Sexuality and Iranian women are the themes of the Sundance Film Festival, to be held on 19-29 January 2023, organisers said on Wednesday.
Located in the mountains of Utah in the west of the United States, the festival is making its comeback in person after two years of online interviews and conferences due to the COVID pandemic.
Known for highlighting a large number of independent productions, the American festival will welcome Hollywood stars such as Anne Hathaway, Emilia Clarke, Jason Momoa.
Emilia Jones, the actress in 'CODA,' the remake of the Franco-Belgian film 'La Famille Bélier' and winner of the Oscar for best film in 2022, is also scheduled to be there.
Remembering Shere Hite
On the documentary side, 'Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields' examines the sexualisation of women through the story of actress Brooke Shields, who became famous at age 12 for her portrayal of a child prostitute in 'Pretty Baby' (1978).
The documentaries 'Judy Blume Forever' and 'The Disappearance of Shere Hite' portray the harassment suffered by authors Judy Blume and Shere Hite for discussing women’s sexuality in their respective works.
The attacks caused Shere Hite, whose best-selling book on the female orgasm, 'The Hite Report' (1976), was a sexual revolution, to leave the United States in the 1990s.
These documentaries allow viewers “to look at history from a different perspective,” commented John Nein, head of programming at Sundance.
The documentary 'Little Richard: I Am Everything' looks at the black and gay roots of rock ‘n’ roll through the eyes of 1950s rock legend Little Richard.
Films by and about Iranian women
The films each offer a chance to engage with history in a very different way through a pioneer, John Nein explained.
The programme is also topical, with films by and about Iranian women.
The documentary “Joonam” and the feature films “The Persian Version” and “Shayda” explore the history of women in Iran and its diasporas, at a time when the country is the scene of demonstrations denouncing the authorities’ violence against them.
