WOMEN IN FILM FESTIVAL SET NEXT MONTH

The second annual Women in Film Festival--featuring a tribute to Julie Andrews and a slate of eight feature films and several industry seminars--will take place next month.

Artistic director Gwen Field said this year’s festival, co-sponsored by California First Bank, also will feature the first presentation of the organization’s Luminas awards, recognizing film and television productions that “present multidimensional and non-stereotypical portrayals of women.”

Slated for Nov. 14-16 at the Directors Guild Theater, the festival offers the American and/or West Coast premieres of six films, including titles from Australia, Canada, France and West Germany.

In addition, many of the films’ directors--all of them women--will participate in festival events, including seminars on aspects of the entertainment industry of special significance to women. Among topics to be covered are how to continue to prosper as an actress after 40, succeeding as a female director, and working as a producer. Working professionals will be among the panelists, including directors Susan Seidelman, Coline Serreau, Anne Wheeler and Joan Darling and actresses Jill Ireland, Deborah Raffin and Laura Dern.

Besides the scheduled films and seminars, television segments depicting women in what the organization terms a “positive light” will be screened continuously during the last two days of the event.

The festival will open Nov. 14 with a gala screening of a film yet to be announced. The Luminas awards will be presented as the festival’s closing event on Nov. 16.

Founded in 1973 to lobby for women in the entertainemnt industry. Women in Film now numbers more than 700 members nationally.