# FEMEALE PLEASURE
Cinema Documentary | DE/CH (2018) | 97min
Barbara Miller’s feature documentary #FEMALEPLEASURE portrays five courageous, smart and self-determined women, breaking the silence imposed by their archaic-patriarch societies and religious communities. With incredible strength and positive energy, Deborah Feldman, Leyla Hussein, Rokudenashiko, Doris Wagner and Vithika Yadav are fighting for sexual liberation and autonomy for women, beyond religious rules and cultural barriers. But their victory comes at a high price: they all have experienced public defamation, threats and prosecutions, have been excommunicated by the society they grew up in and even received death threats by religious leaders and fanatics.
#FEMALEPLEASURE shows the universal mechanisms at work that determine the position of women until today, spanning cultures, religions and continents: from Japan and India and the Somali muslim diaspora to the Hasidic community in Brooklyn and the Catholic clergy in Europe. All protagonists have come to the same conclusion: the female body is subjected to male lust and first and foremost meant for procreation, without any regard for female sexual pleasure and autonomy.
These women decided to speak up and are the ultimate example on how courage, strength and zest for life can indeed alter societal structures.
Writer | Director: Barbara Miller
With: Deborah Feldman, Leyla Hussein, Rokudenashiko, Doris Wagnerund Vithika Yadav
Editor: Isabel Meier
Camera: Anne Misselwitz, Gabriela Betschart, Akiba Jiro
Music: Peter Scherer
Production: Philip Delaquis, Mons Veneris Films
Coproduction: Arek Gielnik, Indi Film
Distribution: X-Verleih
More information here: www.femalepleasure.org
Awards
• August 2018 – Zonta Club Award – Critics Week, International Film Festival Locarno, Switzerland
• November 2018 – Special Prize of the Interreligious Jury – International Leipzig Film for Documentary, Germany
• January 2019 – Swiss Film Award 2019 – Nomination Best Documentary
• January 2019 – Swiss Film Award 2019 – Nomination Best Score
• January 2019 – Swiss Film Award 2019 – Nomination Best Editing
• February 2019 – Cinema for Peace at Berlinale 2019: Nomination The Women’s Empowerment Award, USA
• March 2019 – Human Rights Amnesty International Award – Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, Greece
• March 2019 – WIFT GR Award (Women in Film & Television) by the Greek Chapter of WIFT – Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, Greece
• March 2019 – Best Documentary at the International Film Festival de Femmes de Crétail, France
• April 2019 – Amnesty International Human Rights Award at the Istanbul International Film Festival, Turkey
• April 2019 – Romy Award – Best Cinema Documentary, Austria
• May 2019 – “Co Jest Grande 24” Readers’ Choice Award, Poland
• May 2019 – Warsaw Documentary Award – International Film Festival Millennium Docs Against Gravity, Poland
• September 2019 – UNESCO Special Recognition Award – Almaty Film Festival
• October 2019 – International FREETHINKER Award
• November 2019 – Audience Award – Gender Bender Festival
• January 2020 – Jury Award, India – Auroville Festival
