Through Women's Eyes reception celebrates women in film

It's easy to miss in the hustle and bustle of the Sarasota Film Festival. 

But the first weekend of the Sarasota Film Festival is a special one for the Gulf Coast Chapter of the United States National Committee for UN Women. 

It's the Through Women's Eyes Film Festival, which benefits US National Committee and UN Women. The festival features films about and created by women. 

Filmmakers and patrons gathered at Sarasota City Center on April 1 to celebrate the success of the festival's 18th year. 

"The story has to get out there and be told," former President of the USNC for UN Women Carol Poteat-Buchanan said. "The stories are hidden."

This year the festival told 25 stories via eight feature films and 17 short films. 

"To make change in a society and to impact people's lives, we need to engage and address culture and education," Heather Booth said. "Film is an extremely efficient way to do that."

Booth is a longtime advocate, activist and the subject of the film "Heather Booth: Changing the World" by Lilly Rivlin, which is showing at the festival. 

Reception guests celebrated the voices featured in this year's festival lineup, as well how those voices could influence future activists and filmmakers. 

"The country is very divided," Booth said. "Many people have lost confidence in many institutions in society — in elected officials, in corporations and in the media — and in the worst is that people have lost faith in themselves that they can build a better world."

However, Booth said she believes, like "Heather Booth: Changing the World," that films can inspire people to create a better tomorrow. 

"Often people come into that film saying 'I feel hopeless, helpless,'" Booth said. "And then they leave the film feeling inspired, hopeful. If they organize they can change the world and this film festival made that possible."