Introducing Crankytown!

Crankyfest is an online film festival about menstruation and an off-shoot of Crankytown. Check out our first winning film, serendipitously titled First, by Laura Maxwell.

We launched Crankyfest with iThentic in 2013 as a way to to dispel stigma around menstruation, and encourage girls and women to direct films.

We’re honored to have received so much recognition in such a short time. We earned a Gemini nomination for Crankytown in 2011, and this past year were featured on media outlets such as CBS’s The Doctors, CBC’s Q, Cosmopolitan, Jezebel, and The Daily Beast (to name a few). We’ve also gotten the thumbs up from industry leaders like Denis Villeneuve, Emma Thompson, Feist, Jay Baruchel, and Rachelle LeFevre. But in spite of all this, we are often reminded that menstruation can still be a touchy topic, and that there is much work to do before all women and girls feel proud of their bodies.

Here are three recent challenges:

1. After being invited onto a popular morning show to discuss Crankytown, we were warned 30 seconds before going to air not to say the word “period,” because people were “eating their breakfast.

“(Lets not even get into the nutritional value of menstrual blood)!”

2. Crankyfest is collaborating with TAWC (Toronto Actra Women’s Committee) on their 24 Hour Co-op Challenge. Their theme is menstruation, and all films will be eligible for Crankyfest. However, our contact was recently asked by Actra Toronto to change the theme because of a complaint that the topic was exclusionary. Our liaison would not change it. She said that “seeing that more than half the population have their periods and that every single human being who is walking this earth comes from somebody who had their period, their problem with the topic is prejudicial.” She also mentioned that if the anonymous complainant wanted to debate the issue, they could contact Denis Villeneuve and Jay Baruchel who have agreed to be on the jury, though they themselves have never menstruated.

3. We were mysteriously denied entry to the Without A Box network. After multiple unanswered emails and phone calls, no explanation has been given. We can only assume it is due to our content. (WAB feel free to respond).

PicturePhoto by Kourosh Keshiri: Vanessa Matsui, Jenna Wright, Liane Balaban

But here are three recent successes. (These are the things that keep us going in the face of setbacks!)

  1. Crankyfest’s launch party for wave two of the festival was voted one of the best thirteen parties of 2013 by She Does the City, along with Patti Smith at the AGO and Rag and Bone at Holt Renfrew!
  2. Meeting so many incredible women who are working towards improving the lives of girls and women everywhere. To name a few: Femme International, Huru International, Your Box Club, and the creators of Question Period.
  3. Our stellar jury: Denis Villeneuve, Anna Silk, Kevin Pollak, Jay Baruchel and Amanda Brugel.

Now here are THREE THINGS you can do to make 2014 more period-positive.

  1. Make and submit a short to Crankyfest. The deadline is March 3, 2014.
  2. If you are in Toronto on Tuesday, January 28th, hit up Question Period at the Drake, a menstruation themed trivia night raising funds for Mother Nature Partnership!
  3. Donate to Femme International, Huru International, or any charity that supports the advancement of women.  

Vanessa Matsui, Jenna Wright, Liane Balaban

/by