It will arrive in cinemas on September 10, distributed by Trent Film, A Day Without Women. This is a documentary directed by Pamela Hogan that recounts and commemorates a pivotal day in the fight for women’s emancipation.
On October 24, 1975, all the women of Iceland decided to stop working, cooking, and taking care of the children for 24 hours. They wanted to demonstrate how important their place in the world was and their contribution to the life of society. It was a day when, in factories as well as in homes, it became clear that the role of women had to change.
A key feature of the film, among other things, is the support of Björk, the Icelandic superstar who contributed to the soundtrack with a closing-credits track, her first in 25 years.
A Day Without Women is the reconstruction of a peaceful revolution, and among the voices in the docu-film is the very important one of Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who a few years after that historic day would become the world’s first democratically elected female head of state, taking office as President of Iceland in 1980. The documentary reconstructs the events with their protagonists. It discusses politics, but humor also plays a very important role. In any case, that community gesture inspired, in the years and decades that followed, similar mobilizations in countries such as Spain, Switzerland, and Poland. The strike, as the film’s synopsis states, “made Iceland the best place in the world to be a woman.”
A Day Without Women was conceived to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of that memorable day. Described as “a feel-good movie about the collective power of women, with an important message that will rally audiences of every kind,” Pamela Hogan’s documentary blends interviews with archival material and animation inserts. There are many memorable statements from the activists featured in the film. For example, at one point a woman comments on the 24/10/1975 rebellion: “We loved our chauvinist men. We simply wanted to change them a little!” Regarding A Day Without Women, produced by Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir, Hogan said:
I discovered this story seven years ago, in a small note in the Lonely Planet guide during a family trip to Iceland, and I rushed to the computer to search for the film that surely had already been made. How can you persuade nine out of ten women, wherever they are, to do the same thing at the same moment? And how is it possible that the world does not know this unprecedented act of civil disobedience, which transformed Icelandic society into a source of inspiration for all of us?
A Day Without Women: The Trailer for the Documentary
The trailer for A Day Without Women has just been released, which we promptly share with you:
Comments