In Marseille, a festival to bring "the voices of women filmmakers"

• The Mediterranean Women Film Meetings will be held in Marseille until Thursday evening.

• For its president Karin Osswald, we must not only show this southern female cinema but also convince that it is for everyone and embraces all genres.

• Among the highlights of this edition, a tribute paid to director Cecilia Mangini, the only female filmmaker of Italian neorealism.

The first evenings were sold out.

For its 16th edition, until Thursday in Marseille, the Rencontres Films Femmes Méditerranée has returned to the dark rooms with, this year, feature films by 17 directors who take us to both shores of the Mediterranean.

Meeting with Karin Osswald, president of this festival whose primary vocation is the discovery of films made by women.

Did you have the feeling that you were a pioneer in creating, in 2006 in Marseille, this annual meeting dedicated to feminine cinema in the south of the Mediterranean?

The feeling that has animated us from the beginning is that of being committed, activists, to show this cinema of women.

When we started, this cinema was a total

.

We saw it very little in theaters, and in Marseille it was a bit of a double penalty as there was a lack of theaters in which to broadcast it at the time.

Not to mention the immense difficulties in producing these films, in the north and even more so in the south of the Mediterranean.

More than precursors, we have the feeling of having cleared the land.

How do you measure the progress made?

We have shown more than 500 films in sixteen years.

We can say that the landscape has changed.

South of the Mediterranean - even though it is a region of conflict and chaos - the Arab Spring liberation movements have participated in some change.

I am thinking for example of Kaouther Ben Hania whose 

is the first Tunisian film selected for the Oscars.

The voices begin to be heard, we see emerging a feminist cinematography of the south shore in the broad sense.

the film by Mounia Meddour that we showed in 2019, probably could not have been made ten years ago.

Today it becomes possible.

Even if the difficulties persist, linked to political and economic reasons.

Do you take an optimistic view of female cinema in the Mediterranean?

We must not let our guard down, so that it is not a fad.

Our difficulty is to produce at the start.

This is why we set up professional days four years ago, which allow eight selected directors to present their project to productions.

And many films are unfortunately not seen in their countries, either by lack of cinemas or for political reasons.

It's a real challenge.

In France, despite the post-Meetoo awareness, a recent CNC report shows that only 25% of films are directed or co-directed by women.

There is significant room for improvement.

How can the Films Femmes Méditerranée festival contribute to a better visibility of feminine cinema?

We try to support that too, with partnerships with French institutes abroad to show the films.

The free service that we have put in place for young people under 26 and job seekers is working well, more of them are coming.

But one thing is to show this cinema, another is to convince that it is for everyone.

It's a feminine look at all kinds of issues, cinematographic genres, intimate films, like documentaries, genre films, animated films.

Our fight is to show that women in cinema make films for everyone.

Precisely, what are the next highlights of this edition, after the one around the Afghan filmmaker for her film

The Orphanage

 ?

We realize that there is always a color to a program.

What comes back this year is the transmission, the heritage, how this heritage carries us when life brings us to leave, how it imprints the territory in which we live.

This is a theme that we find in

, by Firouzeh Khosrovani who lives in Tehran, or

, closing film in the presence of Lebanese directors Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige.

We also have a tribute to the Italian director and photographer Cecilia Mangini, the only female filmmaker of Italian neorealism.

Wednesday evening at the Alhambra, there is also

, the beautiful documentary by Lina Soualem on the separation from her grandparents, absolutely magnificent.

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• Mediterranean

• Marseilles

• Women

• Womens rights

• Movie theater

• Festival

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