Join the Smithsonian American Art Museum for our third annual Women Filmmakers Festival. This year, the festival is presented exclusively online with screenings and programing that highlights a different, singularly-inspiring artist each week.

Organized around the theme of “Her History Lessons,” the featured filmmakers all create works that look to the past for insights into urgent issues of today. Acknowledging the momentous events of 2020, the selected videos reflect on colonial histories and the growing climate crisis; legacies of artists, activists, and state repression; and more than a century of pandemics tied to social upheavals. By inviting these artists and their works into conversation with Smithsonian curators and audiences, the festival this year reckons with challenges that traverse generations and have much to teach us in navigating the road ahead.

Each week of the festival we will highlight a different woman filmmaker. On Mondays, we will release a longer video work by the featured artist that will be available for viewing at any time during the week. Viewers are encouraged to enjoy the film and submit questions and comments. These will be compiled and discussed each Wednesday in a live virtual conversation that features the filmmaker and Smithsonian curators. All festival offerings are closed captioned.

Mark your calendar and tune in for all of our film screenings. Register now for each artist conversation!