The Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival (RMWFF) in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

, Colorado in the United States, is the longest-running women's

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

in North America. First launched in 1988, each year it shows documentary features,

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and narratives, and women filmmakers from around the world attend and participate in after-film question-and-answer (Q&As) and forums.

Overview

The RMWFF is a three-day film festival held annually in November. In the week leading up to the festival, a "Festival in the Community" program offers free film screenings, and a youth outreach program is offered for at-risk youths. The RMWFF also produces an event every April highlighting award-winning short films. In June, the RMWFF hosts a weekend workshop for

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

s who have previously attended the festival. The organization also maintains the Madelyn Osur Film Library, a collection of over 200 films from past festivals.

History

The Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival was created by Jere E. Martin and Donna Guthrie in 1987 in an effort to expose Colorado Springs to films by women or about women. According to Martin, "We wanted to tap into a strong community of progressive people in Colorado Springs who valued rich and diverse information, who supported the arts and respected and affirmed life in all its different iterations. Our intention was to expand people's consciousness - including our own - and continue to grow wiser about all the important issues facing us in this world of special interests and the deft marketing viewpoints of

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

Demographics

Demographics vary widely among the programs. The main festival serves a largely female audience, 90% white, 50% have graduate degrees, and 32% have household incomes over $100,000. The Festival in the Community screenings generally reflect a more diverse audience, consistent with the location of the screening (

University of Colorado Colorado Springs The University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) is a public research university in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is one of four campuses that make up the University of Colorado system. As of Fall 2017, UCCS had over 12,400 undergraduate ...

(UCCS) sees mostly a college-age audience while the screening at the Pikes Peak Public library attracts more retirees). The Youth Outreach Program reaches an entirely different demographic: many more males than females, with ages ranging from 12 to 18.

Youth Outreach Program

The Youth Outreach program targets a broad segment of the community that may not be able to see the festival itself. This part of the festival is directed at youth, ages 12–18, who live in many different areas around Colorado Springs. The participants in this program are exposed to a variety of films and filmmakers, in order to expose youth to the world around them and the art of film making.

References

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External links