Ella Bee Glendining was born with short legs. This did not stop her from dancing, drawing, having a child, and, today, from making a documentary on the right to be different, Is There Anybody Out There?which is presented at the opening of the Les Filministes festival, with French subtitles.
What her documentary demonstrates is that Ella Bee Glendining suffered first and foremost from her uniqueness. She searches the world, through her computer screen, for someone who has the same legs, the same body as her. During her research, she noticed how she was mainly offered solutions to remedy her disability, through limb extension operations, each more complex than the last.
Since his birth, however, it has been established that these operations were not indicated in his case. The question that runs through the documentary is: “can I simply be what I am?” Or do I absolutely have to normalize myself? “.
With this opening night, the Les Filministes festival once again gives a voice to people living on the margins, barely visible on our screens. “We are trying to offer a counterbalance to the current film offerings, by really giving space, in all our screenings, to people who we consider under-represented in the film industry,” explains Anne-Julie Beaudin. , who co-directs the festival with four other women. We talk as much about women, non-binary people, racialized or indigenous people or people with disabilities. We bring the stories of these people to the screen, both through the directors and through the stories themselves. »
Carried mainly by women, the Filminists’ proposals relate as much to the eviction of a queer community from a building in Montreal (EvictionMathilde Capone, 2023), what resistance in occupied territory, including Palestine, or even the fate of a non-binary person, Gena Marvin, in Russia (Queendom, Agniia Galdanova, 2023). In 2021, Gena Marvin notably performed in support of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny.
After each performance, a panel of experts, academics or activists, is brought together to debate the subject and answer questions from the public. During the opening evening, the debate will be launched on accessibility for people with disabilities in a city like Montreal. There we will find the artist Maxime D. Pomerleau, Catherine Théroux, journalist for AMI Télé, and the activist Alicia-Ann Pauld, who has already spoken publicly about the fact that nightlife is particularly inaccessible to disabled people in Montreal. “We want to discuss everything that concerns access to businesses, access to employment and treatment with respect and dignity in the medical journey of these people. So these are issues on several levels,” continues Anne-Julie Beaudin.
The festival program now also includes a section introducing children to feminist issues, the Filminis. Its Filminounes, for 18 years and over, return this year to the L’Amour cinema, with a program that aims to free pornography from its stereotypes.
Born from a group of women who were first students at UQAM, the Les Filministes festival has taken off independently since 2017.
Les Filministes, in different cinemas in Montreal, from March 6 to 17.