Kresge Library > Events at OU > Annual Women's Studies Film Festival 2008 - “On Our Way to the White House?"

The Women and Gender Studies Program of the College of Arts and Sciences, Oakland University, presents the 2008 Annual Film Festival: "On Our Way to the White House?: Women & Electoral Politics" on Saturday, November 1, 2008, 12:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., 156 North Foundation Hall (campus map). Ticket cost: General Public, OU Faculty & Staff: $10; Seniors: $5; Students: Free. The Festival is co-sponsored by the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, the Film Concentration, and the Departments of Art and Art History, Communication and Journalism, Political Science, and Sociology and Anthropology. For more Information contact Women and Gender Studies, Oakland University (248-370-3221; osterber@oakland.edu). Registration deadline is October 24.

FILMS

What's Your Point, Honey? --from filmmakers Amy Sewell & Susan Toffler

What's Your Point, Honey? puts a new face on political leadership by introducing seven young women as they participate in an internship program called Project 2024, a joint effort of the White House Project and CosmoGIRL magazine aimed at encouraging women to run for office, including the highest office, while revealing inequalities that still exist today.

Amy Sewell will lead a discussion and answer questions about the film - her directorial debut. Following on the film's trail is a soon-to-be published book, She's Out There! The Next Generation of Presidential Candidates (Lifetime Media, Spring, 2009). Her first published book, The Mad Hot Adventures of an Unlikely Documentary Filmmaker (Hyperion 2007), provides a basic introductory "how-to" of documentary filmmaking while painting a narrative picture of the making of Mad Hot Ballroom (Paramount, 2005). She is the founder/director of a nonprofit organization (Give It Up for the ARTS!), with the primary goal of helping kids get exposure to the arts. She serves on the public relations board of nonprofit Young Audiences, Inc., and on the Advisory Board of Reel Works Teen Filmmaking Lab.
Sewell is a graduate of the University of Michigan, has an MBA, and formerly worked in the publishing arena.

Running in High Heels--A film by Maryann Brouchard

Following the last months of one young woman's comically inept run for the State Senate in New York's 29th District, Running in High Heels illustrates the controversy between what women say they want and the contradictions of how they go and get it. Included in the film are interviews and commentary by notable women from both the political right and left.

More about the films:

What's Your Point, Honey?
web site for the film
interview with Amy Sewell
Hamlin, Jesse. "Now Let's Put a Daughter in the White House." San Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 2008, p. E1.

Running in High Heels
web site of Maryann Brouchard (includes the "trailer" for the film)
Internet Movie Database

Related Books available at the Kresge Library:

Schreiber, Ronnee. Righting feminism : conservative women and American politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Han, Lori Cox, and Caroline Heldman, editors. Rethinking Madam President : are we ready for a woman in the White House? Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2007.


Carroll, Susan J. and Richard Logan Fox, editors. Gender and elections : shaping the future of American politics. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Lawless, Jennifer L. and Richard L. Fox. It takes a candidate : why women don't run for office. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Dolan, Kathleen A. Voting for women : how the public evaluates women candidates. Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press, c2004.

Selected Articles:

[ Access to the articles below is freely available "on campus," but "off campus" access is limited to OU faculty, staff, and students.]
Faulk, Erika, and Kate Kenski. "Sexism Versus Partisanship: A New Look at the Question of Whether America is Ready for a Woman President." Sex Roles, 54.7/8 (April 2006), 413-428.

Friedman, Ann. "Strength in Numbers." American Prospect, 19.7 (July/August 2008), 12-13.

Dolan, Kathleen. "Is There a 'Gender Affinity Effect' in American Politics? Information, Affect, and Candidate Sex in U.S. House Elections." Political Research Quarterly, 61.1 (March 2008), 79-89.

Dolan, Kathleen. "Do Women Candidates Play to Gender Stereotypes? Do Men Candidates Play to Women? Candidate Sex and Issues Priorities on Campaign Websites." Political Research Quarterly, 58.1, (March 2005), 31-44.

Schultz, Marni. "Embracing the next generation: how young women can help elect our first woman president." White House Studies, 5.4 (Fall 2005), 501-521. 

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