BEAUTY IN TRUTH at Women of the World Festival, London, March 10, 2013

I have just returned from the UK premier of Pratibha Parmar’s film about my life, BEAUTY IN TRUTH, whose producer is her partner of thirty years, Shaheen Haq.  London was at its most hospitable, and the Women of the World (WOW) Festival, at which the film was shown, was delightful and invigorating, even though I saw only the tiniest bit of the innumerable presentations.  Interviews intervened.

I saw a few minutes of the wonderful Angelique Kidjo, even so, which was worth the 15 hour flight from Mexico to London.  It was also lovely to meet the festival’s founder and organizer, Jude Kelly, whose name is one of the great ones on the planet, in my opinion;  she lives up to it admirably, producing amazing events for thousands of women and people of other (I like this; I think I’ll keep it – people of other) each year.  

Mariella Frostup interviewed Pratibha Parmar and me after the first show: there were two sold out screenings.  See below. With lovely, loving crowds of people in attendance who came out in full spirit.

 An aside:  I met Naomi Wolf in an elevator on the way to a photo shoot: what a great vibe she has!  And Zainab Salbi and her photographer sweetheart and partner Rennio Maifredi came up to my room in the hotel to show me their new fascinating and unforgettable book on women enduring, surviving, or recovering from war:  IF YOU KNEW ME YOU WOULD CARE.  The photographs are so arresting that words failed me as I looked at the book’s cover.  And you know what relief you feel when someone you love has found the right one? That, too.

This brief interview, after watching the film in its entirety for the first time, and admiring the soundtrack by Tena Clark -whose rousing song “Break the Chain” had me dancing with my neighbors on Billion Women Rising Day -gave me an opportunity to talk a bit about mothers and mothering, as I find I am sometimes the subject of conversation on this issue.

 http://wow.southbankcentre.co.uk/events/alice-walker-screening/