Short Film News (SFN) - The 18th annual Women's Film Festival in Brattleboro, Vermont will screen 27 films from short documentaries to full-length features, most made by women.

Taking place from March 13-22, the festival will show films from U.S, Germany, the Netherlands, Iran, India, France, the Bahamas, and Argentina.

Festival lineup includes films that take a compassionate and incisive look at American women's lives in areas as diverse as the arts (Alice Neel, Patti Smith: Dream of Life, and The Poet's View); the struggles of immigrants to make a living (La Americana, Made In LA), mental illness (The Dust of Words) and girls' sports (Kick Like A Girl), to name a few. Just a year before Obama's election, the film Bama Girl documents the issue of race as it plays out in a contest for Homecoming Queen at the University of Alabama.

The festival's special events will include directors' talks and panel discussions in conjunction with specific films. This year for the first time the festival accepted unsolicited submissions.

Running concurrently as part of the festival throughout March, Women's History Month, is "Visions", an exhibit of work by women artists and craftspeople from the region which will be on display at the Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery.