Nestled in the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership on the fourth floor of the Student Union Memorial Center, members of Feminists Organized to Resist, Create and Empower transform the Women’s Resource Center loft space into a small community movie theater. Couches and chairs are rearranged to face the drop-down projector screen, complimentary food and beverages are hauled up and people trickle in. This will happen every other Wednesday this semester as F.O.R.C.E. hosts the Feminist Film Series.

The Feminist Film Series has been around as long as the F.O.R.C.E. internship, a student-run internship centered around gender equality, which is to say, only a few years. Showcasing films that explore feminism was a natural step for the group.
“It’s a really good way for people to connect with it because it’s fun watching a film, and we can always find a lot of documentaries and films that cover a variety of feminist topics, so we have a lot to choose from,” said Caroline Gray, the student director of F.O.R.C.E. and a senior studying English.

Though all the films shown are documentaries, they cover a wide breadth of subject matter. The two that have already been shown are vastly different. “Women Aren’t Funny” focuses on the sexism that women face in the comedy industry, and “Live Nude Girls Unite!” recounts how the strippers of the Lusty Lady in San Francisco unionized.

“We think that feminism is for everybody and it should be acceptable … It’s just to get people thinking critically about some issues,” said Paloma Phelps, a psychology senior and the F.O.R.C.E intern who heads the film series.

For those who know nothing about the topics at hand or who may feel intimidated by the subject matter, the series acts as a first step.

“We structure our programming so it’s like a level of knowledge of feminism, so our Feminist Film Series is kind of the intro to feminism,” said Kelly Ancharski, who studies political science and French and is a F.O.R.C.E. intern.

The series is also meant for those who feel they have a grasp on the ideas and principles of feminism, and to clarify ideas that may be portrayed inaccurately by the media.

“With all the noise around us, the different kind of media messages, there needs to be something else that’s a little outside the mainstream,” Phelps said, “and I think that it should be taking place in a safe environment.”

The film series is a way for F.O.R.C.E. to spread its message far and wide, encompassing as many different groups of people as possible.

“We always love to see new faces, and we have so many different films showing,” Gray said. “It would be great for someone to just come and check it out … We really want to diversify the feminist experience on campus.”