This month’s slate of films are dedicated to the intrepid woman. From assuming the leadership of an empire at the age of 27, to a young Australian boxer overcoming adversity, to one of the twentieth century’s most enduring screen legends and an intrepid 14-year-old girl who takes to the seas.
Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words
Few figures have cut a more memorable line through cinematic history than Swedish icon Ingrid Bergman. In this collation of home movies and performances, director Stig Björkman follows his subject’s lead by using diary entries and letters to narrate her life. The film also includes interviews with family members and those who worked with her to create a definitive account of a singular actress.
Maidentrip
Laura Dekker’s two-year solo journey around the world became a global news story that focused on the achievement that, at 14, she was the youngest person to make the journey. Director Jillian Schlesinger uses footage Dekker shot on her boat to construct a journey borne of curiosity and of tedium with life in Europe that inadvertently became one of self-discovery.
Bam Bam
Boxer Bianca 'Bam Bam' Elmir’s rise through the ranks to become a two-time Australian flyweight champion and bantamweight champion of Oceania is one of adversity and strength. As a Lebanese-Australian Muslim raised in suburban Canberra and an outspoken and articulate activist on a number of fronts, Elmir is a fascinating and articulate subject, even as the story documents failure, banning and self-destructive urges.
The Coronation
In an unprecedented interview, Queen Elizabeth II recalls the ceremony that marked her ascension to the throne. Using rarely seen footage and the monarch’s own recollections on the day itself, and the significance of the Crown Jewels, director Harvey Lilley sets the public persona aside to celebrate the 65th anniversary of her reign.
Badass Beauty Queen
When the spotlight turned to Miss World contestant Anastasia Lin, the beauty pageant winner bucked the cliche of espousing world peace. Instead, the Chinese-born Miss Canada World used the competition to speak out about Chinese persecution of prisoners of conscience and continues to speak out about live forced organ harvesting, even as the Chinese government threaten her family and the threats against her grow.
