SIG: Film Group
June 30, 2021, 4:00 pm
UBC Emeriti – Film Group
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.
June 30 – Women Without Men (2009) – directed by Shirin Neshat is the first feature film by the activist Iranian exile who has produced major video installations dealing with gender issues. The film is based on the Iranian novelist Shahrnush Parsipur’s novel of the same title, which, like the film, is highly conceptual. The film focuses on four women, drawn from a spectrum of Iranian society (Zarin is a prostitute, Munis and Faezeh are middle class, and Fakhri the wife of a general). The action is set during the 1953 coup (key to understanding current Iranian politics) where the democratic government of Mohammad Mosaddegh is replaced by a US and Britain backed royalist regime. The women’s stories are told separately but they come together in a garden estate purchased by the recently separated Fakhri. STREAM VIA UBC LIBRARY CATALOGUE: SEARCH TITLE OF FILM.
To join the group, please email john.leblanc @ ubc.ca