the way, Baran teams up with Cumali, a tough young punk, and Baran adds another vengeful task to his roster. Free and open to the public. Presented by the U. of U.'s Middle East Center, the SLC Film Center and the Museum of Fine Arts.
March 23. The SLC Film Center hosts Susanna Styron filmmaker, writer, at the City Library Auditorium, 210 E. 400 South. Styron will present a master class on adaptations and the short story from 4-6 p.m., screening critically acclaimed "Shadrach," starring Harvey Keitel and Andie MacDowell, based on William Styron's Pulitzer prize winning semi-autobiographical short story. Susanna Styron will also screen her award-winning short film "A Day Like No Other," based on Jim Harrison's short story, "The Man Who Gave Up His Hat."
At 7 p.m. she will screen her latest documentary "9/12: From Chaos to Community," a 60-minute character-driven documentary about a community of people that grew out of the volunteer effort at ground zero in New York City after the World Trade Center attacks. Free and open to the public. Presented by the SLC Film Center.