Experiencing Interruptions?

24 th Michigan Womyn's Music Festival [1999]

1. A Nation of Women 2. The WorkShops
3. Separatist Utopia 4. The Concerts

  • Natalie Williams, with DykeTV.org Editors
    Director
  • Natalie Williams; with Michelle Saunders
    Producer
  • Natalie Williams
    Writer
  • MichFest 1999 Festival Attendees
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    21 minutes 35 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 10, 1999
  • Production Budget:
    3,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Sappho Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    April 20, 2021
    Honorable Mention - Best Documentary
  • WRPN.tv Women's International Film Festival
    Nassau, DE
    United States
    April 25, 2021
    Award Winner - Documentary
  • Safflicks Lesbian & Bisexual Film Festival
    Wales
    United Kingdom
    July 9, 2021
    Best Short Film - voted by audience
  • LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival
    Nassau, DE
    United States
    July 10, 2021
    Award Winner - Documentary
  • Doc Without Borders Film Festival
    Nassau, DE
    United States
    January 9, 2022
    LGBT Editing
    Merit Award for Editing; LBGT sub category
  • Cinema Systers Lesbian Film Festival - LIVE 2022
    Paducah, KY
    United States
    May 28, 2022
    North American LIVE film festival Premiere
    Official Selection
  • LesFlicks Film Festival - LIVE 2022
    Wales
    United Kingdom
    July 30, 2022
    International LIVE film festival Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Paris Women Film Festival 2022
    Paris
    France
    August 10, 2022
    Semi-Finalist
  • Dreamz Catcher International Film Festival

    September 18, 2022
    Award Winner
  • Black LGBT Film Festival
    Atlanta
    United States
    September 3, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Stockholm Gold Awards Film Festival
    Stockholm
    Sweden
    August 21, 2022
    Official Selection
  • First Women Film Festival
    Tabriz City
    Iran, Islamic Republic of
    October 24, 2022
    Award Winner - Best Documentary
  • Venus Community Awards

    India
    November 28, 2022
    Award Winner
  • Paris Lady Movie Makers Film Festival
    Paris
    France
    August 30, 2022
    Best Short Documentary
  • Reels International Film Festival

    India
    March 26, 2023
    Award Winner
  • New York International Women Film Festival
    New York, NY
    United States
    December 10, 2022
    Semi-Finalist
  • Close Film Festival

    November 24, 2022
    Award Winner
  • Miami Women's Film Festival
    Miami
    United States
    August 30, 2023
    Nominee
  • London International Film Makers Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    December 4, 2023
    Semi-Finalist
  • 4th Orchid Lesbian / Queer International Film Festival

    December 7, 2023
    Selected
Distribution Information
  • DykeTVnet@gmail.com
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights, Video / Disc
Director Biography - Natalie Williams, with DykeTV.org Editors

Natalie Williams was trained in Filmography, Television & Video production at Manhattan Neighborhood Network
https://www.mnn.org/
& DykeTV in New York City.

DykeTV.org was founded on the principle: "If we don't put ourselves on the air; no one else will." Lesbians, including this director; were trained in filmmaking and their work was presented in the NYC metropolitan area through cable television and public access TV.

DykeTV was created with the intention to provide empowerment for lesbians and increase visibility of lesbian issues, culture and community. Their mission, and their motto was to "Incite, Subvert, Provoke and Organize." It was broadcast on public access & cable TV weekly from 1993–2005, reaching over 6.5 million households nationwide.

The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, often referred to as MWMF or Michfest, was a week long feminist women's music festival held annually from 1976 to 2015 in Michigan, on privately-owned woodland; which was referred to as "The Land" by Michfest organizers and attendees. The event was built, staffed, run, and attended exclusively by women, with girls, boys and toddlers permitted.

Views of the 24 th Michigan Womyn's Festival [1999] documentary are currently available through DykeTVnet@gmail.com and donations to the project can be made through paypal.me/DykeTVnet

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Nat & Michelle lived in Manhattan and went to Michfest almost every summer during their 28 year relationship. This documentary expresses their love for the womyn's community that was created there.

This documentary has never been publicly aired on television, or in theaters. [ An ‘underground DVD’ of it was circulated among ‘womyn with a Y’ for years]. Sadly, both DykeTV and The Michigan Women’s Music Festival have ceased to exist.

Times have changed. 22 years later [ in 2021], with both iconic institutions of lesbian visibility and liberation now gone, the director & copyright holder of "Michfest 1999" felt that 'now is the time' that this documentary of female community and empowerment could safely be shared.

For the sake of women; and at the risk of viewing by ‘non-women’; take this opportunity to view what was, and to dream about what still can be.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

We must always recognize that "Our Freedom Is Not Free"

I Acknowledge and pray for First Women Film Festival - erased from Film Freeway dot com, and likely from Tariz, City in Istanbul; which is now part of the Islamic Republic of Iran, under Taliban control.

The women behind First Women Film Festival had the courage to offer a film festival demonstrating ‘the suffering of women’; and had awarded 24th Michigan Womyn's Film Festival [1999] with ‘Best Documentary’ in early 2022. My email correspondences with them indicated that their festival had been threatened. I had thankfully commended them for their bravery.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO A FUTURE WHEN WOMEN ARE FREE.

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To reflect on the voyage that the film itself has made;
below listed are all of the film festival places that
24th Michigan Womyn's Music Festival [1999]
has thus far, traveled to...
_________________________________________________________________________

3rd Orchid Lesbian/Queer International Film Festival - Selected 2023

London International Film Makers Festival - Semi-Finalist 2023

Berlin Women Cinema Festival - Honorable Mention 2023

Miami Women's Film Festival - Nominee 2023

Reels International Film Festival - Award Winner 2023

Venus Community Awards - Nominee 2023

First Women Film Festival - Best Documentary 2022

Dreamz Catcher International Film Festival - Award Winner 2022

Cinema Systers Lesbian Film Festival - Selected 2022

Stockholm Gold Awards International Film Festival - Selected 2022

Black LGBT Film Festival - Selected 2022

Close Film Festival - Award Winner 2022

Docs Without Borders Film Festival - Award Winner 2022

New York International Women Festival - Semi-Finalist 2022

Paris Lady MovieMakers Festival - Semi-Finalist 2022

Sappho Film Festival - Honorable Mention 2021

LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival - Award Winner 2021

WRPN Women's International Film Festival - Award Winner 2021

SaFFlicks - Lesbian & Bisexual Film Festival - Award Winner 2021

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