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by Phoebe Repeti


Image: supplied by Cinewest

Women Media Arts and Film Festival

Friday 5 and Saturday 6 May 2023
The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre

Blacktown Arts is proud to present the 7th edition of the Women Media Arts and Film Festival.

The festival represents media arts and film works by women through roles as writers, producers and directors.

Blacktown Arts is offering a selection of films from the full festival program by filmmakers Maree Delofski and Maria Tran from Australia, and Maryam Bahrololumi and Setareh Eskandari from Iran.

Be inspired by a selection of films and documentaries that celebrate powerful local and international voices in the industry.

Films screened on Saturday 6 May will be shown alongside, Woman Life Freedom, a morning of drop-in activities to stand in solidarity with woman in Iran and across the globe.

Suitable for ages 14+
Further information on selected films below.

See Autumn Making for more.

Friday 5 May

11 am

This is Our School (2021)

dir. Maree Delofski and Iqbal Barkat, Australia

A year-long, intimate and loving study of a primary school in one of Sydney’s most diverse suburbs. At its heart, it is an exploration of how a community comes together to ethically educate children for the contemporary world.


Image: supplied by Cinewest

2 pm

Echo 8 (2022)

dir. Maria Tran and Takashi Hara, Australia

An assassin with a painful past, Echo 8 is determined to finish her missions and never takes no for an answer. When she is thrust into a feverish nightmare of her memories, she finds that not every problem can be solved with a gun.


Image: supplied by Cinewest

Saturday 6 May

11 am

The Sun of That Moon (2021)

dir. Setareh Eskandari, Iran

In the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, a Baloch widow named Beeban decides to keep silent and not to speak anymore. She lives in her father-in-law’s house with her son, Miran. When her childhood playmate, Hamraz, returns home, once again they begin feeling in the mood for love. But everyone tries to force her to forget all about this forbidden love…


Image: supplied Cinewest

2 pm

Lady of the City (2021)

dir. Maryam Bahrololumi, Iran

Shahrbanoo (which is a name that means Lady of the City in Persian language) is a mother of three who has been sentenced to life in prison for transferring drugs. After 11 years in jail, she was released from prison for a few days to attend her son’s wedding. However, this temporary freedom confronts her with another aspect of her life and that of her family before returning back to prison.


Image: supplied by Cinewest

Creative team

Cinewest is a non-for-profit screen culture and audience development organisation responsible for managing various film festivals, skills and professional development, media literacy and digital film-making workshops locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

Cinewest targets individuals, community organisations and groups, children and young adults from culturally and linguistically diverse from Western Sydney region and beyond.

Women Media Arts and Film Festival is produced by Cinewest. The 7th edition is presented with Blacktown Arts, Macquarie University and Sydney Olympic Park, and supported by the NSW Government through Screen NSW.