FOCUS GIRLS TO THE FRONT – LFF2018
Girls to the Front – which, back then, wasn’t yet called Girls to the Front – has been on our minds for a very long time, just a list of titles and notes buried inside a drawer, together with all our to do-lists. In January 2017, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration as President, hundreds of thousands of women took to the streets for the Women’s March: we gave the list an apologetic look as we left the house with a placard in tow. In October 2017, a New Yorker exposé denounced the countless sexual harassments perpetrated by Harvey Weinstein,
uncovering an immense Pandora’s box and initiating the #MeToo movement. That’s when we understood we couldn’t wait anymore; not least because, had we left them there a bit longer, the titular girls would have smashed our drawer open with a kick.
Indeed, meet the titular girls. So different from one another and yet all so strong-willed. To them, me too means something else completely: it’s a me too that doesn’t accuse but asserts, turning into an I, too. I can do it too, I can be that too: whether that means becoming an astronaut or a fashion designer,
living alone or reclaiming one’s rights, and in spite of everyone who says “No, you can’t: you’re a girl”.
They are the girls we have been, the friends we would have wanted and those we chose for ourselves. They are – we are – the granddaughters of the witches they didn’t manage to burn (that’s what was on our placard, by the way). They are ambitious. They are ready. They are here. You’ve been warned.
CAN AND WILL
Can’t and Won’t is a collection of stories by Lydia Davis, one of those books you’d buy for the title alone, with its image of a woman living on her own terms, swinging between obstinacy and resolve, the same ones animating the protagonists of Girls to the Front.
Why is it necessary to tell stories such as theirs? Why is it important to program films by female filmmakers? We’ll answer these questions – and many more – with Denise ‘dueditanelcuore’ D’Angelilli, indie princess, influencer and one of the promoters behind the #QuellaVoltaChe project. Why? Because we can, we want to, and we will. And you, won’t you join us?
July 24th
09.00 p.m.
Vicolo Arco
CHECK OUT THE PROGRAM
Girls to the Front / 1
BATTALION TO MY BEAT
Eimi Imanishi
USA, Algeria, Sahara Occidentale / 2016 / 14’ / Fiction
Dreaming of a life beyond the confines of the Western Saharan refugee camps in Algeria, Mariam runs away to join the military in the middle of the desert.
Girls to the Front / 1
THE NATIONAL GARDEN
Syni Pappa
Grecia / 2016 / 15’ / Fiction
Tina, a fashion design child prodigy, attends the Halloween costume contest dressed as a Penguin to lose the first prize to Princess Jasmine.
Girls to the Front / 1
ONE SMALL STEP
Aqsa Altaf
USA / 2017 / 13’18” / Fiction
An eleven-year-old girl from Compton, California, dreams of being an astronaut as she juggles the realities of her circumstances.
Girls to the Front / 1
TO THE FRONT: SCENES FROM A WOMEN’S ROCK CAMP
Fran Broadhurst
Gran Bretagna / 2017 / 13’ / Doc
A group of unacquainted women with no musical experience have three days to learn an instrument, form a band and perform live.
Girls to the Front / 2
COUNTERFEIT KUNKOO
Reema Semgupta
India / 2017 / 15’ / Fiction
In a city that houses millions, all Smita needs is one small room. But she finds herself fighting beasts of a different kind as she discovers a strange prerequisite to renting a house in middle-class Mumbai.
Girls to the Front / 2
WAR PAINT
Katrelle Kindred
USA / 2018 / 16’ / Fiction
Kiyanna, a bright yet reserved teenager, experiences the complexities of being both black and female on the eve of a 4th of July celebration in South LA.
Girls to the Front / 2
SHADOW BOXER
Andreas Bøggild Monies
Danimarca / 2017 / 22’ / Fiction
When a professional female boxer is injured in the ring and begins a difficult recovery, her daughter Luna makes it her mission to believe in her mother, even when she’s unable to do it for herself.