PARIS INTERNATIONAL
LESBIAN & FEMINIST FILM FESTIVAL
Quand les lesbiennes se font du cinéma
Where can you meet, all in the same weekend, 1500 Parisian women, others from Israel, Hungary, India, or Norway, Palestinian freedom fighters, poetry professors, stunt women, illegal immigrants, involved and committed militant women, or simply women in love? At Cineffable, of course!
This year, there's a romantic breeze blowing on the 18th edition of the festival with 4 feature films that will melt your heart (Loving Annabelle, The Journey, Unveiled, Sévigné) and 2 full sessions of sentimental short films.
You'll also discover audacity and boldness throught portraits of lesbian and/or feminist women who dared to go up against and overturn the taboos (Les scieurs, Krudas, Reflections, Censorious!, Pig Heart, Talking in Tongues, and other shorts by Tonje Gjevjon, a young and surprising Norwegian filmmaker, ...) or impose themselves where they were not expected (High Heels, Colpi di testa). You will also meet women who rebelled and won't leave you indifferent (Look Us in the Eye, Leila Khaled, The Angelmakers, Both, ...).
A special tribute will be paid to Claude Cahun (Playing a Part), who was a photographer, author, surrealist artist and Resistance fighter.
Some other highlights include a session dedicated to trans-parenting, the themes of "Marriage", "Women Pioneers" and a close-up on South Africa, plagued by violence against women but also rich in a tremendous creative momentum.
And finally, a special session dedicated to slam, including a live performance of the collective Slam ô Féminin, as well as numerous debates (same-sex parenting, racism, female contemporary artists) and a slam writing workshop will complete this world tour in 24 frames per second!
Not to mention a dynamic French program, which hosts a wave of young film-makers this year with touching films (Odile, Le lit froissé, Amour cache-cache et chat perché), films ful of fantasy and fun (10 niveaux d'intensité), esthetic films (Geisha) and films with civic purpose (Classées XY).
You can be sure that when lesbians make movies, they really put on a show!
Cineffable is also an exhibit space for women artists.
This year, a new policy was instituted and put in the capable hands of 3 curators for 2 exhibits. The festival continues to promote visibility for women artists from different horizons.
Among these artists, painters, engravers, photographers, sculptors, poets and writers, 11 women will present their works upstairs at the Trianon. The winter garden will expose our guest of honour, the internationally renowned artist, Yéva, a sculptor who works with both bronze and clay and has had many shows and prizes in galleries and salons. The artistic work presented aims for universal values, but also, in certain instances, reflects feminist and/or lesbian women's issues. We are also pleased to be able to enchant both your eyes and your ears, as this year, for the first time ever, 3 of the artists will read excerpts from their texts, poetry and novels.
Also new this year: F_SPACE exhibit of site-specific works by international artists, conceived specifically for the Trianon and in the spirit of the festival. Video screenings, imposing installations and drawings will crop up all over the festival space thanks to 11 women artists from Lebanon, Austria, Spain, Russia and the United States. Their work will be incorporated into various aspects of the festival including queuing up, walking by, attending debates and even going to the loo! Take a peek at what Lebanese artist Sirine Fattouh has done to the loos, as well as Anna López Luna's monumental drawing "Family Tree" and Cendres Lavy's "Blanche neige" which all spell the end of genealogy and fetishising women. Enjoy the anti-glamour videos from front-row seats in the cafeteria… but watch out for those tables, which will have different surprises in store for you every day! All of these works should act as an echo chamber for dissident discourse about femininity, gender and filiation.
