Next month Bratislava welcomes 6 Pop Up Film Residents from Egypt, Kazakhstan, Poland, and Zimbabwe
Writer-director Tapiwa Chipfupa from Zimbabwe; documentary filmmaker Diana Zhilkenova from Kazakhstan; Dublin-based animation director Agata Wieczorek; Polish producer Adrianna Redzia; Egyptian director Randa Ali and screenwriter Menna Taher. These are the participants of the Pop Up Film Residency Bratislava 2024, all women filmmakers, who will spend three weeks in Slovakia developing their new projects. Joined by Slovak films in development as part of Slovak Pop Up, this group of stellar filmmakers will have a chance to dive deeply into their films, dedicate the time to moving their respective projects forward and consult them with experienced international mentors.
Stories of women achieving autonomy and speaking up
Life On The Other Side Of The Sun is a feature debut film by Tapiwa Chipfupa. The project was selected in partnership with the Doha Film Institute and it introduces a young outspoken and free-spirited heroine Sungano, who grapples with patriarchal structures and traditions, and strange inexplicable incidents involving snakes. Zimbabwean writer and director Tapiwa Chipfupa often focuses her work on female-led stories and ways of presenting new and highly interpretive views of Africa.
“I am highly motivated by the idea of women achieving autonomy in their lives. Often culture, tradition and custom derail the destinies of many women’s lives with laws that make it impossible for them to maneuver or break free. Without a say or an ability to decide what happens or does not happen to you, one is essentially a prisoner and cannot find their own voice. As a storyteller I am mostly preoccupied with the issue of self-determination and the right to determine the course of one’s life,” says Tapiwa Chipfupa.
Diana Zhilkenova, a documentary filmmaker from Kazakhstan, will work on the first rough cut of her debut documentary feature The Cellar. Diana’s film follows a unique fight for justice of a women-led movement against violence and stigmatization in Kazakhstan. Women, who experienced sexual harassment or physical violence, open up in front of Diana’s camera to share their stories in hope to spread the word, dismantle the stigma around the topic and encourage other women from Kazakhstan to bravely step out of their fears and worries. The Cellar was selected in partnership with The Alternativa Film Project.
“The global #MeToo movement, which started in the USA, and also the movement #IAmNotAfraidToSayIt that spread in the CIS countries, sparked such a wave of protests against the stigmatization of violence victims that the world shuddered at what it heard. Over the past decade, the situation has changed in such a way that women in many developed countries have found their voice and the strength to say NO! However, this cannot be said about the situation in Kazakhstan. Little has changed for a Kazakhstani woman. She still cannot tell her truth without receiving the stigma of: ‘It’s her own fault!’” comments Diana Zhilkenova.
Residencies for Stop Motion Animation and Emerging Producer
Award-winning Polish director Agata Wieczorek brings to Bratislava her current stop-motion animation project in development called Joy. The film was selected in partnership with When East Meets West and it will follow a 5-year old Sarah, as she observes her mother going through pregnancy and giving birth to her young sibling Joy. Through the eyes of a little girl, the audience will have a chance to observe how her mother changes from a caring parent into a cold and estranged woman battling with postpartum depression.
Agata Wieczorek introduces her project: “As a Polish citizen, I witnessed the reproductive control policies happening in Poland in the last years. I witnessed a growing sense of insecurity amongst women who became pregnant and needed an abortion. I witnessed the revival of pro-life policies and saw a healthcare system which shifted from a safe space to a political tool and space of oppression. Joy proposes approaching these topics with curiosity and empathy, while not seeking to avoid showing the unsettling and often tabooed sides of maternity.”
Adrianna Redzia, Polish producer selected in partnership with Jihlava FF’s Emerging Producers 2024, will come to Slovakia to explore new opportunities for collaboration with the countries of the Visegrad region. Adrianna is a graduate of the Lodz Film School and the co-founder of Film Foundation Lumisenta. She is a member of Her DocsFoundation and Woman in Film Association, as well as a dok.incubator participant.
Adrianna Redzia shares expectations for her Pop Up Film Residency: “Film has always been a reason for me to explore and learn. It is a nomadic life that I appreciate. As a producer, I look for new opportunities for development and crave contact with other people. I like to listen to stories and even more to tell and develop them. I feel good in a group with which I share a passion and a common goal.”
Growing up as a girl in the 2000’s in Egypt
Egyptian director Randa Ali and the screenwriter Menna Taher will arrive in Bratislava as a creative duo behind their project Rock, Paper, Sea. The film is set in the summer of 2001 and follows an 11-year-old girl Maha, who is navigating her transition from childhood to adulthood. Learning to understand and to process the challenges of becoming an adult, loss and heartbreak for the first time, Maha creates her own alternate reality with imaginary friends. Rock, Paper, Sea was selected in partnership with the Aflamuna co-production platform.
Randa Ali and Menna Taher explain: “As women who came of age in the late 90s and early 2000s in Egypt, for us this project is an opportunity to reflect on our experience of girlhood and adolescence within the society we grew up in. Particularly on the realization of how gender roles are constructed, and how that burden is subtly but aggressively placed on us. It’s also a reflection on parenthood and the limitation of choices and dreams imposed on both parents and children amid times of social and economic uncertainties.”
Pop Up Film Residency is a tailor-made program created by filmmakers for filmmakers. Its Bratislava edition takes place from the 19th of August to the 9th of September 2024, and it offers its participants a unique opportunity to experience living in Slovakia as well as meeting local filmmakers and international industry professionals, who act as mentors of their projects.
Pop Up Film Residency Bratislava is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, and the cooperations with Aflamuna, the Alternativa Film Project, the Doha Film Institute, the Ji.Hlava Film Festival, and When East Meets West.