Screen capture of the short film “Ballet After Dark” - Screen

capture

Every year, between November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and December 10, Human Rights Day, 16 days are dedicated by UN Women to actions aimed at ending violence against women. women and girls all over the world.

It is in this context that Modern Films, a London-based film production and distribution company, launched in 2018 the first edition of

16 Days 16 Films

(literally “16 days 16 films”), a short film festival. broadcast every year during these 16 days, with which the Kering Foundation joined in 2019.

This year,

20 Minutes

exclusively reveals the prize list, commented on by actress and producer Julie Gayet, member of the jury and also godmother of the Fondation des Femmes.

"The Road Is a Red Thread" - Mexico

A young woman on the road, a passing bus, a pair of ballerinas full of pebbles on the side.

These images suggest the invisible and silent drama of violence against women, suggested by the short film

The road is a red thread

(

The Road Is a Red Thread

), written and directed by Melissa Elizondo.

“The violence really comes here from being born a woman.

It's terrible to think that because they are women, they risk ending up in the ravine.

It is a very powerful film, which marked me and which is very effective.

We see a little girl with games… and we understand that there are a certain number of women who are being killed.

The strength of the film is to put their name, their age, and say what happened, ”comments Julie Gayet.

Have you watched today's 16 Days 16 Films short?

The Road is a Red Thread, directed by Melissa Elizondo Moreno is now available to watch here: https://t.co/vha215HUhG pic.twitter.com/W7Xz7vaWqJ

- 16 Days 16 Films (@ 16Days16Films) November 26, 2020

"Ballet After Dark" - United States

"It is vital to develop self-confidence": these few words open

Un ballet après la nuit

(

Ballet After Dark

), the short film by B. Monét, alias Brittany Fennell.

On screen, the fluidity of the bodies dressed in yellow is a pleasure for the eyes.

We follow the journey of Tyde Courtney Edwards, a dancer who founded at Baltimore Ballet After Dark, an association which helps women victims of sexual violence through dance.

“When she was 8 years old, her mother told her that ballet was not for little black girls, so she started to fight to get out of the clichés,” recounts Julie Gayet.

She was also a victim of rape and tells about her reconstruction, through the body, and the social work she does in Baltimore ”.

A film that reminds the actress of Andréa Bescond's,

Les tickouilles.

Have you watched today's 16 Days 16 Films short?

BALLET AFTER DARK, directed by @monet_iam, is now available to watch here: https://t.co/vha215HUhG pic.twitter.com/ccQbkwIVY7

- 16 Days 16 Films (@ 16Days16Films) December 2, 2020

“Too Expensive Paid” (“Expensive Shit”) - United Kingdom

You will never look at nightclub mirrors in the same light again after watching this short film.

Expensive Shit

, which could be translated in this context as

Too Expensive Paid

, is an English fiction film about rapist drugs.

Except that here, instead of surreptitiously pouring the poison into the glass of the women they meet, the perpetrators use a mirror and a black woman, without papers, at their mercy.

Tipping in a nightclub restroom, this woman is tricked into giving bottles of poisoned water to clubbers that men choose through a one-way mirror, overlooking the club's restroom.

"There is the anxiety of knowing what will happen to these women, and the difference in social situations" between these white women who come to dance, and this exploited black woman, comments Julie Gayet.

A device "which puts us on both sides of the story", greets the French actress.

Have you watched today's 16 Days 16 Films short?

EXPENSIVE SHIT, directed by @aduraonashile, is now available to watch here: https://t.co/vha215qiT6 pic.twitter.com/aCdEbPsieF

- 16 Days 16 Films (@ 16Days16Films) December 3, 2020

Expensive Shit

plunges Julie Gayet into dark memories.

“I was 20, I worked in a nightclub, I stayed a year, and at one point I saw it, that.

I saw a young girl who had taken drugs and four guys trying to rape her.

I called the security who came, ”she says, also remembering a young man“ drugged by an old man who was fiddling with him ”.

There are still many other short films to discover on the

16 days 16 films website

.

Julie Gayet recommends, for example,

Thread

, an animated film that she finds "very poetic".

The French actress is delighted to have been part of the jury for this third edition, a "brilliant experience" which enabled her to continue her role as a voice against violence against women: "It is important that we actresses, who are in the light, we have this possibility of carrying this fight.

The UN-Women initiative only lasts 16 days, but it is already longer than just a day.

And I try to make it last all year ”.

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  • Sexual violence

  • Sexism

  • Julie gayet

  • Violence against women

  • Cinema

  • Culture