Jakarta – Although they might not be about "grand narratives" or "bombastic issues", women do have stories to tell. Such as simple stories of being a woman in an ever patriarchal world, as an upcoming international women's film festival in Jakarta will reveal.

From an intimate depiction of how a mother juggles prostitution and back-breaking construction work, to the tale of the bittersweet life of a bipolar woman, stories screened at the V Film Festival, scheduled from April 21, are from women, for women and about women.

"Lately, we have seen emerging female filmmakers produce excellent works about women's lives," festival director Ening said. Despite such trends, she found the issue still remained marginalized, even at the country's existing film festivals.

"Even in major film festivals like Jiffest – the Jakarta International Film Festival – the screenings of these kinds of movies received very limited attention. As few as two people at a time attended such showings," said Ani Ema Susanti, one of the directors of collective documentary At Stake.

It might indeed be true that this emerging minor subgenre has been overlooked for too long.

A collaborative work of Kartini Asia Network, Salihara Community, Kalyanashira Foundation and Jurnal Perempuan Foundation, V Film Festival – feel free to interpret "V", the festival committee said – is the first of its kind in the last decade, after a similar event was held back in 1997.

The film screenings will be accompanied by a series of discussions with the filmmakers and a moviemaking workshop. "In the long run, we also plan to open participatory filmmaking workshops that will really allow ordinary women to express themselves," festival committee member Olin Monteiro said, adding V would be an annual event.

For now, plans and ideas have been toned down to focus on screening quality women's films.

More than a dozen films, ranging from short documentaries, to full-length features, offer a variety of themes by female filmmakers from France, Germany, the United States, ex-Soviet Union countries, as well as more than a handful from Indonesia.

French film Water Lilies, a tale about teenaged synchronized swimmers, is set to open the festival, while German documentary Mother Beast-Mother Human, on pondering motherhood, will close the event on April 26.

In between, are films with more down-to-earth themes, which Indonesian women should find accessible.

Ani's documentary, for example, portrays the lives of two Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong, and their quest for love.

Her work, as well as that of three others collaborating for the documentary At Stake, received much enthusiasm during its screening at the 2009 Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, in February, as viewers saw a different side to the stories of women living in what they perceived as merely an "exotic tropical country".

Unfortunately, two segments of At Stake, on female circumcision and discrimination against single women on reproductive health services, will be scrapped during its screening at the V film festival, as their directors are male.

"It is part of the rules of female film festivals that we can only screen works by women," explained film producer Nia Dinata, from Kalyanashira Foundation.

Sexist as that may seem, perhaps women have been victimized and marginalized by this patriarchal society for so long that they deserve to have their own space for once. No offense, guys!

Information and screening schedule of V Film Festival can be found at: www.festivalfilm.multiply.com. All films are open for public for free.