An assemblage of roughly 150 women and a sprinkling of men gathered at the Richardson Center at Indian River State College to enjoy an inspirational afternoon showcasing Lunafest, a nationwide traveling film festival featuring short films by, for and about women.
The Treasure Coast Women’s Forum & Films fundraising event was hosted by and benefited the Center for Spiritual Care, Friends after Diagnosis and the Treasure Coast Ovarian Cancer Alliance, as well as Lunafest’s official charity, the Breast Cancer Fund. The event’s top sponsor was the Rotary Club of Vero Beach Sunrise.
Before the films were shown, guests heard from Judge Cynthia Cox, a native of Vero Beach, who was elected circuit judge in 1996 and currently serves on the 19th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. Although she left the Domestic Violence Division five years ago, Cox previously presided over many DV cases. She devised a quiz to test the audience’s knowledge and used the answers to share information about the weighty issue.
“Domestic violence is so important,” said Cox. “It affects families, you and me; it affects everything.”
She spoke about the various phases of domestic violence, often escalating from verbal to physical abuse before a “honeymoon” phase, with promises that it will never happen again – until the next time. A learned behavior, Cox said that she has seen the same names coming before the bench, with children of abusers emulating that same behavior.
Cox delved into the various injunctions available, including domestic violence, sexual violence and now cyberstalking, but emphasized, “When an injunction is filed, that is the most dangerous time for the victim; that is when most domestic violence deaths occur. When someone decides to leave the relationship, their life is in danger.”
Explaining that an abused woman will attempt to leave an average of six times before actually doing so, Cox advises that if you know of someone who is a victim, help them develop a plan, provide them with resources and, most important of all, just listen.
In introducing the films, Carol Ludwig, director at the Center for Spiritual Care, said they had been selected through a juried process for Lunafest from about 900 films. “These are the six best, so I think you’re going to really enjoy them.”
Having already screened them, Ludwig shared, “The most poignant one for me was about the boxer in Cuba. Another poignant one was about a little boy who wants to be a girl.”
The films she spoke of were “Boxeadora,” which follows a woman boxer’s dreams of Olympic glory as she trains in secret despite Castro’s ban on female fighters in Cuba; and “Raising Ryland,” the transgender experience of a 6-year old boy whose loving parents struggle to support and affirm their transgender child. The other four films were “Balsa Wood,” “Finding June,” “First World Problems” and “Beach Flags.”
