London Feminist Film Festival - Sharla Shabana Sojourner Selena
A skit, an audition and some treatments. Sharla Shabana Sojourner Selena sees a succession of female narrators recount personal experiences and reflections on the possibility to be. A woman choking in a restaurant, an incident with HR and an erotic encounter in a sauna, the assemblage of voices pose questions around presence and legibility against a backdrop of the inter-corporeal activities of a beauty salon.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Rehana Zaman
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Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The film came out of a desire to disrupt mainstream feminist narratives that often foreground the experiences of white women whilst relegating the experiences of women of colour to the margins (if they are included at all). I wanted to explore how gender and race intersect through these testimonies that take up romantic encounters, work altercations or religious spaces.
I was prompted after participating in a panel discussion at Tate Modern accompanying a screening of Chick Strand’s experimental work Soft Fiction (1979). I was struck by how the film was described as examining a universal female subjectivity but to me the various women in the film suggested a very narrow group.
There’s a moment in Soft Fiction where the silhouette of a woman with possibly an afro is dancing. At the event I posed whether this woman might have been the only woman of colour in the film, represented as a silent, dancing body. My unease at this was met with quite an exasperated response from a filmmaker in the audience who suggested it was irrelevant to a study of the film.
Sharla Shabana Sojourner Selena explores how it is relevant to examine representations of race in feminist filmmaking and where as a woman of colour it is possible to speak (and be heard) and where it is not.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The film uses a variety of registers from a lo-fi soap style staged scene, an audition process that disrupts how the performances of the women are read and documentary footage of beauty treatments in a salon. In addition to moving between different stories told by each of the women the work plays with the conventional formal expectations of narrative filmmaking. I’d like members of the audience to encounter this film and find a sensitively layered work dealing with neurotic behaviour, the erotic and modes of performance.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The process of giving testimony or sharing personal experiences draws on consciousness raising practices of second wave feminism so the relationship between the personal and universal is at the heart of the film. By placing these experiences in sequence a broader narrative around social dynamics starts to emerge.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
The structure of the film developed through the production process. The film begins with an acted scenario drawn from W. R Bion’s book Experiences in Groups describing a comic banal conversation between a group of people that belies a social anxiety. This scene was planned from the outset of the production process however as with previous works I was interested in what might happen through opening the work up to other contributors.
I set up a filmed audition asking attendees to either read from a script I sent them (an excerpt from Michelle Citron’s What you Take for Granted) or to describe a scenario where they felt blocked by another person or group. This activity is something I’ve used in workshops I’ve done at various art institutions and community group meetings. The call out for actors was specifically for women of colour and although I didn’t stipulate that the narratives should concern race all the women who attended shared a story that did.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I always tend to show my work to friends who are also filmmakers and artists and writers and that was really helpful, particularly around aspects of the film I felt less unsure of. Although the film presents itself as being very direct and straightforward I think there are quite oblique references in there so it’s helpful to gather feedback and make sure those nuances are legible to others.
Contemporary Art Tasmania commissioned the film for an exhibition earlier this year and a male journalist from the local paper of Hobart seemed to enjoy it very much. Given the themes it’s nice it spoke to someone in such a different cultural context.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I’d like the film to be seen and engaged with by a range of different audiences. I most often work with art audiences through galleries and museums so film festivals and your blog allow me to see how the work might operate within different spaces.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I’d be excited to talk to distributors, film festival directors and journalist.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
For a range of people to engage with the work and the themes within the work would be brilliant.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Hmmm, I’ll leave that for the viewers to decide.
What are you developing or working on now?
I’m working towards a solo exhibition at Tenderpixel in late Autumn this year that will continue some of these themes.
Interview: August 2016
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Sharla Shabana Sojourner Selena
A skit, an audition and some treatments. Sharla Shabana Sojourner Selena sees a succession of female narrators recount personal experiences and reflections on the possibility to be. A woman choking in a restaurant, an incident with HR and an erotic encounter in a sauna, the assemblage of voices pose questions around presence and legibility against a backdrop of the inter-corporeal activities of a beauty salon.
Length: 22:00
Director: Rehana Zaman
Producer: Rehana Zaman
Writer: Rehana Zaman
About the writer, director and producer: Rehana Zaman is an artist based in London working with moving image and performance. Her work considers the interplay of multiple social dynamics that constitute subjects along particular socio-political formations. These narrative based artworks, often deadpan and neurotic, are generated through conversation and collaboration with others. Recent screenings and exhibitions include ICA, London, Contemporary Art Tasmania, The Irish Film Institute, Dublin, The Tetley, Leeds, Studio Voltaire, Whitechapel Gallery, London, Berwick Film and Media Festival, Projections Art Rotterdam, Konsthalle C, Stockholm and Baro, São Paolo
Key cast: Selena Brown, Sojourner Dawson, Manysouk Luang
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Funders: distributors, film festival directors, journalists
Release date: Jan 2016
Where can I watch it in the next month? Contact Filmmaker for viewing enquiries.