WomenCinemakers vol V WomenCinemakers vol V | Page 30
We would like now to explore your
recent project• Magna Mater.• Can you
tell us something about this amazing
film?
Following on from my staged piece
Grandesan, which explored matriarchal
societies, I wanted to delve deeper into
female leadership. When women with
authority are portrayed not only in dance
but in media, film and society as a whole
she often becomes a lonely, bitter woman
incapable of working with others. These
negative portrayals persist despite all the
positive results from studies on female
leadership. In a world where leaders in
politics,
religion
and
media
are
overwhelmingly male it is intriguing that
when civilization first took form, the highest
entity was a• woman.
Archaeological evidence shows us that the
earth was once viewed and• worshipped as
a living, female being: the Great Mother.
Across the world this primary goddess took
different names and shapes but was never
limited to the sole quality of motherhood:
she was a• warrior, the creator of life and
death, nurturing yet terrifying, in control of
the forces around her with the Yoni as a
interview•by•Bonnie Curtis
cinemakers // 11
Emilsson
interview
In the Director's statement for Magna
Mater, you say There is a lack of honest,
positive portraits of women with power
so with• Magna Mater• I wanted to
explore complex female characters where
the dynamic and powerful group• they
create is a given, not an exception.