.png)
.svg)
%20(1).svg)
Girls in Film are super inspired by you all, for all your creative outlets during the restrictions you had.
Here's a few films that were sent our way to remind us of either what was made in lockdown, or what could be....
Filmmaker Sindha Agha found herself alone and dumped in quarantine. After a long bout of self flagellation, involving a multitude of diary entries and video logs she decided to squeeze her own enquiry and somewhat, her own portrait into a film. This extended into a study of polar psychologies, ie. Antarctic dwellers and how ICE (isolated, confined and extreme) conditions impact them psychologically.
"The quarantine breakup — this varietal I urge you to avoid. Don’t order it from the breakup menu. And while you’re at it, don’t fall in love during a pandemic at all. Don’t share your 15 rolls of toilet paper. Don’t make his and hers face masks. Don’t, only four dates in, learn to cook his grandmother’s recipes and unburden your deepest fears.
Because if you get dumped, there will be no healing disco at Oil Can Harry’s in Studio City. No nourishing 3 p.m. veggie combo at Awash on Pico Boulevard, the Ethiopian elders playing their abstracted game of musical chairs, somebody’s grandfather eventually joining your table-for-one and handing you the slice of a stranger’s fluffy white birthday cake that you didn’t know you needed. In quarantine, there will be none of the usual comforts. And no amount of hearing your loved ones compressed into bits on FaceTime can quiet the echo of your body alone in the same room, day after day."
Glasgow based artist Anna Acquoroff contemplates life before lockdown and the uncertain future that lies ahead.
SOLO + MUTE was initially intended to be a portrait of the 19-year-old model and frontwoman of Glasgow based band “Medicine Cabinet”. However, mid-way through production, the country went into lockdown, and the film became a portrayal of one artist's response to a global disaster affecting us all.
This project was started in January of 2020 by Edinburgh Napier students; Charlie, Elze, Euan and Luke. 4th of March - the first gig was shot in the Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh. 6th of March - the second gig shot at The Amsterdam Bar in Glasgow. Shooting was cancelled as of the UK Government’s imposed lockdown later in March. From there the team interviewed the musician via lockdown restrictions.
“The film was initially supposed to be done for one of our university modules, and in the early stages of production the idea was completely different. We managed to shoot a couple of gigs which we planned to use as insert shots and B-roll. While we were planning the shoot for what would make up the bulk of the film, the lockdown was put in place. This forced us to think outside the box as to how we could manage to complete the film. As a result of the lockdown, our working methods and roles in the production of the film changed considerably. For example, while editing the film, the screen was shared over Discord in order for us to collaborate. This, in a way, represents the central concern of the film: our means of communication and interaction with others have changed as a result of the lockdown, and we have no control over this. We just have to adapt. We can only speculate as to what the film would have become if not for the lockdown. But we certainly feel it is more relevant now than it would have been. It speaks for a lot of people, especially those working in the creative industries, and reflects the uncertainty surrounding us at this time.”
Drawing inspiration from French New Wave films and a comical color palette courtesy of stylist Basia Wyszynski, “Boredom” puts our universal circumstances into a digestible light hearted short film starring Henriette de Vries.
Director in conversation with cinematographer Thomas van der Zaag
Thomas: Because “Boredom” is about indulging in this like-heaven scenario of people staying indoors.
Mashie: Yeah, people who want to stay indoors, who thrive, enjoy, and indulge when they are indoors.
Thomas: Now, that indulgence has sort of turned into this sort of like-hell scenario with an actual virus running around in our society.
Mashie: The extent of it is really insane. When you think about it. I think it's so strange that initially when we started making it, we wanted it to be about somebody who has social anxiety and prefers to stay indoors instead of going out. But then as the premiere date for “Boredom” came closer and closer, we slowly started entering a global pandemic! What we were kind of making fun of and trying to glamorize in the short kind of became real life. It's just so weird.
Thomas: Yeah, it's weird how life starts imitating art.
As the city begins to reopen, a tribute to New Yorkers’ inimitable resilience.
"While we're being forced to re-calibrate, both as individuals and as a society at large, this moment is demanding we create a new paradigm shift in the way we take care of each other."
'PAUSE' was put together during the height of the pandemic in an effort to create a reminder of the power of our communion as we experienced this unique duality of both extreme isolation and extraordinary connectivity in New York during the lockdown.
Gillian took the challenge to create something from the confines of a couch and try to reflect this unique duality of both extreme isolation and extraordinary connectivity in NYC during this Covid-19 crisis.
Every day during the lockdown period, Zinser's friend Adam Kenworthy went out filming the city. Zinser was taken aback by the juxtaposition in his imagery of such surreal, desolate city streets and then these profound moments of incredible humanity captured outside of hospitals. In collaboration with Lindsay Van Dyke, they set to interviewing a handful of their friends, as well as found strangers across the country, simply asking them how they were feeling, and letting the dialogue flow from there.
The film and music explore a deconstruction of the human form through movement or the lack thereof, the characters we play, the bodies we are in and bound by, but by which we can also shape, and present like a sculpture. At home, looking at this interplay with these two worlds, that which we can see, and that which we can’t, is a fascinating and really important thing to re-evaluate right now, and take that experience into the future. To explore new ways of living, and being with yourself. It is a love letter to the earth.
“I wanted to shoot people close to me, to look into how people felt around me in these times, to capture that moment on film, listening to the experiences they were having internally, and communicate that.
I also wanted to make you feel good wherever you are, to peacefully tune out, and tune in. If you’re anything like me, moments of silence and meditations in sound has been a soundtrack to daily life. That’s where the concept begun, to be present in the sounds around us, letting both nature, and each other, breathe."
Hero Film:
Shika Sahay
Emma Saunders
Montana Miller
A personal series that documents the lives of her neighbours as the close-knit community in NSW self isolates during the global pandemic.
The series centres on the lives of three South Coast based families and allows the viewer to take an intimate journey into each of their uniquely private worlds.
First up we meet Shika Sahay, who lives with her partner, graphic artist Louie Joyce, and their two boys, both under four. They have built themselves a bush sanctuary by the sea and live mostly in isolation, working from home and raising their young sons.
We are then introduced to Emma Saunders, a choreographer who works on large-scale dance projects for Sydney Festival and Carriageworks. She lives with her musician husband, Steff, and two children Audrey and Fred in the seaside suburb of Wombarra.
Lastly is painter and tattoo artist Montana Miller, who resides in a share house in beachside village, Austinmer. During this time, she is using her own body as a blank canvas to refine her tattooing skills and, according to Miller, this is a rich time for reflection and exploration.
Tarasin "During isolation I could feel all of my friends around me in their now small worlds, spinning around in their homes. I felt like I wanted to be a fly on the wall and be a part of my friend’s lives.
As a director, I needed to define myself again and tell stories about the human condition, particularly during this time. In a safe and social distanced fashion, a local DOP - Jack Saltmiras - and I went into three homes and spent a few hours documenting the spirit of our community through the lens of these people's lives.”
One hero film is divided into four detailed portraits ---
Runner and advocate Faith E. Briggs used to run through the streets of Brooklyn every morning. Now, she’s running 150 miles through three U.S. National Monuments that lay in the thick of the controversy around public lands. Accompanied by running companions who represent diverse perspectives in what it means to be a public land owner, she assesses what is at stake if previously protected lands are reduced and if the public is largely unaware. THIS LAND is a story about land access told through a journey of inclusion and empowerment.
.png)
.png)
.png){kind=icon}