PT Film Fest offers 3 free films this winter

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The Port Townsend Film Festival, in partnership with Peninsula College, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Port Townsend Public Library and the Fund for Women & Girls, offers three free films this winter. The films are to be screened at Wheeler Theater at Fort Worden and other venues. Admission is free.

'THE CHEROKEE WORD FOR WATER'

The first film to be shown, “The Cherokee Word for Water,” is about the life and work of Cherokee tribal leader and activist Wilma Mankiller. It screens at 7 p.m., Monday, Jan. 25. Doors open at 6 p.m. at Wheeler Theater. Director Charlie Soap, a Cherokee traditionalist and fluent Cherokee speaker, and producer Kristina Kiehl speak after the film.

Mankiller led the Cherokee Nation for a decade. She was one of the first women to lead a tribe in modern times, from 1985 to 1995. A charismatic community organizer, activist and feminist, she fought for the Cherokees to control their own destiny. She died of pancreatic cancer in 2010.

Soap was Mankiller's community development partner and husband of 30 years. Kiehl, one of Mankiller's closest friends, has been an organizer in the women’s movement for more than three decades. She cofounded the political action committee Voters for Choice together with author and feminist Gloria Steinem.

Voted the “Best American Indian Film of the Past 40 Years” by the American Indian Film Institute, "The Cherokee Word for Water" has been screened at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, at the United Nations, the U.S. Capitol and more than 300 times at colleges, tribal communities and other venues across the U.S.

“This film is about everyday people doing what they think is impossible,” says Soap.

"The Cherokee Word for Water" also screens at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 26 at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, and at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 27 at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s Community Room at the Tribal Center, 1033 Old Blyn Road. On Thursday is another screening in La Push for the Quileute Nation. Both Soap and Kiehl attend all events to talk about their film.

'THE MASK YOU LIVE IN'

At 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 11, PTFF and the Jefferson County Community Foundation’s Fund for Women & Girls cohost a screening of “The Mask You Live In.” The film addresses strong messages of gender stereotypes and masculinity. Encouraged to suppress their emotions and “man up” from an early age, boys are more prone to behavior disorders, prescribed medications, drinking and drug problems, violent crime and suicide. Speakers following the film are former NFL linebacker Dave Meggyesy, author of “Out of Their League,” and psychotherapist Mark Saran. Doors open at 6 p.m. at Wheeler Theatre at Fort Worden. Admission is free.

'THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING'

At 7 p.m., Thursday, March 3, “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate” screens at Wheeler Theater at Fort Worden.

An adaptation of investigative journalist Naomi Klein’s book of the same title, the film kicks off the library’s Community Read in March. Ten books are available now at the Port Townsend Public Library with 100 more on order. “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate” won the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, was an Observer Book of the Year and a New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books of the Year.

The screening is cohosted by PTFF and the Port Townsend Public Library.