FOUR OPPORTUNITIES TO CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL WOMEN IN FILM FESTIVAL

VIFF Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour St., until Sunday

The 14th annual festival features 49 films from 19 countries around the world, as well as 18 local filmmakers. The diverse films touch on every topic you can imagine, affecting women from every walk of life. The festival offers an opportunity to speak directly with some of the filmmakers and their subjects, as well as movers and shakers in the film industry. This year, it also includes two virtual reality (VR) experiences produced by the NFB. The first, for the film Biidaaban: First Light, takes the viewer into an alternate Toronto, reclaimed by nature and as seen through the lens of Indigenous futurism. The second, for Homestay, explores the realities of Canadian families hosting international students in their homes.

IWD EQUALITY BREAKFAST

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, 900 W. Georgia St., Friday

The keynote speaker at the Equality Breakfast is Dr. Willie J. Parker, an obstetrician-gynecologist who delivers reproductive health services in five U.S. states. He is the former medical director of Planned Parenthood Washington D.C., and is the current physician plaintiff in a lawsuit designed to keep Mississippi’s only abortion clinic open. His talk is expected to focus on the battle over abortion and contraception in the United States and Canada, and how access to reproductive services affects women, particularly women of colour. Parker has been honoured by the United Nations Office of Human Rights as one of a dozen Women’s Human Rights Defenders.

TURN IT UP AND DISRUPT FESTIVAL

UBC Point Grey campus, Thursday to Saturday

The UBC Faculty of Arts bills this as a festival celebrating gender equity, creative mobilization, and the art of positive change. Beginning Thursday with a dance party at the Museum of Anthropology featuring an all-female lineup of artists, the festival also includes a variety of art installations, a speakers’ panel on inclusivity, a talk on yarn bombing as political and social activism, theatre performances, and poetry and writing workshops. Participants are also invited to take part in an edit-a-thon of Wikipedia articles to ensure the female perspective is well represented in the online encyclopedia. Events range in price, with assistance available for anyone concerned about costs.

IWD FUNDRAISER AND ART SHOW

Bandidas Taqueria, 2871 Commercial Drive, Friday

In honour of International Women’s Day, Vancouver restaurant Bandidas Taqueria will donate all of its profits from the sale of food and drinks on Friday to local organizations serving women. The list of beneficiaries includes WAVAW, Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Native Women’s Association of Canada, Girls Rock Camp and WISH Drop-In Centre Society. The evening also marks the launch of an art show dealing with feminist themes that will run until April 21. The restaurant says it raised $3,625 with its 2018 event and is hoping to beat that total this year.