The 51%

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of British women gaining the right to vote. According to the Office For National Statistics 51% of the UK population are women. Since 1975 it has been illegal to discriminate on the grounds of sex or marital status. Yet the fall out from the BBC pay gap scandal, the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the ongoing violence and harassment of women on social media and the internet has made it clear that the struggle for the equal rights of women is far from over.

The criteria for the films this year are that they are all made by women, feature female protagonists and are made in the spirit of liberation.

The films this year will include: She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry, Sisters in Law, La Souriante Madame Beudet, Suffragette, Frida, Ballad for Syria, Real Women Have Curves and Bambule.

THE FILMS

	A documentary that resurrects the buried history of the outrageous, often brilliant women who founded the modern women’s movement from 1966 to 1971.
	Set in Kumba in South West Cameroon Sisters in Law follows Adultery, Rape and Abuse cases led by a Female Judge. 2005.
	Often regarded as ‘the first feminist film’, The Smiling Madame Beudet is the story of an intelligent woman trapped in a loveless marriage. 1923.
	A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channelled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work. 2015.
	In 1912 London, a young working mother is galvanized into radical political activism supporting the right for women to vote, and is willing to meet violence with violence to achieve this end. 2015.
	A self-reflective musical documentary that mirrors’ the life of Maisa Alhafez a musician and a Syrian refugee living in Istanbul. The film is about her longing to her loved ones as she tries to make a place for her self in the world of the displaced. 2017.
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	The story of Ana, a first generation Mexican-American teenager on the verge of becoming a woman. 2002.
	Written by Ulrika Meinhoff before she became a notorious Red Army Faction terrorist, this is the German ‘Scum’ and is a critique of the authoritarian methods of home education in a girls’ home as the girl’s revolt against the oppressive structures. 1969/70.
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