Berlin Feminist Film Week
Celebrating Women in the Film Industry, a Tribute to Talented Women
March 09th, 2016
During the week from March 8th to March 14th, starting on International Women’s Day, the third Berlin Feminist Film Week is taking place. The main goal of this event is to pay tribute to all the talented women in general, who have fought for their rights before us and during the feminist movement in the 60s and 70s from whom we still have something to learn.
Moreover, women are still a minority in the film industry; even more so in specific genres such as sci-fi, hence the films during this festival aim to add a new perspective to see women as they are in their real life in different parts of the world, involved in more active and leading roles instead of passive and supporting ones as is usually the case.
The Berlin Feminist Film Week presents a week of films made by women, about women, all screened in English or with English subtitles. Furthermore, since feminism can be seen in different ways, during the event, discussions and feedback about the films from the audience will be incorporated after the screenings.
According to the program, the first night will take place at the Babylon cinema in Mitte, Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 30, with a double film screening with discussions, followed by a live music set from DUBAIS and an art video installation. The event is starting at 19:00, when the international women’s tribute is screened. It consists of an interesting documentary called “Reflections Unheard: Black Women in Civil Rights” made by Nevline Nnaji. It focuses exclusively on black women’s contributions and experiences during the Civil Rights era, revealing the way in which black women mobilized, fought for recognition, and raised awareness of how sexism and class issues affected women of color.
After the documentary, the main film of the evening is Jennifer Phang’s feminist sci-fi dystopia “Advantageous”. Phang did a good job imagining what issues women might face in the year 2041, using high intellectual qualities, an excellent cast, and creating a slight critique of our society. The main goal of the film is to highlight the problems that the population, and women in particular, may have in the future and demonstrate that these issues are not too far from today. As a matter of fact they include economic crisis, elites ruling society and fertility matters, which in some way, shape or form are all issues faced today.
After the film screening, the festival is continuing with live music by DUBAIS, who will start at 21:00 with music performance and projections by the Arabfuturist multimedia music project of visual artist, cultural activist, and musician Nadia Buyse.
The Swedish Embassy is a partner of the event and throughout the night, next to the screenings, an art exhibition with video projections and experimental short films will be open to everyone in attendance.
- Reference: http://berlinfeministfilmweek.com/
- Reference: https://www.facebook.com/events/1691933317740049/
Gloria Dalla Vecchia, Berlin Global
