Celebrate Women’s History Month with a pioneer and a performer

by Barrett White

March is Women’s History Month, and to celebrate, indulge yourself with two honorable ladies who have devoted their talents and influence to making strides in not only history, but in culture. This March, Showtime presents Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way, a new documentary about the life of visionary politician Geraldine Ferraro, cataloguing her life and times in and out of the office. Goldfrapp, the British electronica band named for none other than lead singer Alison Goldfrapp, will release Tales of Us here in Houston, a gripping cinema event you’ll not want to miss.

Redefining what it means to be a woman and taking politics by storm was Geraldine Ferraro, who became a pundit trailblazer and inspiration for women and men alike when she became the first woman to run for the office of vice president of the United States with a major political party in 1984 alongside Walter Mondale. In the realm of the performing arts, queer electronica singer Alison Goldfrapp is the muse of millions with her soaring and often chillingly captivating vocals and trance-inducing vibes with band mate and synthesizer player Will Gregory.

Ferraro was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York’s ninth district from 1979 until 1985, and was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on the Human Rights from 1993 until 1996. Though the Mondale/Ferraro ticket did not win the election of 1984, Ferraro still pushed forward with her success as a politician, even after allegations came forward concerning her and her husband’s finances. Ferraro went on to continue her career as a journalist, author, and businesswoman, and briefly revisited politics in 2008, serving alongside the presidential campaign of former Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

On March 21, Showtime presents Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way, filmmaker Donna Zaccaro’s moving, powerful, and oftentimes surprising portrait of her mother (Ferraro) who changed the face of American politics forever. Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way documents the life of this pioneer who served as a role model for women and men across the nation and around the world. The film features never-before-seen archival footage and stills, intimate interviews with Ferraro, and commentary by many of the leading political figures of our day, including President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President and Mrs. George H. W. Bush, Vice President Walter Mondale, Secretary Madeleine Albright, Senators Barbara Mikulski and Olympia Snowe, Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Kennelly, and Jane Harman, Congressmen Vic Fazio and Tony Coelho, and many others.

Across the Atlantic, electronica band Goldfrapp is making waves with the release of their newest album, Tales of Us. Though their album debuted in September 2013, the coverage is not finished just yet, as they prepare for the cinematic release of a small film of the same name. Goldfrapp, named for lead vocalist Alison Goldfrapp, has had quite the illustrious career, spanning 15 years on the market, garnering a significant fan base in Britain and the United States alike, producing three number-one U.S. dance singles off of their third album, Supernature, and collecting two Emmy nominations over the duration of their career.

Although Alison Goldfrapp came out as queer in 2010 with her reveal that she is dating film editor Lisa Gunning, she rejects being labeled as a lesbian. “I think of everything as being about a person and a relationship, and I am in a wonderful relationship with a wonderful person,” she says. “It just happens to be with a lady… It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time, and it concurs with my philosophy on life and sexuality. I don’t think it can or should be pigeonholed. I’ve thought about this since I was a teenager. I’ve always found it claustrophobic to think about having to put things into categories like that. My sexuality is the same as my music and my life. Why does it need a label?”

Tales of Us, the Goldfrapp cinema event, centers around the interconnected stories of five individuals—Stranger, Laurel, Jo, Annabel, and Drew—sharing themes of love, loss, madness, and identity, taking the viewer on a unique musical journey with Goldfrapp’s unique sound style. The film is to be screened at AMC Studio 30 (2949 Dunvale) on March 25 and 27.

For more information on Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way, click here.

For tickets and more information on Goldfrapp’s cinema event Tales of Us, follow this link, or check out the Twitter hashtag #TalesOfUsFilm.