Welcome Summer with Tish's next "The Female Gaze" screening
Hello internet friends,
I’ve just returned from ‘cross the pond! I am not yet in the mood to curate some Instagram posts, or even describe everything I did there, so I’ll just summarize: met internet friends IRL, saw a lot of old buildings, had a lot of fun. Here are some photos. (Okay, TinyLetter, didn't want to upload most of the photos I chose- too big- so here are two that were small enough, totally out of context.)
But now to the reason for the newsletter; it’s that time again! My next “The Female Gaze” online screening is happening June 23rd. Since I’ve already spent so much time and effort writing copy for it, I will just paste in something rather than write it off the top of my head.
On June 23rd, you can watch German film Aren’t You Happy? along with short film The Longest Day of the Year and a talk about the disillusioned modern woman in film.
In Aren’t You Happy? a girl roams through the city looking for a place to sleep. Along the way she meets young mothers who celebrate motherhood religiously, goes home with an abstinent existentialist for whom sex is “just another market,” and waits for the end of capitalism in a drag bar. Her attempt to write a book doesn’t make it beyond the first sentence of the second chapter, and she finds no space between art galleries, yoga studios and the beds of strangers. Instead of trying to fit in, she starts regarding her depression as a political issue. Through 15 of the girl’s humorous encounters, Aren’t You Happy? explores our post-modern society between precarity and self-marketing, serial monogamy and neo-spirituality, disillusionment and the pressure to be happy. Susanne Heinrich’s debut film brings together pop and theory, feminism and humour, and gives you tons of quotes you’ll want to see on advertising billboards in neon letters.
The on-demand screening is available Thursday, June 23rd at 7pm EDT for 48 hours. It includes the feature film, short film, and a recorded talk between IFFO programmer Tish Chambers and guest Maia, known online for her video essays as Broey Deschanel. Maia’s work confronts viewers’ notions of what films are about, questions the film industry and pop culture, and reveals facets of media viewers previously hadn’t considered. Centered around Aren’t You Happy?, Tish and Maia will have a conversation about happiness in capitalism, messy women, political feminism, and, of course, what even is the female gaze.
I was super excited to get Maia as my guest! And she’s so damn smart, we talked for longer than planned haha. If you haven’t watched her video essays yet- I highly recommend!
Tickets are only $12 and I’ll give you, my special internet friends, a discount code for 30% off: TishistheBest. Let me know what you think of the films and talk!
In other news…
I’m getting closer to completing my first Tales with Tish video essay; How Snow White Films Define Beauty. I’m aiming for the series trailer to be out at the end of June and the essay out at the end of July, with lots of promo content on the Tales with Tish IG surrounding the release. (More fairy tale reading, improvising, and tarot reading!) But I’m not committing to any release dates yet because, as I’ve mentioned before, I am no longer giving myself unnecessary deadline stress and just focusing on doing good work at my own pace!
I’m also still slowly working on my fairy tale short story collection, considering rebooting the Rated F podcast, and just submitted my panel proposal to Ottawa Comiccon. So, you can anticipate those things- or just forget about them cuz if/when they happen, I’ll remind you.
Hope you have a beautiful midsummer/Litha/summer solstice! Dance around naked in a field of flowers or something! 🌸🌿🌻🍀🌺