ARGENTINA
"Women in Focus" at Film
Festival
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES IPS) - The First
International Women and Film Festival
for Gender Equity drew enthusiastic
audiences this month in the Argentine
capital, where movies from nearly 40
countries were screened.
In comments to IPS, the organisers said
they felt they had achieved their goals
of increasing the visibility of women's
problems, raising awareness among
viewers about the debate on the
inequality of the sexes, and promoting
inter-gender dialogue.
"The results were more than positive,"
said the artistic director of the
festival, Cynthia Judkowski. "We had a
great deal of active participation from
male and female members of the
audiences, at the screenings and at the
debates, which were so well-attended
that some people were unable to get in."
The festival, titled "Mujeres en foco"
(Women in Focus), was held May 5-10 at
six venues in Buenos Aires that served
as movie theatres or debating halls.
There was also a retrospective, and a
seminar on screenwriting, directing and
producing.
The idea was to call on filmmakers to
submit films that address women's issues
related to health, migration, cultural
practices, violence, inequality,
political participation, sexual
diversity and family life.
"Over 200 films were entered, and we
selected 68, five of which competed in
the feature-length category and six in
the short film category," Judkowski
said.
"Cholita libre", a documentary on
Bolivian immigrants by German filmmaker
Rike Holtz, won first prize for
feature-length film. The jury stressed
that the film not only focused on issues
of central interest to the festival, but
that it did so with perception, humour
and beauty.
Second prize went to Venezuelan director
Clarisa Duque's "Tambores de agua",
which portrays the lives of black women
from coastal communities in Venezuela.
Among the shorts, prizes were taken by
"Ana y Mateo", by Natural Arpajou from
Argentina, and "Il Corpo delle donne
(The Body of Women) by Italian
filmmakers Lorella Zanardo and Marco
Malfi.
The films selected came from Algeria,
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada,
Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador,
Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy,
Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua,
Peru, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, the
United States, Uruguay and Venezuela,
among other countries.
Films by women directors included "Claroscuro"
by Ana Faerrón of Costa Rica, about a
women's music group, "Fim do silêncio"
(The End of Silence) by Thereza
Jessouroun of Brazil, about unsafe
abortion, and "Mémoire à la dérive"
(Memory Adrift) by Pauline Voisard of
Canada.
Films by male directors who tackled
subjects from a gender perspective were
also screened, such as "Lilja 4-Ever" by
Lukas Moodysson of Sweden, and "Antiguos
sueños de mujeres kichwas" (Quechua
Women's Former Dreams) by Santiago
Carcelén Cornejo of Ecuador.
Entrance to the film shows was free, and
there were no charges for registering
films for the competition, each section
of which was judged by a panel
comprising two women and a man.
A retrospective of the work of Spanish
filmmaker Helena Taberna, the director
of "Yoyes" and "La buena nueva" (The
Good News), was also shown. Taberna
herself gave a seminar on screenwriting,
producing and directing.
Debates were held on subjects like the
place of women in the media, and "machista"
violence. A meeting was also held for
filmmakers wanting to explore how to
promote gender parity and human rights.
"The aim was to create an opportunity
for meeting, exchanging ideas and
promoting movies by men and women
directors that deal with gender issues
and human rights," Judkowski said.
In the medium term, the idea is to
stimulate the making of films embodying
commitment to a gender perspective and
human rights.
Usually, festivals stressing women's
point of view include a broad variety of
subjects, but show films made
exclusively by women directors.
The Buenos Aires festival was organised
on the reverse principle: the subjects
of the films were limited to key issues
about gender perspectives, while the sex
of the directors was immaterial.
The organisers, a group of independent
professional women filmmakers, were
supported by a number of local and
international institutions. They plan to
hold the festival on an annual basis in
Buenos Aires, as well as taking it
abroad.
"We are convinced that the practice of
art is transformational and
revolutionary insofar as it modifies
space and time, creating new situations…
that challenge social relations of
domination," the festival announcement
said. |
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