HIGHLIGHTS, WINNERS & VIDEOS: December 2021 Feature Female FEEDBACK Film Festival

WINNER of BEST Feature Documentary for 2021

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

DROWNING IN SILENCE, 86min., USA, Documentary
Directed by Chezik Tsunoda
After unexpectedly losing her son, a mother searches for answers and discovers the silent epidemic of drowning. She embarks on a transformative journey of grief channeled into purpose to stop this preventable tragedy from happening to other families.

Director Biography – Chezik Tsunoda

Chezik is a director and producer whose work has spanned across television, film and advertising. She was able to learn the ropes of production at MTV News and Documentaries and carried her knowledge into developing docuseries at VH1. She addresses everyday themes such as race, grief, marriage, and death with a unique lens that gives viewers a rare perspective. She produced, directed, and starred in her first feature documentary, Drowning in Silence, about the grief she faced after the death of her son.


Director Statement

This film was made to raise awareness for drowning prevention in honor of my son and all the children who have drowned. The title aptly describes the children as well as their families’ grief and struggles in the aftermath.

By femalefilmfestival

The irony of this festival is that its goal is to not be around in 5 years time. To eventually not be relevant because there is zero need to have a festival geared for female talent and female stories because the stories presented in Hollywood and around the world are a balanced showcase of the human experience from both sexes. Our goal is to achieve a lot of success and then fold into oblivion simply because there is no need for this festival. This festival was created by the FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival as a simple reaction to a strong need to showcase female talent from around the world in a more profound way. When putting together the weekly festival, the administration noticed a lack of a female presence in the stories being shown at the festival. A classic example and analogy to the frustration is how the festival noticed that even the smaller roles in a screenplay were written for a man to play. There was zero reason for this in many stories. How a police officer, or a political campaign manager, for example with 3-4 lines in a screenplay was a "HE" character. Why? And these are the screenplays written by the winners! The talented one who have obtained agents and have began/beginning their careers as a writer.

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