Cinelabia, women-only movie club in Bombay

Synopsis :
From Germany Marie Vermeiren, brings us three films, What are we Doing Tonight (7 min 2002), No Way (22 min 2003) and I Wanna be a Butch (3 min 2003). Vermeiren’s films centre on a group of women who believe in public intervention and action. What are we doing…is a stylistic take on a poster campaign that a group of feminist women in jackets and caps perform under the cover of night, while No way is a mini documentary on a highly successful campaign against rape and domestic violence, done on paper bags with the help of local bakeries in a small town in Germany. I Wanna be a Butch is a humorous rip-off on ‘butch identity’ and ‘bonding’ among women who take over the usually male ritual of beer and billiards.

The second is a collection of smutty and subversive films (2 minutes each) by a group who were called Girls Who Like Porno, from Spain. The shorts talk of consensual sado-masochism, alternative pornography and performance (My Grandmother’s Striptease).

Last but not least, we have our very own Indian video artist and photographer Tejal Shah who will share her latest short: There is a Spider Living Between Us (6 min / colour & b/w / sound / 2008) It is an experimental short that considers the desire of two to become one, using still frame animation photo-collage, and autobiographical diarist mode. We journey through layers of language and lesbian sexuality. Her second short, Chingari Chumma (colour/ sound/ 8 min 2000) is a satirical role reversal of the daaku and hasina who get into a situation that even Amitabh Bachchan cannot get them out of. Tejal Shah will be present to discuss her films.