Women Of Wonders

Running Time: 80′

An evening of short films and a panel discussion to illustrate the power of women on screen – from gender reversal to interplanetary future.

Focusing on the comparison between early cinema and contemporary Utopian sci-fi feminist films, this event will look at how feminist science fiction has asked how much of what we think about the role of men and women is just invented. The alternative narratives presented in the programme challenge the stereotypes and ask one main question: could we invent it differently? And what will the woman of tomorrow be like?

Future visions and Utopian ideas will be discussed with three leading voices who will show us the way to Utopia: Pamela Hutchinson (The Guardian, Sight & Sound, Silent London), Hannah Paveck (Another Gaze) and Simran Hans (The Observer, New Statesman, Dazed).

[Image credit: Afronauts by Frances Bodomo, 2014]

Les Résultats du féminisme (The Consequences of Feminism)
Alice Guy-Blaché | France | 1906 | 7 min
This silent comedy, directed by the visionary pioneer who created narrative cinema, shows a vision of a future of gender reversal in which men are the objects of sexual harassment and exploitation.

Gags and Gals: Male Order
USA | 1941 | 3 min
First episode of a one-reel Vit-o-Graph production, this short jukebox soundie jokes on mail order brides. “Keep the one that you like best/ And then return the rest”!

Ottica Zero
Maja Borg | Sweden, UK | 2007 | 13 min
Following a famous actress who rejected the monetary-based system to find an alternative way of living, the film takes us on a journey from Rome to Venus, where a social innovator and futurist proposes a solution.

Afronauts
Frances Bodomo | USA | 2014 | 14 min
Inspired by a forgotten story of the ‘60s Space Race, Afronauts sees a 17-year-old albino spacegirl (and two cats) sent into space by the Zambian Space Programme, trying to beat America to the moon.