September 30th and October 1st 2022

I am terrified by this dark thing that sleeps in me
Sylvia Plath

We open the eighth edition of Feminist Film Manifestos with a line from the poem Elm, written by Sylvia Plath in April 1962. Constitute this edition filmmakers who, like the North American writer, have channeled through art fears and anguish, but have also used it to express discoveries and rebellion around the discomforts born in a patriarchal, heteronormative, capitalist, and neoliberal panorama. The pieces of this program recover the memory of psychiatrized women as well as many others who have lived through experiences related to mental health.

Thus, they link their stories to the constrictive pattern that society has imposed, over the decades, on women’s bodies and actions. They also analyze the vigilant and punitive role of the psychiatric institution as a space of reclusion for dissidence, demonstrating the close relationship between the political and the mental. They outline survival strategies based on collective resistance, from networks of mutual support, tenderness, and activism.

Full program here.