Femspectives returns online for 2021
Femspectives, the annual Glasgow-based feminist film festival, is back with a virtual edition. Among the highlights are the 50th feature by renowned documentary maker Alanis Obomsawin and sci-fi tinged Georgian drama Comets
Feminist film festival Femspectives returns 23 to 25 April for a weekend of film and discussion (taking place online this year, of course). “We are excited to be delivering this year’s festival entirely online,” said the festival’s founders, Lauren Clarke and Kathi Kamleitner. “Not only does it open our events to people all over Scotland and around the UK, we are also able to invite guests from further afield. The pandemic has shown that now more than ever, people long for engaging conversations to stay connected with each other and with what is happening in the world.”
One highlight from the festival's third edition looks to be the innovative Georgian film Comets, a queer drama with avant-garde sci-fi undertones following two women who were lovers as teens reuniting in their 50s. There’s also the Hungarian documentary The Euphoria of Being, which sees a 90-year-old Auschwitz survivor preparing to dance onstage with a renowned young dancer as a form of remembrance 70 years after WWII. Our People Will Be Healed, the 50th film from legendary American-Canadian filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin screens too, with the veteran documentarian taking us into one of Canada’s largest First Nation communities.
As well as celebrating the best of contemporary feminist filmmaking, Femspectives also dives into the archive with a very rare outing of Jane Arden’s groundbreaking 1972 feature The Other Side of The Underneath. The screening is paired with a conversation with Rachel Pronger and Camille Baier from Invisible Women, who’ll be discussing Arden’s work and the role of feminist film archives.
Two short film programmes also look to be essential. The first, titled one dream, one square meter, guest-curated by Glasgow-based Ane Lopez, showcases three quasi-mythical hybrid documentaries. The second, called Dreaming While Black, guest-curated by Edinburgh-based Tanatsei Gambura, speaks to critical issues about the Black experience. “We are particularly looking forward to seeing the work of our two guest curators and the discussions they are going to facilitate," said Clarke and Kamleitne. "It's great to see the festival team expand and hear more voices throughout the programme.”
All this, plus a feminist film quiz to test whether you know your Chantal Akerman from your Věra Chytilová.
Femspectives runs 23 to 25 Apr, but all films are available to stream on-demand from 19 Apr
Tickets and full programme info available at femspectives.com; tickets are priced at a pay-what-you-can sliding scale from £0–£8
All discussions take place 23-25 Apr and are free, but registration is required via Eventbrite; discussions will be live-captioned