FEMALE Festival 1st Scene Reading: KISS OF DARKNESS, by Michael McClung

In 1960, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has recently been evacuated by Belgian forces in the face of violent uprisings, leaving new Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba’s, 35, shaky government to ward off both America and Russia, who contend for the rich natural resources of uranium, diamonds, copper, and cobalt. The capital city of Kinshasa is war-torn and violent, prone to constant uprisings and full of security checkpoints. Fires and gunfights rage day and night.

Narrator: Val Cole

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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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