“Jilbab: A Documentary on the Indonesian Woman’s Headscarf”

Film Info: “Jilbab: A Documentary on the Indonesian Woman’s Headscarf”.  Directed by Jenn Lindsay, 2011.  Various lengths, from a focused 20 minute version to a more complex, 50 minute version.

Distributor: Jenn Lindsay (www.jennlindsay.comDownloadable preview posted on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/31991952

Film Summary: In Jogjakarta, Indonesia, the Muslim women’s headscarf is distinctively colorful, fashionable, fun and expressive. What are the dreams and commitments behind the choice to veil or not to veil?  JILBAB, a documentary named after the Indonesian word for the Muslim hijab, is about veiling trends for women in the city of “Jogja.” It features students from Universitas Gadjah Madah, designers of local women’s fashion boutiques,and Muslim women from outside of Indonesia speaking about the significance of veiling (or not veiling), veiling ideology and fashion, and the history of veiling in Islam. This film explores uniquely Javanese Islam, its unmistakable religious aesthetics, and what the jilbab suggests in an Indonesian context as opposed to Middle Eastern, North American or European Muslim contexts.

“Parish Portraits”

Film Title: “Parish Portaits” — by James Ault — 1999 — 51 minutes
Distributor: James Ault Productions — www.jamesault.com
Summary: (from the distributor’s website)

Portraits of four diverse Episcopal churches for the Zacchaeus Project and Trinity Institute’s national teleconference “Roots and Wings,” September 27-9, 1999. Includes short scenes on different themes–Episcopal identity, youth, women clergy, etc.–and a longer version of challenges faced by an Anglo-Latino congregation in Oxnard, California.

Keywords: American religion; Episopalians; parish life

Out of Order

Film Info: “ Out of Order”, by Dian Christian and Bruce Jackson, color, 89 minutes, 1983

Distributor:  Documentary Educational Resources (DER) – www.der.org

Summary:  In “Out of Order”, six former Catholic nuns tell why they entered and why they left religious life.  They talk about single life and marriage, the changed place of religion in their lives, sex roles, institutional supports and burdens, and work.  The film offers unique insight into female socialization and identity in modern America by probing ideals and realities of womanhood, sex, work, and service from an unknown an unusual perspective.  (From the distributor’s blurb.)