EVERETT — Hedy Lamarr was more than a glamorous actress in Hollywood’s Golden Age. Not only does she have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but she also has an asteroid named after her, 32730 Lamarr.
A film about her, “Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story,” will screen Saturday at the Everett Film Festival. Her daughter Denise Loder-DeLuca, an artist from Seattle, will do a Q&A after the film about her mother, who was also an inventor.
This week there are two different film festivals, in Everett and Edmonds, both spotlighting women and female filmmakers. Lunafest, by the Zonta Club of Everett, is Thursday at the Edmonds Theater.
The Everett Film Festival, launched in 1997 to showcase the strength, humor and creativity of women through provocative and entertaining films, is back after a pandemic hiatus.
“We’re going to make it light and compact enough this year just to be able to do that,” said Everett festival director Teresa Henderson.
Lean?
The eight-hour event features 11 screenings, including animations, documentaries, narrative features and shorts.
Revenue from the event is used to maintain it the following year.
“We’re putting everything back together,” Henderson said.
Doors open at 12:30 p.m. with live entertainment starting at 1 p.m. The festival is held at Everett Community College Jackson Center, 2000 Tower St.
Admission is $40 and includes popcorn and snacks. The wine is for purchase.
Lunafest, featuring eight shorts, is organized by the Zonta Club of Everett to raise funds to support women and girls through scholarships and grants to local nonprofit organizations.
“It supports women in the arts and specifically in film while also supporting other projects we do locally. So it’s a win-win,” said Zonta Club District Manager Carrie Blair. Other clubs from the international organization also participate in Lunafest.
“The content varies each year,” Blair said.
Lunafest is from 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $35 and include a glass of wine at the entrance to Edmonds Theater, 415 Main Street.
You can’t do it? Catch a virtual event, also $35, that features a link to the movies that will be live for 48 hours. Wine not included.
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; [email protected]; Twitter: @reporterbrown.
A still from the movie “Close Ties to Home Country”. (Luna Festival)
Lunafest lineup, September 8, Edmonds Theater
“How to be at home” by Andrea Dorfman, Halifax, Nova Scotia. An animated poem about dealing with isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Strong Ties to Home Country” by Akanksha Cruczynski, Chicago. An immigrant dog walker finds a connection in the hearts of the wealthy animals she cares for.
“Generation Impact: The Coder” by Samantha Knowles, Brooklyn, New York. A 13-year-old girl designs and builds a mobile app to help children stay in touch with their incarcerated parents by sending photos and letters.
“Proof of Loss” by Katherine Fisher, Los Angeles. When a fire engulfs their home, a father and daughter must find a way to save what’s left: each other.
“When You’re Cleaning a Stranger’s House” by Sharon Arteaga, Austin, Texas. A first-generation high school student describes what she and her mother learn about people by cleaning their house.
“Between the Lines: Liz on the Loose” by Abi Cole, Weaverville, North Carolina. Frustrated by the lack of character diversity in The New Yorker cartoons, an artist submits her own illustrations, becoming the magazine’s first black female cartoonist for the series in nearly a century.
“Wearable Tracy” by Emily McAllister, Carnelian Bay, CA. A Bronx woman’s accidental social experiment connects her with other New Yorkers who might otherwise forever remain strangers.
“To the Future, with Love” by Shaleece Haas and Hunter “Pixel” Jimenez, Los Angeles. An animated self-portrait of a non-binary trans teenager caught between the expectations of a Guatemalan immigrant family and the dreams of living happily ever after with an estranged boyfriend.
An excerpt from the movie “To the Future, with Love”. (Luna Festival)
Everett Film Festival, September 10, Everett Community College Jackson Center
“Pooling” by Dawn Westlake. Whimsical short: This imaginative hybrid of animation and live action features the breakdance of a talented Barcelona artist as he depicts a human being – and, symbolically, a democracy – falling apart, then putting it all back together.
“Lotte Reiniger: The Unsung Heroine of Animation” by Anna Humphries. Animated Documentary: Although overshadowed by Disney Studios, it was Charlotte (Lotte) Reiniger who created the first animated feature film in 1926, using her own camera technique. Disney studied it and released “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” 11 years later.
“Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story” by Alexandra Dean. Documentary: Yes, Hedy Lamarr was a glamorous Hollywood movie star, but she was more than a pretty face. Lamarr came up with the idea for the technology that would later be used in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. We can thank her for our current connectivity.
“Seeing Brave” by Dana Cook. Documentary shorts: three pioneering women find ways to make the world a better place by providing bicycles to help girls in East Africa get to school safely; supporting Syrian children facing the trauma of refugee camps; and helping Rwandan women lift themselves out of poverty through gardening.
“From Above” by Dawn Westlake. Short film: filmed in Spain, it is the story of a Syrian refugee and a European boy who find a way, despite the prejudices surrounding them, to form a friendship by creating a luminous kite and high flight that brings together both their religious traditions.
“Spin the Barrel” by Megan Wennberg. Narrative Short: A troubled teenager grabs a gun and drags her friends into a potentially deadly game.
“Nellie Bly Makes the News” by Penny Lane. Animated Documentary: The story of legendary investigative journalist Nellie Bly, who got locked up in an asylum for a sensational report, then traveled the world in a record-breaking 72 days. She was a game-changer for women in reporting before they even had the right to vote.
“Perfect 36: When Women Won the Vote” by Yoshie Lewis. Documentary: Gripping story of the final chapter in the struggle for women’s suffrage in the United States. All eyes were on Tennessee in 1920 as the last, albeit very distant, hope of ratifying the 19th Amendment.
“Driving Lessons” by Marziyeh Riahi. Narrative Short: An entertaining portrait of an Iranian woman’s efforts to learn to drive, despite overbearing comments from her traditional husband, who has to ride because it’s illegal for her to be alone with the instructor.
“Sophie and the Rising Sun” by Maggie Greenwald. Feature: Set in 1941, a young Japanese man mysteriously arrives in a small fishing village in South Carolina, where a common interest in art leads to a friendship with a local woman. As their relationship deepens and anti-Asian sentiment rises around them, they must make some brave decisions.
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