Two meanings imbue the term, “women in film,” eliciting both the women who appear on the screen as well as the craftswomen who participate in the filmmaking process. Though the two senses often go hand in hand, there is not necessarily a direct correlation: women filmmakers do not have to make films about women - but they often do. So while films created by women formed the unifying thread of the Boston International Festival of Women’s Cinema, which took place April 3-6, viewers had the fortune of taking in a rich diversity of stories related to women.

“Creating multidimensional roles for women” formed the theme of this year’s festival, carried out by two filmmaker workshops. Saturday’s workshop featured writer/director Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills) and actor/director Illeana Douglas (Grace of My Heart). Jenkins and Douglas spoke of their early cinematic influences, such as Annie Hall (1977), An Unmarried Woman (1978), and Norma Rae (1979), all with complex, authentic female characters at the center. Not only do these films depict the physical realities of women’s experience that had never been seen on screen - Jenkins and Douglas showed a clip from Norma Rae in which you can see the sweat stains under Sally Field’s arms - but these characters were “imperfect” - neurotic, insecure, older, decidedly unglamorous. They were also feminist prototypes, bent on charting their own path.

Independent film of recent years has produced a number of films anchored by multidimensional women characters. One that stood out in this year’s festival was Morvern Callar (U.K., 2002) by Lynne Ramsey, with Samantha Morton in the title role. Ramsey’s strange and moving film follows the emotional journey and awakening of Morvern, who upon discovering her boyfriend’s suicide, submits a manuscript of his novel as her own and takes the money intended for his funeral to fund a holiday in Spain. Containing sparse dialogue, much of the film’s sentiment is conveyed through movement and music. Throughout, Morvern bounces to electronica: among the 20-somethings in her working-class town, at the orgiastic parties of Ibiza, and while she scrubs her boyfriend’s blood off the kitchen floor. But the raw, pulsing energy of the music also serves as a foil to the young woman’s grief and search for identity, which are at the heart of Ramsey’s stunning work.

Though the world doesn’t suffer a shortage of distinct women’s voices, they often go unheard, particularly in mainstream media. That was Nancy Savoca’s motivation for making Reno: Rebel Without a Pause (U.S.A., 2002), a filmed performance of the Latina comic’s cathartic and humorous rendering of both her own and the country’s response to the events of September 11. Reno’s performance made me ache with laughter, even as she provided a stringent analysis on civil liberties and other political issues in a post-9/11 world. Both Reno and Savoca were present at Friday’s screening and spoke to the challenge of getting visibility for the film, thus reinforcing the need for venues like the festival.

Then there is the story of the woman filmmaker herself, who is often invisible to the public, particularly if she is a woman of color. Another festival offering, Sisters in Cinema (U.S.A., 2003), is Yvonne Welbon’s tribute to Black female directors of feature films. When her investigation into Hollywood-produced films uncovered only two major features directed by Black women, she took her search underground to the world of independent film. Though an illustrious group emerged, anecdotes shared by these women indicated that there is still no easy path for Black women filmmakers. It took 25 years for Maya Angelou to direct her first film, despite being a best-selling author, Pulitzer Prize nominee, and reputed writer for film and television. And though Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust (1992) played in theaters for six months, she has not been funded for another feature since. Even so, the resiliency of the talented women profiled was uplifting.

But women do not have to make films about women - and this deviation gave texture to the festival program. Liliana Cavani’s Ripley’s Game (U.S.A./U.K./Italy, 2002), an adaptation of the third novel in Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley series, casts John Malkovich in the role of the well-mannered sociopath. Set in Italy, the film finds a world-weary Ripley settled in an elegantly restored villa. But when scorned at a party, Ripley chooses the most sinister of strategies to meet revenge on his offender. Regarded in Italy as one of the country’s leading filmmakers, viewers had the opportunity to hear from Cavani, who introduced the rarely seen RIPLEY’S GAME as well as the festival’s revival screening of her controversial The Night Porter (Italy, 1974).

The value of the Boston International Festival of Women’s Cinema is that it gives the public an opportunity to help raise the profile of women-made films. It’s heartening when two such films - Niki Caro’s Whale Rider (New Zealand, 2002), about a girl who aspires to leadership in her patriarchal Maori tribe, and Flag Wars (U.S.A., 2003), Linda Goode Bryant and Laura Portias’s documentary about the gentrification of an African American neighborhood - sell out on the same day. Sneak preview screenings assist in creating buzz for the theatrical release of films by women (Love and Diane will screen at the Coolidge Corner Theatre soon and Morvern Callar is now in theaters, to name just a few). Other showings can lead independents to the wider distribution of their films. To stay informed about opportunities to see these and other films by women, check out the calendars of local independent and art venues and visit www.moviesbywomen.com. And be sure not to miss next year’s festival.