Film

Club des Femmes - POUT

By ⋅ July 3, 2009 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

The World Ten Times Over

Club des Femmes is a positive female space for the re-examination of ideas through art.

Why is it still necessary do you think to create a space to show female work? Are we not in a post-feminist era?
Club des Femmes wants to show film made by women because regardless of post feminist etc it’s still very hard for women filmmakers to get work funded, made and exhibited. We want to show by example that – yes you can! We want to give context and generate discussion about the rich legacy of women’s filmmaking.

We do not agree with the label “post feminist”. We’re living in a time when feminist politics are rarely considered seriously in the UK media. As a culture we’ve moved back to more essentialist position which is very scary.

I read somewhere that counter culture is dead. What is your take on this with respect to film?
We do not agree. Experimental, underground, avant garde cinema – whatever you want to call it – is very much alive and being screened at film festivals, film clubs, film theatres, universities, bars, pubs, parties and homes … anywhere where you can project films onto a white space.

What are the challenges in finding cinemas to show the work?
This is very hard and getting increasingly harder. Cinemas that we used to work with can no longer afford to give us screening slots as they have revenue targets that they must meet. This means small organisations like ours have been pushed out. Having said that, we’ve found working with wonderful festivals like the London Short Film Festival has been a joy as they have been incredibly supportive and we’ve been welcomed with open arms by them and the festival venue, the ICA. It may be hard but we have to look for spaces that value cinema as a cultural commodity and not solely a commercial one.

What can up and coming artist filmmakers learn from those who went before?
Learn your craft and keep politics alive in film. Don’t be afraid of going against the mainstream, they always follow along in the end don’t they anyway?

Club des Femmes links
Club des Femmes
POUT

Tags: Add new tag, Club des Femmes, Experimental film, Film festival, POUT, Sarah Wood, Selina Robertson