Hot Docs - Galatée à l’infini - Infinite Galatea
Pygmalion, disappointed by the women of his time, decides to create an immaculate woman with his own hands. He models his creation at the height of his expectations and level: she should be able to satisfy his pleasures and provide his kingdom with a workforce.
Interview with Writer/Director Julia Maura
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The five of us (Mariangela Pluchino, Ambra Reijnen, Maria Chatzi, Fatima Flores and me) met in the Master of Theory and Practice of Creative Documentary in the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
At the beginning of the movie, there was the desire of Mariangela to establish a feminist critique of the historical and ideological aspects of gynecological discipline through a visual essay. We’ve been working on this idea for a long time, doing a lot of research, interviews and experimentation in that sense, until we started to work individually, each one developing her own view of the subject through a short film.
For my part I developed during those few months a first version of Galatée, that consists in a re-interpretation of Pygmalion’s myth (a powerful sovereign creating an ideal woman to fit his desire and expectations) through the writing of the screenplay and the voice-over and the editing of a first cut. The idea was to use this metaphor of the carving of an ideal women’s body by a power-full man to establish a critique of the ideological construction of the shape and uses of female body through the male gaze.
Then we gathered again and we’ve been working together for a few weeks on this base, assembling our views and aesthetics that have come together in the final movie Galatée à l’infini.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I think Galatée à l’infini is developing an original shape, through the uses of raw internet found-footage mixed with a metaphorical voice over. The message is strong, but it’s supported by an important attention to the aesthetic form that permits the movie to keep a balance between manifesto and poetry.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Following the key principle of feminism, we think that personal issues are political. There is this anxiety linked to our own genitals, the shame that we instill on women when it comes to their own bodies and its natural manifestations. This feeling appears at the moment of puberty, this idea of having to hide the menstruation for example, can create a deep feeling of being uncomfortable, transforming the natural to dirty when it comes to female’s body. This idea of an immaculate woman is still strong, the censorship of Instagram’s picture of Rupi Kaur’s menstruation is a manifestation of this persistent, collective phobia. In the movie the idea was to interrogate this fear.
The relation to the men’s genitalia is really different, we can notice it in the hyper-representation of the phallus in our streets, there is the desire to affirm the masculine presence by the men’s genitals. In Galatée à l’infini there is really a mix between those personal relationships with our own bodies, as fruit of a systemic construction. The use of the metaphor of Pygmalion was the way to articulate the personal and the systemic reflection.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The script has changed a lot through the course of the development. We’ve been recording many interviews that in the end we decided not to include. We’ve been working for months on many different scripts: the tone and the form of the movie have been changing a lot through the process until I developed Galatée’s screenplay, whose discourse is completely metaphorical. But it’s part of the creation process, it’s a perpetual research and all those different paths we took until choosing the definitive one are what have inspired us along the way.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Most of the time people congratulate the discourse as well as the form. We had really good feedback from a few women who said they recognized themselves in the message of the movie. There is a bit in this research of a psychoanalitic gaze in Galatée that looks to provoke an identification for some men in their own perception of women’s body. This was for me the most interesting comment, when a Colombian guy told me at the FICCI (International Festival of Cartagena de Indias) “It’s true, vaginas are really frightening!”
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The positive and enthusiastic reaction of the masculine public have been sometimes quite surprising for us. At the contrary some woman have said that some images are quite raw and difficult to watch. It’s certainly true, and it was the idea at the creation of the movie: to put the spectator in an uncomfortable position, to provoke a reflection about this system of representation (the “show society”) and the influence it has on the idea of femininity.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
It’s a pleasure for us to have the chance to spread the message of Galatée à l’infini through the publication wearemovingstories.com, thank you for this interview !
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Anybody that would be interested in participating in Galatée’s adventure would be welcome !
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Our first objective is that the public wonders, interrogates some ideal that is sometimes seen as “natural”. The movie is really inspired by the social sciences' concept of deconstruction, and it’s exactly the meaning of the screenplay. Showing the construction process of women’s bodies by Pygmalion we’re looking to deconstruct it as a “natural” figure. The aim of the film is not to announce a given true but to interrogate the structures and discourse which are constructing reality, in this case the female’s body perceptions and uses.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
An interesting and quite open question could be: who is Pygmalion? And who is Galatée ? It would spark a big debate about how and where those power relationships are concretely settled in our patriarchal societies.
Would you like to add anything else?
We would like to thank Julien Mérienne who has also been involved in the project, as well as the pedagogic team of the Master in Theory and Practice of Creative Documentary in Barcelona that has helped us a lot along this long way, especially: Jorge Caballero, Virginia Garcia del Pino, Carles Munoz, Alejandra Molina and Jorge Tur.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
For now we are all working on our own paths. Maria and Ambra are developing projects in Barcelona, Mariangela in Finlandia, Fatima is now working in Peru on a new documentary, and I’m working on new projects between France and Spain.
Interview: May 2018
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, scifi, horror, world cinema. 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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Galatée à l’infini - Infinite Galatea
Pygmalion, disappointed by the women of his time, decides to create an immaculate woman with his own hands. He models his creation at the height of his expectations and level: she should be able to satisfy his pleasures and provide his kingdom with a workforce.
Length: 17 minutes
Director: Julia Maura, Mariangela Pluchino, Ambra Reijnen, Maria Chatzi, Fatima Flores
Producer: Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona - Máster en Teoría y Práctica del Documental Creativo
Writer: Julia Maura
About the writer, director and producer:
Julia Maura :
Born in France, where she graduated in Communication and Political Science. She approaches non-fiction film by her desire of using image and word as a means to raise political and philosophical questions about power relationships.
Mariangela Pluchino
Born in Venezuela, she grew up in Costa Rica of migrant parents. She graduated in Psychology and reaches non-fiction film while questioning the practice of social sciences and the need to establish dialogues with other disciplines.
Ambra Reijnen
She graduated in Communication and Film Studies. She believes in the power of the audiovisual to create social change. She works as a freelance editor for NGOs and is also developing a music production project.
Maria Chatzi
Born in Athens, Greece. She went to film school at the University of Aristoteles in Thessaloniki. She dedicates herself to cinema and photography. She made three short documentaries and a feature length documentary “The Guardian of Aegean” (2016).
Fatima Flores
Born in Lima, Peru. After graduating in Journalism, she got involved in different branches of communication with special emphasis on audiovisuals. She reaches non-fiction film during an effort to raise awareness around themes of social interest.
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Film festival, journalists.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Galateealinfini/
Other: https://galateealinfini.wordpress.com/
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? from now we still can’t announce the next projections in North America, but it would be a pleasure to schedule Galatée à l’infini in another Canadian Festival.
Follow us on facebook and we’ll announce coming dates