Geri Ashur

As a young couple make out in a car, we hear the woman’s stream of consciousness thoughts. She worries about her reputation and whether he’ll try to “go all the way.”

When Women Kill is a poignant documentary exploring the shocking violence that seven women fell victim to at the hands of men. The program profiles the battered women who speak frankly about the cruel abuse, threats, and fears, and the overassertive men who led them down a one-way path to death and destruction. The film features in-prison footage, including a segment depicting a confession by a follower of the notorious Charles Manson, Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted of two killing sprees and committed to life in prison.

Geri Ashur’s Me & Stella traces the life of blues musician, folk singer, and composer Elizabeth Cotten—and her guitar, Stella—who is best known for writing the folk standard “Freight Train.” After spending her early teenage years writing songs and playing the guitar, Cotten put her musical career on hold for three decades. Encouraged by the very musical Seeger family, for whom she worked as a maid, Cotten started recording and became a star in the 1960s burgeoning folk revival at an age when most people are contemplating retirement.

The Newsreel collective’s JANIE’S JANIE breaks with the group’s usual format for a more personal approach, following a woman’s journey to self-determination after years of mental and physical abuse; or, as Janie says, “First I was my father’s Janie, then I was my Charlie’s Janie, now I’m Janie’s Janie."