Now Showing: in-conversation with Niloo Sharifi and Judy Mazonowicz organised by Cinenova.
Starting on Saturday 23 January, Cinenova presented a 24-hour film screening and in-conversation launching our Wild Strawberries programme, on our website.
The screening brought together two films from the Cinenova’s collection produced by W.I.T.C.H (Women’s IndependenT Cinema House) — a collective based in Liverpool in the 1980s that supported the scripting, editing and distribution of films by women — shown alongside L8 Rising, a film produced in 2019 by Niloo Sharifi, with L8 residents.
The online screening held space to form dialogues with the works in the Cinenova collection and contemporary filmmakers, a practice to materialise relationships between contemporary film and video work, and the feminist and organising legacies it present in the Cinenova collection.
Showing the films of W.I.T.C.H in this way, we connected with new community organising work and questions of contemporary filmmaking practices now.
In addition to the screening, we produced an in-conversation between a founding member of W.I.T.C.H, Judy Mazonowicz and filmmaker, Niloo Sharifi. They discuss the contrast in filmmaking practices from the 1980s to the present, the lasting impact of women’s work over the years, and the value in social making and producing meaningful art for social change. Available below, the discussion brings together themes from the screening and reflects on the legacy of feminist film making practices in Liverpool.