Featuring a range of creatively-themed movies, San Francisco’s MadCat Women’s International Film Festival examines a diverse range of issues, from gender roles to the war in Iraq.

Films submitted also explore the unique character of the city, from poetry jams in the Mission District to the historic cemeteries that dot the landscape.

“We are different in that we showcase experimental films from around the world,” said Ariella Ben-Dov, Executive Director of MadCat.

Founded in 1996, the festival was created to highlight experimental work from female artists around the world. Hosted in several venues around the Bay Area, MadCat aims to touch an audience that would not normally be exposed to such films.

The festival runs through Sept. 27 and will exhibit 89 of the 1,300 film submissions received. Several of the featured films have been directed by SF State students.

With 16 countries represented at the 11-day festival, MadCat has something for everyone. The films are organized into thematic programs, giving each year of the festival new topics to explore.

“I think this festival is pretty revolutionary to not have restrictions on the type of women’s films that can be shown,” said Cinema Collective President Sam Messe.

The festival will start and end with the collections “Shhh I and II” - contemporary silent films which are set to live music.

A highlight of the festival is “Women Speak Up,” a night dedicated to 1970's documentary films that capture women who break free from their traditional roles.

Another is “City Nights,” an evening of documentaries pertaining to the unknown personalities of San Francisco.

Erica Filanc, a second year SF State student in the Masters of Fine Arts in Cinema program, directed the film “Living Poets,” which focuses on a group who hosted a weekly poetry jam in San Francisco’s Mission District.

“The film is about the space of 16th Street and Mission Street and what the poets think reclaiming that space looks like,” Filanc said.

Every Thursday night Filanc went out to film the poetry jam and every week the crowd grew larger, she said.

“My take is subtle,” Filanc said on her style of directing.

Filanc went to the festival last year and said she knew then that she wanted to enter one of her films.

“It is an eclectic group of filmmakers and the films touch on all peoples and interests,” she said.

Filanc’s next project will about community-supported agriculture, she said, focusing on how people can invest in a farm or garden together, then reap the benefits in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables.

SF State alumna Trina Lopez, who graduated from the Masters of Fine Arts in Cinema program, submitted her thesis film, “A Second Final Rest: The History of San Francisco’s Lost Cemeteries."

Lopez’s 45-minute documentary explores the history of the San Francisco cemeteries that were relocated to make room for more development. Lopez stumbled upon the subject after finding an old tour book about the city that mentioned the cemetery removal.

“I had a really good subject that came to me, and my goal was to make people aware of the removals,” said Lopez.

The film travels on location to the cemeteries and features interviews with elderly residents who played in the cemeteries as children.

Lopez said she was thrilled when she discovered her film was chosen for the festival.

“The films they choose are very well-thought-out, and I would be so happy if my film was shown,” she said.

After several months of reviewing, screeners at MadCat select entries based on their mission to exhibit films that are dynamic in both visual storytelling and sound creativity, Ben-Dov said.

“Women want their work to be shown,” said Ben-Dov, who is also a member of the team of screeners.

The festival links the more accessible films together with the experimental, in hopes of drawing the audience into a world different then their own.

“They position films to dialogue with each other and it opens up the floor for discussion and exploration,” said Lopez.

As an art form in itself, MadCat is a festival of films that pull the viewer in and challenge them to engage intellectually with the visual display before them.

Whether fans favor anime, documentaries, narrative, or experimental films, MadCat is the place to be entertained by women who explore the unknown in film.