CinéFemme - Annakarinaland

Excellent documentary by Tom Volf on Maria Callas, in her own words with rare footage of her operas and appearances throughout the world. How she felt about her life as a woman. Aptly named "Maria By Callas". Opening in US November 9. We see her surrounded through most of the film by men, fans, hounding journalists who don’t take no for an answer until she says firmly, no interviews, now stop it. But it is also evident how many women are standing in the background who are devoted fans. Always elegant with a speaking voice that is cultured , mid- atlantic- partly British partly American pronunciation. Throughout the film, Maria's thoughts about her career are candid but there is the other part where she is shown speaking under duress, under the lights of photographers standing over her, talking at her , questioning her. When she arrives at the Cannes film festival in 1960, she is a lone woman in a sea of men. This documentary does not go into the gossip about Ona...

Women should not be afraid of men like Weinstein. The stories that are about fear are changing into righteous rage. Women must stand up for themselves , stand united, and express 0 tolerance for this behavior. Men are actually afraid of women, which is what is really behind this kind of abuse. Men are afraid of women's intelligence, fortitude, strength, and beauty. Men have made women into monsters in mythology like Medusa with fangs and witches with long noses, and in cinema, Baby Jane, Carrie, Regan (Linda Blair), Ripley. Men in Hollywood abuse young children like Shirley Temple and countless young women as Weinstein has because they are afraid. Abuse is not about power, but fear. SundayReview   |   OP-ED COLUMNIST Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood’s Oldest Horror Story Maureen Dowd   OCT. 14, 2017 Continue reading the main story Share This Page Share Tweet Email More Save Photo Credit Melody Newcomb In her autobiography, “Child Star...

So many have been looking the other way for Roman Polanski (statutory rape) , Woody Allen (child molestation - his own) and Donald Trump (sexual harassment) - that it's about time that Harvey Weinstein is being nailed -- and so should the other above named predators. It's Allen's son that did the most scorching exposé of Weinstein's sex crimes. Trump doesn't deny it. Allen and Polanski hope it just goes away. "I have moved so far past it. I never think about it. I work. I said I was never going to comment on it again. I said everything I have to say about it.” Woody Allen "As far as what I did: It's over. I pleaded guilt. I went to jail. I came back to the United States to do it, people forget about that, or don't even know.” Polanski "I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything....

From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories   By Rowan Farrow.  New Yorker, October 10, 2017. Includes r ecording of Weinstein verbally coercing and harassing a young woman in hotel. Asia Argento and other women speak out "For more than twenty years, Weinstein has also been trailed by rumors of sexual harassment and assault. This has been an open secret to many in Hollywood and beyond, but previous attempts by many publications, including  The New Yorker , to investigate and publish the story over the years fell short of the demands of journalistic evidence. Too few people were willing to speak, much less allow a reporter to use their names, and Weinstein and his associates used nondisclosure agreements, monetary payoffs, and legal threats to suppress these myriad stories". Rowan Farrow, son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen. (Rowan on Allen: "He's my father married to my sister. That makes me his son and his bro...

Ovarian Psycos , directed by Joanna Sokolowski et Kate Trumbull-LaValle (USA| 2016) at Films de Femmes in Créteil on March 18. The Youth Jury came on stage to award the prize at final ceremony. This film that was also shown to 100 high school students in the Créteil area with a lively debate afterwards. https://www.facebook.com/FestivaldeFilmsdeFemmes/ Members of the Ovarian Psycos will be in San Francisco on April 11 at City College of San Francisco for workshops and screening of the film. "Ovarian Psycos - Documentary" is about a biking brigade composed on young women who ride to protest violence against the women in their community in East Los Angeles. The collective reveals personal testimony of growing up in East LA and the pressure put on them by families to conform. Biking is their way of showing solidarity with other women. https://www.facebook.com/TheOvarianPsycosDocumentary/

The Grand Jury Prize at Festival International de Films de Femmes in Créteil went to "Lipstick under my Burkha", directed by Alankrita Shrivastava (India| 2016). The film was censored in her country Special Mention (Mention spéciale) went to "People That Are Not Me", directed by Hadas Ben Aroya (Israel | 2016). Ben Aroya is the producer of the film and the main character named Joy, which is about and herself and her friends in Tel Aviv that don’t fit into the usual categories – which she calls “non- Unicorns” leading “unauthentic lives”. Festival International de Films de Femmes.   https://www.facebook.com/FestivaldeFilmsdeFemmes/

The Public Prize for best feature film (PRIX DU PUBLIC MEILLEUR LONG MÉTRAGE FICTION) at Créteil Films de Femmes went to "Sami Blood" (Sami Blood, Amanda Kernell , Suède, Danemark, Norvège | 2016) directed by Amanda Kernel. Kernel attended Danish Film School and is set in the 1930’s in Sweden. The Sami people, the indigenous people that live in Northern Scandinavian countries and coast of Russia, and their colonial appropriation to conform to the dominant culture. The Sami were not allowed to speak Sami in school and were often shamed. Shot in seven weeks it was usual for Kernel to have 13 takes for each of the scenes, primarily to make the film authentic for the Sami people. https://www.facebook.com/FestivaldeFilmsdeFemmes/