★ WINNER · 2026 LESLIE J. SACKS GRAND PRIZE ★

Nineteen years inside the Catholic Church's most forbidden question: what happens when women answer a call they are banned from answering?

The Evening

Tuesday, September 8 · Doors 6:30 PM PDT
The London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills
1020 N San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Screening · Live Q&A with Director Marie Mandy · Dessert reception

The Film

Since 2002, more than 300 women worldwide have been ordained as Catholic priests in defiance of the Vatican. Excommunicated. Undeterred. Filmed over nineteen years, The Forbidden Call follows three of them across three continents in their quest to change two thousand years of doctrine.

Jacqueline Straub, a Swiss theologian, has written to successive popes for fifteen years, pleading for the right to be ordained. Christina Moreira, in Spain, refused to wait: ordained in secret in the tradition of the Danube ordinations and excommunicated for it, she serves her community as their priest anyway. And across the Atlantic, Myra Brown leads a parish of 1,500 faithful in the United States, defying the prohibition with unshakeable faith.

Together they take us to the heart of the Vatican, revisiting sacred texts and dismantling the theological, political, and cultural walls behind the ban, and asking whether a Church that calls itself universal can remain closed to half of humanity.

In Conversation: Marie Mandy

Following the film, stay for a live Q&A with Director Marie Mandy, the Belgian documentary filmmaker and photographer whose socially engaged work explores gender, religion, and societal taboos. Trained at the London International Film School, she teaches documentary screenwriting in Paris and Aix-Marseille, and her films are known for their visual richness and unapologetically female perspective.

Every seat supports the mission. All proceeds benefit the programs and services of Women's Voices Now, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit using film to advance girls' and women's rights globally. Rated ★★★★ Four Stars by Charity Navigator, their highest rating: view our profile.

Know Before You Go

Valet at the venue: $25.
SP+ Garage, 8570 Sunset Blvd: a 3 to 5 minute walk down the hill.
The Queens Lot, 8459 Sunset Blvd: city-operated open-air lot, about 5 minutes on foot; fills quickly.

Street parking in West Hollywood is highly regulated; read the signs to avoid permit-only zones.

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Seats are limited. Reserve yours.

The Women's Voices Now Film Festival is an annual global women's rights documentary film festival supporting emerging women filmmakers whose work drives social change. The Leslie J. Sacks Grand Prize honors the Founder of Women's Voices Now, a visionary philanthropist and Los Angeles-based art collector and dealer. 2026 marked the festival's 12th edition. womensvoicesnow.org

The Forbidden Call: Women Priests

A screening and dessert reception with Director Marie Mandy · Winner of the 2026 Leslie J. Sacks Grand Prize