A short documentary film, devised by three students on the Media Practice for Development and Social Change MA, has been selected by an international feminist film festival.
‘Bodies for Change’ by Tomoko Ushiro, Julia Dotras Garcia and Victoria Alessandrini will be screened online by Croatia’s Vox Feminae Festival from 11am on Friday 8 May.
The documentary explores an alternative, intersectional approach to social change, that focuses on the potentialities of bodies rather than minds. It portrays Camille Barton, a non-binary queer artist who tries to tackle social issues such as racism and sexism, using their live performance and body movement.
Camille’s work is intertwined with anonymous voices from around the world talking about their worries in the current social context and how these worries affect their bodies. Through Camille’s interview and dance performance, they give an answer to how oppression and trauma caused by social issues could be overcome through somatic exercises.
Vox Feminae Festival is an international festival held annually in Zagreb, Croatia. It was founded with the aim to promote and increase the visibility of women's artistic achievements through an international film competition, exhibitions and performances as well as workshops and educational content.
Vox Feminae announced the selected films in Croatian and English at https://voxfeminae.net/festival/vff-2020/prvi-blok-predigra/
‘Bodies for Change’ will be available from 11am (UK time) on Friday 8 May for three days (72 hours) at https://voxfeminae.net/festival/vff-2020/online-selekcija/
The password for the film is: VFF2020predigra
About the students:
Victoria Alessandrini
An audiovisual designer, illustrator, experimental animator, activist, born between mountains in Patagonia, Argentina.Victoria lives in the UK and describes herself as a Latina migrante feminista. She collaborates with Latinamerican women's rights NGO's and youth organisations in schools. Her personal projects explore expression through the creative arts and the intersection between identity, human rights, gender, feminism and migration
Julia Dotras Garcia
Julia is a Catalan communications professional who is passionate about researching effective ways to contribute to people’s health and wellbeing through experimental and visual approaches. Her interest lies in critically exploring the role of media in the development and social change sector from a feminist and decolonial perspective, placing a focus on sexual health, sexuality and pleasure, gender, education and participatory visual methods. Her experience involves communications and videography work in digital campaigns and educational projects for non-profit organisations.
Tomoko Ushiro
Born in Tokyo, Tomoko has always had a passion for visual arts as well as creating positive social changes. With a BA degree in Global Studies, she mainly focused on gaining knowledge about International Development, while she also studied documentary filmmaking in the UK. Before coming back to education as a postgraduate student, she worked for international development institutions and NGOs as a communications officer both in Japan and Rwanda, where she raised awareness of humanitarian crises across the globe through multimedia. She spent a year travelling around the world and engaging in permaculture/sustainable living projects, now she is eager to promote mental well-being and minimalist lifestyle through documentary filmmaking.