It's a cultural event created around the idea of film, but there's more than just film. The San Antonio Feminist Film Festival kicks off tonight and its co-creator is Joyce Townsend. She says that films are just part of what the Film Festival is all about.
"The Film Festival actually started with the premise that there needs to be more civil discourse. So it was really just a means of enjoying some films together that are pretty creative and usually pretty new."
The 3-night Festival starts tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse at the Park North Shopping Center facing Loop 410.
"We have Equal Means Equal, which is the top-rated feminist documentary right now, huge award-winner. We also have a film called Mustang."
Speakers who are in some way associated with the films will also introduce them.
"Wednesday night has me doing cartwheels. We are bringing in The Hunting Ground, an Oscar-nominated film. It's very recognizable from the Grammys when Joe Biden and Lady Gaga both recognized the song and the theme behind it, which was addressing the issue of sexual assault."
They will have several speakers, including Jessica Luther, whose book Unsportsmanlike Conduct is credited with bringing the issue front of mind, rocking Baylor University and many others. That scandal cost Baylor President Ken Starr and Football Coach Art Briles their jobs. And then the festival wraps on Thursday.
"Thursday night is an incredible night too because of our first documentary called Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, and it's a bio-pic to this woman, this icon to so many people."
The speaker is San Antonian Aaronetta Pierce, who was a friend of Maya Angelou's.
"And then our second, and last film--we always try to end on an upbeat film--we have Grandma with Lily Tomlin, which is a hilarious film." Townsend laughed. "I think the older she gets the better she gets."
Doors open at 6 each night in the San Antonio Film Festival, which runs through Thursday night.
Find more on the San Antonio Feminist Film Festival here.
