Age of Learning | Freedom Talk: In Conversation with Women Filmmakers at FFF

Freedom Talk: In Conversation with Women Filmmakers at FFF

At this Freedom Talk we will be hearing from some of the women filmmakers of this year’s festival. The filmmakers will be talking about why having a gender lens is still important in film today, the power of their perspectives and the challenges that come with being a female filmmaker.

Mien.ly: Moderator: Mien.ly is a Film Director and Trainer at Srikandi Seni, a creative outfit dedicated to fostering inclusivity, justice, and sustainability through arts, events, and media. An alumnus of Bifan’s Fantastic Film School 2018, her notable works include a TV series Murder By Moonlight, produced for Astro Originals in 2022, and the mini web-series Marilah Sayang (Come, My Dear), streamed on a local mobile platform, Unifi TV in 2019. Her film Selam 2.0 (Dive 2.0) garnered four awards at BMW Shorties 2017, while Kaulah Yang Aku Mahu (You Are the One I Want) screened at the San Francisco International Women Film Fest in March 2014. In 2010, she created HerStory Malaysia, a project providing women with a platform to share narratives of desire and sexuality through short films (https://www.viddsee.com/channel/herstory). Mien.ly also works as an educator, currently serving as a consultant on education strategy for a refugee school. She has taught film and media at higher educational institutions and conducted training on human rights, gender, sexuality, and video advocacy for various non-profits and NGOs in Singapore, India, South Africa, the UK, and Mexico. She is a Chevening Alumnus with an MA in Gender Studies from Sussex University. Follow her adventures on https://www.instagram.com/mien.ly

Lola Amaria: Eksil (Indonesia): Lola, started her early career as an actress working with notable Indonesian directors and in various Asian co-productions. She began directing her first feature fiction BETINA (2006) and won the NETPAC Award at Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival. Her second feature SUNDAY MORNING IN VICTORIA PARK (2009) was nominated for Best Southeast Asian Film at Cinemanila International Film Festival 2010, won the Silver Hanoman Award at Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival, and received nine nominations as well as one award for Best Editing from Festival Film Indonesia, an Oscar equivalent for Indonesian film awards. Lola also directed and produced the Omnibus film SANUBARI JAKARTA (2012), nominated for Maya Awards. She continued to produce and direct films that widely gained national recognition, including one that talked about power politics and sex in COUNTRY WITHOUT EARS (2014), the high maternal mortality rate on the eastern island of Indonesia in INERIE (2014), a story about disability in JINGGA (2016), the beauty of the Komodo archipelago was highlighted in LABUAN HATI (2017), the story of the five precepts of Pancasila in LIMA (2018) and her latest feature fiction tells the story of the Indonesian spider woman Aries Susanti and her rock-climbing career in the film 6.9 SECONDS (2019). EKSIL (2022) is her documentary directorial debut.

Pim Pornsuk: The Nightmares & a Dream (Thailand): Pornsuk 'Pim' Koetsawang is the chairperson of Friends Without Borders Foundation (FWB) and Free to Learn Foundation that both work on human rights of refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons from/of Burma. The first runs capacity building programs and several types of art and media and the latter runs all forms of capacity building activities including education in emergency during the period after Burma's recent coup in 2021. Her involvement with films dates back to the early 90s when she graduated from Faculty of Communication Arts, major in film studies and worked as a film critic. In the late 90s she started working on several short campaign videos, continued to write and produce her first film shot on Thai-Burma border in 2006 and initiated Holding Hands project (2010-2023) that supported young people in communities in make short films to communicate their minds and stories as part of FWB. Currently she is heading an independent Border Voices Team comprising of members from Thai-Burma border that conducts community research, human rights documentations and aim to promote more communication skills for communities.

Laura Low: Nothing Gentle in the Shadows (Malaysia): Laura has been directing commercials for seven years. Her latest short film, You’re Happy, It’s Okay, had its world premiere at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. It is currently making its international festival run and has already been selected for the Busan International Short Film Festival, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, ShorTs International Short Film Festival, and many more. Previously, her short film script, You’re Happy, It’s Okay was selected for ShorTS Pitching Training 2021 in Italy. She is a recipient of the Micro Film Fund from the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia in 2021. Her second short film script, Totality was selected for the Make It Short Category at FEST New Directors New Films Festival 2022 in Espinho, Portugal, and it won the Distribution Award. Her feature film project, Muka-Muka, is currently being developed at the renowned Busan Asian Film School (AFIS). Laura was also selected by Samsung in 2022 to direct a 30-second fashion film, The Epic Strut, using the Samsung Galaxy S22 mobile phone. The film went on to be selected for the prestigious Canadian Fashion Film Festival, where it was nominated for “Best Director,” “Best Commonwealth Fashion Film,” “Best Brand Film,” and “Best Editing.” She is interested in telling stories that explore human resilience, women's empowerment, youth culture, and social issues. She is currently exploring untold Malaysian stories and cultural landscapes.

Shuvangi Khadka: Age of Learning (Nepal): Shuvangi is an independent writer, researcher and documentary filmmaker based in Kathmandu, Nepal.