WOFFF21 - the 7th Women Over 50 Film Festival

7TH EDITION 25 SEPTEMBER - 2 OCTOBER 2021

SPONSORED BY

PROUD TO BE SUPPORTED BY

WELCOME From WOFFF founder and director Nuala O'Sullivan Women Over 50 Film Festival (WOFFF) is one of the world’s first film festivals shining a light on older women, celebrating all that they bring to the world of independent film.

In 2020 we adapted to the new reality and created an online film festival that allowed us to welcome audiences from all over the world, making our WOFFF community even stronger and more diverse.

I'm delighted to welcome you to the 7th edition of our festival, sponsored by TENA. This year WOFFF is both online on eventive, and in-person in our home cinema, Depot, in Lewes.

I hope you'll enjoy all 57 films at this year's festival, learn more about the makers behind the films in 8 filmmaker Q&As, and gain insight into the life and work of 74-year-old Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung in the WOFFF21 lecture by Professor Kate Taylor-Jones.

At Depot, enjoy a live performance by poet Joy France and be energised by an all-female panel event, chaired by Rebecca Kesby.

I'd like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the filmmakers who shared their work with us this year, to our sponsors and supporters, our volunteers and Board members and to all our amazing audiences.

Together we are united in our mission to see more older women in front of and behind the camera! Enjoy #WOFFF21.

Programme 1 supported by

PROGRAMME 1

BALANCING Holding steady, falling down and finding your equilibrium

The Birth of Valerie Venus Sarah Clift | UK | 2020 Drama | 15min

The PRATT in the HAT Susan Hillary | USA | 2021 Documentary 15min

A selfless vicar's wife is possessed by a strange force, unlocking a mischievous and pleasurable side she never knew she had. The story of a woman going on a journey to make changes within herself.

Octogenarian Dr Frances Pratt owns hundreds of exquisite hats. Beneath their colourful brims is a trailblazer, social justice and civil rights fighter and a champion for the marginalized and underserved.

PROGRAMME 1

BALANCING

From pasture into hands Thury Bara Birgisdottir Iceland | 2021 | Documentary 21min

nudinits – Bernard and Barbara’s Big Ding Dong Sarah Simi | UK | 2019 Animation | 9min

Immerse yourself in the breathtaking landscape of Iceland and the fascinating world of horse rearing as Olil, Amble and Bergu work patiently and sensitively with their horses until they are ready for the saddle.

As Christmas approaches, Bernard gets his tripod out and makes some home videos. All the festive fun in Woolly Bush is caught on camera.

PROGRAMME 1

BALANCING

Mid Life: The Skin We're In Lucy Richardson | UK | 2020 Documentary | 8min

Clearing Karen Kaeja | Canada | 2021 Experimental | 4min

Mid Life pauses three fierce women at a moment in time the Menopause. Their bodies are changing and they have something to say. A poetic look at how to celebrate, survive and thrive in your own skin.

In the solitude of a pandemic morning when everything feels torn apart, the snow is falling.

The soft glow of flurries converges with the turmoil of isolation, motherhood, ageing, and identity as a dancer finds peace in challenging times.

And Yet Lucretia Knapp, Lynne Yamamoto | USA 2021 | Experimental | 3min An almost-silent film created in COVID isolation, this is a meditation on love and the inevitability of loss.

PROGRAMME 2

HIDE & SEEK Searching for someone or something, being lost or being found. Looking outside and looking inside ourselves, to find out who we really are

Screaming Goddess Cally Trench | UK | 2018 Animation | 1min

In Search of Times Past Aya Chouaib | Canada, Lebanon 2020 | Documentary | 6min

A self-portrait drawing in ink and charcoal erupts three times into a silent scream of frustration. The title is an ironic reference to the concept of a domestic goddess.

A reverie, a dreamscape, a poetic portrait of a Lebanese woman's eventful life. In this experimental documentary, 65-year-old Sultana recounts memories of her youth in a war-torn country.

PROGRAMME 2

HIDE & SEEK

Missed Call Victoria Mapplebeck | UK 2018 | Documentary | 20min

Oranges & Lemons Robyn Grace | New Zealand 2019 | Drama | 13min

How do you reconnect with a father who's been gone for so long? Exploring the many ways in which our lives are lived and archived via the phones we hold so close.

BAFTA Best Short Form Film award winner in 2019.

Sometimes staying quiet is not the way forward. Set in 1973 with a backdrop of political unrest and social change, a young girl in rural New Zealand questions her place in the world, in a search for her freedom.

PROGRAMME 2

HIDE & SEEK

When I Become Who I Am Lene Kamm | Denmark | 2020 Experimental | 10min

The Isobel Imprint Ali Grant | Canada | 2021 Documentary | 7min

Who am I when nobody's watching? A personal story about growing up as a black woman in Denmark lacking identification models. A story about loneliness and searching for belonging.

12 years after the devastating suicide of her oldest sister Isobel, filmmaker Ali Grant travels back through old letters, photos, and home movies to arrive at a pivotal moment in their intertwined destinies.

PROGRAMME 2

HIDE & SEEK

Stay With Her Yang Chen | China | 2020 Drama | 13min

#DaughterFail Krissy Mahan | USA | 2020 Animation | 5min

In the midst of a COVID-19 lockdown in China, two neighbours connect. A story of urban loneliness and the joys of art, friendship and archery. A drama created by one filmmaker in Lockdown, with his own family members as cast.

A queer story of a mother in an elder-care nursing home.

Secrets are uncovered and a reunion is thwarted by COVID-19.

PROGRAMME 3

GUIDING LIGHT Someone or something that beckons us forward, that calls us into the light

Inside Jemma Cholawo, Lois Norman UK | 2020 | Experimental 2min Sometimes it takes the darkness of a disaster to throw light on the enduring power of love. A tender reflection by filmmaker Lois Norman as she keeps her 95-year-old father close and safe at home during lockdown.

Takeaway Lou Sumray | UK | 2021 Animation | 5min A hand-drawn tale inspired by the antics of the Bowerbird and an insight into what really happens to items that so many of us throw away.

PROGRAMME 3

GUIDING LIGHT

1,000 Days Jeanette Rourke, Ron Bambridge | UK | 2021 Documentary | 22min

Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Colour Cheri Gaulke | USA | 2021 Documentary | 20min

Every 40 seconds, every day around the world a person takes their own life. Nearly 800,000 people a year globally die from suicide. But we don't talk about it.

Sangeeta Mahajan lost her only son, Saagar, to suicide.

This moving documentary follows 1,000 days without him as she breaks the silence.

Alma W. Thomas lived a life of firsts: the first Fine Arts graduate of Howard University (1924), the first Black woman to mount a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1972), and the first Black woman to have her paintings exhibited in the White House (2009). The first documentary to explore Thomas's incredible life through the lens of curators, art specialists, scholars and her family.

PROGRAMME 3

GUIDING LIGHT

The Blue Bed Alireza Kazemipour | Iran 2020 | Drama | 14min

Salvaged Love Gisela Nadasy | Sweden 2020 | Drama | 8min

On the same day that Zahra visits a temporary marriage agency, she hires a young sex worker. As they travel through the city in Zahra's car their relationship shifts as secrets unfold.

A tired couple in a tired marriage go to therapy for their daughter's sake. When they are encouraged to do something they never do, they get the wind back in their sails.

The Leaving Party Milly Garnier, Emily Bray | UK | 2019 Drama | 9min In the near future in England, the government decrees that everyone over 80 must die to save resources. As Joy's big day approaches, she rails against the tyranny of the system.

PROGRAMME 4

BELONGING Where we’ve been, where we are, and who and where we call home

There's Your Ready Girl Deborah C. Hoard, Rachel Ferro | USA | 2020 Documentary | 11min Civil Rights leader Dorothy Cotton got things done.

Throughout her long life she organised, she spoke out, she challenged the status quo.

Her largely unknown story inspires us today to embrace the power and responsibilities of citizenship.

Locked Down in West Leeds Leeds Animation Workshop UK | 2021 | Animation | 7min Isolated elderly people in Bramley go online to meet Leeds Animation Workshop and discover a creative outlet during the summer of COVID-19.

PROGRAMME 4

BELONGING

Ma Anne Marie Kelly | Ireland 2018 | Drama | 9min

Athens - My city, my 'hood Stavroula Logothettis | Greece | 2020 | Documentary | 16min

Perhaps we can all empathise with the mother of a murder victim in her grief. But how far does our empathy stretch?

In a world of smart cities, garden cities and tech cities, five Athenians show us that in the end it's people that make a city.

The Man at the Bottom of the Garden Paul Blinkhorn | UK | 2021 | Drama | 12min Jess's parents have been married for decades, but Lockdown is proving difficult.

And now her mum has a plan to get dad out of the house.

PROGRAMME 4

BELONGING

Through the Looking Glass Morgane Polanski | UK | 2020 Drama | 10min

Something Borrowed Micky Wozny | UK | 2020 Animation | 8min

Violet, an older woman with seemingly every reason to be full of joy, torments herself and appears to do the same to a younger woman. But when age begins to strip everything away from her, Violet is forced to face her biggest fear - herself.

Putting pen to paper, Violet (Jane Horrocks) can't seem to find the right words. But when she lends her pen to a hopeless young chap (Jason Watkins) a whirlwind chase ensues. Struggling to reach him, she begins to realise it's more than just words that elude her.

A CHALLENGE: Re-read this poem out loud.

As you do, hear a beat in your head, tap your feet, move your body. Let go. Add some attitude till you are rapping it! Now how did that feel?

Practically Perfect by Joy France She saw Mary Poppins at the Sunday matinee.

She was 8 years old and it blew her away.

Practically perfect in every single way, Mary’s life was Technicolour while hers was... grey.

She was a damsel in distress, tied to train tracks.

Compelled to hold back, too scared to relax, Whenever attacked, she couldn’t fight back.

Her role was to be drab, an awkward act.

Always frozen by fear, she was a scaredy cat.

All Mary had was all that she lacked.

Decades down the line she watched Thelma and Louise, Thought “Wow I’m like the old Thelma, always trying to please” And with that mind blowing thought there was planted a seed Forever to be a “bit part” or maybe one day take the lead?

Today she’s positively imperfect, modestly assertive, loves to run amok.

When obstacles get in the way, she hits them like a 10 ton truck.

When told to act her age, she just smiles and shrugs. She doesn’t give a fuck.

Quotes Mae West “A dame that knows the ropes, won’t ever get tied up” You’ve probably guessed that “she” is me. Now proud auteur of my own story, Whether dull, cautionary, full of hope and glory, An allegory or extraordinary, I am my own judge and jury.

I have found my voice and I‘m here, so don’t dare ignore me.

PROGRAMME 5

WATER OF LIFE That thing we can’t live without – water – in our rivers, in the ocean, in our blood and in our whisky

Mother Gal Kinan | Israel, Netherlands 2020 | Animation | 6min

El Habbasa – Fishing Net Dania Elmor | Egypt | 2019 Documentary | 10min

On the evening of Independence Day, lonely Solomon stands, lost in thought, on HaHagana Bridge in Tel Aviv. As the fireworks die down, a vision appears in the sky and for a brief moment, he is transported back to his childhood.

Wafaa Ghareeb El Salmon lives in Kafr el Sheikh, Egypt.

She wakes up in the middle of the night to start her daily work. She catches fish by hand and then puts them into her fishing net, her "Habbasa".

PROGRAMME 5

WATER OF LIFE

Mors Dag Jeanine B. Frost | USA | 2019 Drama | 13min Ellen's ability to keep her traumatic past at bay is challenged when she discovers her teenage daughter's period has started.

Battling memories, she navigates her own damaged self-perception to give and receive the love she and those around her need.

Dutchess of the Sea Mayke Pels, Sanne Kranenborg Netherlands | 2021 Documentary | 25min Four Dutch women in their fifties row across the Atlantic competing in the world's toughest rowing race: the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. It is a test of endurance, both physically and mentally, as they face their personal fears and flaws.

PROGRAMME 5

WATER OF LIFE

One for the Road Eileen Tracey | UK | 2020 Drama | 16min

Lay Me Low Marlene Millar | Canada | 2015 Experimental | 8min

Pub owner Ceri is one of the last remaining residents of a seaside village that has been given an expiration date. A momentous day arrives for mother and daughter. Inspired by true events.

A traditional Shaker song performed by 10 dancers, musicians and singers cuts to the heart to communicate a universal feeling of loss while evoking a paradoxical sense of intimacy.

There’s a reason people don’t swim in dresses Andrew Brooks | UK | 2021 | Experimental 2min In a light-drenched quarry pool, a woman swims in a wedding dress made of blue dishcloths.

Programme 6 supported by

PROGRAMME 6

WORK Paid or unpaid, work can make us, break us, define us.

Who are when we work? Who are when we don’t?

Trapped by Plastic Anny Tubbs | Belgium, UK 2021 | Documentary | 9min

Mitta Has Been Masking Darby Bailey | USA | 2020 Experimental | 3min

Through her work, photographer Mandy Barker shows the devastating and far-reaching impact of marine plastic pollution.

A meditation on psychological masking and our sense of self. An experiment in processing identity, an autism diagnosis and psychosis through film.

Although I Am Retired Feng Tian Xun | China | 2021 | Drama | 19min Retiree Zhang XinHua has joined a women's community choir. But fitting in with the group isn't easy for a woman who's used to flying high as the president of a local bank.

PROGRAMME 6

WORK

Night Drive Despina Athanassiadis France | 2019 | Drama | 17min

Edith Gibson has 3,000 Dolls Daisy Lawless | New Zealand 2019 | Documentary | 10min

Sabine, a 50-year-old female truck driver, works for a company that has recently been acquired by a conglomerate. Under new rules, the boss asks Sabine to go on the road for a night delivery 400 kilometres away with a new employee, 20year-old rookie Manon.

In 2009 in the heart of suburban Auckland, a widower began to collect dolls. Edith Gibson now owns 3,000 of them.

PROGRAMME 6

WORK

Nene King Louie Palomo | Canada, Philippines | 2020 | Drama 17min Nene is an accomplished retired painter living in Bulacan in the Philippines. As she tries to finish a painting, her daughter and grandson travel from the city to visit her. A story of families and secrets, about our beginnings and our endings.

Nanakorobi (Seven Falls) Glenna Burmer, Gaby Breiter USA | 2021 | Animation | 7min Based on the Japanese saying "Nanakorobi-Ya Oki", or "Fall seven times, but get back up the eighth". A girl faces seven challenges as she tries to save an orphan who is lost in the snowy woods of Hokkaido.

PROGRAMME 7

BACK TO BASICS

a:dress Clare Unsworth | UK | 2020 Documentary | 8min

The Scarecrows Dan Hodgson | Japan, UK 2020 | Documentary | 18min

This poetic film explores the environmental abuses of fast fashion through a powerful subversive catwalk of edgy, informative and vibrant garments. Join us in naming our sisters on the front line of climate violence and protest.

Japan's ageing crisis has affected almost all aspects of life. This is the story of one village's struggle for survival, as the remaining residents use seemingly peculiar methods to keep the village alive.

Walks with Me Kati Kallio | Finland | 2021 | Experimental 11min 80-year-old Sanna lives alone with her memories and houseplants. One day she looks out her window and sees something that reminds her of her friends.

PROGRAMME 7

BACK TO BASICS Regeneration, intergenerations, nature and nurture, caring for ourselves and for the land, and getting naked

(S)kin Sophie Jane Bancroft | UK 2021 | Documentary | 5min

From A Strange Land Caroline Steinbeis | UK | 2020 Drama | 7min

A film poem about the skin of a mother's hands as she becomes a grandmother and then a great-grandmother.

An inquisitive retiree pops over to say hello to her new neighbours and meets the unexpected. A story about overstepping the line and how we find common ground.

Trees Rosie Morris | UK | 2020 | Documentary | 25min In the spring of 2019, filmmaker Rosie Morris moves back home to care for her mother. In their intimate time together they reflect on the past, and a moving story of three generations of women unfolds.

The Women Over 50 Film Festival annual panel discussion Live at Depot and online Saturday 2 October, 3:30pm How has COVID changed life for older women on both sides of the camera? Is representation in film and TV better or worse since 2020?

What needs to change to welcome everyone in?

Rebecca Kesby (BBC World Service) hosts the WOFFF annual all-female panel event with guests: Dr Deborah Jermyn: Reader in Film and Television and Research Degrees Convenor (Media, Culture & Language) at the University of Roehampton Deborah Findlay: Stage, TV and film actor with a career spanning more than 40 years. Winner of the Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress and the Olivier Award for her performance in Stanley Nicola Zawadi Cross: Award-winning documentary filmmaker from Trinidad and Tobago Anny Tubbs: A lawyer with 25 years' experience in FTSE100 advisory and leadership roles, now a filmmaker living and working in Belgium Supported by

Programme 8 supported by

PROGRAMME 8

POWER Who’s got and who hasn’t got political, emotional or physical power.

Stories of how the balance of power can change in an instant or a lifetime

Joy Uncensored Natasha Hawthornthwaite | UK 2020 | Documentary | 15min

Turf Kiri Mitchell | New Zealand 2019 | Animation | 10min

64-year-old Joy France attempts to break gender and age stereotypes by competing in the brutal, youthful, maledominated world of battle rap.

A story of one woman's daring attempt to embrace life.

In a surreal world of artificial lawns and epic skies, a middleaged woman wears the coat of a detective over her militarystyle tank top. Encased in a glass dome she observes an array of characters.

Grandma’s Visit Katie Tuckwell | UK | 2020 Animation | 3min A lonely older woman goes undercover in a care home and finds surprising resources.

Can she pull off a daring rescue?

PROGRAMME 8

POWER

The Personal is Political Carol Harrison UK | 2020 Animation | 9min

The Last Celebration Adrián Ramos | Mexico | 2020 Drama | 16min

A musical animated memoir set in London 1968-73. A reflection and re-creation of the years that shaped filmmaker Carol Harrison in a time when protest and resistance were part of everyday life.

In Mexico, the Patron Saint's Day festivities are some of the most important of the year.

Esther hopes to attend, but her husband, Esteban, has other ideas. Will they take this chance to rekindle their relationship?

PROGRAMME 8

POWER

Being Me In The Current America Dmae Roberts | USA | 2020 | Drama | 14min A Black middle-class woman recounts experiences of racial profiling in Lake Oswego, Oregon during the Black Lives Matter Protests of 2020. A look at the intersections of race, gender, orientation and national origin.

The Exit Plan Angus Wilkinson | Australia, UK 2020 | Drama | 14min In an overpopulated near future, an elderly woman is visited by a young government official to check she is complying with the "Exit Plan" policy. However, when the agent interrogates her further, he soon realises she has something planned for him.

The Women Over 50 Film Festival annual lecture With Professor Kate E Taylor-Jones, Professor of East Asian Cinema, University of Sheffield The First Lady of Korean cinema, Youn Yuh-jung Youn Yuh-jung is a South Korean actor whose career in film and television spans more than five decades.

Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and a nomination for a Critics' Choice Movie Award.

Supported by

WE'D LIKE TO EXTEND OUR

THANKS TO Every filmmaker and every member of our audience who chooses to spend time with us each year.

Our sponsors: TENA British Film Institute Film Audience Network Film Hub South East The Diplomatic Mission of Flanders to the UK The Embassy of Iceland Picturehouse London Film School Depot Norton Rose Fulbright Shedunnit Epiq RØDE Crystallised Mother's Ruin Our supporters and friends: The Whickers, University of Sheffield, Professor Kate E Taylor-Jones, Carmen Slijpen The Women Over Fifty Film Festival 2021 is brought to you by: Nuala O'Sullivan, Natalie Burwell, Priscilla Igwe, Helen Selka, Felicity Beckett, Thomasina Gibson, Richard Nelson, Tom Oliver, Sean Welsh, Becky Brand, Jenny Eiken Mo, Jennifer O'Neill, Laura Rothwell

#WOFFF21 @WO50FF Spotlighting women over 50 in front of and behind the camera since 2015