Students and Winona community members came out last Friday for this year’s LUNAFEST film festival hosted by Winona State University’s Women and Gender Studies Department.
The event was in promotion of Women’s History Month.
LUNAFEST is a national traveling festival, sponsored by Luna Energy bar, that started in 2000 and raises money each year for different organizations with different causes. This year, LUNAFEST is dedicated to raising money for The Breast Cancer Fund.
With the money raised during this festival, either 15 percent of sales or $250, whichever is higher, will go towards The Breast Cancer Fund with the remaining proceeds going to the student clubs that helped organized the festival.
Women and Gender Studies student group Fighting Our Rights and Gender Equality coordinated this year’s festival, which consisted of nine short films directed by women, about women and for women. The films presented included short documentaries and sketch animation.
“The films tend to be a nice mix that try to give people some role models and to help people understand women are a really diverse group of people with diverse needs,” Women and Gender Studies interim program director April Herndon said.
The films showcased the lives of women and young girls from various countries around the world, including Iceland, Palestine and South Africa.
Among the films was one that showed the life of a female condom factory worker who buys a box of happiness in hopes of adding some temporary joy to her life.
Another showed the story of a Palestinian girl’s struggle to buy a birthday cake.
The other short films addressed topics such as homosexuality, the loss of a child, breaking female stereotypes and mother-daughter relationships and presented lessons.
Herndon said this year’s LUNAFEST turnout, which included more than 60 people, was better than predicted. She said Fighting for Our Rights and Gender Equality’s increased advertising efforts for the film festival helped to increase the turnout from to the festival’s low numbers last year.
The festival attracted various community members including students from Saint Mary’s University who participate in their campus’ women’s studies program called The Saint Teresa Leadership and Service Institute for Women. For these students coming to the festival was important for promoting women’s voices.
“Women in films are severely underrepresented, that’s why it’s important to come and support them,” Jesse Smith of Saint Mary’s said.
Other community members such as Diana Vacjin and Joyce Camerer believed the films help to portray the message of empowering women.
“Women can be strong and endure. They can do anything,” Camerer said.
Although the themes in the short films were directed for a female audience, Herndon said that men could also benefit from the festival.
“This affects them too. Most men have a woman in their life, a mother, sister or love,” Herndon said.
LUNAFEST was one of several events hosted by Winona State’s Women’s and Gender Studies department for Women’s History Month. Others included the widely-attended Vagina Monologues and guest speaker Pamela Fletcher, who spoke on “Transforming a Rape Culture.”
The final event for the month will be with Dakota speaker Waziyatiawin who will speak Friday with a presentation titled, “Rebirthing Our Nation: Dakota Women and the Struggle for Justice.”

Contact Rachel at RDSmith5697@winona.edu