BRATTLEBORO — Three films, each about a strong, spirited woman who takes us along for the ride as she embarks on her path of self-discovery, highlight the Brattleboro Film Festival's commitment to feature characters often unseen in mainstream media. As we embrace their stories and struggles, we begin to care deeply about them. In these films, we see the possibilities that life offers these characters, and their personal journeys become our own.
In the wildly and internationally popular comedy English Vinglish, we travel to India to meet dedicated wife, mother, and entrepreneur Shashi, who finds herself insecure and embarrassed because of her poor English.
The story moves to New York where Shashi (played by Indian megastar Sridevi, whom some critics compare to Audrey Hepburn and whom other call the “Meryl Streep of India”) gathers her courage and secretly enrolls in an English class. We meet a quirky ESL teacher and a group of international students who help Shashi and one another overcome the idiosyncrasies of the language and rediscover their respective self-worth.
English Vinglish is the debut of writer-director Gauri Shinde, who was inspired to make the film by her own mother who, like Shashi, spoke no English.
In an interview, Shinde admitted that growing up she was embarrassed by her mother's lack of English and the film was her way of saying, “I'm sorry.” This joyful, feel-good film, while not strictly Bollywood, ends with a song-and-dance number that will be familiar to fans of Bend It Like Beckham and Slumdog Millionaire.
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Next, we're off to California for the feature-length film Middle of Nowhere, which earned writer-director Ava DuVernay the best director award for drama at Sundance, the first African-American female to do so.
This powerful indie - shot in 19 days for less than $500,000 - is beautifully acted by Emayatzy Corinealdi, who won a Gotham Award for breakthrough actor for this debut performance, and by David Oyelowo (The Butler, The Help).
When Ruby's husband is incarcerated, she drops out of medical school to help him, and their marriage, survive an eight-year prison sentence. DuVernay wanted to tell a story about the invisible lives of women on the outside struggling to keep it all together. She makes us feel the shame and sacrifice of being an inmate's wife.
Ruby's trust and assumptions are shaken to the core before she spreads her wings with grace and determination, and comes into her own.
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Maidentrip is a well-crafted documentary that follows 14-year-old Laura Dekker of the Netherlands as she pursues her dream of becoming the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe - alone.
The film has spawned much discussion with festival audiences around the world asking, “What were her parents thinking?”
We are introduced to Dekker as she and her boat builder dad refurbish the Guppy, a wreck they bought cheap and outfitted as her home on the seas.
Maidentrip, an entertaining and provocative coming-of-age film, will engage adults and young people alike as they hop aboard the Guppy with Dekker and set out from Holland to the Galapagos, French Polynesia, and other magnificent stops along the way.
Because there was no follow boat or support team to film the journey, director Jillian Schlesinger provided Dekker with a Sony Handycam and mounted cameras on the boat.
The cameras both document the trip and keep Dekker company for the next two years.
It is through these recordings we get to know her many sides: capable sailor, endearing yet defiant teenager, and adventurous spirit.
When this sailing superstar says, “I don't like when people tell me what to do!” we realize Dekker might just be a normal teenager after all.