#Female Pleasure

A film by Barbara Miller

Switzerland/Germany | 2018 | 101 minutes | Color | DVD | English, Japanese & German | Subtitled | Order No. W191250 |

#FEMALE PLEASURE accompanies five extraordinary women around the globe fighting to reclaim female sexuality.

SYNOPSIS

#FEMALE PLEASURE accompanies five extraordinary women around the globe who are fighting to smash patriarchal attitudes and reclaim female sexuality.

The film introduces us to author Deborah Feldman from Brooklyn’s Hasidic community, sex educator Vitika Yadav in India, manga artist Rokudenashiko in Japan, Somali activist Leyla Hussein, and former nun Doris Wagner in Europe, courageous women who are all struggling to end the harmful cultural practices like genital mutilation and the shaming of the female orgasm that lie at the root of rape culture and patriarchy. Not only highlighting the issues that have contributed to the sexual marginalization of women, the film also calls these atrocities, embedded within cultural and religious norms, by their actual names: rape, assault, child trafficking, abuse. We witness these female activists who were taught to be silent confronting the very entities that have oppressed them.

Both an urgent call to action and an empowering plea for self-determined joyful female sexuality, #FEMALE PLEASURE is ultimately an inspiring tool to help women, no matter their cultural or religious background, to reclaim their bodies and celebrate their sexuality without shame or suffering.

PRESS

"Female Pleasure reminds us that cultures around the world and throughout time have used sexual mores to assert control over women."

John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter

"A surprisingly intimate and life-affirming film."

Maria Garcia Los Angeles Times

"Barbara Miller’s humane profile of five women fighting back against sexism and misogyny is a hopeful, clearheaded confessional."

Jeannette Catsoulis The New York Times

"An empowering statement for women, no matter their cultural or religious background, to reclaim their bodies and celebrate their sexuality without shame or suffering."

Candice Frederick The Wrap

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Warsaw Documentary Award, International Film Festival Millennium Docs Against Gravity
  • Best Documentary, International Film Festival de Femmes de Crétail
  • Amnesty International Human Rights Award, Istanbul International Film Festival
  • Human Rights Amnesty International Award, Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival
  • Nominated for Best Documentary, Best Score, Best Editing, Swiss Film Award
  • Zonta Club Award, Critics Week, International Film Festival Locarno
  • Hot Docs Canadian Documentary Film Festival
  • Vision du Reel
  • Istanbul Film Festival
  • Boston Jewish Film Festival
  • Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival
  • Seoul Women’s Film Festival

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Barbara Miller

Born 1970 in Switzerland, Barbara Miller holds a degree in law and an undergraduate degree in film studies, philosophy and psychology from the University of Zurich. As an assistant director and editing assistant she worked on Christian Frei’s documentary "War Photographer" for two years. She has been a freelance documentary filmmaker since 2001. (11/19)

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