FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 20, 2001 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 DRAKE FILM FESTIVAL TO FOCUS ON 'WOMEN, CULTURE AND POWER' A film festival titled "Women, Culture and Power" will be held at Drake University March 5, 7 and 8 under the sponsorship of the University's Women's Studies Program and the Critical Studies of Culture Program. "The ways in which cultural symbols, social relations and networks of power shape images and experiences of women are the unifying theme of the film festival," said professor C. Richard King, director of the Critical Studies of Culture Program . The film festival is free and open to the public. All of the screenings will start at 7 p.m. in various locations on the Drake campus. A Drake faculty member will lead a discussion to accompany each film. On Monday, March 5, the festival will begin in room 106 of Meredith Hall, 28th Street and Carpenter Avenue, with a showing of "I, Doll: The Unauthorized Biography of America's Eleven and a Half Inch Sweetheart." This is a "revelatory new documentary that parallels the history of Barbie with cultural events of the past half-century," according to the Northwest Film Festival Program. "'I, Doll' is as humorous as it is comprehensive." Janet Wirth Cauchon, assistant professor of sociology at Drake, will lead the discussion following the screening. "Performing the Border, " an intriguing video essay set in the Mexican-U.S. border town of Ciudad Juarez, will be shown on Wednesday, March 7, in room 101 of Meredith Hall. This video explores the sexualization of the border region through labor division, prostitution and sexual violence in the public sphere. The discussion will be facilitated by Nancy Reincke, associate professor of English, who has taught travel seminars in the border region. "The Double Burden: Three Generations of Working Mothers" will be shown on Thursday, March 8, in room 102 of Harvey Ingram Hall, 28th Street and Forest Avenue. "The Double Burden" vividly portrays the lives of three families each with three generations of women who worked outside the home while also raising families. "This film instills tremendous respect for the accomplishments of women and for women of different races, social classes and lifestyles," King said. Vibs Petersen, director of the Women's Studies Program at Drake, will lead the discussion. For more information about the film festival, call (515) 271-2745.