At the kick-off of the Assen International Film Festival (IFA), documentary maker, writer and activist Sunny Bergman was honored with an IFA Trophy. With this prize, the festival honors women who have made a contribution to the film world.
The trophy is intended for a maker who “has shown for decades how powerful, confrontational and necessary film can be”. Bergman examined social norms surrounding beauty, sexuality and gender Limited shelf life (2007) and Slut fear? (2013). She made the documentary last year Blue balls and other rape myths about consent.
“I think my entire career has been about fighting the canvas,” Bergman says. “Then I Limited shelf life was going to make, I was told it was not a subject for a serious documentary. That shows exactly what I wanted to expose: that problems that women experience are often not seen as socially relevant.”
The theme of the film festival in Assen this year is ‘The canvas is ours’. “It’s about taking up space, giving space and fighting for space. As a feminist film festival, we have been asking the same questions for years: who gets the stage, who is allowed to speak and who remains structurally out of the picture?”, says head programmer Hil van der Wal.
The film festival in De Nieuwe Kolk in Assen runs until Sunday.
