It's that time of the year when the spotlight is on women. So the features to look forward to at Titus Brandsma Center on March 13 (second Saturday) are:

Ladybird, Ladybird
Ken Loach, UK, 1993.
101 minutes.

Ken Loach's directorial career spans 5 decades but his subject is always the same: Britain's working class.

In LADYBIRD LADYBIRD, he focuses on Maggie Conlan, who is deemed by the State to be an unfit mother to her 4 children (by 4 different fathers) because she grows up in an abusive household and been into abusive relationships. However, does anyone - including the State - have the right to judge a person's capability to love and nurture?

1994 Berlin Int'l. FF Ecumenical Jury Prize (win), Fipresci Jury Award (win), Silver Bear Best Actress (win), Golden Bear (nom). 1995 Independent Spirit Awards Best Foreign Film (nom). 1995 London Critics Circle Film Awards Best Actress (win). 1995 Sant Jordi Awards Best Foreign Actress (win).

Direction: Ken Loach. Production: Sally Hibbin. Screenplay: Rona Monro. Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd. Editing: Jonathan Morris. Production Design: Martin Johnson. Musical Score: George Fenton, Mauricio Venegas. Cast: Crissy Rock, Vladimir Vega, Ray Winstone, Sandie Lavelle, Mauricio Venegas.

Pangarap Ko, Saluhin Mo
Emma Orozco, Philippines, 2002.
20 minutes.

PANGARAP KO, SALUHIN MO is about an urban poor woman's resolve to break free from a cycle of being impregnated by her husband yearly who wants to have a son (despite having 4 daughters).

This short film shows how issues of religion and traditional notions about women affect the protagonist's psyche and her behavior towards her husband and her family thus constricting her consciousness and making her a victim of society as well.