Kentucky Foundation for Women is pleased to announce that Laura Petrie will be the recipient of the 2024 Sallie Bingham Award. The award will be given at the foundation’s annual celebration of community, KFW Day, on September 29.
Petrie will be honored for her work and dedication to using art to build community and advance the work of others. Petrie is the founder of the Cinema Systers Film Festival, the only all-lesbian film festival in the United States, which screens films and offers workshops. The festival works to uplift the visions and voices of lesbian filmmakers, and to provide a dedicated space to publicly showcase their art, while building bridges among audiences, filmmakers and the community.
“KFW’s grant funding allowed me to launch a lesbian film festival in rural Western Kentucky. Cinema Systers Film Festival screens films from a lesbian filmmaker’s point of view, a vastly underrepresented voice in the film industry as well as mainstream society. CSFF is a beacon to queer women across our commonwealth and beyond. It signals to women and girls an acceptance, a heartening normalization of a culture which is mostly out of view. As a producer and organizer, I create opportunities for women to express themselves. I have been fortunate to attend and serve on crews at several women’s festivals over the years. Women on the outside of mainstream society were on stage making us laugh, cry, dance, and howl at the moon. It was magic! These experiences changed my life for the better, and I became determined to share this feeling with women in my area who weren’t fortunate enough to attend these remarkable festivals. That is how Cinema Systers started. We have now established ourselves as a fixture in the local arts community. This festival is but a small ‘acorn’ planted in Paducah/ Western Kentucky in 2016. KFW has been the water and sunshine helping turn our acorn into a mighty oak,” said Petrie.
The festival has grown to international prominence and left a lasting legacy for lesbian filmmakers. “Creating a Women’s space and particularly a Lesbian Filmmaker only film festival is a rarity. How rare? Of the over 5,300 film festivals, in the US; there is only one. And it has put Paducah Kentucky on the international map. Filmmakers from literally all over the world submit their films to this festival,” said filmmaker Judi “JP” Price.
The film festival’s combination of screening films and providing workshops on various aspects of film making has empowered lesbians to tell their stories and changed perceptions. “’For until the Lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter’ (African proverb). I believe in Laura’s vision enough to come again this year from Los Angeles to provide workshops. And will be producing more films to bring to Paducah,” said Price.
Petrie’s reach has extended beyond the festival. In 2019, she started My Syster’s Art, Inc. a non-profit organization founded to produce more women’s events in and around Paducah. My Systers Art has produced events focused on women of color, and a series of women empowerment activities, including most recently their 1st annual Lesbian Labor Day weekend event, as well as the Cinema Systers Film Festival. Her 34 acre farm outside Paducah has now become a women’s retreat, The Art Farm Women’s Retreat, which hosts art making and healing events, women’s festivals and other activities and gatherings.
“Laura’s work embodies the values of the Sallie Bingham Award in its trailblazing approach to building community, sharing knowledge, and providing a haven for women artists. Laura is bettering the lives of women and girls in Kentucky and beyond by spotlighting and growing the work of lesbian filmmakers. KFW is honored to present Laura Petrie with this year’s Sallie Bingham Award,” said Sharon LaRue, Executive Director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
Named for KFW’s founder, the Sallie Bingham Award recognizes Kentucky women who are leaders in changing the lives of women and girls across the state by supporting feminist expression in the arts. Recipients show a demonstrated and sustained commitment to excellence in feminist art and to advancing social change that impacts women and girls in Kentucky. The award was founded in 1996 by former KFW Director, Ann Stewart Anderson. Winners are selected by nominations or by recommendation from the KFW staff or Board. Previous winners include 2022 winner Looking for Lilith Theatre Company, fabric artist Alma Lesch, writer and arts mentor Judy Sizemore, and writer Crystal Wilkinson. For more information on the award, check out: https://www.kfw.org/awards/sallie-bingham-award/.