THURSDAY 28TH MARCH | CCA GLASGOW | GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

FRIDAY 29TH MARCH |  LAURISTON  HALL  EDINBURGH  | GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

Doors Open 7.30pm, Films start 8pm

Make your way in, CinemaAttic is back in town with MUJER(ES)!

On top of our all-year-round commitment to highlight female talent, we dedicate a special month to celebrate our favourite films made by or about women once a year, so here it is, once again MUJER(ES) returns to Scotland! This year we are delighted to welcome one of the rising stars of Scottish film industry. An Edinburgh College of Art graduate, Spanish director Inma de Reyes will join us for both screenings in Glasgow and Edinburgh for a post-screening discussion.

What at CinemaAttic we call the MUJER(ES) season, goes beyond female direction, however. Naturally, most of the films we selected will be directed, shot or produced by women, but the programme will also concern itself with females as protagonists, the variety of female perspectives, psychology or even different manifestations of what they call the female gaze. That’s because we are keen on every female footprint left in the world of the first-class cinema. In order to emphasize the plurality of it, we decided that we are going to make a minor technical change in the title and from now on call it MUJER(ES), instead of simply MUJERES, because one woman will never represent all.

We like to reach far and wide, so you will have the chance to enjoy a selection of very different works ranging from fiction, to experimental mockumentary, to documentary, reaching from Madrid to Beirut. All of the films are made by young, promising talent within the past 2 years. So sit back and hug your Estrellas – we are taking you on a truly picturesque ride!

The screening of Matria (2017) has been a definite, unanimous YES for over a year now, just sitting on the edge of the seat there, waiting for the right moment. We could have programmed it for the Portugal/Galicia strand last year, however, it is such a powerful portrayal of a Galician woman that it knocked us off our feet – it had to go into MUJER(ES). Kudos to Álvaro Gago, a male director with an acute sense of empathy and truth, which serves humanist ideas along with the feminist in equal measure.

Overall, the MUJER(ES) programme this year is quite striking in its sincerity. Take for example La Última Virgen (2017), a little glimpse into the modern teenage girl world, where sex arrives on the wave of peer pressure before a 13-year-old has even had a decent chance to feel a natural calling for it. Popular culture imposes brutal new standards that don’t always go hand-in-hand with mental health or maturity. It makes you wonder who is ultimately responsible for these decisions.

Similarly, To Be a Torero (2018) is questioning certain popular old Spanish traditions and their place in the lives of children, however also keeps a healthy distance from being judgemental. A highly promising new Spanish female director based in Edinburgh Inma de Reyes is offering a hot-out-of-the-pan documentary short that has been an instant success in Sheffield Documentary Film Festival and earned her a proposal to turn it into a feature. She’s got a great eye for detail, and so does her cinematographer – the work is truly excellent, the story flows with ease, the cinematic language is quietly bewitching.

Speaking of which: we’re also proud to present a curious short Tshweesh (2017) from a Lebanese female director Feyrouz Serhal, inviting you for a dreamy look-around into the Middle East, also boasting a bouquet of peculiar wee details. The Beirut of Tshweesh and the Beirut of Capernaum (2018) (which is currently screening in big cinemas and is also, incidentally, made by a female director), are two apples from the same tree, Tshweesh being the smaller, softer and a tad sweeter of the two. How often do we come across a Lebanese film?

Or, for that matter, how often do we come across a film about a Chinese expat community in Madrid? Wan Xia. The Last Light of the Sunset (2018) by Silvia Rey takes an unusual tour into a small crimson room of socialism, ping-pong, leaky ceilings and ghosts..

Intrigued? So are we! Discover all the MUJER(ES) treasures CinemaAttic has prepared for you on the last week of March:

THURSDAY 28TH MARCH | CCA GLASGOW | GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

FRIDAY 29TH MARCH |  LAURISTON  HALL  EDINBURGH  | GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

Doors Open 7.30pm, Films start 8pm