Vanilla Lament Expérimental. États-Unis. 1997. Couleur. 6'. VO/ST. Distr. : Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC) Vanilla Lament évoque avec beaucoup d'humour et d'originalité technique le dur moment de la séparation. Utilizing a mix of live action, scratch and stop motion animation techniques, "Vanilla Lament," is a humorous fantasy rendering of a sudden romantic breakup and the aftermath. The hand-made film was inspired by experimental women film-makers from the 1960s.    Catherine Crouch catherinecrouch.com Depuis 1990, Catherine Crouch écrit et réalise des films perspicaces et souvent controversés sur les femmes, les filles et les lesbiennes. Son travail explore les questions de genre dans une perspective féministe avec humour et sensibilité. Catherine Crouch is an award-winning filmmaker based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Writing and directing beautiful, insightful and often controversial films about women, girls and lesbians since 1990, her work explores gender issues from a feminist perspective with humor and sensitivity.

Väninnor - berättelser från garderoben / Companions – Tales from the Closet Documentaire. Suède. 1996. Couleur. 53'. VO/ST. Distr. : Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) « On ne disait pas homosexuels à cette époque, on disait pervers ». Premier film suédois sur l'amour lesbien. Cinq femmes, âgées de soixante-dix ans, racontent avec humour et émotion leur histoire; depuis la culpabilité de l'amour défendu jusqu'à l'épanouissement de l'amour vécu, voire du mariage. A travers des images d'archives et des interviews, le film retrace l'évolution de la société scandinave vis-à-vis des lesbiennes. "They didn't say homosexual in those days; they said pervert." In this first swedish film about lesbian love, five women 70-year old women tell their life long way from self loathing and forbidden love, to liberation and openess. In humurous and sensitive way, they talk about budding loveand meetings with women, but also about secrecy and loneliness, living with their "companion" in the closet, or as "old maids." They all have had to question their own fear of being different, risking losing friends, relatives and colleagues for something that is important and beautiful for them, but sometimes ugly and strange for others. Many things have happened since. In 1995, two women portrayed in the film were the first female couple to register partnership in Sweden... Portrayed in the film as also Kerstin, a minister in the Swedish Church. "Companions – Tales from the closet" is a beautiful, humourous and moving documentary about liberation and daring choosing a life of one's own. The film is also a piece of contemporary scandinavian history, a portrayal of a country in change.       Cecilia Neant-Falk Cecilia Neant-Falk est réalisatrice et productrice de films documentaires. En tant qu'artiste elle travaille aussi avec la vidéo et la photographie numérique, et enseigne occasionnellement le cinéma et la vidéo. 'Riot Reel AB' est sa société de production. Cecilia Neant-Falk is a director and producer of documentary films. She is also a visual artist working with video and digital photography and work occasionally as a teacher in film and video. 'Riot Reel AB' is her production company.    Nina Bergström  FB Nina Bergström Née en Suède en 1962, Nina Bergström est metteure en scène et comédienne de théâtre et de cinéma. Elle est également compositrice et conceptrice de storyboards. Nina Bergström was born in 1962 in Sweden. She is a director and actress in theatre and film. She studied acting at the Commedia school Teater – verkstedet in Oslo, Norway. She also composes music and draws storyboards.

Viol : un crime de guerre Documentaire. Canada. 1997. Couleur. 49'. VF. Distr. : Office National du Film du Canada (ONF)    Histoire de femmes extraordinaires qui se sont battues pour mettre le viol à l'ordre du jour du Tribunal pénal international pour l'ex-Yougoslavie de la Haye, et apporter ainsi une dimension nouvelle à la notion de 'droits humains'. Quatre femmes : une doctoresse, une juge, une avocate et une jeune réfugiée parlent d'isolement forcé, de viol et d'humiliation en Bosnie. La version française est une adaptation de la version abrégée anglaise pour la télévision. La version originale, intitulée Rape: a Crime of War, date de 1996 et dure 59 minutes. It has been estimated that between 20,000 and 50,000 rapes were committed during fighting in the former Yugoslavia. From the perspective of victims, prosecutors and perpetrators, we are drawn into the horrors of rape as a weapon of war. Four women tell their story of forced confinement, rape and degradation in Bosnia and share how their experiences have influenced their perceptions of their partners, their children, society as a whole, and themselves. The rapists claim that they were acting upon a higher authority. Legal consultants at The Hague where the International Tribunal is investigating war crimes, discuss the implications of the trial of a former camp boss, the first person to be indicted for rape as a war crime. Interviews and archival footage of war crimes hearings in Nuremberg, Nanking, Bosnia and Rwanda are interspersed with images of Western art and culture which have romanticized, eroticized and legitimized rape.       Shelley Saywell www.bisharifilms.com Shelley Saywell est productrice, réalisatrice et scénariste de films documentaires qui ont remporté de nombreux prix internationaux. Elle a également écrit un livre sur les femmes dans la guerre : Women in War: First Hand Accounts from World War II to El Salvador. Lors des prises de vue d'un documentaire sur la Bosnie qu'elle a réalisé en 1993, elle a commencé à recueillir des témoignages de femmes. Shelley Saywell is a producer, director and writer of documentary films. Her films have won numerous international awards. Saywell began her career working as a researcher on "The Ten Thousand Day War" chronicling thirty years of war in Vietnam. Her first directing job was a two part special called "The Greenpeace Years" co-produced with the National Film Board of Canada. Since 1992 she has produced and directed her own films through her company Bishari, with the exception of "Rape a Crime of War" which she directed for the National Film Board of Canada. Shelley Saywell is also author of "Women in War" (Penguin Books, 1986).

Voicing the Legacy Documentaire. États-Unis. 1996. Couleur. 35'. VO/ST. Distr. : Eleanor Savage Ce magnifique documentaire présente les témoignages de onze lesbiennes américaines âgées de plus de cinquante ans, abordant entre autres les questions de visibilité dans la communauté, de santé, de relations, d'échanges entre générations, de la force acquise avec l'âge. Ce film nous permet enfin d'entendre ces lesbiennes qui devraient prendre de plus en plus de place dans nos vies.       Coming out, invisibility within the lesbian community, concerns about health and finances, the need to establish support systems, relationships, the benefits of intergenerational connections, and the power of ageing are a sampling of the ideas explored in this collection of testimonials and stories by eleven lesbians aged 50 years and up from Minnesota.    Eleanor Savage Artiste multimédia, militante, productrice et pionnière du Vulva Riot Cabaret, Eleanor Savage est arrivée au Minnesota en 1990 où elle est devenue une porte-parole de la communauté LGBT de Minneapolis. Voicing the Legacy a déjà été présenté dans plusieurs festivals aux Etats-Unis. Multimedia Artist, Activist, Community Organizer Producer and pioneer of the Vulva Riot Cabaret, Eleanor Savage came to Minnesota in 1990 and has been a strong voice in the Minneapolis GLBT community since. She has directed, shot and edited experimental videos for use in live performance for choreographers and directors. Savage considers public performance and discussion forums as a means of creating visibility and space for marginalized cultural experience.

Wavelengths Fiction. Royaume-Uni. 1997. Couleur. 15'. VO/ST. Distr. : Pratibha Parmar (Kali Films) Son amour envolé et son aquarium déserté, Mona s'englue dans la dépression. Jusqu'au jour où sa meilleure amie lui suggère un remède miracle : le cybersex...     Mona's girlfriend has left Mona with a broken heart, an empty goldfish tank, and–in her altered state–the ability to pick up other people's conversations. Stuck in the post relationship blues, Mona just can't seem to move on... that is until she discovers "cybersex."      Pratibha Parmar www.kalifilms.com Réalisatrice britannique d'origine indienne, Pratibha Parmar est née à Nairobi (Kenya). Dès l'adolescence, elle s'engage dans des associations d'aides aux femmes originaires de l'Asie. Pratibha Parmar a réalisé et produit des clips musicaux, des fictions et de nombreux documentaires qui traitent des questions de race, de sexualité et d'orientation sexuelle. Pratibha Parmar was born in Nairobi, Kenya. She is an Indo-British director. Before she began to make films, she was a youth and community worker working in the Asian community with young women. Pratibha Parmar has directed and produced music videos, fiction films and a quite a number of documentaries concentrated on issues related to race, sexuality and gender.

Who's Counting?: Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Economics Documentaire. Canada. 1995. Couleur. 95'. VO/ST. Distr. : National Film Board of Canada (NFB)    Ce film nous présente Marilyn Waring, ancienne parlementaire néo-zélandaise, auteure de If Women Counted. Elle est une figure de la lutte pour que le travail des femmes ne soit plus exclu des études économiques. Divisé en 15 chapitres thématiques, Who's Counting? est un documentaire provocateur et pénétrant qui fourmille d'idées novatrices : avec ironie et intelligence, à l'aide d'exemples très concrets, Marilyn Waring y démystifie le langage économique pour faire émerger une autre vision de l'économie pouvant changer notre façon de vivre sur cette planète. In this feature-length documentary, Marilyn Waring demystifies the language of economics by defining it as a value system in which all goods and activities are related only to their monetary value. As a result, unpaid work (usually performed by women) is unrecognized while activities that may be environmentally and socially detrimental are deemed productive. Waring maps out an alternative vision based on the idea of time as the new currency.  Site web de Marilyn Waring / Marilyn Waring's website  -   Voir le film / Watch the Movie       Terre Nash Après de brillantes études de littérature et de sociologie, Terre Nash devient la première détentrice d'une maîtrise en communications de l'Université Simon Fraser de Vancouver. Pendant ses études, elle commence à participer à des ateliers de cinéma et de vidéo. Après une thèse sur 'L'image des femmes dans les films de l'Office National du Film du Canada (ONF) durant la 2nde guerre mondiale et les années d'après-guerre : 1939-1949', elle travaille quelques années pour la section femmes de l'ONF. Elle a déjà réalisé plusieurs courts métrages documentaires. Terre Nash (née Teresa Nash) (born 1949 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian editor and Oscar-winning film director. After a thesis entitled "Images of Women in NFB Films During World War II and the Postwar Years: 1939-1949" she worked for few years at NFB and began making documentaries. Her 1982 short documentary "If You Love This Planet" won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).

Your Mother Wears Combat Boots: Dyke Mother's Rant Documentaire. Canada. 1996. Couleur. 15'. VO/ST. Distr. : VTape Ce film propose différents témoignages de mères lesbiennes radicales célibataires qui refusent catégoriquement de s'identifier aux modèles 'classiques' des couples de mères lesbiennes de la classe moyenne, qui n'aspirent qu'à imiter les modèles hétéros. This is a documentary about four very -out single dyke mothers from the Vancouver dyke-mom scene (yes, there really is one). They candidly discuss their experiences of being young mothers in the queer community. This is a video about anger, parenting and our communitites' responsibilities for children.    Laurel Swenson www.laurelswenson.com Réalisatrice, Laurel Swenson s'est fait connaître avec ses documentaires sur les mères lesbiennes, Motherfuckers (1995) et celui-ci, et a réalisé un court fiction Fistfull, également programmé cette année. Laurel Swenson is an independent video-maker, an illustrator, a graphic designer and aspiring painter. She has produced, written and directed several videos which have shown in festivals internationally. She lives in Vancouver and is trying really hard to get enough light, to stick to her far fetched dreams and to raise a daughter who will do so too.