No Mercy: Female Gaze and the Film Industry

“The truth is, women make the harsher films,” iconic director Kira Muratova told young director Isa Willinger. In the documentary No Mercy, Willinger meets some of the most prominent female directors of our time and discovers how women and non-binary people portray gender and power, as well as violence and desire. Through an accompanying discussion with female film workers, film scholars, and film critics, we will discuss the so-called “female gaze” in a world shaped by patriarchal and colonial narratives. How much does the perspective change if a woman is in front of or behind the camera? To what extent does the film industry perpetuate oppressive patterns of behaviour towards women through discriminatory employment practices and traditional separation of powers? Is inequality in gender relations ingrained into the very structure of film language, and how can we realize changes on and off the screen?

WITH: Petra Belc Krnjaić, Maja Prettner, Iva Rosandić, Jamillah Van der Hulst, Isa Willinger

HOST: Dina Pokrajac 

Saturday, 25 April, 15.30 (Dokukino KIC, Preradovićeva 5)