I WANT TO MAKE A FILM ABOUT WOMEN

A queer, speculative, documentary love letter to Russian constructivist women. It asks what the revolutionary women artists of the 1920s said, what they did, and what they might have created had it not been for Stalin's suppression.

I want to make a film about women is a speculative documentary love letter to Russian constructivist women. The new Soviet Union of the 1920s championed equality for women and great innovation in the creative arts. Until it didn't. Looking back at that time, history remembers the men who were celebrated and then shut down. But women were there, too, and they were influential, powerful and brilliant. I want to make a film about women gazes in to a creative communal kitchen and watches these women transform it into a workshop, then a stage set, then a film, all the while juggling noisy men and the wolves of history. It imagines what the revolutionary women artists of the 1920s said, what they did, and what they might have created had it not been for Stalin's suppression.

"Ambitious and masterful mix of forms" – Sydney Film Festival jury.

"Stunning in every way. Every element ... works innovatively together to ignite the importance of suppressed filmmaker Esfir Shub and her colleagues in the Soviet Union. It's a film of innovative brilliance, celebrating the inexhaustible, essential tenacity of suppressed artists everywhere." – Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, USA.

VIEW TRAILER HERE: vimeo.com/953880111

Available on DVD as part of An Editor's Anthology (3 short films by Karen Pearlman). See www.roninfilms.com.au/video/858/0/18585.html for further details about the anthology.

Available as a separate digital file for screenings and streaming.

This short documentary is part of Dr Karen Pearlman's ongoing research, which is interrogating the standard film histories and bringing to light the significant and overlooked contributions made by women editors.

Written, Directed & Edited by Karen Pearlman ASE
Produced by Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman
Starring: Victoria Haralabidou
Featuring: Liliya May, Inga Romantsova, Violette Ayad, Ever Sliter, Nadia Zwecker,
Tug Dumbly and Richard James Allen
Dancers: Jay Bailey, Clémence Dugué, Clarissa Harrison, Olivia Kingston, Billie Moffat
Cinematography by Meg White
Production Design by Valentina Iastrebova
Costume Design by Valentina Serebrennikova
Visual effects by Pavel Trotsenko
Sound Editors: Leah Katz, Andy Wright
Music by Caitlin Yeo
A Physical TV Company Production

Awards

WINNER: Best Documentary - ST KILDA FILM FESTIVAL, Melbourne, Australia, 2020

WINNER: Best Director - CINEFESTOZ FILM FESTIVAL, Western Australia, 2020
Section: Inaugural CinefestOz Short Film Awards

WINNER: Creative Achievement Award - BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Brisbane, Australia, 2020 (Section: Short Film Awards)

WINNER: Best Direction of a Documentary Short Subject - AUSTRALIAN DIRECTORS' GUILD AWARDS, Sydney, Australia, 2020

WINNER: Silver Medal, Short Film (for Meg White), - AUSTRALIAN CINEMATOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, NSW Branch, 2020

WINNER: Best Documentary - History
WINNER: Best Docudrama
ATOM (Australian teachers of Media) AWARDS, Melbourne, Australia, 2020

WINNER: Best Short: Pride Parade - SCAD SAVANNAH FESTIVAL, Savannah, Georgia, USA, 2020. Section: Shorts Spotlight.

WINNER: Best Doco Short - SYDNEY WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Sydney, Australia, 2020

WINNER: Best Short Non-Fiction Film Award - MULTICULTURAL FILM FESTIVAL, Melbourne Australia, 2021

WINNER: Best Director - WIFT V-FEST Online Women's Film Festival, Brisbane, Australia 2021

WINNER: Jury's Citation Award, THOMAS EDISON BLACK MARIA FILM FESTIVAL, 2021

WINNER: Special Jury Mention - Short - SEBASTOPOL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL, Sebastopol, USA, 2021

WINNER: Award of Excellence Special Mention: Documentary Short - THE IMPACT DOC AWARDS, La Jolla, USA 2021

WINNER: Catherine Martin Costume Design for a short film, music video or web series award, AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION DESIGN GUILD AWARDS, 2021

WINNER: Festival Awards for Outstanding Achievement: Short Film - NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL, Newport Beach, USA, 2021

WINNER: Best Director, Best Production - FIRST WOMEN FILM FESTIVAL, Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran, 2022

WINNER: Women in Focus - Best Film
WINNER: Women in Focus - Best Documentary
Paris In Love Film Festival, Paris, France, 2023

WINNER: Inspiring Change Short Film Competition,
Tasmanian Breath of Fresh Air (BOFA) Film Festival, Launceston, Australia 2023

Reviews

"Karen Pearlman, whose artistic career has spanned everything from dance to an indispensable textbook on film editing (Cutting Rhythms), completes an ambitious, lively trilogy on Russian women in the "Soviet montage" period with I want to make a film about women. It recreates, in a suitably stylised way, the close-knit circle of creative women including montage master Esfir Shub – 'cultural workers' who literally turned their kitchens into laboratories for inspiring, revolutionary art. - Adrian Martin, Screenhub

'This is a well-researched, intelligent and playful imagining of creative workers, how their ideas and practice might have inspired each other, and it works to diffuse history's favoured story of the dominant male author... I want to make a film about women 'is not just about what happened, but the what ifs. What if this potential was not supressed by the politics of the time? It relocates the 'less visible' work of women revolutionary artists (which strangely enough is highly visible if we only observe and acknowledge it), to a place it deserves. It is research in action, and a film that brings to life ground-breaking filmmakers. It is also wonderful entertainment.' - Sarah St Vincent-Welsh, "Reclaiming women's position in film making history", Rochford Street Review, June 09, 2020
rochfordstreetreview.com/2020/06/09/flashes-of-thoughts-and-emotions-sarah-st-vincent-welch-reviews-three-films-by-karen-pearlman/

'Karen Pearlman's trio of films rediscovering the work of Soviet women filmmakers are a joy to watch. Each of them is evocative and taut—illuminating and imagining the lives of the amazing women who have had such a (relatively unknown) impact on film, but also providing insight into the creative process and into the critical importance of women's work through the Stalin era and beyond.

'Collectively, the films present a compelling story of quiet tenacity, talent, and artistic determination. The films are all exquisite, featuring a distinctive blend of narration by Pearlman overlaying an Expressionist montage of documentary images, storytelling, and visual imagery to create seamless shifts between past and present, inner life and outer, and the creative process versus the finished film.' - Magdalena Ball, "A review of Karen Pearlman's Woman with an Editing Bench, After the Facts, and I want to make a film about women", Compulsive Reader, August 9, 2020: www.compulsivereader.com/2020/08/09/a-review-of-karen-pearlmans-woman-with-an-editing-bench-after-the-facts-and-i-want-to-make-a-film-about-women/

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