“Artistically Reflecting on Women’s Rights Within Religion is an Act of Resistance Itself”: Arash T. Riahi and Verena Soltiz on Their CPH:DOX-Premiering Girls & Gods

Arash T. Riahi and Verena Soltiz’s Ladies & Gods is a stylishly crafted philosophical investigation that addresses an intriguing query each well timed and timeless: Can feminism and faith coexist? The brainchild of Inna Shevchenko of the Ukrainian collective FEMEN, additionally credited as author, the doc takes us on a whirlwind tour all through Europe (and NYC) with Shevchenko serving as our inquisitive information, permitting us to pay attention in as she deeply converses, debates, and gathers knowledge from different ladies. And never simply atheist activists like herself, combating faith as a vestige of patriarchal oppression, however true believers: theologians, monks, imams and rabbis, all of whom are additionally activists, both defending faith as a feminist act or reforming it to raised align with its authentic intent. In different phrases, Ladies & Gods is an arthouse “debate movie” wherein the questioning, not any onerous solutions, is the purpose, appropriately with artwork and faith each.

To be taught all in regards to the globetrotting, eye-catching (and ear-catching, with Pussy Riot and Child Volcano featured on the soundtrack) doc, Filmmaker reached out to the Austrian co-directors just a few days earlier than the movie’s March twenty third premiere.

Filmmaker: Although the 2 of you’ve got identified one another for many years, I imagine the thought for the doc really originated with Inna, who has writing credit score and introduced the thought to Arash. So how have you learnt Inna and what was her authentic pitch? Did the idea change all through the filmmaking course of?

Riahi: I first met Inna in Paris in 2012, whereas we had been taking pictures our movie On a regular basis Rise up about nonviolent types of protest. Later, after she was pressured to flee Ukraine for reducing down a big cross within the heart of Kyiv, I met her once more when she arrived in Poland throughout her escape. I adopted her journey to France; she and the Femen motion grew to become an vital a part of our movie at the moment.

Through the years we stayed in contact. In the future Inna shared her concept for a mission about ladies who had been each believers and feminists. Though these ladies opposed Inna’s and FEMEN’s strategies of protest, she wished to attach with them and concentrate on their shared objective: reworking our patriarchal society from inside. She believed that renewing monotheistic religions was a key step on this course of.

After growing the mission for a while, we ultimately approached Verena, who we each knew, to hitch us in making the movie collectively.

Soltiz: Sure, I’ve identified Inna since 2013, when she was a part of Arash’s doc On a regular basis Rise up. I admired her work and fell in love along with her countless humor. In 2018, when Inna approached me with the thought for Ladies & Gods, I knew from the beginning that this movie can be traditionally vital and larger than us.

The questions she raises within the movie had been already in her authentic pitch. In the course of the course of growth we began to form the construction, made changes throughout taking pictures, and completed the narrative within the edit.

Filmmaker: Verena has spoken of artwork having “visible opinions,” and certainly I used to be fairly struck by the grand (loud) visible artistry, in addition to the feminine empowerment soundtrack. So how precisely did your need to craft a movie by way of a “feminist lens” inform all these aesthetic decisions? (In addition to maybe your collaborator decisions, as aside from Arash you appear to have labored with an all-female crew.)

Soltiz: Beautiful to listen to that the artwork resonated with you! Inna is an activist, subsequently it was clear that our focus can be on the current moderately than the previous. So we sought out up to date artists who actively contribute to our debate.

Feminist artwork emerged lengthy earlier than the late Nineteen Sixties, but feminine artists who critique ladies’s roles inside faith stay uncommon – only a few dare to the touch such a delicate topic. When Ina Loitzl offered her tongue set up LINGUA – Speechless within the Klagenfurt Cathedral, she and the supporting priest, who aimed to strengthen the position of ladies within the church, had been met with a web-based petition demanding its rapid elimination. It was thought of an insult to God. So artistically reflecting on ladies’s rights inside faith is an act of resistance itself.

As we sadly noticed in 2015 when Charlie Hebdo — the place our protagonist, the cartoonist Coco, has labored and nonetheless works — was attacked. Twelve died and 11 had been injured as a result of their caricatures had been seen as blasphemous.

Riahi: Since we knew that our movie can be stuffed with energetic debates between sturdy opinionated ladies, we wished all the cinematic expertise to be simply as dynamic, full of life and sensual. Incorporating feminist artwork and music was a pure alternative — permitting the movie to breathe and stay shocking, not solely in content material but in addition in type.

As for our group, it’s true that almost all of the crew members had been ladies, however not all of them. We aren’t dogmatic about this. If we’re making a movie towards inflexible norms, we don’t have to create our personal by insisting {that a} feminist movie can solely be made with an all-female crew! This movie is about inclusion, not exclusion, and we took that precept significantly in our method to working collectively.

Filmmaker: How did you choose places and characters to incorporate within the movie? Have been there people you reached out to that declined to take part? Did anybody find yourself on the reducing room flooring?

Soltiz: Our characters led us to the places we traveled to. Inna had already collected plenty of contacts on account of her work as an activist, creator and journalist.

The mission began in 2018, and through manufacturing new protagonists arose whereas others grew to become inactive or didn’t wish to be a part of a movie the place, for instance, nudity is displayed. We knew that we would have liked protagonists who might maintain their very own towards Inna philosophically and argumentatively, so the preliminary analysis was very intense. What we didn’t count on was the large problem we confronted find church buildings, mosques or synagogues the place we might movie purely visible footage. This search turned out to be notably difficult since many establishments had been unwilling to interact with our matter.

Riahi: In fact not everybody we approached was ready or prepared to be a part of our movie, though many shared our objective. They had been just too afraid of their communities to criticize them, or to take part in a movie that, partially, additionally critiques their faith. Some even informed us that they admire what we and the ladies within the movie are doing however that they themselves aren’t prepared — but. They hope to achieve that time at some point.

In actual fact, we’ve plenty of fascinating materials that didn’t make it into the movie. We dream of discovering companions —streaming platforms or TV networks — to collaborate with us and switch this right into a five-part documentary collection. So if anybody out there may be , name us earlier than we name you!

Filmmaker: Since Inna has referred to the doc as a “debate movie” that was constructed as a “dialog” from begin to end, I’m guessing this utilized to the manufacturing itself as effectively. So what had been a few of the greatest challenges you confronted? Have been they inside or exterior?

Soltiz: Inna was the initiator of this mission, so we simply gave her some minor path earlier than she entered the debates. The true problem awaited us within the edit room, the place we needed to compose hours of debates into one narrative. We managed to keep away from inside conflicts fully by having very open and trustworthy discussions, making a transparent distinction between skilled and private issues. You must draw a transparent line between these two, in any other case the friendship and the collaboration are extremely more likely to undergo.

Riahi: The event course of took fairly a very long time, partly on account of Covid and the problem of discovering a co-producer outdoors Austria. One other main hurdle was the character of our matter since many funding establishments are likely to keep away from something that critiques faith, as it may possibly appear controversial on paper. Nevertheless, we knew from the beginning that our movie was about constructing bridges, not partitions. Giving up was by no means an possibility — we had been enthusiastic about making this movie. Luckily, we had been capable of carry our Swiss co-producers from AMKA Movies onboard and efficiently full the financing.

Filmmaker: Paradoxically, and horrifically, Inna was really a speaker at a debate on freedom of speech a decade in the past in Copenhagen when a terrorist opened hearth within the foyer of the venue. So is the competition taking any particular precautions in your screenings this 12 months?

Riahi: It’s really ironic that Inna is returning with this movie to the very metropolis the place, a decade in the past, somebody tried to kill her whereas she was attending a free speech convention. In fact the competition is effectively conscious of the safety challenges, and is dealing with them in cooperation with the suitable authorities.

By the best way, our final movie On a regular basis Rise up additionally premiered at CPH:DOX in 2013 and received the Viewers Award. So as soon as once more we’re again on the town. And we’re right here to ship a transparent message to those that attempt to silence free thinkers: they’ll by no means succeed. They can kill an individual, however they’ll by no means kill the deeply human need for freedom and equality.