by Sandra Schäfer & Elfe Brandenburger
Mini-DV, 71', FRG 2007
A film about actresses and methods to undermine the rigid gender norms in Afghan society.
Filmstills (to see more stills click on [>>] between
the pictures)
The film deals with performative strategies to undermine the rigid gender norms in Afghan society: on the level of cinematographic stagings, in political work and in everyday life. The protagonists of Passing the Rainbow include a teacher who is also an actress, a policewoman whose second job is working as an action film director, an activist of the organisation RAWA which advocates the radical separation of state and religion, a girls' theatre group in Kabul, and Malek_a who lives as a boy to earn a living for her family.
The directors show excerpts of films from the history of Afghan cinema,
accompany the actresses during shooting and stage new scenes together with
them. The local actors are co-producers and a corrective to Western perspectives.
Passing the Rainbow is a film staging scenes from the actresses' daily life,
reflecting on gender relations and opening new areas of action in fiction.
The film sheds light on the construction of representation, revealing interdependencies
and contradictions between images, real living conditions and dreams and
desires.
Credits
Protagonists:
Aiqela Rezaie, Roya Fahim, Anonyme Figur, Hamida Refah, Nursia Anjomodin,
Zobaida Sahar, Samat Sahar, Saba Sahar, Breshna Bahar, Malek_a, Sakina Habib-zada,
Marina Golbahari, Nilab, Razi Mohebi, Khaleda Forogh, Mädchentheatergruppe
(Amina, Homeira, Roya, Tamana, Zobaida)
Script & Director:
Sandra Schäfer & Elfe Brandenburger together with the participants
Camera, Sound and editing:
Sandra Schäfer + Elfe Brandenburger
Effects:
Frank Vetter
Color correction:
Clemens Seiz
Sound design:
Martin Ehlers-Falkenberg
Music:
Boris Baltschun, Bounty
Sound mixing:
die BASISberlin, Ansgar Frerich
Production:
mazefilm
Funded by:
The German Federal Cultural Foundation, Cultural Affairs Department of the
Berlin Senate
Supported by:
The Academy of Arts, Berlin