By Women Make Movies
Published April 23, 2009

ROUGH AUNTIES, a Sundance World Cinema Jury prize-winner, is part of a a two-week exhibition (May 7-23, 2009) at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA, showcasing 14 documentaries made over a 30-year period by internationally-acclaimed London-based Italian filmmaker, Kim Longinotto.

Set around the globe from Britain to Cameroon, Tehran to Tokyo, the films featured in the retrospective tackle a diversity of difficult topics, often from the perspective of the least heard members of society.

Audiences in East Africa are likely to know Longinotto from the film, THE DAY I WILL NEVER FORGET; this film, on female genital mutilation among the Somali, was made in Kenya. It has been shown in Kenya and Tanzania. SISTERS IN LAW, a film Longinotto made in Cameroun, has also been shown in festivals in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Longinotto, renowned for creating extraordinary human portraits and tackling controversial topics with sensitivity, compassion and humour, will be in New York to interact with the audience for the first three nights and Sunday afternoon of her exhibition following the screenings: ROUGH AUNTIES (May 7); DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE (May 8); HOLD ME TIGHT, LET ME GO (May 9); and SISTERS IN LAW (May 10).

Over the course of her career, Longinotto’s films have earned her international acclaim and dozens of premiere awards at festivals worldwide. Highlights include the award-winning ROUGH AUNTIES, which will be broadcast on HBO in 2010; as well as her best known work, SISTERS IN LAW (2005), winner of a 2008 Peabody Award and two Cannes awards; and the BAFTA Award-winning DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE (1998). Another recent film, HOLD ME TIGHT, LET ME GO (2007), will be broadcast on PBS, acclaimed P.O.V. series in July, 2009, and is the winner of the Special Jury Prize at the International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam (IDFA).

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“Her unique style and directorial eye produce compelling film portraits grounded by the sensitive and compassionate observance of her subjects in a wide range of challenging situations,” said exhibition curator Sally Berger. Longinotto recently became the first female director to receive the True/False Film Festival’s True Vision Award for dedication to the creative advancement of the art of nonfiction filmmaking. She is also one of only two woman directors to ever receive a career retrospective at the world’s premiere documentary festival, International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam (IDFA). Previous honorees include Agnès Varda, Werner Herzog, and the Maysles Brothers.

The retrospective, Kim Longinotto, runs May 7-23, 2009 in The Roy and Nuita Titus Theatres at MoMA, and is organised by Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, Department of Film at MoMA, in collaboration with Women Make Movies, the distributor of all 14 films for the exhibition. It marks the first time such a comprehensive retrospective of Longinotto’s work has been shown in the U.S.

“We’re thrilled that MoMA has decided to honour such a wonderful and accomplished filmmaker,” said WMM Executive Director, Debra Zimmerman.

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Women Make Movies (WMM), a nonprofit organisation based in New York, is the world’s leading distributor of independent films by and about women, including 14 films from the acclaimed filmmaker Kim Longinotto. For the third year in a row, films from WMM took home top prizes at Sundance.

ROUGH AUNTIES, Kim Longinotto’s newest, won the World Cinema Jury Prize in Documentary, and THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO won the Special Jury Prize in Documentary last year. WMM also helps women filmmakers realize their film productions with its unique Production Assistance Program, which offers filmmakers nonprofit tax exempt status, consultations and workshops.

Hundreds of films by women have been produced with the support of the program, including this year’s Academy Award® nominated feature THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON) by Ellen Kuras, and last year’s Academy Award® winning short, FREEHELD.

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