DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

Sergeant Michelle Brookfield Wilmot on guard duty in Ramadi, Iraq from the documentary Lioness. Photograph by Spc. Miranda Mattingly.

Lioness

The Iraq war has seen the introduction of an important, if unintentional, change in the way the military wages war. While women are still technically forbidden from ground combat positions, the reality of a different kind of warfare in Iraq is that soldiers in “support” positions are now frequently called upon to fight shoulder to shoulder with the front line infantry. Many of these soldiers are women, who often arrive unprepared for this combat, not through any inherent deficiency, but rather because of the military’s unwillingness to train them for a job they technically aren’t allowed to do. Filmmakers Meg McLagen and Daria Sommers profile five such soldiers, the “lionesses” of the Iraq war, to examine the role women play in the modern American military, and their impact not only on the war itself, but the impact of that role on their own lives. These are women who, because they cannot be officially recognized as combatants, often put their lives at risk with no recognition of their achievements; this isn’t just an insult, but has serious career ramifications for soldiers who are restricted from moving up the chain because their contributions are consistently ignored and undervalued.

View the trailer.
Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Library of Congress‘ Mary Pickford Theater.

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New African Films Festival

The AFI, along with the TransAfrica Forum and afrikafe, are presenting their fifth annual celebration of new cinema from Africa (or dealing with African issues), with a special addition this year of several classic, newly restored films from the continent. That latter category includes Ahmed El Maanouni’s 1981 Moroccan music documentary Transes, and the 1973 Senegalese film Touki Bouki, one of the most famous African films ever made. The newer films encompass nine selections. Highlights include tonight’s opening night selection, 13 Months of Sunshine, about Ethiopian immigrants in Los Angeles, and Shoot the Messenger, a controversial Nigerian/British film that was well received at the 2006 Tribeca festival.

Opens tonight the AFI and runs through March 25. See the full schedule for dates, times, and film list.