2022 Women's History Month

In the mid-70s, her father became the first Black general manager of a TV station in the country when the Federal Communications Commission suspended the local station at Jackson, Mississippi for racist practices and mandated that it be run by a Black group. It was there, growing up in Mississippi, that Erika Dilday understood the importance of having a “diversity of voices within the narrative.

Fatma Begum was born in 1892 into an Urdu-speaking Muslim family in India. As a young woman she trained in theater, acting in Urdu plays.

The Luxor African Film Festival wrapped up its 11th week-long session on Thursday evening, March 10, 2022, and African filmmakers were embraced by the charming Egyptian city of Luxor, the largest open museum in the world. In 11 editions the festival has made its mark on the map of prominent African film gatherings and counted on the support of distinct and eager audiences every year.

Michelle Yeoh stars in the science fiction film Everything Everywhere All at Once, that premiered at the 2022 SXSW South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. The Malaysian actress – acclaimed for her performances in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) by Ang Lee, The Lady (2011) by Luc Besson, Crazy Rich Asians (2018) by Jon Chu – spoke to the journalists of the Hollywood Foreign Press in 2005 about her role in Memoirs of a Geisha, directed by Rob Marshall from the 1997 novel by Arthur Golden.

On July 7, 1896, the Lumière brothers screened six of their silent short films at the Watson Hotel in Mumbai, India. They were Entry of Cinematographe, The Sea Bath, Arrival of a Train, A Demolition, Ladies and Soldiers on Wheels, and Leaving the Factory.

When you think long-term, you win. Jenny Beavan got her first break on an unpaid position as a costume designer on a small Merchant/Ivory picture, followed by many more from the famous independent producer team, including A Room with a View which got her first Oscar.

On April 22, 1993, 32-year-old Pasang Lhamu Sherpa became the first Nepali woman to summit Mount Everest. After reaching the top of the 8,848-meter peak, she descended the mountain with five other Sherpas when weather conditions dramatically deteriorated.

A contemporary of Golden Globe Nominee John Cassavetes (Faces, Shadows), arguably the father of the New American Cinema, Shirley Clark (1919-1997) is an equally seminal figure of bold and audacious indies who, due to gender and other biases, has remained an unsung hero. Early on, Clarke saw the limitations of experimental cinema and the narrow scope of exploring female subjectivity and sexual desire.

Finnish women writers wrote strong, independent female characters for the early films of their country’s cinema Women in Finland enjoy a high degree of equality among men. In 1906, the women of Finland became the first in Europe to be granted the right to vote.

Jane Fonda taught Hollywood – and the rest of the world – the importance of speaking up and speaking out at a time when that was anything but fashionable. She was and is an enthusiastic activist, standing up not only for what she believes in but simply what is right.