Girlhood (film)

Girlhood (Frankrijk, 2014) 
Direction: Céline Sciámma 

With Portrait de la jeune fill en feu (2019) director Céline Sciámma showed that her previous films had not been lucky shots, like her film Girlhood (French title: Bande des filles). Sciámma is interested in how women are portrayed and takes the utmost care when doing so herself. From her screenwriting and camerawork to the way she directs actors, everything is geared towards the portrayal of characters as 'real’women and ‘real’ girls, not flattened cliches. In Girlhood the audience meets Marieme, who is young, shy and lives in a part of Paris where criminals abound. She doesn't have a lot of options in life, but Girlhood is never demoralizing or predictable. Sciámma simply shows what is there, and in a way it's also up to the viewer, if they see opportunities for Marieme or not. In other words: an active viewing experience.  

The film will be introduced by film scholar Thomas van den Berg.

Thomas van den Berg is a musician, performer and composer; former film scholar and programmer, videographer, photographer & writer. Thomas is a cultural glutton and film nerd and loves to share his enthusiasm. After completing his master's degree in Film Studies cum laude (his thesis culminated in the publication “Film Studies in Motion,” prior to that he collaborated on Palgrave Macmillan's “Women Screenwriters”) he worked as a programmer, writer, videographer and photographer at film platform Cinetree. At various universities and festivals, he has been a guest speaker, moderator, panel and jury member. He loves all film: be it Japanese avant-garde, Iranian New Wave, or a pulpy American romcom. As a musician and composer, he provides theater, video installations, performances and film with music (including in collaboration with Groningen/Amsterdam collective Kinetophone).