Why Ms. Films?
The mission of Ms. Films is to promote the work of women in film, both by giving independent women filmmakers a venue to showcase their work, and by giving women the tools they need to start making film.


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Ms. Films has non-profit status as part of our umbrella organization, the Southern Documentary Fund!
Read more about the SDF.

Contact Ms. Films: if you need to mail something to us, send an e-mail to msfilms@hotmail.com for mailing information.



















































What is Ms. Films?
Ms. Films is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering women and girls through access to media and mediamaking. Ms. Films activities include a flagship festival in February (3 days of screenings, workshops, panels, and projects with women filmmakers), as well as various screenings, workshops, and fundraiser events throughout the year. Our artists are documentarians, animators, cut-and-pasters, teachers, writers, researchers, programmers, and more. The rest of the year, we bring programs to film festivals and venues, conferences, and more.

The Who of Ms. Films
Ms. Films is run and organized entirely by volunteers.

Ms. Films director Niku Arbabi also curates the ScreenArts Film & Media Series at UNC-Chapel Hill and organizes various community/arts programs and events such as the Chicks Rock series, Trailer Park Fest, and zine workshops. She has served as film programmer for the Bijou Theater in Minneapolis, and has curated programs for the James River Film Festival, the Southern Girls Convention, the Cans Film Festival, and Ladyfest.

Her approach to programming and organizing is to both give access to and represent a broad range of those underrepresented in media, as well as those without access to the means to create their own.

The selection committee includes Maria Francesca Berganza, who has worked with young people and film in Seattle, WA, and is a local arts activist, and Pat Doyen, an experimental filmmakers and teacher, film curator, festival organizer, and soon-to-be film preservationist.

Thanks this year to Rebecca Weeks for coordinating fundraising, Alicia Korenman for her work with Chicks Rock, Betsy Greer for coordinating volunteers, and the Southern Documentary Fund for all of their support.

The number of films made by women in movie theaters, film festivals, and on TV are significantly less than the number of films made by men. Ms. Films is a non-profit, all volunteer-run organization that attempts to address this gap with a multi-facted approach. With so few avenues of distribution for women filmmakers and artists who choose to work in the short format, Ms. Films is a showcase for women filmmakers to exhibit their work. Ms. Films does not charge submission fees to filmmakers to give as many women the chance to submit as possible.

Ms. Films offers workshops and panels to help get women of all ages started, to give them the tools and resources to make their own movies. Ms. Films is a place where filmmakers of all experience levels can come together to discuss, learn, and collaborate. Ms. Films' workshops and panels are presented by women filmmakers, scholars, and artists to give us all the chance to learn from their unique experience and expertise.

Ms. Films is a resource for the community, offering women of all experience levels the chance to meet, discuss, learn, and collaborate. Ms. Films also publishes the DIY Guide to Film and Video which includes detailed guides to Super 8 and video production and editing, resources for finding classes, equipment and film, festivals to submit films to and see independent films in the area, plus a filmography of films made by women. Ms. Films is not an end in itself or just one event. It is a launchpad and a resource to empower women to make their own movies and to expose the community to the work being done by women in film.

Get Involved!
Ms. Films needs your help! Whether by volunteering, submitting your film, making personal donation, or participating in our events, there are many ways to get involved!
Click here for more information.
The Southern Documentary Fund serves as the umbrella non-profit organization for Ms. Films. The SDF is committed to helping independent documentary artists produce work in sound, writing, film, video, photography, and interactive media. Working with SDF members, the organization seeks to connect regional resources in order to increase visibility and expand audiences for documentary projects. More about the wonderful SDF can be found at their website www.southerndocumentaryfund.org.