DOCUMENTARY FILM CYCLE
This film and video program on technologies of gender violence, security and social violence - with special reference to the theme of in/security in a global context - has been especially curated by Virginia Villaplana for CoW 2005. The work is based on a Spanish analytical project entitled Cultural Stories on Gender Violence which was developed by Villaplana over the past two years. It zooms in on and addresses multiple perspectives and attitudes towards social violence, from such aspects as gender, war and post-war, migration, domesticity, class, race - from the global to the local - flowing through various media.
Always Love Your Man (Ama l’Uomo Tuo, Cara DeVito, 1975) is a portrait of the director’s grandmother and a telling critique of a patriarchal society. Interviewed by DeVito in her Brooklyn home, she recounts the violence suffered at the hands of her abusive husband, emerging from her experience a scarred yet determined survivor. Ironically, the grandmother concludes by saying “Ama l’uomo tuo. Always love your man. No matter what,” revealing how deeply rooted is her adherence to the social code that almost destroyed her.
Gift of a Girl (Mayyasa Al-Malazi and Jo Smith, 1997) explains how thousands of baby girls are killed every year in India. This is in part due to the tradition of dowry payment, which makes a daughter a liability to a family. In a country where being a woman means living a life of hardship, the murder of female infants may be seen by some mothers as a humane solution. This powerful and moving film explores the complexity of female infanticide in southern India and shows the steps being taken to eradicate the practice.
Calling the Ghosts (Mandy Jacobson and Karmen Jelinčić, 1996) relates - in first person - the story of two women, Jadranka Cigelj and Nusreta Sivac, who lived in Bosnia-Herzegovina before being captured and deported to the Serb concentration camp at Omarska, where, together with other Croat and Muslim women, they were systematically raped and humiliated by their Serb captors.
The Peacekeepers and the Women (Die Helfer und die Frauen, Karin Jurschick, 2003) explains in a post-war context how human trafficking - namely the trade in women and girls who are then forced in prostitution - has become a booming business in Kosovo and Bosnia- Herzegovina. The investigation carried out by this documentary reveals how the trafficking of women became an exercise in violence against the human rights of women. Testimonies from the peacekeeping forces and nightclub owners, as well as the individual stories of the women themselves clearly illustrate that the presence of international forces in Bosnia and Kosovo has been an important factor in the rise of prostitution.
Women Videoletters, a Second Text on War and Globalisation (a collective film, Videoletters Group Berlin, 2004) is a compilation of short videos - letters - sent by activists, filmmakers and artists from various countries. They are a reaction to the follow ups of September 11th: first of all, on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq but also on measures like - for example - the installation of the racist security laws in Germany and the US. Women Videoletters draws attention to the effects that war engenders on gender hierarchies and heterosexual norms, as well as how those same hierarchies and norms can become the basis of war itself. Virginia Villaplana
DOCUMENTARY FILM CYCLE
Curator: VIRGINIA VILLAPLANA (Spain)
PROGRAMME
Sunday 9th October, 10.10 pm
CARA DE VITO
AMA L’UOMO TUO / ALWAYS LOVE YOUR MAN
USA, 1975, 19’, bw, video
in English
Courtesy of Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York
http://www.vdb.org
MANDY JACOBSON & KARMEN JELINČIĆ
CALLING THE GHOSTS / PROZIVANJE DUHOVA
USA / Croatia, 1996, 16mm, 60’, colour, video
Bosnian with English subtitles
Release: Women Make Movies
http://www.wmm.com/catalog/pages/c171.htm
Monday 10th October, 6.10 pm
MAYYASA AL-MALAZI & JO SMITH
GIFT OF A GIRL
UK / India, 1997, Hi-8, 24’, colour, video
Tamil with English subtitles
http://www.filmakers.com/indivs/GiftGirl.htm
KARIN JURSCHICK
DIE HELFER UND DIE FRAUEN / THE PEACEKEEPERS AND THE WOMEN
Germany, 2003, Digi-Beta, 80’, colour, video
Different languages, English subtitles
Comissioned by: ZDF / 3sat
http://www.wmm.com/Catalog/pages/c651.htm
Tuesday 11th October, 8.10 pm
VIDEOLETTERS GROUP BERLIN
WOMEN VIDEOLETTERS, A SECOND TEXT ON WAR AND GLOBALIZATION
Germany, 2004, Beta SP, 90’, colour, compilation of short videos
Different languages, English subtitles
Distribution: karin.michalski@yahoo.de
http://www.umbruch-bildarchiv.de/video/women/videoletters.html
Organisation: City of Women
In collaboration with: Kinodvor
