Happy Women’s History Month from the Nevada Women’s Film Festival
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
Photo by Gina Mizzoni. Last night of Nevada Women’s Film Festival 2022.
By Nikki Corda
My first “big girl” book was Women of Courage by Dorothy Nathan (1964). This was a collection of biographies that introduced kids to the lives of Susan B. Anthony, Jane Addams, Mary Bethune, Amelia Earhart, Elizabeth Blackwell, Florence Nightingale, and Margaret Mead. My well-worn copy was a hand-me-down from my sisters, and my mother, Helen, was determined I begin reading the book as soon as possible. Helen’s fierce indignation about the historical injustice women suffered was contagious, and I devoured that book with mad love for these trailblazers.
Women of Courage. Photo courtesy of Nikki Corda.
As a young adult working in Los Angeles, I looked to women in powerful positions and I mistakenly assumed we had “made it,” that the hard work was over. Feminist issues were no longer on my radar. It wasn’t until I came to academia back home in Nevada that I became more attuned to the lack of proper representation of women in film. And I began to reflect on the normalization of inappropriate and abusive behavior toward women in all aspects of life.
The Nevada Women’s Film Festival began nine years ago as an outcry to these imbalances. That healthy outrage to injustice that fired me up when I was seven returned. The Women of Courage of today would be honored, and we would provide a platform for their stories. While we accept films directed by all genders, we stress a strong female presence, either in subject matter or creative vision.
Nearly a decade later, the world is different; some of the old, creepy behavior doesn’t fly these days. Although women have made incredible strides in the film industry, we have not yet reached parity. We must remain vigilant. The mission of our festival, to celebrate and support the fair representation of women in film, recognizes the importance of intersectionality and lifting women of color, women of all identities, and from all over the world.
Last summer, we enjoyed our first year back in-person after the pandemic, and I am grateful for the lessons we learned during our two “Zoom” festivals. It is vital that we ensure the participation of our international filmmakers, even if they must Zoom in for the Q&As. While we certainly prefer everyone to attend in-person, we believe these conversations with our far away colleagues lend to a culturally rich experience for all.
This year, as we prepare for our ninth festival in June, I am pleased to announce our new home at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which consistently ranks at the top of the U.S. News & World Report’s annual listing of the nation’s most diverse universities. Our programming will be announced next month, and we are excited to share a few surprises.
Our festival team is extraordinary, and our growing board of directors includes a squad of dynamic women who are dedicated to social justice and consistently work to make things better for the next generation. We could not do what we do without the support of Nevada Humanities, to whom we are very grateful.
Nikki & Helen Corda. Photo courtesy of Nikki Corda.
Although we lost my mother before she could come to our festival, I like to think Helen would be very proud and of course…fired up.
The Nevada Women’s Film Festival is supported in part by Nevada Humanities. The festival returns to Las Vegas on June 22-25, 2023, and film submissions are now being accepted. Visit their website to learn more and sign up for their newsletter.
Photo courtesy of Nikki Corda.
Nikki Corda is the Executive Director and Founder of the Nevada Women’s Film Festival (NWFFest). A Las Vegas native, Nikki spent her early career in feature film development in Los Angeles, with stints at Twentieth Century Fox and Michael Douglas’ company at Paramount. She began producing and writing independently with the award-winning documentary, Urban Rescuers, and she continues to follow her passion for nonfiction film with her business, Life-Portraits. Besides working on NWFFest year-round, Nikki teaches a variety of film and English classes at the College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College, and she is a free-lance writer for Story Terrace. She holds a BS in film from Boston University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada College (now University of Nevada-Reno at Lake Tahoe).