Welcome to the second edition of WANDA: Feminism and Moving Image! We are delighted to deliver a second year of WANDA. This couldn’t have happened without the encouragement and support we received last year, and the continued support this year. Because of this we would like to take the opportunity to thank all at Belfast Film Festival and Film Hub NI for their constant guidance and support. Building on the back of last year’s successful approach of positioning older films with new works - both politically motivated and of local interest - our hope is this year’s programme continues to find an intergenerational, engaged and enquiring audience. We are delighted to be opening with Persepolis, a modern feminist classic that deals with both cultural identity and teenage discovery. It’s our first animation feature, and one we are sure will attract a different crowd. On Friday night The WANDA Quiz will not only test your feminist film knowledge but will raise money for the newly formed and essential Rape Crisis NI. Another exciting element this year is that we are in great company and will be joined by a fantastic panel of film programmers from the UK and Ireland to help launch Film Hub NI’s Women Run The Screen mentoring scheme. The official launch and networking event will be during the festival at QFT, another of our fabulous partners and supporters we would be lost without. This programme touches on some of Northern Ireland’s leading debates, discussing abortion on screen and the fight for equal marriage rights. We have wonderful speakers at each of our screenings which add so much more to the experience. Our closing film this year is an Irish premiere of Rafiki by Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu. Banned in its country of origin due to its depiction of a lesbian relationship, Rafiki is a stunning and nuanced film with a cracking soundtrack and we are so excited to share it with you. So get browsing, pick out what you want to see and invite your friends! See you there? Laura O’Connor & Rose Baker (WANDA & WANDA)
FOR TICKETS AND INFO: www.wandabelfast.com www.facebook.com/wandabelfast @wandabelfast #wandabelfast18 COVER ILLUSTRATION BY FIONA MCDONNELL 02
OPENING NIGHT FILM
PERSEPOLIS
VINCENT PARONNAUD, MARJANE SATRAPI | 2007 | FRANCE / USA | 96 MINS
1ST NOV | ACCIDENTAL THEATRE | 7PM | £7 (plus booking fee)
Opening the second edition of WANDA is Marjane Satrapi’s unmistakably stylish modern classic. An autobiographical animation based on Satrapi’s graphic novel of the same name, it charts the period of her life growing up in Iran during the revolution of 1979, the Iran/Iraq war that followed and her time alone in Europe. Young Marjane watches as family members are arrested and executed by the new regime while the war takes victims of neighbours and friends. Meanwhile she becomes a typical teenager, listening to punk music and pushing boundaries - something increasingly radical within the new socio-political framework being built around her. A large part of WANDA’s mission is to revisit past films in order to challenge, celebrate and reconsider them in a feminist context. We’re celebrating this work from the recent past to highlight animation and graphic novels as closely connected feminist media. Join us for refreshments before the film at this opening night event.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
RAFIKI
WANURI KAHIU | 2018 | KENYA | 90 MINS
4TH NOV | BLACK BOX | 6PM | £7 (plus booking fee)
WANDA is extremely pleased to present the Irish premiere of a film that has received international acclaim, while simultaneously being banned in its country of origin. The film has been accused of “promoting lesbianism” and was briefly allowed to play in cinemas for a seven-day period, during which time it sold out screenings in Nairobi and became Kenya’s highest grossing film. Inspired by Ugandan author Monica Arac de Nyeko’s 2007 Caine Prize-winning short story ‘Jambula Tree’, Rafiki tells the story of two teenagers whose relationship blossoms against the threat of homophobia from all sides: family members, friends, the local church and political system. The dazzling energy of the film combines with performances from Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva as they beautifully capture the feelings of first love, and a female-led soundtrack from African artists such as Muthoni Drummer Queen, Chemutai Sage, Blinky Bill, Jaaz Odongo & Trina Mungai, Mumbi Kasumba, Njoki Karu and more. Sweet, sensual and popping with electric colour, Rafiki has all the hallmarks of a zeitgeist-fuelled, cult hit. This screening will be introduced by Ruth McCarthy, artistic director of Outburst Queer Arts Festival and Dr Yassin Brunger, lecturer in Human Rights Law and Fellow of the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Refreshments will be provided at this special festival event. 03
FEATURE FILMS TEKNOLUST
LYNN HERSHMAN LEESON | USA | 2002 | 85 MIN 2ND NOV | QFT | 6PM | £6.95 Made in 2002, the fifth decade of Lynn Hershman Leeson’s pioneering contribution to film and art, Teknolust was a pioneer in itself. It was the first film to be shot in 24p Hi-Def with HD graphic conversion. Long time collaborator of Hershman Leeson, Tilda Swinton stars in this film playing four of the main characters. Swinton plays bio-geneticist and modern day Frankenstein ‘Rosetta Stone’, who creates three cyborgian clones: ‘Ruby’, ‘Olive’ and ‘Marine’, through a mixing of DNA and computer programming. Survival for the clones depends on injections of male Y chroma, only found in sperm which Ruby is tasked with collecting by seducing men in the ‘real world’ and collecting their semen. Ruby’s frequent dealings with the ‘real world’ causes her to experience unprogrammed emotions. This fusion of bio-technology, genetics and humour poses insights into a world where DNA and AI are growing closer together. Join Dr Laura O’Connor for a short introduction to the film, on the wider work of Lynn Hershman Leeson and the notion of the feminist cyborg.
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST
JULIE DASH | USA | 1991 | 112 MIN 3RD NOV | BEANBAG CINEMA | 12PM | £6 (plus booking fee)
Daughters of the Dust is a seminal work from visionary director, Julie Dash. Having enjoyed a recent rerelease by the BFI, the film has had a resurgence of interest from festivals and independent cinemas, and started a conversation about filmmakers of colour, their career progression (despite critical acclaim, Dash was unable to secure funding for another feature film and moved into directing TV), and how we can restructure ideas around the film canon to ensure we remember and celebrate great films by women. Visually sumptuous with a vivid colour palette, the film was the inspiration for Beyonce’s visual album, Lemonade, which was directed by Dash’s cinematographer, Arthur Jafa. It’s a stylish historical piece, set during 1902 at a time of transition for a family of Gullah women on the St. Helena Island as they prepare to migrate north to the mainland.
OBVIOUS CHILD
GILLIAN ROBESPIERRE | USA | 2014 | 84 MIN 3RD NOV | QFT | 8.30PM | £6.95 Photographer and award-winning abortion rights activist, Emma Campbell (Alliance for Choice) joins us for a discussion about abortion on screen. During this presentation Emma will chart examples of abortion depicted in recent world cinema and discuss how these representations reflect, inform, or perhaps hinder, the fight for abortion rights worldwide and at home. This will be followed by a screening of Obvious Child (2014), written and directed by Gillian Robespierre. The film was made in response to common misrepresentations of how abortion manifests itself in women’s lives. Therefore, though Obvious Child tells the story of a young woman whose brief romance ends in an unplanned pregnancy, the subject is presented in a humane and considered way, without moralisation or sensationalism. In addition to this, the film is also a delightful take on the indie rom-com, with moments of great lightness and wit. It’s a lesser-known work from this decade that shows the modern female experience (and is one of our favourites in this year’s programme!).
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FEATURE FILMS SILENT GRACE
MAEVE MURPHY | IRELAND & UK | 1982 | 115 MIN 4TH NOV | QFT | 1PM | £6.95 Maeve Murphy’s prison drama from 2007 is based on events during the Troubles in Armagh Gaol. Inspired by Nell McCafferty’s book, The Armagh Women, it follows Aine, a young woman caught up in a violent incident involving the British Army, who finds herself sharing a cell with Eileen, a high ranking Republican prisoner. At first, Aine is opposed to the other prisoners as they campaign for political status, but when Eileen embarks on a hunger strike her feelings begin to change. At WANDA we want to revisit films of the past to explore how women’s stories are told and how women are represented. We feel it is important to look at films from around the world to do this, but also to examine films about Irish history and how they help shape the cultural narrative surrounding women and history in this country.
A KIND OF SISTERHOOD
MICHELE DEVLIN, CLAIRE HACKETT | NORTHERN IRELAND | 2015 | 75 MIN 4TH NOV | QFT | 3PM | £6.95 During the Troubles in Northern Ireland many people were imprisoned in the period of internment in the 1970s and onwards throughout the conflict. What is not as widely known is that women were also interned and took part in hunger strikes while in Armagh Gaol until its closure and transfer to Maghaberry prison in 1986. This compelling and revelatory documentary covers a 25 year period from the first women to be interned in the 1970s, to the killing of a prison officer outside the Gaol in 1979 and the republican women’s protest for political status. The film’s strength lies in its candid interviews with eight women imprisoned at different times in the Gaol, as well as accounts from journalist Nell McCafferty and the former prison chaplain, Fr. Raymond Murray. The result is an important document that reveals a perspective on recent Irish history rarely seen or discussed. The directors will be in attendance and join us for a Q&A after the screening.
PRESENTED BY SECOND CHANCE CINEMA
BERNADETTE: NOTES ON A POLITICAL JOURNEY LEILA DOOLAN | IRELAND | 2011 | 88 MIN 4TH NOV | ULSTER MUSEUM LECTURE THEATRE | 2PM | £3
inner of the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Glasgow and the Best Feature Documentary prize at the Galway Film Fleadh, W Lelia Doolan’s account of the tumultuous political career of Northern Irish activist and feminist, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, atmospherically conveys the complex and volatile environment, both personal and political, in which she rose to power. Benefiting from a wealth of highly-charged archive footage, particularly from the most thoroughly recorded period of Devlin’s career, when she was elected MP for Mid-Ulster in 1969 as a 21-year-old student, the historical material is interspersed with extracts from a series of more recent interviews. This film is screening as part of ‘Hear Her Voice’, a series of events highlighting women within the collections of the Ulster Museum, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act, which marks the first milestone in the journey of women’s suffrage, the right to vote in political elections www.secondchancecinema.org
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Photo credit: Amanda Ferguson
THE WANDA QUIZ 2ND NOV | BLACK BOX | 7.30 PM | £12 PER TEAM FEMINIST FILM QUIZ ALERT. You’ve been to film quizzes before, but have you ever answered one from the perspective of the female gaze? Do you know your Arzner from your Akerman? Your Zhao from your Zetterling? Come and try your luck at this special event! Plans for this quiz are being kept tightly sealed, but we can tell you there’ll be an action hero round and there might even be some special spot prizes... But that’s all for now! We’re putting on this quiz with the help of Women’s Aid NI to raise funds for their new Rape Crisis NI service opening in December this year. The cost per team is £12 and the team size limit is six.
FESTIVAL HUB FRI | SAT | SUN BLACKBOX GREEN ROOM
If you’re looking for more information on WANDA, want to pick up some merch or would like information on some of our partner charities this is your one-stop shop. Look out for our info table in the Black Box Green Room over the weekend.
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WOMEN RUN THE SCREEN
3RD NOV PANEL DISCUSSION @ ACCIDENTAL THEATRE BOOK BAR 2PM LAUNCH & NETWORKING EVENT @ QFT 6PM (EVENT IS FREE BUT BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL)
WANDA is delighted to be joining forces with Film Hub NI to launch their new initiative for young film programmers. Women Run the Screen will be a mentoring programme facilitated by Film Hub NI. Young women (18-30), who wish to learn more about programming and exhibition will be assisted by more experienced members of the sector to deliver a tour of NI members. Programming will adhere to F-Rating standards (already adopted by QFT) within our parameters of British, independent and specialised film. At WANDA we strive to bring a diverse and engaging programme with a feminist edge to audiences in Northern Ireland. Because this is our passion, we’ve invited film programmers from the UK and Ireland to Belfast to discuss their passion and the reasons why it’s so important that women are engaged in film and exhibition culture. They’ll be discussing their beginnings as programmers, film programmes they have exhibited in the past and the reasons behind their creative choices. Programmers often spend most of their time championing others’ work, so this is a very rare and exciting opportunity to hear from women working as programmers in the field today. We will be joined by: Karla Healion has a background in media, having worked in print publishing for many years, but more recently graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a Masters in ‘Film Studies’ (her thesis was on female subjectivity and she finished with a grade equivalent to a first). Karla has directed and edited two shorts, with a third in development. At the moment she is on the Board of Women in Film&TV Ireland and Office Manager at Deadpan Pictures. She was also recently Production Executive and Outreach Producer with independent Irish production company Still Films, and has worked on various shorts and features including Lost in France (Niall McCann, 2017), Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect (Mark Noonan, 2017) and Frida Think (Maya Derrington, 2018). Karla was the founder and director of the Dublin Feminist Film Festival for four years, and has been involved in many grass roots, artistic and feminist campaigns including ‘alternative history’ walking tours, reconstructing derelict sites for public use, and reappraising forgotten works by women. Roisín Geraghty is a film programmer and producer based in the west of Ireland. She has worked with various film organisations in both Ireland, the UK and the US, including Edinburgh International Film Festival, Cork Film Festival, GAZE LGBT Film Festival, the Galway Film Fleadh, Guth Gafa International Documentary Film Festival, the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) and Tribeca Film Festival. Over the past number of years, she has worked with the Irish production company Roads Entertainment, as a Production Coordinator and Manager on films including AFTER THE DANCE (2014), BEING AP (2015), and SONG OF GRANITE (2017). She produced the feature documentary WE ARE MOVING - MEMORIES OF MISS MORIARTY (2016) and the Screen Ireland funded short film TAKE ME SWIMMING (2018) with Award Winning Director Claire Dix. She is currently post-production with the Irish Arts Council-funded short film FIVE LETTERS TO THE STRANGER WHO WILL DISSECT MY BRAIN with director Oonagh Kearney, and developing the feature film SUNLIGHT with Claire Dix and screenwriter Ailbhe Keogan, which is being developed under the Screen Ireland POV Female Creative Talent scheme. Alice Butler is a film programmer, curator, writer and co-director of aemi, a Dublin-based organisation that supports and exhibits artists’ moving image. For six years, Alice was responsible for artist moving image programming at the Irish Film Institute. She programmes regular screenings at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, and has presented at IMMA, Project Arts Centre, PLASTIK Festival of Artists’ Moving Image, IFI, Galway Arts Centre among others. She is curator of 'The L Shape', an exhibition featuring the work of Jenny Brady and Sarah Browne (The Dock, 15 September – 3 November 2018). As a writer, Alice has contributed to Sight and Sound, SET Magazine, Paper Visual Art, Enclave Review, VAN, EFS Publications and CIRCA. She is also a regular arts reviewer for RTÉ Radio One’s Arena, and recently completed a survey chapter on the work of filmmaker Pat Murphy (due for publication in 2019). Sophie Brown is a film programmer and writer. With a specialism in non-fiction cinema, she is a programme advisor for the BFI London Film Festival and Sheffield Doc/Fest, views documentaries for Sundance Film Festival, and has written for outlets including Dazed & Confused, Little White Lies and Sight & Sound. She has also worked on projects with the British Council Film Team, coordinating international programmes and tours. Her personal programming projects – under the banner Bijou Electric Empire Forever – explore lost treasures, underground voices, alienated perspectives and the rebels of cinema. They have included a nationwide tour of the films of Shirley Clarke, a very rare cinema screening of Point Break, and developing Brighton’s Scalarama programme. The event will be chaired by former Head of QFT, Susan Picken. For more information about Women Run the Screen, please visit FilmHubNI.org There will be a networking event and drinks reception to officially launch the programme at 6pm in the QFT bar.
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THE FILMMAKERS JULIE DASH Born in New York City, Julie Dash is a filmmaker, music video and commercial director, author, website creator and university lecturer. Dash is best known for her film Daughters of the Dust (1991), which was the first film by an African American woman to receive a general theatrical release in the United States; the Library of Congress named it to the National Film Registry in 2004.
LYNN HERSHMAN LEESON Lynn Hershman Leeson is a pioneering figure in media art. Since the 1960s, the American artist has been creating works that address the interplay between technology, media, identity and the mutating relationship between the body and technology. She examines how new technological tools can impact our social life, our ideas about individual identity, and our relationship with the real and virtual world using photography, film, video, computer-based art and performance.
MAEVE MURPHY Maeve Murphy is an award-winning screenwriter and film director. Her film BEYOND THE FIRE won Best UK Feature at the London Independent Film Festival and was selected for New British Cinema at the ICA and received a UK/ Ireland cinema release. SILENT GRACE a film Maeve wrote and directed had its broadcast Premier on TV3 2017.
LEILA DOOLIN Born in Cork, Doolan moved to Dublin to complete a degree in French and German at UCD. She worked as an actor and presenter with RTE in the 60s before moving into a role as producer/ director. Doolin was artistic director at The Abbey & has a PhD in Anthropology from Queens University where she worked in community video and adult education in Belfast. In 1993 she was appointed chairperson of the Irish Film Board, a role she fulfilled for three years before retiring. She was also a founder and director of the Galway Film Fleadh.
MICHELE DEVLIN Michele Devlin is the director of the Belfast Film Festival. Michele is involved in developing outreach initiatives for the film festival, with the aim of increasing access to the festival for people from excluded sections of society. She is a feminist and has worked on a number of short films examining community history. A Kind of Sisterhood is her first feature length project.
CLAIRE HACKETT Claire Hackett is the manager of the Falls Community Council’s oral history archive Dúchas. She is an active board member of Relatives for Justice, Fáilte Feirste Thiar and Healing Through Remembering. She has been an activist in the women’s movement for over thirty-five years.
WANURI KAHIU Born in Nairobi, Wanuri is part of the new generation of African storytellers. Her stories and films have received international acclaim. Her films screened in numerous film festivals around the world. To date, Wanuri has written and directed six films and is working on her second feature length film. She is the co-founder of AFROBUBBLEGUM, a media company that supports, creates and commissions fun, fierce and frivolous African art.
VINCENT PARONNAUD Better known by the pseudonym Winshluss, was born in 1970 in La Rochelle, France. He is a major underground comic book artist. Together with his friend and collaborator Cizo, he has directed two short animations: Oh Boy, What Nice Legs (2004) and Raging Blues (2003). He has worked with Marjane Satrapi on the film adaptation of the comic series Persépolis in 2007. In 2009 his album Pinocchio was awarded Best Comic Book Prize at the Angouleme festival. Vincent Paronnaud is also a musician and animator.
GILLIAN ROBESPIERRE Writer/Director Gillian Robespierre is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, born and raised in New York City. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts, Film & Video Program. Her first feature, Obvious Child premiered at Sundance in 2014. The film got a nod for the year’s “Best Discovery” on iTunes and she won Best Directorial Debut from the National Board of Review. Her second feature Landline premiered at Sundance in 2017 and was sold to Amazon.
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MARJANE SATRAPI Satrapi grew up in Tehran where she attended a French high school. She then studied in Vienna before moving to France in 1994. In Paris she was introduced into the Atelier des Vosges, which gathered major contemporary comic book artists. Her first graphic novel, Persepolis 1, was published in 2000 and was followed by Persepolis 2-4. Her filmmaking debut, Persepolis is co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud.
VENUES ACCIDENTAL THEATRE, 12-13 SHAFTESBURY SQ, BT2 7DB BEANBAG CINEMA, EXCHANGE PLACE, BT1 2NA QFT, UNIVERSITY SQ, BT7 1NN BLACKBOX, HILL ST, BT1 2LA
THANK YOU WANDA would not be possible without the support of the following organisations and individuals. We would like to extend a huge thank you to the following:
The Belfast Film Festival Film Hub NI Alliance for Choice Queen’s Film Theatre The Black Box Accidental Theatre Out of Orbit Productions Second Chance Cinema Emma Campbell Ruth McCarthy
Jon Beer Luke Butterly Michele Devlin Stephen Hackett Mary Lindsay Vittoria Cafolla Laura McKeown Susan Picken Sara Gunn-Smith Hugh Odling-Smee Dr Yassin Brunger
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Jennie Carlsten Carol Murphy Sara Morrison Michael Staley Joan Parsons Kate Healion Alice Butler Roisin Geraghty Sophie Brown Fiona McDonnell
belfast film festival supports...
Wanda Still from: ‘A Bagful of Fleas’. Directed By Věra Chytilová. 1962. Czechoslovakia.