{"id":6590,"date":"2026-03-08T22:12:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T20:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/?p=6590"},"modified":"2026-03-08T22:12:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T20:12:31","slug":"zhinochyy-dosvid-u-kino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/zhinochyy-dosvid-u-kino\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Experience in Cinema: Stories of Strength, Trauma, and Solidarity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women\u2019s themes in world cinema\u2014especially in auteur filmmaking and films dealing with social and political unrest\u2014remain among the most significant. And this concerns not only films explicitly about women\u2019s emancipation. Rather, it encompasses the multitude of everyday experiences, each revealing a different facet of what it means to be a woman.\n\nWomen\u2019s experience in cinema remains one of the key themes of global auteur filmmaking. Continuing our series of materials dedicated to Berlinale 2026<\/a>, we present a special overview for March 8, International Women\u2019s Day\u2014or more precisely, the International Day of Struggle for Women\u2019s Rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Experience in Cinema: Childhood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We would like to begin this section with the Brazilian documentary \u201cThe Fabulous Time Machine\u201d (A Fabulosa M\u00e1quina do Tempo) by Eliza Capai.\n\nThe collective protagonists of the film are girls standing on the threshold of adolescence (although the transitional moment from girlhood to youth is addressed in a separate episode). They ask their mothers and grandmothers about the past\u2014hence the \u201ctime machine\u201d that transports them to \u201clong ago\u201d\u2014and compare \u201ctheir\u201d time with \u201cour\u201d time.\n\nIt seems that the balance favors the present: girls today live in better conditions and have far greater prospects than previous generations. Yet their lives are not without their own worries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0436\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0439
A Fabulosa M\u00e1quina do Tempo | The Fabulous Time Machine | Die fabelhafte Zeitmaschine
Country: BRA 20262026
Director: Eliza Capai
Photo description: Sophia
Section: Generation 2026
File: 202609628_2
\u00a9 Carol Quintanilha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The film touches on many issues: poverty, family problems, children\u2019s vulnerability, including the tolerated sexual relationships between adult men and minors (not 16\u201317-year-olds, but 13\u201314-year-olds). Yet the film\u2019s heroines look at the world with wide-open eyes, maintaining both sobriety and a cheerful outlook on life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight-year-old Josephine (Mason Reeves) in Beth de Ara\u00fajo\u2019s film \u201cJosephine\u201d (USA) witnesses a rape\u2014and now she and her family must endure a difficult period.\n\nThe already tense wait for a court trial\u2014participation in which requires a painful family decision\u2014unfolds alongside the young heroine\u2019s psychological struggles. Having suddenly and traumatically encountered the secrets of sexuality, the child tries to integrate them into her understanding of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film is especially interesting in how it operates at the intersection of childhood and female experience. What Josephine witnesses forces her to rethink and reassess her place in the world from gender positions she had never previously recognized.\n\nA further blow comes when she realizes that virtually any woman around her may have been\u2014or could become\u2014a victim of violence. When Josephine asks her mother whether she has ever been raped and hears the expected \u201cno,\u201d she\u2014and the viewer\u2014understand that the mother is lying.\n\nThe child cannot fully comprehend this new knowledge or always apply it correctly. She stumbles and makes mistakes. Thus the central issue becomes not simply traumatic childhood experience, but how the surrounding adults help her cope with it. There is, of course, no single \u201crecipe.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Female solidarity also plays a role. Josephine herself is still too young to fully grasp it. Yet in court, alongside the victim and the young witness stands a third woman\u2014Josephine\u2019s mother\u2014who tells her daughter in a moment of doubt:\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have to testify, but I guarantee you: if you refuse now, you will regret it when you grow up.\u201d\n\nAt the same time, the film does not manipulate the idea of a \u201cwar between the sexes.\u201d In contrast to the rapist stands a protective paternal figure\u2014Josephine\u2019s father Damien (Channing Tatum), a somewhat idealized embodiment of the \u201cdecent American citizen,\u201d who actively participates in his daughter\u2019s life and helps her make the right decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only a few years separate Josephine from the heroines of \u201cSad Girlz\u201d (Chicas Tristes) by Fernanda Tovar (Mexico, Spain, France), which won the Crystal Bear for Best Film in the Generation 14plus section.\n\nPaula (Darana \u00c1lvarez) becomes a victim of sexual assault at a party. Her only real support becomes her best friend La Maestra, who feels guilty because she helped arrange the date that ended so tragically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0436\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0439
Chicas Tristes | Sad Girlz
Country: MEX, ESP, FRA 20262026
Director: Fernanda Tovar
Photo description: Roc\u00edo Guzm\u00e1n, Darana \u00c1lvarez
Section: Generation 2026
File: 202604753_1
\u00a9 Rosa Hadit Hern\u00e1ndez, Colectivo Colmena<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The film draws attention to society\u2019s deliberate blindness toward rape and its deliberately narrowed definition. Paula\u2019s perpetrator appears to be a decent young man, her teammate, genuinely interested in her. He doesn\u2019t even realize what he did wrong\u2014he simply failed to stop when he heard \u201cno.\u201d\n\nThe surrounding environment tends to take his side, because that position brings far fewer problems and consequences.\n\nA familiar situation, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To avoid giving the impression that the experience of girlhood in festival cinema is explored mainly through violence, it is worth briefly mentioning several films in comedic or tragicomic tones addressing other issues.\n\n\u201cBlack Burns Fast\u201d by Sandulela Asanda (South Africa) is a lively coming-of-age story about a South African teenager and her romantic relationship with her classmate and best friend.\n\n\u201cEveryone\u2019s Sorry Nowadays\u201d by Frederike Migom (Belgium, Netherlands, Germany) tells the story of a girl in a difficult transitional age who tries to live simultaneously in the challenging real world and in her fantasy world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0436\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0439
Tegenwoordig heet iedereen Sorry | Everyone\u2019s Sorry Nowadays | Heute hei\u00dfen alle Sorry
Country: BEL, NLD, DEU 20262026
Director: Frederike Migom
Photo description: Lisa Vanhemelrijck
Section: Generation 2026
File: 202616239_2
\u00a9 De Mensen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cMouse\u201d by Kelly O\u2019Sullivan (USA), a young woman coping with the loss of her best friend finds emotional support in an unusual friendship with the friend\u2019s mother and in love with another girl who has experienced her own tragedy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, \u201cSunny Dancer\u201d by George Jacques (UK) is, despite its difficult subject matter, a true hymn to life. Seventeen-year-old Ivy (Bella Ramsey) is sent by her parents to a summer camp for children with cancer. There she gradually finds friends and her first love.\n\nAn important message of the film is the rejection of victimizing children with cancer: despite the constant threat of illness, they live full lives and treat their condition with irony.\n\nIn a sense, the film reflects not only girlhood but also the experience of living \u201cagainst all odds\u201d\u2014which naturally leads us to the next section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Experience in Cinema: Stories of Strength<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Making a non-ironic film about the leader of a religious movement\u2014especially one as unusual as the Shakers\u2014is already a bold decision.\n\nDirector Mona Fastvold, together with co-screenwriter Brady Corbet, chose an unconventional approach by presenting the story of Ann Lee in the format of a musical.\n\nOverall, \u201cThe Testament of Ann Lee\u201d (USA) starring Amanda Seyfried is less about a religious movement and more about people\u2014especially women\u2014who, in the suffocating spiritual atmosphere of their time, found their own place and pursued their mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0436\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0439
The Testament of Ann Lee | The Testament of Ann Lee
Country: USA, GBR 20252025
Director: Mona Fastvold
Photo description: Amanda Seyfried, Lewis Pullman
Section: Berlinale Special 2026
File: 202616038_2
\u00a9 2025 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The film contains some pathos typical of the American frontier myth\u2014the rhetoric of exploration. But here the exploration is primarily spiritual. Ann Lee and her followers seek nothing less than a spiritual reformation of the \u201cbarbaric\u201d New World.\n\nIn doing so, the Shakers build their own utopian space, founding entire towns and spreading their vision of faith. The idealized, elevated image of Ann Lee is justified by the film\u2019s perspective (the story is told from the point of view of one of her followers); while sidestepping criticism of Shakerism itself, with its claim to control over the individual (\u201cOne must devote oneself to God entirely\u201d), the film offers a convincing portrayal of a society in which the spiritual sphere may prove to be the only\u2014if only imaginary\u2014realm of \u201cfreedom and truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often, rebellion and the assertion of one\u2019s right to one\u2019s own life take the form of personal relationships.\n\nDaniel Arbid\u2019s film \u201cOnly Rebels Win\u201d (France, Lebanon, Qatar) tells the story of the love between an elderly widow Suzanne and a young undocumented migrant, Osman.\n\nThe film takes place in Beirut\u2014a setting not particularly welcoming to \u201cnon-normative\u201d relationships. The differences between the protagonists are emphasized on multiple levels: age, social status, race, and religion.\n\nThe ultimate outcome of their relationship is left for the viewer to imagine. But what matters most is their act of rebellion\u2014one in which social pressure falls more heavily on the woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stories of women in theocratic Islamic societies cannot be ignored.\n\nThe opening film of Berlinale 2026, \u201cNo Good Men\u201d by Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat, tells the story of a woman (and one man) in Afghanistan shortly before the Taliban\u2019s return to power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0436\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0439
No Good Men | No Good Men | No Good Men
Country: DEU, FRA, NOR, DNK, AFG 20262026
Director: Shahrbanoo Sadat
Photo description: Anwar Hashimi, Shahrbanoo Sadat
Section: Berlinale Special 2026
File: 202613960_1
\u00a9 Virginie Surdej<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The protagonist, Naru, is a television news camerawoman\u2014already an unusual profession in pre-Taliban Afghanistan. She must constantly prove her professional competence. In this, she is helped by a journalist-investigator who almost contradicts the film\u2019s title: a nearly ideal man.\n\nThe film is light in form, humorous, and full of melodramatic moments. Yet it conveys the difficult living conditions and inequality faced by women in traditional society, as well as the dangers faced by independent media in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much darker in tone is \u201cRoya\u201d by Mahnaz Mohammadi (Germany, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Iran). The titular heroine\u2014a teacher and political prisoner\u2014is granted temporary \u201cfreedom\u201d for a few days to attend a funeral. Yet even outside her cell she remains under the watchful eye of a guard; the prison continues beyond its walls\u2014indeed, the entire Islamist Iran becomes a prison of sorts. Roya also faces a difficult choice: record a video statement expressing her \u201crepentance\u201d and secure her final release from prison, or endure the ever-increasing pressure of the penal system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0436\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0439
Roya
Country: DEU, CZE, LUX, IRN 20262026
Director: Mahnaz Mohammadi
Photo description: Melisa S\u00f6zen
Section: Panorama 2026
File: 202604675_1
\u00a9 Pak Film<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In its spirit and overall character, the situation depicted in \u201cRoya\u201c oddly recalls the Soviet persecution of dissidents: in both cases there are illegal imprisonments, torture, blackmail through threats to loved ones, constant surveillance, and finally the use of psychiatric institutions as penal facilities. The only difference, perhaps, is that in an Islamist state women are particularly disenfranchised and face additional forms of oppression and danger.\n\nThe film has a complex temporal structure, making it difficult for the viewer to orient themselves in it\u2014but this only reinforces the claustrophobic atmosphere that permeates the film. Yet the heroine is not broken and ultimately makes her own choice, which is why we include her story in this section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A reminder that not everything is ideal even in the democratic world comes in \u201cProsecution\u201d (Staatsschutz \/ Prosecution) by Faraz Shariat (Germany), about a prosecutor of Korean descent who enters into a struggle against a far-right movement. The latter has put down roots even within law-enforcement institutions, even within the prosecutor\u2019s office (a problem that, in the context of the growing popularity of the AfD party, is acquiring a particularly sharp and unpleasant relevance in Germany).\n\nIn essence, this is primarily a story about confronting the threat of far-right radicalism. We mention it here, however, because the film\u2019s heroine, Seyo Kim (Chen Emilie Yan), functions as a kind of binary opposition not only to white racism but also to the machismo of the neo-Nazis.\n\nThe film, presented in the Panorama section, won the Audience Award in the Feature Film category, which may also indicate the strong response its subject matter received from viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0436\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0439
Staatsschutz | Prosecution | Staatsschutz
Country: DEU 20262026
Director: Faraz Shariat
Photo description: Julia Jentsch, Chen Emilie Yan
Section: Panorama 2026
File: 202603082_3
\u00a9 Lotta Kilian \/ J\u00fcnglinge Film<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the context of our topic, it is impossible not to mention two films that explore themes of female solidarity and, despite differences in setting and subject matter, reveal interesting parallels.\n\n\u201cLady\u201d by Oliva Nwosu (United Kingdom) tells the story of a stern taxi driver from Lagos, Nigeria, who decides to earn some extra money by driving local sex workers to their \u201cclients.\u201d As one might expect, despite the differences between the women, Lady (Jessica Gabrielle Uja) eventually becomes both a friend and a protector to those she drives.\n\nIn \u201cFour Girls\u201d by Karen Susan (Brazil, Netherlands), set in nineteenth-century Brazil, four enslaved girls escape from a boarding school. At the last moment, however, they are joined by four students from the school itself, each of whom has her own reason for fleeing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite racial and class differences and the inevitable conflicts, the girls ultimately join forces to achieve their goal. Beyond the general idea\u2014that in order to survive in a harsh patriarchal world women must seek solidarity\u2014the two films are also united by the image of a dreamed-of \u201cplace of freedom\u201d to which one can escape.\n\nIn \u201cFour Girls,\u201d this is the legendary settlement of escaped slaves, where everyone becomes free; in \u201cLady,\u201d it is Freetown (literally, a \u201cfree town\u201d). In the latter film, however, the heroine ultimately gives up her own \u201cticket to the dream,\u201d handing it over to a pregnant friend who is a sex worker, and instead joins anti-government protests.\n\nIn other words, building one\u2019s own \u201cFreetown\u201d at home\u2014an idea that, it must be said, is far more productive, even if much more difficult to realize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Experience in Cinema: Crises<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Crises, in fact, are an inevitable component of stories about leadership\u2014as well as of many other female experiences. \u201cAt the Sea\u201d by Korn\u00e9l Mundrucz\u00f3 (USA, Hungary) tells precisely such a story.\n\nLaura (Amy Adams), a renowned choreographer and the head of a ballet company inherited from her father, returns home after completing rehabilitation following an accident caused by her problems with alcohol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0436\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0439
At the Sea | At the Sea
Country: USA, HUN 20262026
Director: Korn\u00e9l Mundrucz\u00f3
Photo description: Amy Adams
Section: Competition 2026
File: 202608333_1
\u00a9 2026 ATS Production LLC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As is typical for films of this kind, she goes through a multi-layered crisis: during her months-long absence, her family has grown distant from her, and the heroine must \u201cfight\u201d for the role of mother with her now-grown daughter (who, in turn, quietly resents her mother for her abruptly cut-short childhood); her company stands on the brink of financial collapse, and her own body no longer obeys her well enough to return to the work of her life\u2014dance.\n\nThe constant feeling of guilt for one\u2019s own imperfections, the resigned recognition of oneself as a non-ideal mother, wife, professional, and so on, is probably familiar to almost every woman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The filmmakers shift the conflict almost entirely into the inner sphere: Laura\u2019s surroundings are fairly empathetic toward her, and there is no demonization of her husband, her children, or even her business partner, who would not mind taking advantage of the opportunity to seize control of the company.\n\nIn the end, the heroine\u2019s salvation\u2014both psychological and financial\u2014lies entirely in her own hands, in her ability to pull herself together and overcome her inner crisis. One must admit that such a perspective is somewhat na\u00efve and ultimately places responsibility for all the problems on the woman herself. At the same time, however, it is hard not to appreciate its optimistic message about inner strength and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state of crisis can be explored with striking clarity\u2014and imagination\u2014in the horror genre. In particular, the \u201chorrors\u201d of motherhood provide rich material here. Being a \u201cgood,\u201d or at least an acceptable, mother remains one of the main social expectations placed on women. And navigating this can sometimes be difficult, caught as it is between the Scylla of social pressure and the Charybdis of the surrounding world\u2019s overbearing empathy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the heroine of \u201cNightborn\u201d (\u00ddon Lapsi \/ Nightborn) by Hanna Bergholm (Finland, Lithuania, France, United Kingdom), a young Finnish woman named Saga (Seidi Haarla), the experience of motherhood proves far from easy. She feels that something is seriously wrong with her child\u2014yet those around her, with the best of intentions, carefully try to ignore this and quite literally smother the young woman with their understanding and support (which, as we know, can be no less oppressive than indifference or pressure).\n\nThe film ironically portrays how a woman is effectively denied any \u201creal\u201d knowledge about her own child, since those around her\u2014doctors, parents, friends with parenting experience\u2014are the \u201creal\u201d experts and supposedly \u201cknow better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0436\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0439
Y\u00f6n Lapsi | Nightborn
Country: FIN, LTU, FRA, GBR 20262026
Director: Hanna Bergholm
Photo description: Seidi Haarla, Rupert Grint
Section: Competition 2026
File: 202616114_1
\u00a9 Pietari Peltola<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In keeping with the genre, the film plays with the physiological and psychological changes associated with motherhood: a distorted body, mood swings, fears, and shifts in behavior. While treating the heroine with understanding (especially since her fears are entirely justified), the filmmakers do not idealize her: Saga fully indulges her own selfishness, taking advantage of her husband\u2019s kindness and love (Rupert Grint) and essentially denying the child the empathy she herself expects from others.\n\nThe film belongs to the folk horror genre and therefore also explores how a woman\u2019s life experience\u2014particularly motherhood\u2014is shaped by her origins and local culture. The ability to incorporate these elements, to accept one\u2019s own nature, becomes an important message of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, horror films about the sacrifices women are willing to make for the sake of beauty have been gaining increasing popularity. Not long ago, \u201cThe Substance\u201d made a big splash, and just at the previous Berlinale the premiere of \u201cThe Ugly Stepsister,\u201d a body-horror version of \u201cCinderella,\u201d took place.\n\nHana, the heroine of \u201cSaccharine\u201d by Natalie Erika James (Australia), is a medical student who unsuccessfully tries to get rid of excess weight. When a \u201cmiracle pill\u201d that burns fat with astonishing speed falls into her hands, the girl analyzes its composition\u2014and continues producing the drug for herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hana is not even stopped by the fact that the substance in question is ash from human cremation; as the reader may guess, the consequences for her will be horrific. For this \u201cbeauty body horror,\u201d as with the previously mentioned films, what is characteristic is the dilemma in which a woman finds herself in the pursuit of beauty: on the one hand, inflated social expectations and the demand to cultivate that beauty, and on the other, condemnation when that very demand ultimately consumes her.\n\nIn this sense, the symbolic shot of the heroine lying in a pile of garbage is telling: in the end, anyone who fails to fit into often fragile and shifting standards may find themselves there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Experience in Cinema: Being a Woman<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What does it mean to be a woman? And how does the experience of being a woman ultimately shape one\u2019s life? Each of the films we have discussed touches on this in its own way. But the most complete\u2014almost to the point of absurdity\u2014expression of the idea that \u201cgender determines existence\u201d is presented in \u201cRose\u201d by Markus Schleinzer (Austria, Germany).\n\nAt the end of the 17th century, a man\u2014a former soldier\u2014arrives in a German village and claims the right to an inheritance after his mother\u2019s death. He settles down, establishes a household, earns the respect of the community, marries, and even has a child.\n\nBut\u2026 from the very beginning the viewer knows that this respectable householder is in fact a woman in disguise (played by Sandra H\u00fcller, who won the Silver Bear for the role). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0436\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0438\u0439
Rose
Country: AUT, DEU 20262026
Director: Markus Schleinzer
Photo description: Sandra H\u00fcller
Section: Competition 2026
File: 202614656_1
\u00a9 2026_Schubert, ROW Pictures, Walker+Worm Film, Gerald Kerkletz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The film shows the various tricks the heroine resorts to (and later also the girl passed off as a \u201csoldier,\u201d who unwittingly becomes an accomplice in the deception), including devices meant to replace the sexual organ she lacks (a rather psychoanalytic image!).\n\nAt the same time, Rosa is not a proto-feminist; she is a survivor. Having put on a man\u2019s clothes \u201cbecause they give more freedom,\u201d she has no ambition to criticize or reflect upon the system in which she lives\u2014which, incidentally, makes the story psychologically convincing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recalling her days as a soldier, the heroine mentions, among other things, that in order not to be exposed she was forced to rape women in captured towns\u2014indeed, this was the original purpose of the \u201cprosthetic\u201d sexual organs she used. Once again, she shows little remorse or empathy toward the victims: this too is simply part of the rules of the world in which she lives.\n\nHere rape appears as a kind of \u201cpolitics\u201d at the intersection of gender and power; in fact, it functions as a tool for demonstrating power and dominance: rape is used to show \u201cwho is in charge.\u201d (One may wonder whether Western viewers recognized here the nature of contemporary wartime sexual crimes, including those committed by Russian forces.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the film, the notion of the sacred importance of a small piece of flesh\u2014on which one\u2019s place in society depends\u2014is taken to its extreme. Rosa\u2019s story is scandalous in the eyes of those around her not because she obtained the inheritance through deception, but because she laid claim to opportunities denied to her by social laws (which present themselves as \u201cnatural\u201d or even \u201cdivine\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, we have focused on fiction films, but in conclusion we should also mention several documentaries about women and women\u2019s experiences. Let us briefly list them.\n\n\u201cSiri Hustvedt \u2013 Dance Around the Self\u201d by Sabine Lidl (Germany, Switzerland) tells the story of the well-known American writer of Norwegian origin, an influential female voice in contemporary literature.\n\n\u201cBarbara Forever\u201d by Brydie O\u2019Connor (2026) recounts the story of filmmaker Barbara Hammer, a pioneer of lesbian cinema.\n\n\u201cTwo Mountains Weighing Down My Chest\u201d by Viv Li (Germany, Netherlands) is a self-portrait of an artist living at the intersection of two worlds, Chinese and Western, essentially feeling at home in neither; she reflects on this experience through her art\u2014including in this film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Siri Hustvedt \u2013 Dance Around the Self
Country: DEU, CHE 20262026
Director: Sabine Lidl
Photo description: Siri Hustvedt
Section: Panorama 2026
File: 202603166_1
\u00a9 Medea Film Factory<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Barbara Forever | Barbara Forever
Country: USA 20262026
Director: Brydie O’Connor
Photo description:
Section: Forum 2026
File: 202604921_1
\u00a9 the Estate of Barbara Hammer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another instance of artistic self-reflection\u2014though not in the form of a cinematic self-portrait, but rather a portrait of a deceased friend\u2014is \u201cYo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)\u201d (Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)) by Anna Fitch and Banker White (USA), which we have written about earlier.\n\nThe Kazakh film \u201cDreams of the River\u201d by Kristina Mikhailova presents a collective portrait of a resident of Kazakhstan.\n\n\u201cSometimes, I Imagine Them All at a Party\u201d (Was an Empfindsamkeit bleibt \/ Sometimes, I Imagine Them All at a Party) by Daniela Magnani M\u00fcller (Germany) reconstructs events experienced by the filmmaker herself, who once survived persecution and an attempt on her life.\n\nAnd of course, one cannot fail to mention the Ukrainian film \u201cTraces\u201d<\/a> by Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0431\u0435\u0440\u043b\u0456\u043d\u0430\u043b\u0435
Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird) | Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)
Country: USA 20262026
Director: Anna Fitch, Banker White<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This, too, is a \u201cstory of strength,\u201d a kind of response to the politics of rape as a \u201cright of power\u201d mentioned in \"Rose\". Unlike the briefly referenced anonymous victims there, here the women who suffered violence move to the foreground\u2014and possess undeniable agency; moreover, they act. They were meant to be shown \u201cwho is in charge,\u201d but instead they themselves demonstrate that they remain the masters of their own fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of the films we have discussed (as well as those that could not be included in this overview due to space constraints) offers its own angle, its own perspective on women\u2019s experience. Of course, the subject is inexhaustible\u2014but the selection presented here already provides many interesting examples of how this theme can be explored.\n\nThese films, of course, do not claim to \u201cchange the world,\u201d yet within their own field they contribute to making that world at least a little better and safer for women.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u0416\u0456\u043d\u043e\u0447\u0430 \u0442\u0435\u043c\u0430\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0430 \u0432 \u0441\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043e\u0432\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u043a\u0456\u043d\u043e, \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0443\u0441\u0456\u043c \u0430\u0432\u0442\u043e\u0440\u0441\u044c\u043a\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u0442\u0430 \u043a\u0456\u043d\u043e \u0441\u043e\u0446\u0456\u0430\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e-\u043f\u043e\u043b\u0456\u0442\u0438\u0447\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043d\u0435\u0441\u043f\u043e\u043a\u043e\u044e, \u043b\u0438\u0448\u0430\u0454\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f \u043e\u0434\u043d\u0456\u0454\u044e \u0437 \u043a\u043b\u044e\u0447\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0445.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[189],"tags":[351,57,175],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-6590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-berlinale-2026","tag-peremozhczi-festyvaliv","tag-festyvalne-kino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6607,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6590\/revisions\/6607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6590"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=6590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}