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FilmLöwinKino

9/7/2020

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FilmLöwinKino: A Queer-Feminist Film Series

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Rafiki – With post-film discussion: Queer Thinking!
Thursday, September 10 at 7pm


Moderated by Sophie Charlotte Rieger & in collaboration with Queer Media Society!

In bright bubble gum pictures, Rafiki tells the story of two star-crossed queer lovers in modern day Kenya. Director Wanuri Kahiu takes cares to portray a positive picture of her home country, without sweeping Kenya's problems under the rug.

KE 2018, DIRECTOR: Wanuri Kahiu, STARRING: Samantha Mugatsia, Sheila Munyiva, Jimmi Gathu, 82 min., ages 12+
Following the film is a discussion about what roll queer stories currently play in cinema, what makes a story "queer" and why we hope for more stories about queer lives, loves and desires. On the stage with Filmlöwin is Sookee, musician and member of Queer Media Society, as well as moderator Tarik Tesfu.

*Tickets 8 € / Reduced 7 €

MORE INFO AND TICKETS HERE:
https://citykinowedding.de/filmloewinkino-rafiki-omu-diskussion/ 

Upcoming events:

26.9.2020 | 19 UhrGENERATION ZUKUNFT (Generation Future)
Studio Wolf

Members of "Girls' Riot“ Workshops present and commentate a short film program, which they put together in 2019 for the International Short Film Festival for Children and Teens (das KUKI).


15.10.2020 | 19 UhrINSTAFEMINISMUSStudio Wolf
Film: Searching Eva by Pia Hellenthal
The documentary Searching Eva present blogger and sex worker Eva Collé, who gives her followers intimate looks into her life with pictures, videos and texts.


29.10.2020 | 19 UhrRAPE CULTURE
City Kino WeddingFilm: Alles ist gut (Everything is good) by Eva Trobisch
Anne is raped after a party. Shortly thereafter she meets the perpetrator - as a new coworker at her place of work.  How can this confrontation be dealt with? How can the experience be processed? How can she speak to her partner about everything? How can she go on?


10.11.2020 | 19 UhrQUOTEN SCHOTENCity Kino Wedding
Film: Männer zeigen Filme und Frauen ihre Brüste (Men Show Movies & Women Their Breasts) by Isabell Šuba
In her debut film, the mockumenatary Men Show Movies & Women Their Breasts, Isabell Šuba sheds a feminist, critical and equally humorous light on the renowed film festival in Cannes.


26.11.2020 | 19 UhrTOXISCHE MÄNNLICHKEITCity Kino WeddingFilm: Kids Run by Barbara Ott
The unemployed ex-boxer Andi doesn't just want to get back into the ring and win back his ex-girlfriend, but he also wants to fight for custory of his three children. But not all of these fights can be won with his fists! In her sensitive portrait of men, basically a feminist version of the classic boxer drama, director Barbara Ott reveals a contemporary search for new concepts of masculinity and fatherhood.
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Remake Festival Highlights

11/4/2019

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Lissy's Picks
  • Licht / Mademoiselle Paradis (AT, DE 2015–17, directed by Barbara Albert, screenplay by Kathrin Resetarits based on Alissa Walser's novel Am Anfang war die Nacht Musik, 97 minutes)
Since so many films based on true stories tend to pay tribute to the "male genius," I'm always interested to to learn more about impressive and talented women who have persevered in a sexist and patriarchal society. The majority of their stories remain unknown and I appreciate the effort of filmmakers to bring the fascinating lives of historical women to light, so they can inspire future generations.

Tuesday, November 26 at Pupille - Kino in der Uni
More info here --> https://www.remake-festival.de/en/licht-mademoiselle-paradis/

  • Daughters of the Dust  (US, GB 1991, directed and written by Julie Dash, 112 minutes)
Another film that depicts the stories of the forgotten. I am curious to see how this film with the backdrop of the repercussions American slavery enables the viewer to find connections to the present through the themes of migration, identity and belonging.
 
Wednesday, November 27 at Pupille - Kino in der Uni
More info here --> https://www.remake-festival.de/en/daughters-of-the-dust/
Marina's Picks
  • Orlando (GB, RU, IT, FR, NL 1992, directed and written by Sally Potter based on the novel by Virginia Woolf, 94 minutes)
I love the works of Virginia Woolf, especially her 1928 novel Orlando, a fictional account of gender fluidity avant la lettre. Of course, she was totally ahead  - even out - of her time and today one is still impressed by her thoughts. Female filmmaker Sally Potter's film version featuring Tilda Swinton as Orlando has become iconic in both the Lesbian and feminist communities. Remake screens the period piece in its focus on »Fixed stars of queer cinema«. Sure, you might find the movie online but take the chance to see it on the big screen with your peers!

November 29, 2019 at Pupille - Kino in der Uni
More info here --> https://www.remake-festival.de/en/orlando/


»Denken Sie bitte im Film und dann wird es ganz klar« / »Please think within the film, and it will become very clear«
  • Ella Bergmann-Michel film lectures
Note the special date: February 1, 2020 at Pupille - Kino in der Uni

To play with a German phrase: »Nach dem Festival ist vor dem Festival« / »After the festival is before the festival«

This lecture performance is dedicated to Frankfurt-based film activist Ella Bergmann-Michel and performed by Bettina Schulte Strathaus. “Please think within the film, and it will become very clear” is the title of the performance that mixes film and texts. Bergmann-Michel was a a traveling agent of the moving picture from its beginnings - and she piled up papers, lists, receipts. I think this evening will be interesting because it emphasizes that film history is not only about the picture(s) but about archive work too. In this collage, even turned into a new form of art - inspiring!

More info here: --> https://www.remake-festival.de/en/on-location/please-think-within-the-film-and-it-will-become-very-clear-ella-bergmann-michels-film-lectures/
Christina's Picks
  • All films by Ella Bergmann-Michel and the portrait Mein Herz schlägt blau – Ella Bergmann-Michel

So I feel like I'm cheating with this one because there are six films in one fascinating program. But first a bit more background about Ella Bergmann-Michel.

“In the early 1930s, Ella Bergmann-Michel, who was known as more of a painter, made a number of documentary films that found some recognition at the time, but are hardly known even to specialists today,” wrote Jutta Hercher in Frauen und Film in 1990. Since then the artist has gradually moved into public view, though Bergmann-Michel the filmmaker, and particularly the cinema activist, still remains wrongfully in the background.

This is why Kinothek Asta Nielsen and the Remake Festival are so critical. By showing Bergmann-Michel's films - Wo wohnen alte Leute? (1931, silent, 13 min); Erwerblose kochen für Erwerblose (1932, silent, 9 min); Fliegende Händler in Frankfurt am Main (1932, silent, 37 min); Fischfang in der Rhön (an der Sinn) (1932, silent, 11 min); Wahlkampf 1932 (Letzte Wahl) (1932/33, silent, 13 min) - and the collage of Bergmann-Michel's painted and documentary work Mein Herz schlägt blau – Ella Bergmann-Michel (1989, 30 min), we become intimately familiar with her work, thus preserving her legacy. Do not miss the chance to see the sharpness, complexity and appeal for social reform by such a skilled hand and keen eye.

Saturday, November 29 at Pupille - Kino in der Uni

  • CineConcert – Silent film and world premiere of new music for Hindle Wakes (GB 1927, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Estelle Brody and John Stuart, silent, 116 min)

Kinothek Asta Nielsen has commissioned internationally renowned composer-pianist Maud Nelissen to compose music for one of the most spectacular British films of the 1920s (based on an earlier play of the same name by Stanley Houghton): Hindle Wakes. It will be performed by an ensemble of five musicians.

About the film itself: Young Fanny Hawthorn works in a cotton mill in Hindle, Lancashire, England. During the yearly company outing, she enjoys an affair with the son of the factory owner. From her family’s point of view, the only thing that can restore her honour is a wedding. But Fanny won’t give up her freedom just because of her “little fancy”. Sexual self-determination is – in the spirit of Emma Goldman – part of the pride of the working woman.

Not only do we have this cinematic story of emancipation, a true sensation at the time, the film also  gives us a look at the cotton industry - the first global capitalist economy. The film is thus a twofold documentation, of the early 20th century women’s movement and the situation of workers in the English cotton industry. Combine that with a world premiere of a film score by one of the most important silent film pianists and composers and you're in for a night of culture you don't want to miss!

Thursday, November 28 at Schauspiel Frankfurt

Get tickets here --> Schauspiel Frankfurt Eventim

View the full Remake program here --> Festival Program Booklet (German)
We hope to see you there!
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Dublin Feminist Film Festival

8/17/2019

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Dublin Feminist Film Festival 2019 Celebrates Irish Female Directors

22 to 24 August 2019 @ The Light House Cinema Dublin

This summer’s Dublin Feminist Film Festival shows at Dublin’s Lighthouse Cinema from Thursday, 22 to Saturday, 24 August and takes a look through the lens at work by some of Ireland’s best female talent including Kirsten Sheridan, Aoife McArdle, Oonagh Kearney, Louise Bagnall and Claire Dix. 

Now six years in the running, the Festival has established firm roots in Dublin’s cultural calendar, shining a spotlight on dynamic, fresh and exciting female directors who are trail blazing the way for women in film, both at home and abroad. The festival  line-up includes films, documentaries and animation shorts by Irish women who bring intelligent, witty and provocative themes for your viewing pleasure.

Despite a high-profile and highly active push to increase the number of films directed by women here, the number continues to hover around 20% in any given year. But even with growing vocal demands for inclusion and Screen Ireland’s important and admirable 2017 gender parity plan, 20% remains far too low a number.

So why is it important to support female directors in film – Is this simply about delivering gender quotas?   According to Aoife O’Toole of the Dublin Feminist Film Festival, “A film’s narrative starts with a script, a producers vision to create and tell a story, which the director then delivers on.  Historically there has been an unconscious bias towards male directors in the film business. Female directors and also producers can contribute massively by using film as a means of sharing their stories.  It’s about creating a culture where a female vision and talent can impact artistically to produce meaningful, engaging and diverse movies.”  

LA based Irish Director Kirsten Sheridan whose debut Disco Pigs features in the festival comments, “I think these days female directors tend to get more opportunity on the TV side of things rather than film. In terms of film, there needs to be a conscious effort to evolve the male bias.  Women as directors tend to be very collaborative, open to ideas and oddly that can be seen as a weakness, while male directors are sometimes seen as more tunnel-visioned.”   
Kirsten finishes by saying, “Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag is a prime example of amazing writing which depicts raw vulnerability in a woman’s life that could only have been written by a woman. It’s a complete evolution or move away from the typical prescriptive genres of past years, allowing us into a complex emotive world of the human brain’s thought process.  Along with Sharon Horgan’s Catastrophe, this type of genre is so current and extremely popular.”

This year the festival highlights the incredible work across different genres and filmmaking formats. 

The programme includes:


Thursday 22nd August
6pm        Eamon Director Margaret Corkery, 2009 (1h26m)
Written and directed by Cork native Margaret Corkery, her creative approach to the absurdity of family dynamics won international acclaim for the film upon its release. revisit Eamon on the 10th anniversary of its initial release.

7.45pm        Shorts Programme and Award Ceremony

9.15pm        Disco Pigs Director Kirsten Sheridan, 2001 (1hr34m)
Kirsten Sheridan’s debut feature, Disco Pigs was described by Screen Daily as marking “the emergence of a real film-maker of both passion and skill.” Pig (Cillian Murphy) and Runt (Elaine Cassidy) want to live in an insular world where they make their own rules and have their own language.
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Still from Kirsten Sheridan's "Disco Pigs", starring Cillian Murphy (left) and Elaine Cassidy (image courtesy of DFFF).

Friday 23rd August 
6pm        Dance Double Bill followed by Filmmakers Panel Discussion: 
                 Five Letters To The Stranger Who Will Dissect My Brain
                 Writer and Director Oonagh Kearney, 2018 (25m)
                 We Are Moving: Memories of Miss Moriarty Director Claire Dix, 2016 (65m)
Memories of Miss Moriarty is an intimate portrait of Joan Denise Moriarty. From the 1940s until her death in 1992, Moriarty fought to bring ballet to all corners of Ireland and initiated generations of Irish women and men into the world of ballet. 
Followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers Oonagh Kearney, Claire Dix, Cara Holmes and Roisín Geraghty, chaired by Vanessa Gildea (Women in Film and Television Ireland).

10.45pm    Kissing Candice  Director Aoife McArdle, 2017 (1hr48m)
Blending surreal ambiguity with biting social realism, Kissing Candice follows its titular protagonist, an epileptic teen who struggles with feelings of loneliness and isolation. When a handsome stranger aids her during one of her seizures, Candice’s world becomes an intriguing but sometimes unsettling blend of fantasy and escapism - often in ways that challenge viewers.
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Still from Aoife McArdle's "Kissing Candice", starring Ann Skelly (image courtesy of DFFF).
Saturday 24th August
2pm        Animation Shorts Programme
The Bird and the Whale (dir. Carol Freeman, 2018), An Cailleach Bhéara (dir. Naomi Wilson, 2007), From Darkness (dir. Nora Twomey, 2002), Departure (dir. Aoífe Doyle, 2018), and Late Afternoon (dir. Louise Bagnall, 2017). 
Followed by a panel discussion with the directors, chaired by Dr. Ciara Barrett.  

4pm    Revolutions Director Laura McGann, 2017 (87m)
Energising, unflinching and poignant, Revolutions is Laura McGann’s trenchant portrait of Ireland’s efforts to enter the first ever Roller Derby World Cup and the ensuing personal fallout. 


Many thanks to Aoife O'Toole for sending us the information and images!

www.dublinfeministfilmfestival.com / [email protected]
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Berlin Feminist Film Week 2019

3/4/2019

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Mark your calendars for the 6th edition of the Berlin Feminist Film Week 2019!

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The Berlin Feminist Film Week is one of the main staples of the city’s feminism-focused events  - and it’s kicking off for its sixth edition this coming Thursday, March 7, 2019 (running through March, 13 2019)! Film Screenings, discussions, panels and workshops make for a comprehensive program that is diverse and inspiring for (female) filmmakers and cinema aficionados.   

The festival’s organizers want to explore “feminist topics through cinema, challenging patriarchal storytelling and putting forward characters that stand out from the hegemony of white cis-men.” Hence, they see their festival as a “platform for these characters, femtastic film-makers and the many cinema-goers who do not feel represented in mainstream cinema’s images.”

The festival will open with the screening of the short film RIOT NOT DIET (2018, Julia Fuhrmann) and coming-of-age feature The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018,  Desiree Akhavan). The winner of this year’s audience award as well as the recipient of the Berlin Activist + Feminist Film Fund will be announced on the last day of the BFFW, accompanied by the screening of the Chinese neo-noir thriller Angels Wear White.

All short and feature films are outstanding and worth a visit (full program here). However, I would like to point out four feature films, fiction and documentaries, that I am looking forward to watching.

The Artist and the Pervert (Beatrice Behn and René Gebhardt): This documentary about an unusual couple is hard to digest. He is a rich, white man, she is a respectable woman of Afro-Caribbean descent who willingly lives as his 24/7 slave. We recommend you read our interview with the filmmakers here and watch the film yourself!

In search… (Beryl Magoko & Jule Katinka Cramer): Female circumcision, or FGM/C for short, is still practiced in African (but also in Middle Eastern and Asian) societies today. As a young girl growing up in rural Kenya, Beryl was subjected to FGM/C. Years later she considers undergoing vaingal reconstructive surgery to give back what was taken from her. However, she is not sure if it’s the right decision. Click here to read more about FGM/C (from the World Health Organization).

Waru (Briar Grace-Smith, Casey Kaa, Ainsley Gardiner, Katie Wolfe, Renae Maihi, Chelsea Cohen, Paula Jones, Awanui Simich-Pene, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu): The film was shot by eight female Māori directors that have each contributed a ten minute episode and plays in the Māori community. Since I am completely unfamiliar with this culture in general and its films in particular, I think Waru is a great opportunity to get a glimpse into their communities.

A Better Man (Attiya Khan & Lawrence Jackman): Director Attiya Khan confronts her former boyfriend who used to stalk her - capturing it all on camera. The documentary is a personal account on the issue of (domestic) violence against women and posing difficult questions that everyone has to ask themselves.  

Besides the many screenings, the BFFW program includes workshops like “How to shoot a Video Tutorial?” or a “Female Meme School,” as well as panels (including screenings) about feminist perspectives on (m)otherhood, climate and social justice and violence against women in media. If you are interested in attending any of those events (or if you want to buy tickets!) go directly to the BFFW’s website to sign up.

We will cover some of the screenings and panels, so stay tuned for new posts and information on our website and on Instagram!

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A TimeOut Full of Action

2/17/2019

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by Marina Brafa
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The Berlinale TimeOut organizers, comprised of the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin crew and their London-based partner Shorts on Tap, had a difficult time before the actual event took place last Tuesday, February 12, because they were (fortunately) inundated with submissions. In the end, they decided on eight short films which they screened in a speakeasy-style movie theater in the very center of Berlin, the Z-Bar.

An international crowd of filmmakers escaping the Berlinale craze and interested visitors who were just dropping by gathered in the cozy backroom for two hours of short films. The selection proved that the oft-neglected genre deserves more attention. One might think that 20, or even 2 minutes is not enough time to “show” something. You can probably already guess my reply to this assumption: No, it’s not. The time limit is a challenge that can spark truly innovative and inspiring films: You want to get your - often complex - points across while delivering a compelling plot and original cinematography. You work with allusions, metaphors, symbols, ellipses and meaningfully composed images to do so. 

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The films screened at Berlinale TimeOut were a representative selection that showcased the relevance, diversity and potential of short films. For example, New Feelings by Russian filmmaker Anastasia Nechaeva is a sci-fi dystopian film located in her native country. In her future, humans can have their hearts cut out and still live on but with altered feelings. Do we want such a society? Eaglehawk by Shannon Murphy equally plays with our imagination. The plot of this Australian film is based on a Aboriginal legend of a monster living in the forests. Is it real or “just” an old story?
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Two films stood out because of their alluring pictures: Swiss film Seelenwelten by Flurina Marugg and Stigma by Helen Warner from Ireland. In these two short films, the landscapes, mise-en-scène, lighting and colors play a significant part in the story. Seelenwelten explores the soul - inner landscape - of an adolescent woman. Viewers enter her subconscious which is very colorful and populated by pink things in the shape of drops that hang from the ceiling (if there actually is a ceiling). It is often not clear what the different “things”  mean but it becomes obvious that the film is drawing on Freudian ideas of the id, ego and super-ego. In Stigma too, the landscape plays an important role - in this case the external one surrounding the characters. The film’s plot evolves into a grey, Catholic village on the harsh Irish coast. The waves break strongly and unforgivingly on the reef and the strong current drags a dress onto the beach. It belongs to a disappeared woman no one speaks of - until they are forced to do so. In contrast to Seelenwelten, this film is dark and leaves the viewer with an uncomfortable feeling in their stomach. Interestingly, in both films the actors speak their regional dialects which contributes to the realistic style.

It was hard to compare the Berlinale TimeOut films and to choose a favorite. However, the evening was set up as a competition, with the winning film opening the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin in June. So the stakes were high! The audience chose Girl Fact (Mael G. Lagadec, 2018). This 17-minute short film is a mix of documentary and staged scenes with a difficult yet highly relevant topic: it’s a “teenage guide to sex slavery” (own title) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The female narrator shares her “rules” on how to survive as a sex slave. In doing so, she shares her personal story that is the same for so many females in African countries: Girls are kidnapped by paramilitary groups and have to “serve” as wives. They are raped daily, often several times. They get pregnant and give birth to a child that they love and reject at the same time. They are stigmatized and traumatized for the rest of their lives. The offenders usually never face a charge.
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Natalie MacMahon reveals the winning film, Girl Fact.
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Girl Fact shows neither brutal reenactment scenes nor the rapist’s perspective, but rather provides a space for female voices. The women are strong in spite of their suffering. Women of different ages comment and add to the main narrator’s story. Sure, in 17 minutes the film cannot portray the complex political and historical situation in which these crimes take place, but it can provide viewers with the women’s point of view and raise awareness for such crimes still going on in 2019. This film leaves you affected and full of amazement and respect for these women. Opening the festival with Girl Fact, the Female Filmmakers Festival lives up to its claim of supporting female perspectives in film and filmmaking.  

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Take a TimeOut and meet fellow filmmakers!

2/11/2019

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by Marina Brafa
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Berlinale TimeOut is both a one-evening short film festival and a networking meet-up that brings together (female) filmmakers from all professions in (but not necessarily from) Berlin. The event on  February 12, 2019, starting 8 pm at Z-Bar Berlin, will feature a total of eight selected short films created by female filmmakers from all over the world. After the screenings the audience will vote for its favorite short film - this one will open the upcoming Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin in June 2019.
For the Berlinale TimeOut, the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin women teamed up with Shorts on Tap, a platform dedicated to independent short films and their creators. The London-based team organizes short film screenings, meetings and a screenwriting competition, and is active in Berlin and Tokyo.
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If you are interested in knowing more about the who and how behind the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin and Shorts on Tap we have two recommendations: First, you can read our interview with FFFB co-founder Natalie MacMahon. Second, during Berlinale TimeOut you will have the chance to talk to Natalie and the other founders of the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin as well as the heads of the Shorts on Tap community!

Berlinale TimeOut Essentials

Where: Z-Bar, Bergstraße 2, 10115 Berlin
Day: February 12, 2019
Time: 8pm
Fees: none but seats are limited! Registration.

Program

1st Slot
1. SEELENWELTEN 9 MIN- Director: Flurina Marugg
2. STIGMA 10 MIN- Director: Helen Warner
3. THE LIFE INSIDE ME 19 MIN- Director: Konstantin Egerndorfer
4. NEW FEELINGS 19 MIN- Director: Anastasia Nechaeva
//Break//
2nd Slot
1. LOVE 2 MIN- Director: Neda Shadanlou
2. GIRL FACT 17 MIN- Director: Maël G. Lagadec
3. EAGLEHAWK 21 MIN- Director: Shannon Murphy
4. EDGE OF ALCHEMY 17 MIN- Director: Stacey Steers

Voting for your favorite short film & networking time!
All images courtesy of Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin

Check out the scheduled short films:

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Are you looking for alternatives to the Berlinale?

2/5/2019

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by Marina Brafa
The Berlinale Film Festival kicks off on Thursday (Feb. 7th through 17th, 2019). It is Germany’s most prestigious and glamorous film festival and mentioned in the same breath as other renowned European film festivals like the ones in Cannes and Venice. As is the case with most of those festivals, its film(makers) selection (and whole set-up, for that matter) has been criticized for not including enough female, LGBTQ and minority filmmakers.

Although the festival organizers are trying to change this  -
one sign being the festival director Dieter Kosslick leaving after 18 years as head of the Berlinale - the festival is not representing the film industry’s diversity yet (which, admittedly, is no easy task). Especially in an open-minded city like Berlin that embraces and prides itself on accepting all kinds of lifestyles, there are many people who despise the Berlinale for being too much a part of the glittery glamour circus that is the film establishment and who are looking for alternative film festivals. 

Take these five as a start!

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Boddinale
The 7th edition will take place from February 7th to 17th, 2019 at Flutgraben. Movies will be selected in five categories: Feature, Short, Documentary, Animation, Music Video. As the festival makers state, there is “no limit in production year, no limit on styles, genres, topic, technique. As you know we dare to go at the edge of aesthetics and storytelling, as long as we get to watch it all together.” So if you are into discovering films and seeing film as a means of bringing people together you should come by.
Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin: Berlinale Timeout (pre-event)
Mark your calendars for the Berlinale Timeout on February 12th, 2019 starting at 8pm at Z-Bar Berlin, organized by the FFFB crew and London-based “Shorts on Tap”. This one-day-screening of short films gives you the chance to escape the Berlinale craze and get in touch with fellow (female) filmmakers. And that’s just the beginning. The actual festival will happen from June 13-17, 2019 in Berlin’s oldest cinema, the Moviemento. Berlin-based filmmaker Natalie MacMahon and her friends and colleagues set up this women-focused festival together (read our interview with her here). Their aim is “to support up and coming female talents from different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities, who have a unique story to tell.” So go for it!

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Berlin Independent Film Festival
Kicking off on Feb. 7th at the
Babylon Cinema (Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30), the festival exclusively screens low-budget European films  (runs until Feb 11th, 2019)..

Genrenale
The festival founders believe that German genre films are underrepresented in German TV and cinema. Therefore, they set up a festival taking place from May 2 to 5, 2019 to offer a platform for genre film screenings, debates about the films and networking event.

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Prenzlauer Berginale
The name of this festival references the Berlinale whose programme stretches over two weeks in February. The Berginale however, screens only one film on every Tuesday in March 2019. The program includes only films that feature or were shot in or are related to the eastern district of Berlin called “Prenzlauer Berg”. It used to be a working-class district and underwent a massive gentrification process after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The tiny festival will show pre- and post-reunification films.


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Remake On Location

11/17/2018

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Literary Salon with Maren Kroymann: Erobert das Stimmrecht, meine Schwestern - Hedwig Dohm

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Hedwig Dohm, 1898 (photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Femfilmfans! Are you ready to join your sisters for Remake On Location?

Tomorrow, Sunday, November 18 at 12:00pm at the Evangelische Akademie Frankfurt (Römerberg 9, Frankfurt)​, the Kinothek Asta Nielsen presents a (very) short film program and a reading of German feminist and women's right activist Hedwig Dohm's "Erobert das Stimmrecht, meine Schwestern" ("Seize the right to vote, my sisters") read by Maren Kroymann. Kroymann, together with Berlin author Sibylle Nägele (who will moderate the event), created a text collage on the fight for the women's right to vote. Hedwig Dohm's texts are the focal point of the collage. 
Hedwig Dohm (1831-1919) wrote in 1873: "For me, the beginning of all true progress with regards to the question of women's rights lies in the women's right to vote. Women are most interested in the laws that are against them, precisely because they are excluded from them" (translation by Christina Schultz).

Maren Kroymann is a German actress, cabaret artist and singer. Her expressive voice will bring Hedwig Dohm's essay to life.  

The event will be in German and entrance is free!
Here is the original German text from the Remake Festival website:
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Literatursalon mit Maren Kroymann
„Erobert das Stimmrecht, meine Schwestern“ – Hedwig Dohm
Eine Textcollage zum Kampf ums Frauenwahlrecht
Mit Filmprogramm

"Für mich liegt der Anfang allen wahrhaften Fortschritts auf dem Gebiet der Frauenfrage im Stimmrecht der Frauen. Die Gesetze, bei denen sie am meisten interessiert sind, sind gegen sie, weil ohne sie." (Hedwig Dohm, 1873)

Der radikalen Vordenkerin Hedwig Dohm folgten immer mehr Frauen, die den Kampf um das aktive und passive Frauenwahlrecht als Teil der politischen Rechte der Frauen führten. Anita Augspurg gründete 1902 in Hamburg mit Lida Gustava Heymann und Minna Cauer den ersten Deutschen Verein für Frauenstimmrecht.

Gelesen von Maren Kroymann, moderiert von Sibylle Nägele
Eintritt frei

SO 18.11.18
12.00
Evangelische Akademie Frankfurt
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That's a Wrap!

11/11/2018

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Remake. Frankfurter Frauen Film Tage: A Rousing Success

 By Christina Schultz

The first edition of Remake. Frankfurter Frauen Film Tage organized by the Kinothek Asta Nielsen was a perfect example of Frauenpower (girl power) at its finest. The curators, Gaby Babic, Karola Gramann and Heide Schlüpmann, and the fabulous team members I was able to meet over the past 10 days (like the fabulous ladies Tina and Romina), worked tirelessly to make the festival a success, and a rousing one at that.
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Gaby Babic (photo: Bozica Babic)
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Heide Schlüpmann and Karola Gramann (photo: Gunter Deller)
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Some of the festival team (photo: Femfilmfans)
The program was so rich, spanning the entire history of women’s cinema (from Germaine Dulac to Amandine Gay) and intersecting with several movements within the women’s movement (women’s suffrage, women’s right to abortion, the students’ and workers’ movements, the struggle of women of color, etc.). The films screened were also of various lengths, genres and countries. And among the rather thick program (an impressive 53 pages), there were so many hidden gems to be discovered. And discover them I did.

That was one of the most impressive parts of the festival: the fact that so many movies were shown that had been forgotten (until now). The quality of the films might not have been the greatest - but the curators always explained, almost apologetically, the reason behind the lack of quality, and the audiences naturally didn’t mind because the content and the images made up for the old, grainy, discolored filmstock. The films in the Recha Jungmann retrospective are being restored, remastered and digitized (one of the many great things the Kinothek Asta Nielsen does), but even in “lesser” quality, the images were still so powerful. Another example was the film Für Frauen, 1. Kapitel. Ein Film für Frauen, von Frauen gemacht (For Women, Chapter 1. A Movie for Women, Made by Women; Cristina Perincioli, 1971). The 28-minute “docu-fiction” was bathed in a reddish tone, but it charmed and tickled the audience with its lay actors (all except for one trained actress), realistic working class premise and satisfying conclusion when the four main female characters go on strike, which almost turns the film into a 70s music video.
The guests who introduced the films were of local and international renown and everything in between. This is no easy task, but I think the right balance was struck. To name drop a bit, the speakers included British feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey of the “male gaze” fame, German filmmaker and professor Jutta Brückner, feminist activist Tatjana Turanskyj and co-founder of Pro Quote film (Germany’s version of Time’s Up), women’s rights activist Helen Pankhurst (yes, that Pankhurst family, as in Emmeline and Sylvia, the OGs of women’s suffrage), firey speaker and feminist politician Rosemarie Heilig (Green Party, Head of the Department for Environment and Women’s Affair in Frankfurt), the Filmlöwin feminist film critic Sophie Rieger and so many others.
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Laura Mulvey (photo: Femfilmfans)
Femfilmfans Filmlöwin
Die Filmlöwin (photo: Femfilmfans)
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Jutta Brückner (photo: Femfilmfans)
The main festival locations - the Deutsches Filmmuseum and the Pupille - Kino in der Uni - were well decorated, inviting and spacious enough to hold post-screening receptions that offered ample opportunities to discuss and network. And I can personally say that the events I attended were thought-provoking and inspiring, empowering and uplifting, and perhaps more importantly, made me feel like I am part of something greater. 

One of the post-film discussions (following the double-bill with the Perincioli film I described above) gave audience members the chance to compare the women’s movement of the late 1960s-early 1970s with the Time’s Up/MeToo movements of the 2010s. We are essentially fighting for the same issues (sadly) but in different ways. We, the younger generation, generally do not take to the streets and demonstrate - we take out our frustration on the Internet. This might lead us to feel more isolated, despite the ease of connectivity. In the 1970s, the Frankfurt Women’s Center, for example, organized bus trips to Holland for women who wanted an abortion, took part in demonstrations on the street and dedicated so much time to discussing women’s issues together as a community. 

And that is, among all the other things I mention above, what the Remake. Frankfurter Frauen Film Tage provided: a chance for so many people (because, it should be noted that there were men among the festival attendees) to come together to discuss women’s issues, and of course feminist film. 

I can already say I’m looking forward to next year’s festival!
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Post-Festival Is Pre-Festival Season!

10/28/2018

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The Los Angeles-based Female Filmmakers Festival just finished and the next film festival supporting women in film is just around the corner: The 2nd Annual Female Filmmakers Fuse Film Festival takes place on November 1 to 2, 2018 in Pasadena, CA (at 180 North Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91103 for those who want to know exactly).

On each festival day, four film screening sessions will showcase the selected works of female filmmakers and on Friday night you might want to put on your fine clothes for the red carpet Closing Award Ceremony Event which will round up your festival experience! Prizes will be awarded in at least 12 categories, among those the award for Best Feature, Best Director, Best Writer and the Audience Award.

Besides all celebration, the festival is a wonderful opportunity for meeting fellow females in film business, pitching ideas, finding support and getting inspired. Especially the “Celebrating Women Panel/Networking Event” is targeted at those of you who want to freely discuss how the glass ceiling in cinema industry can be broken and how women can empower each other and themselves within this male-dominated business.

Tickets for the festival’s events start at 5 Dollars (film screening) and go up to 10 Dollars (Closing Award Ceremony and Celebrating Women Panel) - or you get all of it for just 25 Dollars.

Find more information (or purchase tickets directly ;)) on the festival’s website!

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