Blue Moon

“With the narratives of iconic superheroes rooted deep in our psyches, Guevara-Flanagan exposes our cultural obsessions and shifting values through populist mediums and, in particular, the way women’s roles have been reflected over the decades.”-– ArtsHub

After its world première at the South by South West Festival in Texas, and following screenings at otherfilm festivals all over the world, we’re very excited to have the Newcastle première of this exceptional documentary about one of the very rare American female Superhero, Wonder Woman.

The film follows the fascinating birth, evolution and legacy of the Wonder Woman figure, from its creation in a comic book in 1940 by William Moulton Marston, to how she became a television hero and a famous icon. The film goes through the changes that her character went through, looking at how it mirrors the place of women in history, through wars and the feminist movement.

Featuring rare interviews with Lynda Carter herself, the incredible American feminist Gloria Steinem or the Bionic Woman actress Lindsay Wagner, this film is funny, instructive and very inspiring.

“No matter how old we get, we all have a secret stash of heroes and heroines that help us walk taller and feel stronger in our daily lives.” - KRISTY GUEVARA-FLANAGAN

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: KRISTY GUEVARA-FLANAGAN

Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s first feature-length film was an acclaimed documentary covering four years in the lives of four adolescent girls. GOING ON 13 was an official selection of Tribeca, Silverdocs, and many other international film festivals. It received funding from ITVS and was broadcast on public television in 2009.

Kristy has also produced and directed several short films, including EL CORRIDO DE CECILIA RIOS, a chronicle of the violent death of 15-year-old Cecilia Rios. It was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival. Now an assistant professor at Diablo Valley College, Kristy has a MFA in Film Production from San Francisco State University.

Read a great interview with Kristy Guevara-Flanagan about Wonder Women! here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/interview-with-the-director-kristy-guevara-flangan-and-producer-kelcey-edwards-of-wonder-woman-the-untold-story-of-american-superheroines

+ Discussion with Dr Rosemary White, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Literature, Theory and Popular Culture

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Dr Rosemary White from Northumbria University, for those who would like to discuss the film afterwards.

TICKETS
Price: £5 / £4 (conc) on the night
OR Buy advance tickets: £4.50 / £3.50 (conc) here

"... Kim Longinotto showcased a beautiful and tragic film about Tamil poet Salma. As a film critic... it's very rare that something can resonate and leave me in an overwrought state of fulfilment like this film did....I was left impassioned; I wanted to know more about this exceptional woman." - Huffington Post

This incredibly powerful documentary was part of the official selection of the Sundance Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival and Sheffield Doc Fest, and won prizes and praise all over the world. Following the story of an Indian woman who was locked up by her family for 25 years before becoming an acclaimed poet and a public figure, this film is incredibly powerful and will impassion anyone who sees it!

Indian Village

When Salma, a young Muslim girl in a south Indian village, was 13 years old, her family locked her up for 25 years, forbidding her to study and forcing her into marriage. During that time, words were Salma's salvation. She began covertly composing poems on scraps of paper and, through an intricate system, was able to sneak them out of the house, eventually getting them into the hands of a publisher. Against the odds, Salma became the most famous Tamil poet: the first step to discovering her own freedom and challenging the traditions and code of conduct in her village.

"I was desperate to tell her story, because it's happening to millions of girls all over the world, and we never talk about it. I see it as a crime that's going on worldwide that is just not acknowledged." – KIM LONGINOTTO

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: KIM LONGINOTTO

One of the foremost documentary filmmakers working today, Kim Longinotto is renowned internationally for her compelling human portraits and her sensitive and compassionate treatment of unknown topics. By seeking out, observing, and following the untold stories of women’s daily lives, she has created cinema vérité portraits of the larger society and cultural customs.

As explained on the BAFTA website:

“Dubbed 'the invisible woman' by The Guardian because, unlike fellow documentary-makers such as Nick Broomfield and Michael Moore, she prefers to remain unheard and unseen behind the camera, Kim Longinotto has been making films for 30 years.

Studying at the National Film & Television School in the 70s, Longinotto made her debut with the controversial Pride Of Place, filmed at the girl’s public school where she’d once been an unhappy pupil. Her prize-winning subjects have spanned the globe - from Divorce - Iranian Style (for which she won a BAFTA with co-director Ziba Mir-Hosseini) and female circumcision in Kenya (The Day I Will Never Forget) to Shinjuku Boys and Gaea Girls in Japan. Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, set in the remarkable Mulberry Bush school in Oxfordshire that deals with excluded and emotionally scarred children, was a rare excursion back on home soil. It won the Best British Feature at the BritDoc Festival in 2007.”

Read a wonderful interview with Kim Longinotto about SALMA here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/21829342

TICKETS
Price: £5 / £4 (conc) on the night
OR Buy advance tickets: £4.50 / £3.50 (conc) HERE

6.30pm: Panel Discussion with Regional Female Filmmakers

A panel of experienced regional female filmmakers will talk about what it's like to work in this industry as a woman, through their films and their career. Confirmed names include the very successful artist Cecilia Stenbom (photo), who recently won the “Visual Artist of the Year” Journal Culture Award (films include The Case, System, see http://www.ceciliastenbom.se/), Ellie Land, acclaimed animation filmmaker who specialises in animated documentaries (films include Centrefold and Everything was Life, see http://ellieland.com/), and the female duo behind the documentary Addicted to Sheep, director/producer Magali Pettier and producer Jan Cawood. Other names will be confirmed soon!

7.30pm: Break and Drinks

After the panel discussion we'll have drinks in the bar, an opportunity to network and talk to other fellow filmmakers!

8.30pm: Open Film Night

This will be an opportunity for local women filmmakers to bring short films they’ve made, to show them on a big screen, and to introduce and discuss them! Men are welcome to attend and watch the films!

So if you’re a woman and that you make films, whether you are an experienced filmmaker or an amateur, whether you’ve made 15 films or only ever made 1, you’re welcome to come and show your short film – the film just has to be 10 minutes long maximum.

Any questions: whitemaneproduction@gmail.com

TICKETS
Price: £5 / £3.50 (conc) on the night
OR Buy advance tickets: £4.50 / £3 (conc) here

We are very excited to hold a unique Silent Films + Live Music event with films made by women and accompanied by female local bands!

We will present a mixture of some of the best silent short films made by women, from early silents to experimental films! We will show:

- Maya Deren’s experimental masterpiece Meshes of the Afternoon (1943, USA, 14 mins) accompanied by WE, a new project by Dawn Bothwell (Pentecostal Party, https://soundcloud.com/pentecostalparty) and Susie Green (Silver Fox, https://www.facebook.com/wearesilverfox?fref=ts)

- Lois Weber’s early silent and very enjoyable film Suspense (1913, USA, 10 mins) accompanied by the duo Vanity Ward, a duo using voices, Bass, Ukulele, Guitar, Bodhran, Indian Harmonuim!

- Germaine Dulac’s experimental masterpiece The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928, France, 41 mins) + the 2 violin players Abigail Tobin Strike and Anna Jackson

- Maya Deren's At Land (1944, 15 min, USA) + the electronic pop-duo Yeah You! (http://yeahyou.bandcamp.com/)

TICKETS
Price: £6 / £4 (conc) on the night
OR Buy advance tickets: £5 / £3.50 (conc) HERE

“Charming French rom-com parties like it’s 1985” – Hollywood Reporter

Surprise hit at the French box office, winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival and nominated for no less than 13 Cesars (French BAFAs), this wonderful heart-warming comedy has an excellent soundtrack full of 1980s hits and is at once playful, hilarious, sad, surprising, joyful, and in 2 words – very touching.

Being 16 again

What would you feel if you were transported back to being 16? Imagine going back to school with your best friends, going to parties, having sex for the first time, being told off by your teachers? If you knew how your life was going to unfold in the future, would you try and change things so that your future life is different? The main character in Camille Rewinds is in that situation: she magically goes back to being 16, in 1985, and tries to fight what she knows will be her destiny.

Famous French Actors

The film is a personal tour de force for writer, director and main actress Noémie Lvovksy. Devotees of French cinema will appreciate the sprinkling famous cameos, including François Truffaut’s long-time screen alter ego Jean-Pierre Léaud (the boy in 400 Blows) as a magical watchmaker and Mathieu Almaric as a creepy teacher.

TICKETS
Price: from £8.80 to 5.50
Get tickets on the Tyneside Cinema website here