Don’t Call Me Honey: Fierce Women of Film is a two-month series screening at the Wexner Center through Aug. 27. The series highlights fierce women and their cinematic contributions across genres and the era. Brunner-Sung participated in the collaboration process for selecting films to be featured, along with six other programmers. They each recommended a variety of films; some programmers had the same film favorites.

“Together we worked to make the program representative of a diversity of perspectives,” Brunner-Sung said.

The committee was interested in the identity of the makers and those represented on screen, as well as the genre and year of the film. Another significant factor in was the production context — whether the film was industry-based or independent. Brunner-Sung explained that money is a defining factor in film production. It tends to affect the kind of films that get made and the type of stories that get told. She is pleased with the richness and diversity of the series.

Although the interpretation of a film’s meaning is purely up to the viewer, Brunner-Sung believes the films in Don’t Call me Honey embody the meaning of fierceness.

“I think these films offer a refreshing vision of what strength, power and heroism look like in the world — a ‘fierceness’ that goes beyond being physically tough or cool to encompass the courage it takes to make your own decisions, love yourself and others, and be open and expressive in the world,” she said.

Brunner-Sung, a successful filmmaker, has a short-film, First Rodeo, that will be showing before the screening of Songs my Brothers Taught Me on July 22 and 23. 

For more information about the Don’t Call me Honey Series, visit the Wexner Center for the Arts.