Join us for the launch of Women Aren't Funny, a season celebrating 13 films directed & written by women, from different nationalities, spanning from the 1940s to now.
We're kicking things off with an event that will combine a good ol' party with an interesting conversation to contextualise the many layers of the season.
Sip on a special themed cocktail, as Kheski Kobler, an internationally award-winning drag clown and performance artist, takes the floor for an alternative burlesque performance, unlike any you've seen before.
After this, we will head into the screen for Dance, Girl, Dance by Dorothy Arzner, who was, for some years, Hollywood's only working female director. The screening will be introduced by film curator Caroline Cassin, who will discuss Arzner's career, and touch on the power of her further collaborations with other women in the industry.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion, bringing together women curators, actors, and directors to contextualise the historical lack of representation for female filmmakers, while celebrating the advances that have been made.
Timings:
19:00 Doors open, cocktails & mingling
19:45 Burlesque performance by Kheski Kobler
20:00 Introduction by Caroline Cassin
20:10 Screening of Dance, Girl, Dance
21:40 Panel start
22:15 Expected end time
Tickets are £15, and restricted to 2 per member - meaning you can bring a non-member friend for the occasion.
Please note: due to the nature of the burlesque performance, this is an 18+ event.
You can find additional regular screenings of Dance, Girl, Dance here.
Confirmed panelists:
Melanie Iredale (she/her) is a film curator and cine-activist. Before joining the team in 2021, Melanie was Deputy Director of Sheffield DocFest, and prior to that Director of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival. Her exec credits include REBEL DYKES and Jury positions include the Teddy Awards at Berlinale.
Caroline Cassin is a film and cultural events programmer, who recently graduated with an MA in Film Studies, Programming and Curation from the National Film and Television School. Caroline hosts monthly pre-Code cinema series, Women & Cocaine, at the Cinema Museum in London, and she curated the recent retrospective on Dorothy Arzner at the BFI. Her projects explore and re-examine women’s history in the film industry, both behind and in front of the camera.
Hannah Hamad is Reader in Media and Communication at Cardiff University, School of Journalism, Media and Culture. She is the author of Postfeminism and Paternity in Contemporary US Culture: Framing Fatherhood (New York and London: Routledge, 2014) and Film, Feminism and Rape Culture in the Yorkshire Ripper Years (London: Bloomsbury/BFI: forthcoming).
Cast:
Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, Virginia Field