Film Group April 28, 2021

Series Twelve – Ecofeminist Warriors

The films can be screened via the streaming sites listed with each film

Zoom discussions of each film will take place on: April 28, May 26 and June 30 at 4pm

Hosted by John LeBlanc

Series Twelve: Ecofeminism addresses the relationship between human beings and their surrounding world from a gender-based perspective, insisting upon equality for women within a patriarchy-dominated society while also demanding the ethical treatment of a nature suffering a similar patriarchal oppression.  Unlike Hollywood films (such as Interstellar) that present the relationship with nature from the perspective of patriarchal elites, which devalues human and natural diversity and democracy, ecofeminist films emphasize that we live in harmony with nature, instead of dominating it, with women playing a strong role in redressing that imbalance.  The first two films in the series (Spoor and Woman at War) feature examples of strong European women who defy their entrenched social orders to achieve their ecofeminist goals.  The third film (Women Without Men), situated in the strongly patriarchal culture of Iran, provides a more nuanced, artistic consideration of ecofeminist activism.

April 28 – Spoor (Pokot) (2017) – directed by Agnieszka Holland, who for 40 years has directed film and TV throughout the world, is one of her less seen but highly interesting native Poland films.  Set in the beautiful contemporary rural southwest Poland, the film is an ingenious twist (but not without humor) on the thriller genre, reworking Polish Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk’s novel, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead as it tells the story of Janina, a 60+ woman, played by well-known Polish stage actor Agnieszka Mandat, who investigates a series of strange deaths in her neighbourhood.  STREAM VIA UBC LIBRARY KANOPY.

To join the group, please email john.leblanc @ ubc.ca