Refractions of Violence
7 short filmsFEMINIST FRAMES is an international network of feminist filmmakers making independent films in creative dialogue with diverse artistic disciplines.
The goal of FEMINIST FRAMES is to create a network of mutual support, co-creation, and resource sharing, as well as being a space for feminist reflection on filmmaking.
During the last two editions of the Festival dei Popoli (Florence, Italy), FEMINIST FRAMES curated a series of screenings of films by female directors, dedicated to feminist and militant themes.
In July 2025, FF hosted its first week-long Summer Residency, in Gombola (Modena, Italy), with special guest Claire Simon.
During these meetings, FEMINIST FRAMES experimented with co-creation and support methodologies in diversity.
The following are part of FEMINIST FRAMES: Guliz Saglam, Soheila Javaheri, Elli Vassalou | The Post Collective, Mirra Markhaeva | The Post Collective, Lisa Çalan, Giulia Cosentino, Mariangela Ciccarello, Tuğba Yaşar, Claudia Tosi, Oliwia Tado, Rosa Barotsi, Margherita Monti, Valeria Weerasinghe, Chiara Caterina, Nagehan Uskan, Ahu Ozturk, Elif Yiğit, Ro Caminal, Geli Mademli, Ruken Ergüneş Özdemir, Sophia Farantatou.
Part of the group had already met previously during the three-year project Purple Meridians (2020-2023), funded by Eurimages.
FEMINIST FRAMES is supported by the research project IMFilm: Filmmaking Cultures Beyond the Industry (Funded by the European Union — NextGenerationEU), at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
- Film
- Review info
- Other reviews
In a drop
Torn between two cultures, a girl falls into an imaginary jungle to escape her everyday life.
The enchantment
The voices of five women fill the sound space of the film, weaving the threads of a plot
Bitter September
After the murder of Greek-American LGBTQ activist Zak Kostopoulos, his childhood friend Sophia Farantatou returns to Greece.
Msaytbeh, The Elevated Place
After twenty years of absence, Rawane Nassif returns home to Msaytbeh, Beirut.
Bled el Siba (Rebel Land)
Bled el Siba is the name given in Morocco to the lands that refused to accept the authority of the Sultan, and therefore, that of the colonizers. A historical journey marked by the Irzan female poetic tradition.
SÎSEBAN
>>>Watch the 360° video of SÎSEBAN<<
A young woman sits alone on her bed, tense, angry, and desperate. The wheelchair that should be right next to her is just a meter away.
Synopsis
When she dreams of equality her voice often becomes harsh;
she always dreams of revolt, sometimes of revenge– Rossana Rossanda, The others
In November 2025 we organized a workshop at the Festival dei Popoli in Florence with the director Isa Willinger, whose documentary No Mercy (2025) – screened during the festival – reiterates a provocative statement once made by one of the most important female directors of the Eastern bloc, Kira Muratova.
According to Willinger's account, Muratova initially thought the idea of women making diverse films was nonsense.
She changed her mind after a trip to the Créteil International Women's Film Festival, where she noticed that women make crueler films.
Willinger asks a constellation of some of today’s most important female and non-binary filmmakers to respond to this provocation: Ana Lily Amirpour, Catherine Breillat, Jackie Buet, Margit Czenki, Virginie Despentes, Alice Diop, Valie Export, Nina Menkes, Marzieh Meshkini, Mouly Surya, Céline Sciamma, Joey Soloway, Monika Treut, and Apolline Traoré.
The directors disagree with each other, just like we do.
Some reject the discussion of difference as a slippery slope toward simplifications that can be dangerous and deterministic; others draw connections between women's social position and the desire to confront the violence to which they are subjected.
Their reflections and ours push us to further question our relationship with violence.
Violence can be seen as a mirror: to be denounced, analyzed, calmed, used as a weapon against the cruelest injustices.
It echoes in the mundane textures of everyday life in ways small and large.
It traps us in ways we may not fully anticipate or recognize.
This collection of films extends this question to the multiple angles through which violence crosses our lives.
