9.20 (Tues) 19:00-21:00 Women Art Revolution

9.21 (Wed) 19:00-21:00 A Question of Silence

9.22 (Thurs) 19:00-21:00 The Last Island

9.23 (Fri) 19:00-21:00 Violette

9.25 (Sun) 17:00-18:30 Antonia’s Line

9.25 (Sun) 19:00-21:00 The Summer of Sangaile

Women Art Revolution

Director: Lynn Hershman-Leeson

Starring: Lynn Hershman-Leeson

Genre: Documentary

Country: United States

Runtime: 83 min.

For over forty years, Director Lynn Hershman Leeson has collected hundreds of hours of interviews with visionary artists, historians, curators, and critics who shaped the beliefs and values of the Feminist Art Movement and reveal previously undocumented strategies used to politicize female artists and integrate women into art structures.

Women Art Revolution elaborates the relationship of the Feminist Art Movement to the 1960s anti-war and civil rights movements and explains how historical events, such as the all-male protest exhibition against the invasion of Cambodia, sparked the first of many feminist actions against major cultural institutions. The film details major developments in women’s art of the 1970s, including the first feminist art education programs, political organizations and protests, alternative art spaces (such as the A.I.R. Gallery and Franklin Furnace in New York and the Los Angeles Women’s Building), publications such as Chrysalis and Heresies, and landmark exhibitions, performances, and installations of public art that changed the entire direction of art.

A Question of Silence

Director: Marleen Gorris

Starring: Edda Barends, Nelly Frijda, Henriëtte Tol

Genre: Drama

Country: Netherlands

Runtime: 92 min.

Three women, all strangers to each other, meet in a dress boutique. One of the three is approached by the male proprietor as she is shoplifting a garment. When he approaches her the other two join her in beating the man to death. Other female shoppers ignore the whole situation and leave when the crime is complete. The court appoints a female psychiatrist to examine the women; contrary to public opinion the psychiatrist finds they are not insane but implies the rage expressed by the crimes is a result of the male dominated society.

The Last Island

Director: Marleen Gorris

Starring: Kenneth Colley, Paul Freeman, Patricia Hayes

Genre: Drama / Sci-Fi

Country: Netherlands

Runtime: 115 min.

The Last Island is a feminist disaster movie in which seven very different people and a dog survive an air disaster. They crash on a desert island and turn out to be the sole survivors of a world catastrophe. The question arises whether the human race should be allowed to survive. When one of the men increasingly takes on the role of leader, the situation escalates dramatically.

Violette

Director: Martin Provost

Starring: Emmanuelle Devos, Sandrine Kiberlain, Olivier Gourmet

Genre: Biography / Drama / Romance

Country: France / Belgium

Runtime: 139 min.

Born out of wedlock early in the last century, impoverished and unloved Violette Leduc meets Simone de Beauvoir in post war Saint-Germain-des-Prés. An intense lifelong relationship develops between the two female authors, based on Violette’s quest for freedom through writing and on Simone’s conviction that she holds in her hands the destiny of an extraordinary writer.

Antonia’s Line

Director: Marleen Gorris

Starring: Willeke van Ammelrooy, Jan Decleir, Veerle van Overloop

Genre: Comedy / Drama

Country: Netherlands / Belgium / UK / France

Runtime: 102 min.

Antonia is an elderly woman who wakes up one morning and realizes that this is the last day of her life. She begins to tell her story in flashback, beginning with her arrival home to the family farm after World War II with her daughter, Danielle. For the next fifty years, a variety of colorful characters come and go on the farm. Danielle becomes a painter, and decides she wants a child but no husband, so Antonia arranges the proper donation. Danielle gives birth to Therese, who later has her own child, Sarah, also without virtue of a husband. Antonia and her descendants come to symbolize the freedom of independent females, with little need for men in their lives.

The Summer of Sangaile

Director: Alante Kavaite

Starring: Julija Steponaityte, Aiste Dirziute, Jurate Sodyte

Genre: Drama / Romance

Country: Lithuania / France / Netherlands

Runtime: 88 min.

17 year-old Sangaile is fascinated by stunt planes. Afraid of heights, she has never dared to even enter in one of the cockpits. At a summer aeronautical show, nearby her parents' lakeside villa, she meets Auste, a local girl of her age, who unlike Sangaile, lives her life to the fullest with creativity and daring. As the two girls become lovers, Sangaile allows Auste to discover her most intimate secret and finds in her teenage love the only person to truly encourage her to fly.

China Women's Film Festival

The China Women's Film Festival (CWFF) began in 2013. It was the first event of such a scale focusing on film and women’s issues in China. Its second year it came in 2nd place in the Austrian Intercultural Achievement Award given by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since its beginning, the festival has been supported by many partners including UN Women and foreign embassies including Netherland, Norway, British, EU, American and Poland.

BARCO