On February 13th, we celebrated GALENTINE’S VALENTINE’S DAY
with an intersectional cinematic conversation about love and friendship in all its forms.
This was followed by a Galentine’s/Valentine’s poetry workshop run by acclaimed poet and filmmaker Be Manzini.
When registering to attend we asked you to tell us about your favourite films by womxn about love in all its different forms. Let’s take a look at your submitted films and why you love them….
See below for where to watch on demand.
“Love & Basketball – Dir by Gina Prince-Bythewood, because it celebrates black love from childhood right through adulthood. We experience all and everything in-between with the characters while they go through childhood, personal and professional life, and their love for basketball and each other”. N Hussein
“You’ve got Mail – Norah Ephron’s amazing screenplay. It’s not an original choice but I recently re-watched this film as my partner hadn’t seen it and I was pleasantly surprised that the film hadn’t aged so much. Otherwise I’d go for Appropriate Behaviour by Desiree Akhavan for a more contemporary and relatable film. I’m Iranian too so I liked the parts about her family’s pressures”. Sanam Gharagozlou
“The Piano – Dir Jane Campion. So many! but highlights are The Piano directed by Jane Campion when Harvey Keitel is lying on the ground under the piano which Holly Hunter is playing and he touches her leg through the hole in her thick woollen tights. More recently the (mainly) unspoken camaraderie between the two young women in Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always, and for lols Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart”. Natasha Dack Ojumu
“Sleepless in Seattle – Nora Ephron. Aside from the romantic theme, the witty dialogue, countless memorable scenes, I love the chemistry between the two actors, even though they have barely any screen time together. This feel-good movie always appeals to my romantic soul”. Betsy Wilce
“Booksmart – Dir Olivia Wilde – because it’s about and relishes female friendship, has a lesbian lead who isn’t bullied for her sexuality and because the girl who is the leads’ polar opposite isn’t their enemy, she’s they ally. Galentine’s heaven!” Holly Tarquini
“Booksmart. Fresh in my memory from seeing it last week, I hugely admired how this film offered unparalleled language for weaving a perfect female friendship in adolescence, made space for learning to support our girlfriends and made it cool and sassy, in a world where women are brainwashed, from a young age, to compete”. Maria Tanjala
“Pin Cushion, Dir Deborah Haywood’s feature debut follows an (outsider) teenager and her mother as they struggle to fit into a new town. I picked this film because it’s sharply observed, funny and heartbreaking, but, most of all, it’s authentic and beautifully depicts the struggle; the power, protective nature and enduring love of a mother for her child. The writing and performance are wonderful – newcomer, Lily Newmark is striking and Joanna Scanlan is, as always, pitch perfect”. Simone Glover
“Frances Ha, Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach As it shows friendship in all its complexities, from the joys to the difficult feelings we may experience like sadness and jealousy. It shows a friendship changing, threatening to pull them apart, but finally be able to overcome this and come back together. We don’t always grow in the same way or same time as our friends, and this may make us feeling strangely about the relationship, but we can work to keep these friendships strong”. Caitlin Warren
“Monsoon Wedding, Mira Nair. This movie is full of joy. Happy, cheerful, with so many characters, and most of them good, interesting ones. It is the story of a wedding in upper class Delhi. A large family spread all over the world reunites for the big event and all the ties and feelings between siblings, cousins, parents, friends are shown and expressed in a light but touching way. Love, friendship, envy, pain, sorrow, loneliness, passion and hope in a nearly perfect mix”. Yadiana Sultam Gibert
“The Miseducation of Cameron Post – Dir Desiree Akhavan. This film is full of warm silences and shared glances, in a space that is exists in cold opposition. It reminds me of adolescent friendships where you’re all inevitably kind of self involved, but you give everything you possibly can to each other, even if it’s just listening to a story, or making a brief joke that tells the other person that they’re here with you, that there’s no shame or judgement. The slow build of physical and emotional intimacy feels incredibly truthful to real life, and makes the way the three eventually come together to hold and help each other even more moving”. Issy Franklin
“Girlhood – Dir Celine Sciamma – because of this fantastic scene when the four girls dance to the entirety of Rihanna’s song Diamonds!” Anne-Sophie Ohoueu
“Two Women, Dir Tahmineh Milani – Made in Iran – about the enduring friendship between two women who are free and liberated when with one another, compared to the oppression they face from their fiercely patriarchal society and their domestic relationships with men. Clever film that doesn’t overtly criticise Iranian society or would be censored but you draw your own conclusions. Also in repressing women and relegating them to ‘women only’ spaces so they can’t mix with men, conversely brings them closer and single sex relationships flourish freely – which the regime would hate!” Emma Berkofsky
N.B. We can’t find where to watch Two Women in the UK, where we are based – please drop us a line if you know where it is available!
“Something New – Dir Sanaa Hamri. It handles a difficult and contentious subject in a beautiful way. Not a faultless work, but one with great performances, direction and a big heart”. Liz Chege
“Babyteeth, I was blown away by (Dir) Shannon Murphy and (Screenwriter) Rita Kalnejais’ take on this genre. It made me laugh, it made me want to dance, it made me want to scream, it made me want to listen to the birds and lord did it make me cry. It captured the pain and beauty and pain of first love, the complexity of family love and the importance of a love of life”. Kate Neville-Towle
“Walking and Talking by Nicole Holofcener. It’s one of the first films I remember depicting in a very honest and realistic way the friendship between two women, as well as the complexity of their relationships with the men in their lives. I always go back to that film when I want to write about female friendship and it has taught me that yes you are allowed tell stories about real women with faults, who are living real imperfect lives and that there is an audience for it”. Chryssanthi Kouri
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (story by Anita Loos). “There’s something about the unlikely friendship between the two women that always makes me smile. They’re both determined, smart, strong, and astute, but the way they express it couldn’t possibly be more different. The way Jane Russell’s character relates to Marilyn Monroe’s I always find quite touching too – it could come across as patronising, but it just seems like genuine affection even if there is the occasional eye roll :-)” Annette Corbett
“The Heat – written by Katie Dippold, it’s a stomach achingly funny buddy cop film with McCarthy and Bullock going all out, that makes me laugh on every rewatch. Or The Handmaiden with co-writer Seo-kyeong Jeong and based on a Sarah Waters’ novel – one of my favourite gothic romance films ever”. Johanna Wilson
“Outside In, dir. Lynn Shelton. It’s a complex and extraordinary romantic relationship, a type of love that doesn’t have a formula to follow, but she executes it perfectly”. Kelly Knight
“Le Bonheur, Agnès Varda. I celebrate how Varda investigates romantic relationships, without any apparent pretension, giving us room to question the character’s choices, while also our owns”. Panama Diaz Fernandez
“Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (screenplay Robin Schiff) I think its under appreciated by most and seen as a silly film from the 90s but is great representation about friendship and has an uplifting ending that doesn’t focus on finding love (too much)”. Katie Hogan
“Lady Bird – something about to movie pulled me towards it and I just had to research it after and I fell in love with the director Greta Gerwig, gave me hope being a female director in an industry full of old white men”. Lena Elghamry
“Beginning by Dea Kulumbegashvili. I saw this very recently and have been really haunted by its imagery. It’s an odd choice for a theme of ‘films about love’, admittedly, but I think it deserves a place in the list for its honest portrayal of a woman with complicated and ambiguous loves. However, I don’t recommend you watch it for a date night (although it would be a good test of your date!)” Katy Richardson
“Happiest Season is on my mind because I felt everyone did a great job in making it, Clea DuVall is fab, and I’m not sure that it was discussed fairly when it came out. I watched it for a podcast interview that never happened, and not being a lesbian myself, I didn’t want to put my foot in it. But the complexities around different coming out experiences resonated with those I’d witnessed in friends who had a tough time with their families. Plus the film made some really nice, subtle twists on what we’d see in heteronormative Christmas miracle films (as it demonstrates in being underpinned by references throughout to It’s A Wonderful Life). Anyway, I really enjoyed watching it and thought it was beautifully shot, paced, written and performed. The character of Jane was a real highlight for her self-love rising above all her family’s put-downs, and a reminder that this time of year should also be about valuing ourselves as friends and someone to have a great relationship with”. Paula Blair
