what makes a feminist film?: the first-ever girls on film festival hits melbourne

What makes a feminist film? If you’re anything like me, this question is one that has plagued you for years. Strong female characters? Well, yeah, but what does that actually mean? Does it pass the Bechdel test? Yes, of course, but is that enough? Thankfully, I got the chance to talk to Karen Pickering, feminist presenter, writer, educator, and now Director of Girls on Film, Melbourne’s one-and-only feminist film festival. If anyone had the answers, it was this woman.

Pickering was inspired to start her own film festival – despite having no experience organising anything on such a large scale – after noting her own dwindling interest in going to the movies. ‘I started to wonder – what was special about getting together in a dark room with a bunch of other adults to be really quiet for a couple of hours and have a drink and watch a film together? Why does that matter so much? Most of the film festivals I get invited to, I look at the program and I think wow, that’s a lot of films about a lot of dudes. And then I look at who has made the movies and I’m like wow, that’s a lot more dudes. And then I look at the producers, and the directors, and the director of the film festival… I just thought to myself, wow – maybe film festivals, just like all art forms and cultural practices, are maybe a bit sexist.’ After a long, inspiring conversation with some friends, Pickering decided that rather than bemoaning the lack of feminist film festivals, she was going to throw one herself. But which films would make the cut?

‘It’s subjective, obviously,’ says Pickering. ‘I’m sure that there will be films in our program that people will think are not feminist. What I looked for, and what moves me, is just an attention to women and girls as active agents in stories. Women and girls can be heroes, they can be villains, they can be complex, they can be something in between, they can be unknowable, they can be inscrutable, they can be evil. I think that when a pop culture narrative has a feminist sensibility it’s usually because it subverts mainstream heteronormative gender roles in some clever or meaningful way. There are films that focus on men, that allow men to occupy a different space to what traditional masculinity allows them, and I think those films are really feminist as well. If male or female characters can step out of the roles that are traditionally offered to them – in a subversive way or a funny way or a dramatic way – then I’m usually wondering whether or not the director or the writer is a feminist.’

It’s a broad definition, but that is what Girls on Film is all about. Pickering stressed how hard the GOFF team worked to make sure not only that their program was suitably feminist, but that they selected films that represented groups outside the mainstream. ‘I’m very proud and privileged to be able to screen Radiance and  T Is for Teacher; they’re both films that are really special to me for really different reasons, but more so perhaps really special to Indigenous Australian women and our sisters in the trans community.’ Pickering worked closely with Australian rights group Transgender Victoria to create a festival that was also a safe space for transgender feminists. ‘Feminist spaces aren’t always understood by trans people as automatically welcoming,’ says Pickering, ‘and I think that’s a great travesty. It’s something that we’re very proud at GOFF to do the opposite – to make sure that as a feminist space where we honour all our sisters, and that women and men who are feminist who want to be involved in our community can’t be bigots, basically. We built [trans-inclusivity] into the real bones of the festival.’ Pickering has paid much more than lip-service to the idea of a trans-inclusive feminism: one of the festival’s “Fairy GOFFmothers” is a trans woman, and one of their biggest events – a party aimed at young feminists held on the Saturday called Girl Germs – has a unisex nail bar and features appearances from zine writers and activists, including the creators of the fabulous Bitch, Please a zine run and written by trans women. Pickering and her team also worked hard to make the festival welcoming to other groups who fall under the broad heading of feminist – the venue is wheelchair accessible, there are Auslan-interpreted and closed-caption screenings, and special Mums-and-Bubs events for Ponyo and Whale Rider. ‘We’re just trying to make it as expansive and as open as possible,’ says Pickering, ‘so that we don’t have anyone feeling like they are not welcome at a feminist event; the only people who aren’t welcome are people who would make other people in our community feel unsafe or not valued.’

So what does a feminist film festival look like? From the start, Pickering wanted it to be like a huge party. ‘We knew it should have a lot of panels and introductions and in-conversations; it should have some live music. It should really just be a celebration of girl culture. We wanted to choose ten films from different periods that were all feminist in some way; not all made by women, but all starring women and girls and putting women’s and girl’s stories at the centre. All of the films pass the Bechdel test.’ From cult classics to under-appreciated gems, there are some truly weird and wonderful pieces of cinema included in the inaugural program. There’s the Joan Jett and Cherie Currie biopic The Runaways; documentaries on Kathleen Hanna (The Punk Singer) and transgender teachers in the American school system (T Is for Teacher); plus a double-feature of Kate Winslet’s breakout film Heavenly Creatures and the definitive black comedy of the 80s: Heathers.

‘We just had this fantasy of what a film festival would look like if it was a little bit less high-brow and a little bit more fun-for-the-sake-of-it, but also really unapologetically feminist. That’s how we came up with Girls on Film.’

Girls on Film is happening this weekend (12-14 September) in Melbourne at Northcote Town Hall. Tickets and more information available at www.girlsonfilmfestival.com