Featured this year are a number of international films about women from places in the world where women may have conventionally held subordinate roles or lived outside the public sphere. The filmmakers behind these works are true mavericks, in some cases taking great risks to get these stories told (one film in this year's program, Black Tape , was banned in its country of origin, and had to be smuggled out).

The Little Republic

The films range from dramas to documentaries, telling stories that are all very different, except for one thing: They all highlight women's strength and resilience.

"There are a number of strong women films from many countries," says Mike Rabehl, programming director for Cinequest, "and although the programming team pretty much stumbled upon these great films rather than made it a requirement for the year's program, you can see that these films examine issues that reveal that the world is beginning to change—slowly."

Although films featuring strong women are not new, the appearance of empowered females on such an international scope is something relatively recent, especially for countries where women may not have a lot of power. The women, both real and fictitious, that these films portray are also mavericks in their own right.

"In my opinion, I do think that this is a new trend in international cinema," says Rabehl, "I would wonder myself if world events, such as those in Afghanistan, where women began to show their faces, have only contributed to a greater, positive message about women. If you look specifically at films like Black Tape and The Little Republic , from Iran and India respectively," Rabehl continues, "filmmakers are taking great efforts to create positive and strong images of women in their cultures. What I really like about these two films is that they are directed by men."

Daughter From Yan'an

Fariborz Kamkari, a native of Iranian Kurdestan, wrote and directed Black Tape: A Tehran Diary (The Videotape Fariborz Kamkari Found in the Garbage) . The subtitle of sets up the film's main conceit: that it is the lost video diary of a young Kurdish woman living in Iran and married to an Iranian military official. The film is a fictional documentary, "filmed" largely by its subject, Galavije (Shilan Rahmani), who uses a video camera to chronicle her everyday life. As the film progresses, it addresses issues of domestic abuse and of the precarious plight of Kurdish refugees in Iran. Throughout everything, Galavije remains resolute to escape her abusive marriage and reunite with her displaced family.

Black Tape

Likewise, a group of low-caste women in The Little Republic are determined, despite domestic abuse and rampant gender and class discrimination, to bring a reliable water supply to their remote village in an arid region of India. One of these women serves on the village council, but that, we learn, is a fairly new development, and accordingly, the women meet with some resistance for their plan. Nevertheless, the women seek out government assistance to build a pipeline to their village. At the end of the film, director Anwar Jamal dedicates The Little Republic to the one million women working in local governments in India.

Director Holly Mosher's documentary In the Eyes of a Child: Women's Life Collective finds women coming together to heal the ravages of mental and physical abuse. Through the Women's Life Collective, a community organization in Brazil, women of all ages meet for therapy and support in dealing with abuse. But the Collective definitely goes beyond therapy—it seems to function as a community of its own, one that's more accepting than those its members came from.

Bitter Sweat

A group of women wage an unabashedly political battle in Bitter Sweat, by Puerto Rican actress/director Sonia Valentín. These women, who work in a tuna-packing factory in Puerto Rico, organize to save their jobs after learning the factory is closing. The close friendships between the workers cement their resolve. "Friendships in general experience many ups and downs. Yet, among women there is a special bond of sisterhood. Even in the hardest of times, they come together regardless of differences," says Valentín. Although Bitter Sweat examines some harsh everyday realities, the women prevail, in one way or another. The film's message, says Valentín, is "a sentiment of hope, that even though it might seem that life is over, a door will always open. Unity translates into strength."

The documentary Daughter From Yan'an tells of an extremely personal journey. Director Ikeya Kaoru follows a Chinese woman, He Haixia, as she searches for her birth parents, who were both "sent-down" workers—young people sent from Beijing to work the farming provinces during China's Cultural Revolution. Relationships between sent-down workers, considered counter-revolutionary, were harshly punished, so children like Haixia were concealed in any way possible, often abandoned and sometimes killed. With great difficulty, Haixia defies the disapproval of her foster parents and her village in seeking out her birth parents.

All of these films tell stories of pain, but even the bleakest ones offer a sense of hope, with the courageous women they portray. They mingle the personal and the political, and give voices to women who have previously been unheard.

So will we be seeing more strong women in films from around the globe? Rabehl points out the current female-friendly course that U.S. movies have taken: "Just simply looking at the trend in American cinema, with market successes like The Hours or Real Women Have Curves , there are definitely amazing, strong roles being written for strong women characters every day," says Rabehl, "And audiences love it."

Which makes you wonder what sort of international female mavericks we'll be seeing at Cinequest next year.