Gaea Girls (Under the Sun)
Bashful Takeuchi Saika, a trainee wrestler at Gaea Japan, is drawn to this brutal sport, because 'I can show my frustration.'
Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams plunge into the often brutal world - both physically and verbally - of Japanese fighting women. Longinotto has spoken about her aspiration to draw viewers into unfamiliar communities around the world:
'I want to make films which create a situation where the audience gets close to another individual, often from a completely different background, and feel a shock of understanding. I want the whole experience to be a strong and emotional one.'
In Gaea Girls, a gripping story is gradually revealed as scenes unfold apparently at their own pace. The gentle pacing of the film is in contrast with the often tough subject matter, with some bloody scenes that some viewers may find hard to watch.
As is characteristic in Longinotto's films, a little patience may be asked of the viewer - to adapt to the lack of easy explanation and difficult questions that her films raise - but inevitably the audience becomes immersed in the stories she depicts.
Longinotto's films cover an eclectic range of people from different countries - including Iran, USA, Japan and UK - and her sympathetic curiosity about diverse communities is reminiscent of the globetrotting programmes of Louis Theroux. Her work, though, has been trickier to view - often seen on the festival circuit and then tucked away in late night slots on television.
Observational documentary featuring a school outside Tokyo that trains young Japanese women to wrestle but not in the Sumo style. Follows their physically and mentally gruelling regime, focusing in particular on one trainee, Takeuchi, who is trying to prove herself.
Follows the fortunes of a group of young Japanese women undergoing a mentally and physically gruelling training regime in a wrestling school. The chief coach is a professional fighter, whose own career depends on her popularity as a personality and a winner. Her attitude is uncompromising, offering no comfort to those who display a hint of sympathy towards their opponents. Concentrates on two of the least likely students, one who is unmotivated and unfit, and the other who suffers from low self-esteem. Shown on BBC2 in March 2002 in the
`Under the sun' series.
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The Camera Is Ours: Women Documentary Filmmakers
Most leading documentary filmmakers in Britain today are women - a stark contrast with feature film directors who, despite some progress in recent years, are still overwhelmingly male. But prominence in documentary wasn't handed to women on a plate: a debt of thanks is due to the determination and resourcefulness of previous generations of women to seize the camera and film their own stories.
Women have been pivotal to British documentary filmmaking since the 1930s. It might be a man, John Grierson, who is remembered as 'the father of documentary', but the movement he founded made (some) space for women too, including two of his sisters, Ruby and Marion, who told her brother, 'The trouble with you is that you look at things as though they were in a goldfish bowl. I'm going to break your goldfish bowl.' Marion went on to do just that, alongside others of her generation, such as Jill Craigie.
This collection focuses on what we could call a 'second generation' of women documentary filmmakers who emerged from the 1970s and 80s. Notable among them is Kim Longinotto, one of Britain's most prolific and accomplished documentarists whose work over more than 40 years, has explored women's experiences in unfamiliar contexts and cultures. Also featured are the work of collectives and workshops such as the Sheffield Film Co-op who, with the help of more affordable and easy-to-use video equipment, sought to extend the tools and skills of filmmaking to women who would never otherwise have had such opportunities. The resulting films highlight how their practical feminism brought new voices, perspectives and approaches to documentary, and told new stories with fire, wit and humanity.
9 videos in this collection
1
2
Eat the Kimono
3
A Peace of Her Mind
4
Gaea Girls
5
Life and Death on Exmoor
6
Rossington - A Pit with a Future
7
Jill Craigie / Rosamond Lehmann
8
I Look Like This
9