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Critic’s tips for Berlin Feminist Film Week

Kicking off Mar 5 through Mar 8 at BUFA Campus, Berlin Feminist Film Week provides a platform for filmmakers frequently neglected in the industry. Our critic eyes up the diverse, cross-genre programme that marks the festival's seventh edition.

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Photo courtesy of Neue Visionen Filmverleih. Catch The Perfect Candidate as part of Berlin Feminist Film Week at BUFA Campus, Mar 5 through Mar 8.

The seventh Berlin Feminist Film Week provides a diverse selection from multiple genres, as well as workshops and panels. The open­ing film is Haifaa al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate, an uplifting fable about a young Muslim doctor, Maryam, who campaigns to win a local election. Set in a small Saudi-Arabian town, the story tackles the topic of women’s rights and observes the possibility of changing dynamics through the lens of its central character. The programme also includes a wide variety of documentaries exploring feminist experiences. Our standout is Paula Eiselt’s debut feature 93Queen, about a group of Hasidic women in Brooklyn who try to form the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in New York. As an Orthodox Jew, the filmmaker was allowed impressive and unprecedented access to the insular community and its rituals. The resulting documentary is one not to miss. As part of the festival’s retrospective section Focus Feminist Heritage, the fest will screen German cult classic Bandits, Katja von Garnier’s 1997 road movie that sees four women inmates form a band as part of their reintegration programme and escape their prison minder. It’s both a celebration of sisterhood and a portrait of liberation well worth revisiting.

Berlin Feminist Film Week | BUFA Campus. Mar 5-9.