Page 12 - the NOISE February 2014

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Laura Gray-Rosendale’s new memoir, College girl, has been described as “gritty,” “stunning,” and “un- flinchingly self-reflective.” With brutal honesty, the NAU English professor recounts a horrific sexual assault that is, at times, painful to read. As she recounts the assault, what she is able to accomplish through her language, however, is astounding.
As if piecing together a mosaic, readers experience the trauma from her perspective, her mind trying des- perately to keep up with but simultaneously escape the reality of her experience. By playing with forms of tense she is able to move from first to third person, inside and outside of the narrator role. Here the out-of-body experi- ence documented by so many survivors of trauma is bril- liantly embedded. As the rest of the book unfolds, the subsequent legal battle, revelations about her attacker, and how this event played out in the lives of those around her, the abstract mosaic preserved in shards of memory begin to take on a more concrete form.
College girl is a heart-wrenching case study posing clear arguments regarding the way legal systems can be structurally incapable of bringing justice to victims of sexual assault, even when the perpetrator was liter- ally caught in the act. It is a powerful example — one all too often reflected throughout our society — of how the burden of proof and the promise of justice rests on the shoulders of victims.
Throughout the book, Ms. Gray-Rosendale plays with notions of space and time, challenging ideas of memory, and in doing so, she interrogates the genre of memoir itself. Twenty years later, seeking to piece together ex- actly what happened, she called her former roommates who were in the house that night. They remember de- tails that escape her. They remember details differently than she does.
“Time became confused,” she writes, “It twisted, changed, turned liquid.” And it is here where she real- izes the assault that changed her life forever also impact- ed the people around her, those who heard her screams, called the police, saw her attacker, helped her wash the blood from her hair. While counseling services are typi- cally offered to direct victims of violence, here she also makes arguments about how trauma can impact entire communities, leaving many without such support.
In the end, College girl is ultimately, hopeful, and all at once, beautiful, inspiring, and incredibly important. In an age where between 1 in 4 and 1 in 6 women will be the victim of sexual assault in their lifetime, Ms. Gray-Rosendale provides women and men with a clear and meaningful perspective on how to support their in- timate partners and friends who are survivors.
| Kyle Boggs is a regular contributor to this magazine and can at times be found mulling the halls of a certain university. kyle@undertheconcrete.org
February brings the 20th Anniversary of the Sedona In- ternational Film Festival (SIFF) to Northern Arizonan — the premiere film festival in Arizona and maybe all of the
Southwest! This year promises to be a celebration of all its wonderful areas of development over the past twenty years. Workshops, panels, parties, filmmakers, stars, films and more! It doesn’t get any better than this if you’re a fan of everything cinema.
Patrick Schweiss, executive director of SIFF has mounting pride for the upcoming event as he shares some of the high- lights to look forward to on their 20th anniversary. Mr. Sch- weiss’ vision: “Sedona Film Festival always wants to grow, but we have to keep our small intimate atmosphere intact. With venue size an issue, we hope to always get better and better films as the number of submissions rises, while finding more industry talent to share our festival experience here.
“We don’t ever want to get too big that we lose what makes this festival special to our independent filmmakers. We get about 1,100 films submitted each year for consideration and our screeners cull through them and we show about 160 films. Probably 70% of our films come from this screening process, the other 30% come from films we’ve actively gone out and solicited. These films have either won awards at other festivals or are being considered for Golden Globe Awards or Oscars or will simply fit a niche for our Sedona audiences.
“We never forget the heart of our festival is the ‘Indepen- dent Filmmaker’ who is desperately trying to get their first project shown in front of an audience. So we try to find a nice balance between those various worlds of film. Every festival needs those high profile films that there has been good buzz on to draw the crowds, but that also draws crowds and atten- tion to the small independent films that are new.
“On our 20th anniversary we want people to not only see great films but to celebrate with us new experiences. Susan Sarandon is our Life Time Achievement Award winner but we’re also honoring her for her achievements behind the camera as she turns to producing. She’s now Susan Sarandon the activist and producer. She wants to make films that have meaning and substance and expose the world to heroes and everyday people doing extraordinary things. She wants to share stories that wouldn’t normally be told.
“One film she’s bringing is Waiting for Mamu and the other is These Storied Streets. Mamu is about Pushpa Basnet, the CNN Hero of the Year last year, who will also be at the festival. And we’re going to be the first festival to show Sarandon’s These Storied Streets about homelessness across America.
Lifetime Achievement Award-winner Susan Sarandon brings Waiting for Mamu to the Sedona
International Film Festival February 22 - March 2.
“What’s exciting is that we can showcase this other side of this great extraordinary actress and the things she’s pas- sionate about. We are kicking off opening night with Shirley Knight’s The Redwood Highway, which is perfect for our de- mographic because of the spiritual element to the film. Also, I’m personally very excited that Ed Asner is coming back to introduce a film called The Letters of Mother Theresa as he was my very first celebrity guest ten years ago when I became di- rector of the festival.
“We also have Mariel Hemingway coming to present a film called Running from Crazy about suicide in her family and to discuss the film Cooper and Hemingway about the friendship between Gary Cooper and Ernest Hemingway. So this is really an exciting coming together of elements for us on our 20th anniversary!” Thanks Patrick and here are some of the other events, parties, films, seminars, workshops to look forward to:
Kathleen Glynn, Academy Award-winning producer, re- turns to host SIFF’s “Filmmaker’s Conversations” each day. A few of the topics this year include: Screenwriting with Jeremy Leven, writer of The Notebook and this year’s girl On a Bicycle. Also, “I Wanna be a Producer” shows from concept to comple- tion what it takes to make a film, from a producer’s point of view! The topic: “Movies to Motivation” is inspired by SIFF’s
“Docs That Make a Difference” film series, focuses on turning movies into movements. Also, “Acting and Activism” shows some actors who are in front of the camera moving behind to make the world a better place. And finally there will be
“Filmmaker Roundtables” with discussions with producers and directors about financing and marketing independent films.
Some special festival events and parties include: “An Eve- ning with Brad Paisley” on Monday 2/24. A special evening with Ms. Hemingway on 2/27. A red carpet event on Friday 2/28 with Ms. Sarandon and wonderful meals at Sound Bites Grill, Barking Frog Grille, Reds at Sedona Rouge, Heartline Café, Troia’s Restaurant, the Enchantment Resort, Hilton Sedona Resort & Spa, and the Awards Celebration Brunch at the Poco Diablo Resort. All these wonderful sponsors put on a scrumptious show themselves, showcasing their hospitality with incredible culinary delights for VIP personnel. Don’t miss!
Some of the films to look forward to: World Cinema, Docs That Make a Difference, Sedona Green Film Series, and the Family Film Series. Specific films to investigate: The Past from France; The Lunchbox from India; The Invisible Woman from the United Kingdom, directed and starring Ralph Fiennes; Oh Boy from Germany and two awesome films found by Mr. Schweiss at Sundance: Along the Roadside and This field in
12 • FEBRUARY 2014 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us