In Anita’s Wake, a locally produced documentary about Florida’s gay adoption ban, will be shown at this week’s Global Peace Film Festival. The film is directed by Vicki Nantz and produced by attorney Mary Meeks (who is a contributing columnist to the Watermark.) In Anita’s Wake includes interviews with families recently affected by the ban, as well as past and current legislators, lobbyists and journalists. The documentary outlines the 33-year political struggle started through anti-gay rhetoric and lobbying by ultra-religious Anita Bryant.
Now in its eighth year, the Global Peace Film Festival seeks to engage people in creating a better world through film. The festival—which runs Sep. 21 through 26 throughout the Central Florida area—has always been a champion of LGBT rights. Films are also selected which triumph indigenous peoples’ rights, racial and sexual equality, religious tolerance, and ecological stewardship as parallel processes in peacemaking.
The screenings are:
Wed. Sept. 22, 7:30pm, Winter Park Public Library
Sat. Sept. 25, 3:30pm, Rollins College Bush Auditorium, Winter Park
Over 40 films will be shown during the six-day festival. Besides In Anita’s Wake, here are a few others on our Hot List:
Climate Refuges — The online critics are abuzz about this documentary. It interviews dozens of disparate people displaced by climate change.
Throw Down Your Heart — This 2008 do follows banjo impresario Bela Fleck as he travels throughout Africa. Playing a particularly American instrument, Fleck and his music create amazing bonds with Africa’s musicians and people.
Baraboo — Set in rural Wisconsin, this ensemble film follows six lonely characters stuck in a rundown motel resort.
The Edge of Dreaming — In the category of “weird but fascinating,” this UK film follows a woman whose dreams foretell her untimely death.
Gerrymandering: — One of the unspoken wars in American politics is how, every ten years, both parties battle over their constituent maps. This doc shows the sordid underbelly of dividing people to guarantee election wins.
Percy Schmeiser: David Versus Monsanto — After a storm, some Monsanto seeds flew into Schmeiser’s garden and took root. Later the giant seed company tried to sue Schmeiser for stealing their seeds. This documentary film is darkly funny and ironic.
