CIVA movie program: I know girls

curated by Marija Milovanovic

I know girls who take up questions around racism, religion, feminism, and stigmatization. I know girls whose bodies serve as a projection screen to draw attention to social, societal, and political grievances. I know girls who use their bodies as instruments to resist established norms and expectations of women. I KNOW GIRLS is this year’s CIVA film program on the theme of embodied structures, which focuses on the female body to discuss current global issues through seven films.

For Aïssa, a medical examination becomes a gauntlet because of her origin. In an Iranian office and hospital, a young woman’s mental state and morals are questioned because of her sinful tattoos. Another form of sin is female lust, at least if you believe the male Iranian clergy. They lecture and give advice in public media on how to suppress female desire. Lust and desire are associated in Christian theology with flesh, independence and lack of absolution with sin. “Flesh” (“Carne”) is also dedicated to the theme of meat but in a different way. Five women in different phases of life (different stages of roasted meat) share the experiences they have had with or because of their female bodies. In “Women Reply,” women answer Agnes Varga’s question: How does it feel to be a woman? The film from 1975 is still relevant when it comes to beauty ideals and demands and expectations of a society on women, especially regarding their role as mothers. In “Summer Holiday (Vaginale VII),” Kurdwin Ayub’s performance partially breaks with some of these expectations before the collective JUCK, in the hybrid documentary of the same name, sends a clear signal by saying and showing what they think of the patriarchy.

Aissa by Clément Tréhin-Lalanne | FR | 2014 | 8 min
Tattoo by Farhad Delaram | IR | 2019 | 15 min
I have Sinned a Rapturous Sin by Maryam Tafakory | IR | 2018 | 8 min
Carne by Camila Kater | BR/ES | 2019 | 12 min
Woman Reply by Agnès Varda | FR | 1975 | 8 min
Sommerurlaub (Vaginale VII) by Kurdwin Ayub | AT | 2011 | 3,5 min
JUCK by Ulrika Bandeira, Olivia Kastebring, Julia Gumbert | SE | 2018 | 17 min

I KNOW GIRLS is presented in collaboration with Vienna Shorts.

24 February 22, 20:00, Stadtkino Wien, admission free, registration necessary

In order to give festival visitors new possibilities of representation in virtual space, CIVA and VIENNA DESIGN WEEK have jointly commissioned five virtual architectures, which are exhibited at the festival headquarters and available for free download.
We are showing these five works from Margarete Jahrmann and Thomas Wagensommerer, Cristian Anutoiu, Dominik Einfalt, iheartblob and Tobias Revell at Stadtkino.