You are currently viewing Review 23. Womens World film festival 25.10-01.11.2023
© Gianluca Quaranta

Review 23. Womens World film festival 25.10-01.11.2023

Almost 2,300 visitors attended the 23rd Women’s Worlds Film Festival at the KulturBrauerei Berlin cinema. From 25 October to 1 November 2023, the film festival, organized by the human rights organization TERRE DES FEMMES, presented 30 current short, feature and documentary films on the subject of women’s rights for a week with the aim of using cinematic emotionalization to educate people about existing grievances, empower girls and women and promote commitment to women’s rights in society. The curated films were accompanied by a supporting program consisting of city tours, a staged reading and 15 Q&As with directors, protagonists and experts.
This year’s film selection was based on three main themes: domestic and sexualized violence against women, women’s rights in connection with religion and empowerment. Half of the films celebrated their premiere at the film festival, including twelve Berlin premieres and four German premieres. A special highlight: the Berlin premiere of HELKE SANDER: AUFRÄUMEN, where the filmmaker was a personal guest, spoke with director Claudia Richarz about the background to the film and answered questions about her cinematic life’s work. “We are very pleased about the great interest in this year’s FrauenWelten film festival and the associated interest in the topic of women’s rights. In addition to our opening, numerous films were completely sold out, including HELKE SANDER: AUFRÄUMEN, GRETAS GEBURT and TWICE COLONIZED,” says film festival director Sabrina Kürzinger.Around 400 visitors attended the sold-out opening event on October 25 to celebrate the start of the film festival and watch the opening film ANGRY ANNIE – a touching drama by Blandine Lenoir on the subject of abortion. “By choosing the opening film, we have put the spotlight on a topic that is still relevant today. According to estimates, more than 25 million unsafe abortions are carried out every year, 97 percent of which are performed in countries of the global South,” explains Christa Stolle, Federal Director of TERRE DES FEMMES.
The situation of women in Iran was also an important topic this year. Human rights activist Mina Ahadi, women’s rights activist Necla Kelek and the film’s director, Hesam Youssefi, attended the screening of MINA – THE PRIZE OF FREEDOM and spoke about Mina Ahadi’s commitment to women’s rights, the feminist revolution in Iran and how women’s rights can be strengthened. At the screening of ELAHA, director Milena Aboyan, protagonist Bayana Layla and Dr. Jutta Pliefke from Pro Familia spoke about how important it is to dispel myths about virginity. Gerhard Schönborn from Neustart e.V. also gave insights into the work of the association, which runs a contact café and a drop-out apartment in Neukölln on the Kurfürstenstraße street in Berlin, in a discussion about PRINCESS.

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