To celebrate Women’s Equality Day, a benefit screening of Iron Jawed Angels will be held in San Diego on Saturday, August 30. This film reenacts the story of defiant young activists who risked their lives to help American women earn the right to vote. As shown in the movie, this battle was hard-fought over a significant period of time.

Women were fined, jailed, force-fed and vilified, because they pursued the same rights as men. Hilary Swank and Frances O' Connor artfully portray Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. During the long battle of the movement, Paul, on day 22 of her prison hunger strike, endured great pain for three weeks when doctors brutally forced a tube into her nose and down her throat, then poured liquids into her stomach three times a day. Despite her suffering, Paul refused to end the hunger strike. One physician reported: "[She has] a spirit like Joan of Arc, and it is useless to try to change it. She will die but she will never give up."

Directed by Katja von Garnier, the movie also stars Anjelica Huston, Julia Ormond, Frances O'Connor, Lois Smith and Patrick Dempsey. The film won a Cinematography award, Golden Globe, was nominated for five Emmy’s, other awards and a Humanitas Prize.

This benefit, presented by the San Diego Film Critics Society and the San Diego Women’s History Museum and Educational Center, will also include comments from local dignitaries about the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Although Congress passed the law in 1919, amending the Constitution required ratification by at least two-thirds of the states. On August 26th, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, and women officially won the right to vote. The Women's History Museum celebrates Women's Equality each year with a variety of events. On Sat., August 23 there will be a Suffrage March across the bridge in Balboa Park, followed by a Suffrage Ball with dancing, food, historic reenactments and a "voting" theme.

Iron Jawed Angels will be shown at 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 30, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in beautiful Balboa Park. There’s a suggested $10 donation for tickets, which will be available at the door. For reservations, please e-mail filmclub@kpbs.org.

(Photo:  Hilary Swank in Iron Jawed Angels. © 2004 HBO Films. All Rights Reserved.)