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